My Trails

4/28 – 254 miles
Now that we are past the Smokys the weather has been good. I left Standing Bear Hostel early and faced a long, steady climb of 3000 feet to the top of Snowbird Mountain. There is a VOR navigational aid on top of the mountain and views for many miles. A lot of the mountain tops were cleared years ago for farmers to graze livestock and the Forest Service still maintains them. One of the highest and coolest places is called Max Patch, a grassy bald with panoramic views, and I was determined to stay on top and experience the sunset and sunrise. It is one of those places I had heard about and didn’t want to miss.

We were fortunate to find trail magic at Brown Gap, three miles before Max Patch. Two former thruhikers and there friends had hamburgers for lunch, steak for dinner, and full course breakfast the next morning. A lot of guys pitched there tent and ate all day, but a few of us ate lunch and went on up the mountain.

Max Patch was neat. You could walk barefoot all over the mountain top. We felt like we were on top of the world. Brooke said she felt like Maria in Sound Of Music. Several more hikers joined us and we watched a beautiful sunset.

4/27-238 miles
I was hit a couple of times by grape size hail. I tried to stay under the pine trees for protection but even then it hurt. Some of the guys that got hit had bruises.

The next day, many of us were so sick of the Smokys that we hiked 18 miles to a place called Standing Bear Hostel, three miles past the Park. I got a bed in the bunkhouse for $15, which included a shower and laundry. The laundry was a washboard in a tub and an electric dryer that smelled really bad. They have a small selection of food and I resupplied for the next section.

I’ve met a lot of interesting people on the trail. I hiked most of the Smokys with a 73 year old German lady. We had about the same speed and would leap-frog each other every now and then. We stayed in the same shelter each night and I learned some of her history. She came to Quebec when she was 18. She has hiked both the AT and the PCT in sections, and also the Camino (??) in Spain two times. She loves to hike and her husband likes to stay home; it works out good.

I also ran into Brooke, the girl I met way back in Georgia. She is 24, fresh out of college, hiking solo on the AT. She is a fast hiker and will probably go ahead of me soon. I seem to meet up with the same crowd every few days. It’s funny how it works.

4/26- 220 miles
I was out of the shelter early, a heavy mist had settled in in the night saturating the trees and causing them to constantly drip. I was hoping for a clear day. I would pass by Charlie’s Bunion, a unique rock formation, and climb several mountains over 6000 feet. What happened next gave me the scare of my life.

In less than an hour the weather turned from mist to steady rain. The wind turned from a breeze to hurricane force, lightning crashed all around me, and it was getting cold. I hiked faster to try to stay warm and almost considered turning back for the shelter. The trail led higher into the mountains, sometimes crossing narrow gaps only a few feet wide, drop-offs of undetermined depths on both sides. The wind buffeted me with such force on the exposed ledges that I would crouch down and run to the other side. At one point, I paused behind a narrow ledge while lightning, high wind, and driving rain, turned the ledge into an obstacle I didn’t have nerve to cross. I must have waited 20 minutes before the fear of standing there and risking hypothermia outweighed the fear of crossing the ledge.

Charlie’s Bunion was obscured in fog and there was only one time the weather cleared enough to see more than a couple hundred feet.

I actually saw a tree blow over only a few feet away, and the trail was scattered with blow-downs for the rest of the day. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I was hit by golf ball size hail.

4/24/12 – 0 miles
Today has been a rest and eat day. I did walk a couple of miles to get supplies, do laundry, and look around town. There are many hikers here, including the girl I met very early in my hike. She met a guy and they are now traveling together. A lot of the time, girls that start out solo will join a group or another individual, and most of the time it’s just a friendship relationship. Like I said before, we are like a family watching out for each other. It’s nice.

I’m headed back to the trail tomorrow. I hope to finish the Smokys and be in Hot Springs in a week. I had Daryl help me by ordering a new tent that should be waiting at the PO by the time I get there. Even though the National Park is a unique and beautiful place, it will seem nice to be beyond the northern border and away from all the strict regulations.

The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow so I may get some views from Clingmans Dome and Newfound Gap, but future outlook for the rest of the week is unsettled. It could be worse – I could still be in Buffalo in a snow storm.

– 4/21 . 19 miles
From Spence Field Shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter, we experienced the full challenge the trail could throw at us: steep climbs and descents, rocky traverses, muddy, rutted, and rooted sections, all the while encompassed by a mist that had increasingly turned into a steady rain.

We donned raingear and pack covers and pushed on until at last, through the swirling mist, the shelter appeared. Once again the shelter was crowded. There was so much gear scattered about it was hard to find a place to cook your meal. I use an alcohol stove and had to find a ledge out of the wind to heat my noodle supper.

We had an industrious older man that managed to get a fire lit and several of us sat huddled close to the flames and talked. A lot of the conversation turns to people on the trail. Most of us have trail names now and are somewhat of a loose knit family. We are always asking if someone has seen some hiker from earlier encounters. Just last night I ran into a young Guy that I hadn’t seen in over two weeks. He told me of another hiker I met about the same time that was trying to catch me. She would read my shelter journal entry and say, “Castaway is still a day ahead of me!”

The next day was a perfect repeat. Walk in the rain, slip in the mud, and sweat beneath rain jackets. Towards afternoon, however, the weather turned particularly ugly. It started off as light sleet, and then cold and strong winds made us careful on the ridges. Soon the ground was covered with a layer of ice and sleet as one by one everyone found the shelter.

One of the hikers had a tarp and I helped him string it over the opening. It was still drafty and cold but infinitly more snug than before. We managed to gather wet wood and get a fire going with the help of a weekenders remaining fuel supply. Most of the hikers warmed themselves by the fire and then retreated to the warmth of their sleeping bags. By 7:30 we were all in our bags.

In the night the temperature dropped like a rock and the wind snapped at the tarp. The girl next to me opened up a space blanket to wrap herself in. I stayed pretty warm except when i rolled around getting comfortable, and I had to keep my face inside my bag. It was a miserable night and most of us were happy to hike out in the morning and get warm. It was time to go to Gatlinburg.