Date: 2018-10-05
From: Tricorner Knob shelter

To: Double Springs Gap shelter
Miles today: 26.2

Today was a very full, long day. It was Marathon Day! Today was the first time I did a full marathon on trail, an exact 26.2 miles between shelters. There were other shelters in between that I could have stopped at, but they were 0.5 off trail. So I said no way! And did a marathon instead. LolSince yesterday was the long climb up to the ridge line, today was just a lot of ups and downs over the peaks. Not a whole lot of streams/springs this high up, so we had to do a 12.5 mile water carry. Luckily, I¢ve gotten pretty good at rationing water. I can make 1 liter last me 15 miles if I have too. Not very healthy, but doable if necessary. Disco caught up to me around lunchtime. We do breaks very differently. I just take one long hour and half lunch break everyday and spend the rest of the day hiking without stopping. Whereas Disco takes a bunch of 10-15 minute breaks throughout the day and never eats a full meal, just a bunch of bars. Weird. LolSaw tons of people on trail. The AT went across Newfound Gap, which is a dayhiker hot spot because the road there leads to Gatlinburg, TN, which is this super upitty, overpriced tourist trap of a town. I didn¢t hitch into town, just breezed through this giant parking lot dodging gobs and gobs of people. A literal sea of tourists. Everyone comes to this spot because it¢s right near Clingmans Dome tower, which is the highest point on the whole AT - sitting at 6,658 ft. It¢s an 8 mile hike UP from Newfound Gap to Clingmans Dome. No one does this hike though because there¢s literally a road that goes up the mountain to the tower, so everyone is driving. Except me, obviously. I didn¢t see a single person on that trail the whole way up. And now I can see why because it was a bitch. Just some never-ending rock steps to the sky. Kinda felt like Maine at some parts. I got to the foot of the tower and had every intention of walking up there to see the views, but people just kept coming through by the bus loads. So I dropped pack, ate a snack, and just watched dozens of families meander through on this sidewalk while complaining about the heat and how much their feet hurt from the half-mile walk between their car and the tower. It was truly a sight to see. Lol Every now and then someone would tag me as a thruhiker and stop to chat with me. This sweet, older Asian couple was completely blown away when I told them I had traversed the AT from here to Maine. They jokingly took their hats off and bowed. Lol! It was great. I spent most of the day thinking Disco was trudging along somewhere way behind me because I¢d passed him up again after lunch. But then I rolled into the shelter this evening around 6:30pm and who do I see?? Disco, that little rat! He beat me by an hour and a half. He jumped in a car with some tourists at Newfound Gap and got shuttled all the way up to the tower. Yellow-blazing hoe. It¢s all good though because now we both got some dirt on each other. Lol He was intimidated by my plans to do a whole marathon in one day, but wanted desperately to keep up with me. So yellow-blazing was his only real option if he didn¢t want to kill himself in the process. Lol I¢m just stoked that I can FINALLY say that I hiked a conplete marathon with a 30 lb pack through the Smokey Mountains. Tonight definitely calls for a heavy dose of Vitamin I, but it was all worth it.