Date: 2005-04-02
From: Silers Bald Shelter

To: Gatlinburg, TN
Miles today: 5.6
Weather: moderate rain

Oh holy crap, what a day.We woke up to snow, SNOW, in April, not just snow, 30 mph winds and snow. As everyone slowly stirred the reaction was almost identical, "shit!". Our plan had been to hike to Clingman's dome and hitch in with a tourist, however with the snow, we knew that there wouldn't be any tourists.Fortunately, God helped us out. Well actually, a few folks who believe in God helped us out. There were some great folks from an Indiana church youth group, three teenagers and their youth pastor, who were in the shelter with us, and they had a van at Clingman's Dome and were on their way out of Dodge. They said they could squeeze two of us in for the ride down, and we'd do our best to get the rest of the folks out.We all pack up in a group and headed out of the shelter together. Right before we leave I manage to twist my ankle quite well, keep that in mind, it will come into play later. Freeze Dried, James, Myself, Bubbletoes, the four helpful friends, and Vision Quest. The hike, well, it was pretty rough. Some of the teenagers were a bit unprepared, but really, I can't fault them, this isn't the type of stuff you think of for spring break. With some duct-tape inginuity and some loaned equipment, including one of my trekking poles, we managed to make it to the top of Clingman's Dome. By the time we arrived, there was a good foot of snow on the ground in some spots.That's right, I made it to the highest point on the AT...in the snow...with a sprained ankle...and one trekking pole...and 40mph winds.A little worse for the wear it was time to determine who would be the two to head into town, in the bathroom for warmth, I ask to go with Freeze Dried, who had a friend who lived nearby so he was an obvious choice. My ankle was hurt, I couldn't really feel my toes, and I don't do well with cold weather, excuses maybe, justifications maybe, reasons maybe, but that's why I wanted to go.We cram into the van, it takes a good 30 minutes before the thing is defrosted enough to drive, ten minutes down the road we encounter Vitaman, and cram him in too, if just barely. Twenty minutes down the road we pass more hikers, and promise to try and send back a shuttle of some kind. Thirty minutes down the road, and out of most of the snow, we run into a ranger checkpoint, the road up the mountain is closed. Talking to the Ranger, he's amazed we made it out in a minivan. I tell him of our dillema with our friends and he calls over the radio for a Ranger truck to pick them up, he was pretty helpful.Dropped off in town and with an extreme thanks to the four friendly fellas, we head to the Grand Prix Motel, as we hear they cater to hikers. This is a pretty nice place for anyone who is interested, they do in fact cater to hikers, and the prices are great.A few hours later a Ranger truck drops off not just Bubbletoes and James, but something like 8 or 9 other hikers. Everyone wants to get out of the smokies during this crap.Later in the night, Lion King, shivering from the cold, makes it in with some friends. We decide that there's only one way to celebrate terrible weather, at the local brewery.Jamming out to a local cover band, eating overpriced quesadillas, and putting down alcohol is much better than freezing to death in the smokies.