Date: 2019-04-06
From: Russell Field shelter

To: Mt Collins shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: moderate rain

It's a quiet misty morning. I'm awake well before sunrise again. I can't sleep nine or ten hours every night. It's warmer than I remember it being any other morning, probably in the high 40s. The sun is trying to penetrate through the clouds that envelope the area.I'm the last of our group out, even though I'm planning a long day to get over Clingmans Dome while the weather is good. I passed 1900 miles on my hike yesterday. But plenty is still to come. If I was a true NOBO I would not have entered Maine yet.Hiking is easy in the morning. It's cool and the trail is nice, though often muddy. I catch Clammy and Fast Lane at Rocky Top, still surrounded by clouds. It feels sub-alpine, with low brush. Thunderhead mountain is covered in a six foot rhododendron forest, so no views.The trail follows the Tennessee and North Carolina border from here for the next 200 miles. Right foot in North Carolina, left in Tennessee. As the day goes on it's more rolling ridges, usually muddy and often rooty and rocky. So far my new shoes are working out well on the slippery ground. My ankle, however, is bothering me a bit since that rock tumbled on it from the fire ring three days ago.I'm over 4000 feet all day long, including about five miles above 6000 feet. This is one of the highest ridges on the AT. Fortunately the weather is great. The clouds lift by mid-morning and the sun peeks out occasionally. The forest floor is greening up and looks park-like with a light green carpet between the trees.Along the way I meet two young guys named Physics and Howdy (wearing a Stetson). I chat with Kermit, a retiree with a potbelly, who's already hiked the trail and is just hiking til he feels like stopping. At a shelter for lunch I chat with Energizer Turtle from Montreal. He's a redbearded fiftyish guy who got his name from keeping up with much younger guys while hiking in Nepal.At Double Springs Gap shelter I take leave of UNICEF and Fast Lane. They're torn between stopping to stay with Clammy, who has not caught up yet but was already feeling knee pain earlier, and heading over Clingmans while the sun is shining. Everyone's gotta hike their own hike. They've got time, I don't. I may hang out tomorrow and wait for them. Still haven't decided whether to push hard to make Damascus by Easter. Either way I don't want to climb Clingmans Dome in the rain or mist. I've already done that!The trail enters fir and spruce forest. It's shady, silent, green - very different from the lower elevations, which were much like the rest of North Carolina.As I near the trail to the parking lot I find a man in jeans sitting by the trail sketching the mountain vista. He is the only daytripper who's hiked away from the lookout tower. At Clingmans Dome there are many families visiting the tower on this clear day, but it's not crowded. I climb the spiral ramp with my pack. It's clear enough to see Mt Mitchell, the tallest peak east of the Rockies, over 73 miles away. I'm glad I made the hike this evening.It's three miles down and over Mt Collins to the shelter, which is a further half mile off trail. It's one of the highest elevation shelters on the trail. It is what it is, but were it not for park regulations I'd probably stealth camp than walk to the shelter. No matter, it's a decent crowd. About a dozen thruhikers, none of whom I know, and three or four pairs of weekend backpackers. One of them has a full stick of butter. Some blessed woman gives me an orange. It is so delicious! I eat my first Mountain House meal - lasagna - that I packed out of Fontana because it was relatively cheap. It's easy cooking and cleanup and satisfying.  Among the thruhikers here are Food Truck, Sweet Life, Chat-Awhile, Curly, and a retired couple called Lolli and Pop who started March 9th. Most of the others started around March 15th.It's a fairly full shelter tonight. I may need my earplugs!