Date: 2017-04-18
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Siler Bald Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

The rain came and went multiple times during the night, but all and all it was a very cozy night. Thankfully the rain stopped before we got up, which allowed us some time to get packed up and on the trail in relative dryness. We had elected to leave fairly early to try to beat everyone to a shelter 17mi distant so that we'd be dry tonight?. The first few miles were pleasant and the trail sloped up and down in a few places. The footing on the downhills was solid and our trained legs carried us up the small hills with ease, so neither slowed us down.Of course, the rain soon caught up with us and continued pretty regularly throughout the morning. As we started in the morning we were able to see the fog clinging to the valleys below us, but that disappeared as we hiked further up into the mountains and soon all the scenery was swallowed by the mists. We crossed the tops of several mountains and marveled at the panoramic views of the fog before reaching a shelter, the only dry spot for miles in which we could have lunch.When we arrived the sole occupant already had a small fire going (the shelters are stone and have fireplaces in the Smokies) which provided a little warmth as we hung our outerwear up to dry for a few min. He was a bit odd... according to him he was supposed to meet his buddy for a backpacking trip but that friend had gotten called away for work suddenly and had left with this guy's gear and food. Despite the infeasibilty if his story, after we had eaten we gave him a bit of our unneeded food (hey, lighter pack for us to carry), re-doned our rain gear, and headed back out.Though we had hiked together in the morning, Lookout and I split off from Liz (who is still feeling her blisters a bit) for the afternoon. Just a few minutes into hiking he and I had removed the rain gear, which is mainly for warmth rather than protection from the wet... You can either be wet from the inside (sweat) or the outside (rain) and he and I both side on other outside wet being more pleasant. Thankfully the rain stopped and we cruised the next 6mi to the shelter at a pace of ~3.4mph, driven by our desire to not have to camp out in the rain again tonight (and a desire to test our max pace). That pace was about the fastest that we could safely manage given the muddy trail, but it got us to the shelter before the rain restarted again and we arrived as the 2nd and 3rd occupants for the night, which we were surprised at (we figured more people would've stopped early because of the rain). Arriving so early all but ensured our spot for the night (since section hikers/general backpackers have priority for shelter space in the Smokies and can kick thru hikers out of a shelter, last in, first out). We changed into our dry camp clothes and claimed our spot in the shelter as more people trickled in and eventually filled the shelter over the next hour.We hung out for the afternoon, ate dinner, and started making plans for our nero into Gatlinburg and zero in Asheville the next days. As the shelter occupants were bedding down for the night a couple of the tenters (for some reason) came in and decided to make a fire in the shelter fireplace. After a couple unsuccessful attempts they resorted to dumping liquid stove fuel on it, which while effective, created an unnervingly large fireball. The fire didn't last long since none of the shelter occupants were really interested in 1) the fire, 2) going outside in the chilly wind and mist to collect wood, which was just as well for us.Anyways, a couple of milestones to point out... This is officially (by duration) the longest backpacking trip I've been on (previous was 17 days on the Long Trail). Also, this shelter sits on the TN/NC border, which we've being hiking along for the past day or so, which is the 3rd state I've hiked in on the AT so far (we hike the border for another ~190mi, so still a little while before we can celebrate another state down).