Date: 2008-04-19
From: Newfound Gap

To: Clingman's Dome
Miles today: 8.3

Saturday, April 19, 2008Newfound Gap to Clingman¢s Dome, 8.3 miles, M, GF, PR hike north, I hike southI start at Newfound gap at 7AM. Pickle and Raggedy Andy are trying to hitch to Gatlinburg. 30 cars have passed them by. I try to help. 10 more pass the 3 of us by. A gorgeous mist today. Dutchman¢s breeches are out.Hello again to Cheeseburger, and to Rookie. Rookie will be hitching to Gatlinburg. I guess I have to get in line behind Pickle and Raggedy Andy.It¢s muddy and slick. I¢m happy to be ascending instead of going down this.White-tailed brown rabbit hops off to the side of the trail.Walk through a church-like place of fir and spruce, draped in mist, cool, fragrant.Just the kind of stile I like! The one that keeps wild hogs out. Easy for humans to cross.On the side of the stile where the hogs aren¢t is forest that looks the way it did before they were introduced to the area in the 1920¢s. Beech and spring beauties.Hello again to Bill!I hear a sound like a lawn mower sounds before the engine catches, ptt, ptt, ptt, ptt, ptt. I heard it yesterday too. Is that an engine, or a natural sound?Hello to NOBO Bird, the last one to leave Mt Collins Shelter. He waited for the rain to stop.Log steps and a winding log staircase.Near Indian Gap, cohosh, strawberries, purple violets, dandelions, may apples, green grass, buttercup, clover. Get a nice photo of dripping wet may apple.An area with lots of wet white quartz. A 6-foor quartz boulder near an uprooted tree. There¢s a bunch of uprooted trees right here, all tipped over to my left, the uphill side. Extensive shallow root systems now perpendicular to the ground.12:20, sun¢s out, wind¢s blowing, fresh cool day. High octane air. Steam and mist blows through the woods.I hear cars and busses going up the auto road.1:20 I sit on a log at the trail to Mt Collins Shelter. Decide to skip it due to the mud.Hello to NOBO¢s Bone Lady and her sister Oatmeal from Cleveland OH. Hello again to NOBO Peepers. Bone Lady tells me Packs-a-lot has a cookbook with her and made a birthday cake for BullDog last night using eggs and flour and a backcountry oven she ¢s carrying.I wait for my 3 hiking buddies for about half an hour talking to Bone Lady and Oatmeal. Hello to NOBO¢s Duckfeet and Swami.Well, hello Purple Rose, Memere and Grey Feather. Where¢ve you guys been? Do you really want to know? We missed the turnoff to Clingman¢s Dome and drove practically into Cherokee. On the way back we missed it again and drove to Newfound Gap. To add to the misery, it was sleeting on top of Clingman¢s when we started.Hello to 3 weekend hikers.I summit Mt Love, then meet Slow Barbara, who will be getting off the trail tomorrow and on again Tuesday. You may run into Bogie and Bacall on Tuesday, I tell her.Hello again to Muffin Man, Snowflake and Beesting.NOBO Bloody Mary.Trail is soaked. More wafts of manure tea.Hello again to Doxie and Adam.Pogo and Pinenut tell me Bogie and Bacall are at the top of Clingman¢s and they hope to see me. Mary Poppins and Professor Longjohns had lunch with Bogie and Bacall, they¢re looking for you, they say. Their daughter was supposed to meet them at 2PM. I start to jog to the summit.Hello again to Frodo and Caboose.Hello to Barfight, Gouda, Daisy and BullDog, www.thru-hikers4charity.org , Packs-a-lot, Buckeye. Out at a fogged over summit at 4:15. No sign of Bogie and Bacall. I missed them.I drive Grey Feather¢s car to Newfound Gap.We have a relaxing night in the room, eating in.