Date: 2007-04-21
From: Siler's Bald Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Was rudely awaken this morning by some overnighters sleeping below us. They woke up & made a shit ton of noise around 5:30am. We had no choice but to get up & start moving because no one could sleept though that racket. Immediately this morning we hit that much acclaimed thick dark forest so famous in the Smokies. The forest is unlike anything we have walked through yet. It is the most beautiful piece of land I have ever walked. We saw 2 hogs about 100 yards from the shelter. We hit Clingman's Dome & I was absolutely awestruck. I never expected Mother Nature to reveal herself in such a grand fasion as she did today. The views as I climbed the mountain today actually stunned me. I expected at any minute to wake up from this dream but it was no dream. Once atop the observation tower we took some descent pictures and some narrative video. We hiked the half mile down to the bathrooms at the parking lot to take care of business. It sucked because they weren't heat and had no hot water. As we are standing outside the bathroom we see about 200 kids around 14-16 years old coming around the corner. They ran right past us to the top. It was such a mind boggling sight after 21 days of relatively quiet and solitude aside from the pubs and the occastional party. We hiked on through the most awesome forest imaginable. There were over 250 blown down trees crossing the trail. The volunteer crews took care of most of them but I'd say we hopped or walked around nearly 30 of what was left today. Thank you and good job volunteers! There were countless massive rootballs lining the edge of the trail today. Some measuring over 15 feet tall when lying on their sides. It was awesome to walk next to such destruction. It apparently happened the night of the snow when we left the NOC. The trail crews said that winds reached over 100 miles per hour that night. I believe it too. There was still a lot of snow on top of Clingman's Dome despite the perfect 65 degree sunny weather. The forest is so thick that no sun can reach the snow still piled inches deep on the ground. It was nice to walk though. Further down the mountain the melt had turned the trail into a muddy mess. My boots were completely submerged numerous times. Thank God for Goretex! My feet stayed dry. I felt good almost all day. We got to Indian Gap after 10.8 rocky miles & sat down on the grass for 5 minutes. I have decided to massage my feet whenever possible. I did at Indian Gap & they felt so much better. We arrived a Newfound Gap and sat down on a patch of grass. A college geology class came over and asked us questions about our trip then ran to the van to retrieve whatever sodas & juices they could find. A cold root beer is heaven after 200 miles on the trail. Thank you to the student for the trail magic. As we were walking off, a man ran us down and handed us some fresh strawberries. What a treat! Two trail angles in 5 minutes. AWESOME! I took a couple of pictures and filled my camelback with water and busted out the last 3 miles to the Icewater Spring Shelter. A lot of new faces along with a lot of old. It's good to see Grizzle again after 3 days. I just got settled in and some overnighters with permits showed up so I gave them my spot and am tening with about 5-6 others nearby. It's a good thing because I can hear someone snoring right now. Well it's time for bed!BEST DAY YET,BigShanty