Date: 2009-10-01
From: Clingmans Dome TN/NC

To: Derrick Knob Shelter GSMNP TN/NC
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

So we are back down south again after conquering(?) Maine. This time around we are attempting to piece our way through the Great Smoky Mt Natl Park which weaves its way 75 miles through TN and NC.We had the whole trip planned, knowing that we would not only sleep out, (a violation of our rule of dividing the trail up into day hikes), but that we would be sleeping in a shelter with others (for the first time) rather than in our own tent. You cannot stay in the park without a reservation and you cannot pitch a tent anywhere, although the thru hikers can tent if the shelters are full. When Bugsy called the GSMNP for a reservation at a shelter Mr. Ranger threw a wet blanket on his plans by stating that the shelters we had chosen in the northern part of the park were full. He was forced to accept shelter reservations in the south of the park. Instead of cutting our teeth on a two-day/one night hike up north, we signed up for a 3 day/2 night hike down south...oh well...we have to do it all anyway! The original plan was to do 2 day hikes first to get acclimatized to the GSMNP environment with its bears, backcountry ambience, etc. But we took the available overnight dates and went with them.Burly Girl, who had purchased a new REI lightweight pack, filled it up with her old 6.6 lb tent, just in case the shelters were full and we had to tent (dumb idea as you will see from reading on...).Access:North--We reached the northern part of this hike by driving to Clingmans Dome Parking area (we did see a bear on the way up ...good omen?) and leaving one car. The access trail from the parking lot is .5 mi to the AT...uphill but easy to find. Just to be sure of the trail location (and because we were extremely nervous about this 3-day thing) we drove up to here the day before an hiked the .5 miles.South--We had driven around to Fontana Dam Visitor Center at the south side of the park the previous day and had left the Expedition overnight. Huge parking lot with security cameras, etc. (this is the highest dam on the East coast). The Hike:After waiting for the McDonalds in Gatlinburg to open at 7am (and then waiting for them to turn on the grills and get everything going), we got our breakfast sandwiches--this was the Last Breakfast as opposed to the Last Supper--and headed up into the GSMNP to our start. It was OK as sunrise here in TN at this time of year is at 7:30am while sunset is around 7:30pm, both times 1 hr later than we experienced 2 wks ago in Maine.Our major fears in this unknown territory were 1) trail conditions, 2) terrain, 3) carrying heavy weight for 3 days, 4) bears (Bugsy got a warning from Mr. Ranger that there was heavy bear activity at our two shelters when he made the reservation) and 5) keeping innocent shelter-mates awake with our snoring!The first two fears were overcome in the first few miles. This trail was heaven compared to the trails we suffered in Maine just two short weeks ago! The views were outstanding and we could actually look up to enjoy them rather than stare 6' ahead of us for roots, rocks, and mud bogs! What a nice, graded, level trail!The weight we were carrying (approx 35 lb each) did not appear to be a problem and we made every attempt to pare down our clothes and our food supply. We should have left the tent at home...read on...For quite a while we were on a beautiful ridge walk with many views south to NC. The weather was gorgeous! We passed by Double Springs Gap Shelter. Not too long ago all of these shelters had 'bear fences' across their fronts that closed at night to keep the bears away from the hikers. Apparently, some knucklehead hikers threw food out for the bears in order to get close-up photos, which made the bears very people-'friendly' and a danger. The Park Service then removed the fences so that now almost all of the shelters are open in the front. This is only the 2nd year of fence removal so we were feeling a bit like guinea pigs in the Forest Service experiment.We took our morning break down in the woods and true to our great timing, not 5 min later, we reached the top of Silers Bald which has logs for sitting and a beautiful view! Silers Bald is a bit of a misnomer, since at the present time, the 'bald' is only about 8'x8'.A while later we stopped in an open area, broke out our JetBoil, and cooked a hot lunch of beef stroganoff. If we are carrying all of this equipment, we are going to use it and not suffer through with cold beef jerkey. We met our first (future) shelter companion, Brian (Treemante) whom we would see over the next 3 days. We didn't warn him of the snoring!There were several more ups and then a down to Derrick Knob Shelter which we reached (much to our surprise) at 3:30--7 hr on the AT. The shelter was a beautiful, double-decker structure with a huge overhang in the front and cooking areas off to the side. We were welcomed by a raucous group of 6 friends from Oklahoma, TX and Utah. They were a husband and wife, a brother and sister, and two ladies who get together once a year for a wilderness experience. We had a great time talking to them, trading stories, and making a roaring fire. In addition, Brian (whom we had met earlier) was there. Around 5-6 Joe, also from NJ, came into camp waving his hands and describing the bear that jumped out in front of him just down the trail from the shelter. For all of our talk and concern about the weight we were carrying, we watched as our six friends broke out Nord aged gouda cheese, crackers, and red wine complete with wine glasses. Remember that damned tent of ours?? Translate those 6.6 lb into a carafe or two of red wine! We will re-think our next trip! But we had a great dinner of Mountain House freeze-dried beef stew and pasta primavera. Delicious!As Burly Girl tended to the fire, Bugsy set up his bug netting tent system (even though mosquito season is long-over). We had heard numerous stories of mice running through the shelters at night, and he was taking no chances. He spent the night in his mesh tent.A final bright spot of the day was that we realized that we had hit the 2,000 mile mark on the AT today...178 miles to go...can we make it this season?