Date: 2006-06-14
From: Siler's Bald Shelter

To: Siler's Bald Shelter to Spence Field Shelter
Miles today: 11.8

June 14, 2006 Siler¢s Bald Shelter to Spence Field Shelter (11.8 miles)I woke up around 6:00 a.m. and left the shelter about 7:00. I was once again in a thick cloud/fog and could hardly see. Dennis and Dakota headed north and I headed south. It was a little bit cool and within the cloud a light drizzle was falling. So, I once again covered my pack with the rain gear and then headed on down the Trail. Everything was wet and dripping. The grass, in addition to being soaking wet, was very high and was bent over obscuring most of the Trail. This presented two problems. First, I had to be very careful because the grass concealed rocks and ruts along the Trail making it easy to trip and fall. And, the WET grass soon had soaked my pants from the knees down. My shoes were wet and getting wetter with every step. In situations like this along the Trail, I had no choice but to keep hiking. No place to dry out! No dry place to stop and wait for the rain to stop. Hike on! By mid morning I had passed Derrick Knob Shelter and moved on toward Thunderhead Mountain and Rocky Top Mountain. Between Derrick Knob and Thunderhead I passed a trio of hikers who were also heading south and appeared to be having a very tough time. The interesting thing about hiking this portion of the Trail is that Thunderhead Mountain, because of its altitude, gets all the press. However, it¢s the smaller mountain before Thunderhead that is extremely steep and difficult to climb. I arrived on the top of Thunderhead, but due to rhododendron thickets, there were no views. BUT, when I came to Rocky Top Mountain, which lived up to its name, it afforded outstanding views of Fontana Reservoir on one side and Cades Cove on the other. While walking down from Rocky Top, I entered Spence Field. It is the largest grassy bald in the Smokies. James Spence cleared over 100 acres back in the 1830¢s for cattle grazing. Spence Field now is covered with amazing flowers, including Flame Azaleas, Mountain Laurel and rhododendron. Simply beautiful!A short distance off the AT is the Spence Field Shelter where I was planning to spend the night. When I arrived at the Shelter, I immediately noticed that there were tents, ground cloths, clothes, and a variety of other objects spread out on the grass drying. There were five Boy Scouts and two leaders already at the shelter and their gear was wet from the previous night. This was their attempt to get it dry. I found out later that these Boy Scouts were from Troop 264 from Granite Falls, North Carolina and their leaders were Jim and David. Later in the evening, the trio I had passed earlier arrived at the shelter, took a short break and then moved on to Russell Field Shelter. A young couple from Indianapolis, Anne and Brent, arrived at the shelter and spent the night. Later a family from Texas arrived, but they were just day hiking and had to get back to the valley before dark, no small task with three children! The Boy Scout Troop became my first true Trail Angels. Their Trail Magic, although quite simple, was welcomed! They hiked down to the water supply, a couple hundred yards downhill, carried water back to the camp, filtered it and provided me with a supply for the evening and for the next day. They also offered to cook me dinner. However, since I was planning to hike out the next day, I wanted to finish my food so I wouldn¢t have to carry the additional weight. We had a pleasant evening. They built a nice campfire and we sat around and talked till after dark. These scouts were top-notch young people; were very polite, treated all of us adults with respect, and obeyed their leaders including being quiet when it was time to go to sleep. I was so impressed with these boys and hope there are more like them somewhere. It would give me hope for the future.