Date: 2004-05-12
From: Birch Spring Tentsite

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: scattered clouds

It was May 12th now. This would only be a 7.9 mile day. I was really hoping Adam would catch up. He had told me lots about The Smokies and it would be fun to share them with a veteran. The trail was taking on a more pastoral look as it hovered between 4000 and 5000 feet. The trees seemed more gracious and the forest floor was frequently covered with grasses. It passed over Doe Knob, through Ekaneetlee Gap, to Mollies Ridge Shelter. This is where I paused to repair some gear that needed attention.Great Smokys Registration:Back at Fontana Dam, that¢s right, where the Shuttle first picked me up, there was a registration kiosk for the National Park. A list of rules and regulations was posted on the board and there was a box of multi part registration forms. The form asked questions like, where will you be staying each night. This doesn¢t really work for through hikers but the park makes exceptions for us. Other hikers need to register in advance. They must stay in the shelters. The registration and reservation system prevents over booking of shelters, except for thru-hikers. The park reserves 2 spaces at each shelter each night for thru-hikers. If the shelter is full, thru-hikers must camp outside the shelter but other hikers must stay in the shelter and are not permitted to camp outside. It sounds a bit strange but it seems to work. One copy of the registration form is a tag with a wire and is to be attached to your pack. The other copies go into the registration box at the kiosk.Mollies Ridge is the first shelter in Great Smoky Mountain National Park encountered by a north-bounder. It was quite a place. It was made of stone with a metal roof. This one had been recently renovated. The roof was new and had been extended about 12 feet off the end of the shelter. This created a great little kitchen area with a roof. They included a counter between the support posts and added benches on either side. The really nice thing about this was that early risers could go to the kitchen area, prep food and pack without disturbing sleeping hikers. Late arrivals and night owls could hangout in this area while the early to bed crowd slept undisturbed in the shelter too. This was a beautiful spot right up on the ridge with grass and big interesting trees. There was also a fire place built into the side wall of the shelter and of course, a bear hoist cable system. The shelter had a loft and was set up to sleep 14. This was limited by boards that were nailed down to the floor at about 3 foot intervals separating one sleeping spot from the next. There would be no squeezing in one more hiker.My gaiters were old and tired long before this trip. If something wasn¢t done soon they would fall apart all together. That explains the purchase of a stuff sack back at NOC. The thought had been to do this repair in the evenings before sleeping, like that was going to happen. After all the stitching was ripped out of the stuff sack using the trusty new little knife, the resulting hunk of nylon fabric was cut in two and the edges seared with a lighter. That¢s right. I managed to leave on this great adventure with out a needle and thread. Fortunately, The Ingles in Bryson City had both, a small package of needles and a set of bobbins of thread. My pack gained the weight of 2 needles and one bobbin of thread. The rest were donated to the hiker box at NOC. Actually, Adam took a needle and thread too. It was a lot of tedious stitching but, in time, the nylon did provide reinforcement to the lower sides of the gaiters where they rub between my boots. What a relief. I had made these gaiters years ago patterned after a really old pair of Chuck Roast gaiters of a design they no longer make. Why do "they" have to stop making perfectly good stuff. Waaaa.There was but one way to stretch my legs after all that stitching sitting cross legged or kneeling in the shelter. That was obviously to hike a few more miles. And so it was, on past the Devil¢s Tater Patch and Little Abrams Gap to Russell Field Shelter just a few miles away.Russell Field Shelter had not yet been renovated. It was the same stone shelter as Mollies Ridge but with out the kitchen area and new roof. The real drawback though was the chain link fence that filled the front opening of the shelter. There was a narrow chain link gate/door that you had to turn sideways to get through. I was wishing I had stayed at the last shelter. This was only a 7.9 mile day but my gators got fixed and at least Adam caught up, and there was much rejoicing. There were a fair number of folks at this shelter for the night and it rained from time to time. Bud from Oregon came by fairly late. He had dinner here and continued on. Just after he left the heavens opened up for about 15 minutes. We felt bad for him but that¢s life on the trail. Once the rain stopped, we were sitting around talking outside, when a 20ish guy in camouflage attire wielding a rifle emerged southbound from the trail. Silence fell on the whole gang and all eyes turned to the stranger. As he got closer we noticed the Park Service patch on his hat and sighed a tentative sigh of relief. Then came the obvious questions. He was a nice enough guy. Oddly enough he was hired by the Park to hunt. Yup, he's a professional hunter.Apparently, some time ago, maybe in the fifties, a local hunting club imported some wild boars from Spain to keep on their reservation to hunt. Some of the boars escaped and found safe haven in the regulated National Park. Not being indigenous and having no natural predators they grew in number quickly. Now they out compete the bears for food and tear up the ground as they root for critters like salamanders. We could see the evidence of the eco damage all along the trail. This guy¢s job is to track and shoot as many boar as he can. He has to leave them as food for the bear. He works till midnight each night and returns to his camp. This was his second summer at it and he has a pretty good time.