Date: 2004-10-22
From: Derrick Knob

To: Spence field-Bote Mt Trail
Miles today: 6.3

Today is Friday October 22nd. We woke up about 7, and Warren and Morley we're getting up. Shortly after that all the gals got up at Derrick Knob Shelter and we were on the trail by 8:40. Spent time chatting with people and taking pictures. Trail starts off nice with down and flat, and didn't take too long before it started up again. And then steeply down, there were places on the trail, just too steeply down. One gap may have been called Sugar Tree Gap. And now I think we're at Mineral Gap. We took a break at Starkey Gap at 9:40 a.m. And we got it to this Monroe Gap at 10:50 am. We left Monroe Gap at 11:05am, and shortly after I saw a marker for 5040 ft. Then we can do another Gap called Beech-Nut Gap. With a blue-blazed trail for water to the West. We arrived at Thunderhead Mountain at 11:42 a.m. And we are very happy about it. It was a hard hard hike up Thunderhead, steep and rocky. Sections that were really hard to do. Over the top of very heavy rhododendron bogs, they do a lot of cutting to keep it open. You are in a Rhododendron tunnel even on top, and they have rocks piled up so you can get any View at all. The Rhododendron are 12 feet tall up there. So now it's .6 miles to Rocky Top and just another mile to our turn off. We left Thunderhead at 11:52 a.m. Got to Rocky Top at 12:09 pm, Terry had me singing the song Rocky Top. There are a lot of clouds around, so we are not getting the best of views. But you can still see mountains in every direction. Taking another break on Rocky Top. We left Rocky Top at 12:22 pm. And we got to the intersection of Bote Mountain Trail at 1 pm. We are taking a 20-minute rest and taking pictures here. A young couple came up and they are from Indiana. They both go to school at Indiana Wesleyan University. We told them about our hike on the Appalachian Trail and they said, they were considering it after college. They drove down, just for two days of hiking in the park, and they are staying at Cabins in Tremont. One of their parents has a timeshare in Pigeon Forge, and they used that for their honeymoon. I don't know what a honeymoon is. Also while we're there, two people come by on horses and take off down Bote Mountain Trail. So as we headed down Bote Mountain, we met two more people coming up near the top, after not seeing anyone all day, now they're all right here on this mountain. We started the trail at 1:30 p.m and we are really enjoying a nice Mountain Road going downhill. We left Anthony Creek at 2:20 pm and the Findlay Creek Trail at 2:52 pm. We finished all of our drinking water at Findlay Creek Trail. And we did see a snake up near the start of Bote Mountain Trail. Don't know what he was, but small. Really enjoyed Bote Mountain Trail, it's a little bit rocky, but then it levels out, it's easy to hike. And then Lead Cove Trail was also a good trail. We were averaging two miles per hour. We walked out to our car at 3:47 p.m, and now need to go get our other car at Clingmans Dome. And then we drive home to Belleville. That¢s all the hiking for 2004. About 343.6 miles total this year on the A T. We completed 742 total miles on the A-T.