Date: 2008-06-12
To: Smoky Mountains Part II
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We said good-bye to Stacy and hope one day to hike with her again.The next day we hiked to Ice Water Spring Shelter. Last year when I did this hike, I did not see a thing, as I was in a cloud the whole time so again today we took our time enjoy the flowering rhododendron. mountain laurel and the beautiful mountain the sights. I had not hiked out to Charlie¢s Bunion then but today the views were fantastic. When we climbed to the top there was a day hiker there and he turned out to also be Canadian so what are the chances of three Canadian¢s on the top of Charlie¢s at one time!At Ice Water, we met two hikers who are section hiking the AT for the last 40 years and have only about 200 miles to go. They are called the Day Hikers as they have done most of it that way. Later another family from Florida arrived who are also section hiking the AT and up to this point. They were Mad Dog, Lipstick, (who is so named as she always wears lipstick on the trailJ) and their daughter, Slider. We all got to know each other before a group of five Thru hikers arrived calling themselves the Five Fatty¢s. One, Chris, who we dubbed Tex because he was wearing a cowboy hat he had bought in Gatlinburg, set up his hammock in the shelter. I had not seen that before, but it actually worked out well. One the guys had a guitar and so Helen played and sang for us. She is quite the musician.Also at this shelter there is a peacock hen dubbed Sally. We had been hearing about Sally for a few days and were anxious to meet her. She was very tame and would come right up to you, especially if you gave her peanuts, Helen!Again we said our goodbyes in the morning and headed out. We traveled the Boulevard Trail to Mt. LeConte. I had not been on this trail before as it is not part of the AT. It was a really nice trail until we got close to the end and then it was a pretty good up. As we walked along, I thought I saw a dog walking up the trail but before my brain could register, dogs are not allowed in the Smoky¢s, I recognized it was another wild boar. A small one this time and it turned and ran quickly away. I had never seen one before and on this trip I got to see two. We arrived early at the shelter and there was one guy there who was waiting on a friend who was doing the Mt. Le Cont Challenge, which is to hike all 5 (?) trails to the mountain in a certain time. He was running them and had broken the record but then found out he had missed a connecting trail and his time did not count. We felt sorry for him as he had plenty of time to complete it and still break the record and they had traveled from the mid-west just to do this challenge. All three of them were in the field of education. Later three more educators came in and we were set for the night.Out last day on the trail was down hill for 7 miles or so. It again was a beautiful walk with much of it along a stream. We stopped at Rainbow Falls for a break and then started to see a multitude of day hikers going up to the sparse falls. One group of two women and three small children asked us how far and they were not even 1/4 of the way and had no water. We told them to stop and enjoy where they were and not to try to continue on. I am always amazed at how ill prepared some hikers are out here and bring their children who are going to hate hiking if they are tired and thirsty all the time.We arrived at the bottom around 11:30 and Kim was there to meet us. She had brought drink (chocolate milk for me, how did she know?) and soda for Helen and we headed to Knoxville to real food and a shower. It was a wonderful hike and I enjoyed every minute of being back out on the trail. So my next entry should be from Grafton Notch in Maine!