Date: 2019-04-14
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Silers Bald Shelter
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Ugh. Another rough day today. The wind from last night was howling this morning too. I woke up at 6:30, yay Diana! My goal for today was to make it to the parking lot of Clingman¢s Dome and hitch a ride to Gatlinburg. I wasn¢t going to summit it because the weather was supposed to be insane and it¢s the highest point in the Smokey¢s. The weather lived up to the insanity. There were tornado warnings and thunderstorm warnings and winds of 40 mph. I really am not kidding. It was nuts.I headed out in those winds and it was like walking through a hurricane. I was constantly being pushed to the side and it was taking forever to push forward on the uphills. I had all my Goretex wind gear on, but it was still rough. And then the rain started. It was pretty much just a goal to make it to the nearest shelter at this point. I didn¢t feel safe out in this weather and I felt scared and was soaking. There¢s only so much rain gear can do in pouring rain and howling wind. I had a brief Forrest Gump moment because the rain really did seem to blow in sideways. Haha. Lieutenant Dan was mad on their shrimp boat in the storm and I was mad today too. I was pretty upset. It¢s just miserable trying to walk through that. Even when you know it¢s coming. I¢ve been told so many times ¢you signed up for this¢, ¢what¢d you expect? It¢s the trail¢, ¢there will be more and more days like this where you¢ll never be dry¢. Trust me, I hear you all. I did choose to do this. I knew what I was signing up for. But going it alone is really rough. Pushing through such a severe storm and feeling completely alone and helpless was horrible. I ran into four section hikers and they told me the nearest shelter was 1.5 miles away and that it was ¢mostly flat¢. I need to stop believing people lol it was not flat at all. It was mostly uphill with ¢some flat¢! I was losing my mind and seriously considering bailing. I pushed on and finally made it to the shelter. I walked in like a zombie and the group of people from Fontana were there. They have their own tramily, but they¢ve all been friendly. I was soaked to the bone and considering pushing on to Clingman¢s Dome, but I needed to get warm first. They had all stopped sooner than they had planned to too because the storm was so insane.They didn¢t want me going back out alone and convinced me to stay. It only took about 20 minutes in my soaking clothes to decide I needed to stay. I had pretty bad service, but texted my mom to try to move the reservation at my hotel in Gatlinburg. I got into my dry clothes, literally changing in the open in the shelter. I set up my sleep stuff and got into my sleeping bag to warm up. It worked well and I napped for a bit. The trail family here is Hot Sauce, Prometheus, Naners, and Joe aka ¢Piss Pack¢ (he tried to pee outside his tent in the middle of the night and forgot his pack was there. Ahh the luxury of being able to even pee outside your tent like that. Men.) I don¢t think he¢s keeping that name haha. Hot Sauce hiked 700 miles last year and stopped, so she¢s here again to try and finish it. Prometheus is funny and sassy. We give each other a lot of sass and I enjoy it haha. He started to call me Deborah because of Debbie and when he found out I was as tall as him, he started to call me Big Deborah. Lol I don¢t like the name too much, but it¢s funny. He¢s into horoscopes and I definitely had a phase of being into them too. I don¢t really follow it all anymore, but I joke sometimes that I¢m a Leo and that¢s why I do this or that. I know it¢s all hogwash. He¢s a Pisces. All the Pisces I¢ve met have that sass and we go back and forth like that. Pretty interesting. He looked up his horoscope and then looked at mine. It said I¢ve been struggling lately and losing faith in myself, but will get stronger every day. Amazingly enough, that seemed fitting. We played crosswords on Naner¢s phone and hung out. It was really nice, and the storm was not letting up outside. Prometheus has the best sleep pad. He let me share it with him so I could see. It¢s making me rethink the one I bought because mine is very thin. It isn¢t as easy to pop, but it¢s thin. I have a very comfy bed at home, so it¢s a hard adjustment to the thin pad, but I¢ve been glad it¢s durable. A woman and her friend walked in during the storm. She was a thru-hiker from last year who had to stop due to heath concerns and is finishing it now. She was not in the best mood. The shelter had gotten full throughout the day and she walked in and said ¢you¢re going to have to make room for two more¢. Usually when the shelter is full, you just have to tent. That happened to me last night. Unfortunately, in the Smokey¢s, day hikers and section hikers can reserve the shelter for 4 dollars and kick you out if you¢re a thru-hiker. I think it¢s really dumb because honestly thru-hikers have to endure so much more. Section hikers will be done in a week and back in a car going home. It doesn¢t feel fair to me. And I did have to pay as well for a permit; 20 dollars. This woman did not have reservations, but her friend did. He was able to find a spot, but there was a leak in the corner, so it wasn¢t great. He and a few other guys tried to MacGyver their way around the leak. They put up a tarp and it seemed to help. She set up her stuff on the floor, but was complaining a lot. The Kentucky boys came in pretty late and their dog walked right in and shook off her dirty wet fur all over the woman on the floor¢s sleeping bag. She was pretty pissed and made that clear. Dogs aren¢t allowed in the Smokey¢s unless they¢re service dogs, which I guess this one is. Dogs and bears don¢t like each other so I guess I¢m happy the dog is here. Another man came in from his hammock because he was afraid of getting hypothermia. It is supposed to be cold and snowy tonight actually. What a disgusting day of weather. I went out during a break in the rain and got water and went to the bathroom. A lot of fun on a muddy slope... muddy bum again! I can¢t wait to shower agh. I made my Mountain House meal and ate the whole thing. I had cheese and nuts and alcohol, my own little cocktail time! I played cards with Prometheus and Naners. I¢m getting ready for bed, but the guy next to me snores. Great. Of all the people in the shelter, I¢m sleeping next to the snorer. This will be a real struggle for me some day in a marriage lol. It is so annoying. As much sympathy as I have for them, I need my sleep too and it¢s like sleeping next to a bear! Ugh. Here¢s hoping tomorrow is dry and I get some good sleep tonight. Little Debbie/Deborah? Haha