Date: 2016-04-29
From: Derick's Knob Sheltet

To: Mt Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: few clouds

Day 24: The shelter all woke up at around 7:15. I apparently was snoring in the shelter last night.. Whoops. I packed up from the shelter, filtered water, and made breakfast. I got on trail by 8:30. We had to climb up and over Cold Spring Knob, Silers Bald, Mt. Buckley and then onto Clingmans Dome. On my first climb I came across two turkeys fighting it out with their feathers flared. It was fun to watch until they started running towards me. I then had to climb Silers Bald where I stopped for a snack. I carried on and at the top of Silers Bald you could see Clingmans Dome. The weather again today was fantastic, blue skies again. It's been a great run with the weather and we will see if this continues. After going 2 miles from Silers Bald I came up to Double Spring Gap Shelter where I stopped for lunch. There were two springs at this shelter. One was in North Carolina and the other was in Tennessee. The trail at this point follows directly the state line. After leaving Double Springs Shelter I came into a spruce forest. This was my first on the AT and it was most likely due to the increase in elevation. I got up onto the ridge and followed it the whole way to Clingmans Dome. There were many vistas along the way which made for a very nice hike. I came across a couple who were out birding and they were just fascinated about my journey. I told 5 other day hikers about the walking stick when they inquired about it. Finally I got to the side trail which went to the summit. It brought you out to a paved walkway which brings you up a spiral to an observation tower. Fantastic views from the top. The ranger at the bottom asked me if I was a thru hiker. I said yes and he tossed me a bag of Oreos. He said go ahead and leave your pack here while you go up to the summit. Got some great shots at the top. I headed back down and thanked the ranger for the cookies and got back to where the connector trail for the AT is. I say in the grass for about 20 minutes and Luigi popped out of the woods. She decided to rest and wait for the Royal couple. This gave me a chance to run the 1/2 mile down the trail to the parking area and to see what snacks the gift shop had. The gift shop only had bottle water and there was no place to charge your phone. So I walked the 1/2 mile up the big hill back to the group. They were disappointed like me that there wasn't anything good in the gift shop. We mushed on. The trail dropped down off the mountain at a decent grade. We then got to the gap where the climb for Mt Collins would begin. At this point we had gone 12 miles for the day and I was pretty spent. I ate a protein bar and Luigi and I pushed up the mountain. We made it to the top and started coming down the other side. We got to the sign that read Collins Shelter .50 miles off trail. Ugh are you kidding. We tromped on. Finally reaching the shelter which was full. It was a Friday night and we got a good tenting spot. Hopefully there is no rain tonight. I have not been able to check the weather due to poor service so I'm going in blind. Our plan is to get out of camp by 7am tomorrow. We want to get to Newfound Gap to catch the shuttle into town. Also to note I surpassed the 200 mile mark today.