Date: 2021-09-09
To: Mollie Ridge Shelter 
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: broken clouds

I fell into a deep and restful sleep around 8 last night - a deep and restful sleep that lasted for almost an hour. Then we got hammered by a thunderstorm thrashing itself against the ridge we were on. The rain was pretty intense for about half an hour. At one point I saw a light over where Quiksilver had his hammock. I hoped we was ok, but there was really nothing to be done if he wasn¢t, though the large shelter was at hand so I knew he had a refuge if there was a problem. The intensity of the storm started to lessen after half an hour and then settled into a soaking rain until 10. It kept raining off and on through 5:30 am, but once again, I stayed safe and dry in my hammock. When I got up at 6:30 the fog was heavy and thick. Quiksilver had already rallied out and was readying his morning coffee. (He too had stayed dry all night, his headlight was on to check for potential leaks when I saw it). I retrieved my pack from the bear cables (they recommend hanging food AND packs in the Smokies) and got my gear stowed away. It was relatively cold, what with the fog and winds, cold enough that I donned my rain jacket and kilt to stave off the chill. I headed out on trail at 7:30, still wearing the rain gear. The first third of the day was more or less downhill to the Derrick Knob Shelter. I met two NOBO section hikers in this stretch and we shared our stories of riding out the storm the night before. One of the hikers had only a small tarp for her backpacking trip, so when the storm hit she made a run for the Shelter and waited there for the worst to pass. When I arrived at Derrick Knob there were two more section hikers there. I was taking a short break and we chatted. I mentioned that I was hiking with Quiksilver and they wanted to know if that¢s the same guy who¢s been tagging all the shelters with his name. I said yes, yes it was. And wasn¢t it a shame he felt the need to do so. Hiking on, the sun began to peak through the mists and it was slowly warming up. I took off my jacket, but I was looking so stylish and avant-garde in my kilt that I decided to just keep it on. There were two very steep climbs as you go up to Thunderhead Mountain at 5500 feet, though you are denied any views by the 10 foot tall rhododendrons at the summit. A half mile beyond brings you to Rocky Top and great views to the south, west and north. 16 months ago my wife and I had hiked up to Rocky Top from Cades Cove. I nearly didn¢t make it at that time as it¢s a tough day hike and I wasn¢t close to being as tough my wife. I may be in slightly better hiking shape these days. Coming down from Rocky Top I passed half a dozen day hikers on their way up. One was a guy who thru hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1985. That blows my mind. I don¢t know if I¢ll be fortunate enough to one day celebrate the 36th anniversary of my hike, but I hope to. We arrived at the Mollies Ridge Shelter at 4 and after some scouting, found two doable hammock hangs. We passed over 2000 miles hiked today and that seems a bit unreal. Tomorrow we have a 13 mile day down into the Fontana Dam area where we¢ll be staying at the Hike Inn Hostel. We have 14 days left on the trail and 177.7 miles to go. Egads!