Date: 2013-03-25
To: Hot Springs 
Miles today: 91.4
Weather: light snow

So a lot has happened since I left Fontana Dam. We safely made it through the Smoky¢s and have made it to Hot Spring¢s North Carolina yesterday morning. The bummer of it all is that I have had to separate from Nate and the rest of the group due to an infected blister on my heel. Before I explain that I would however like to explain the trip through the Great Smoky Mountains. After Spence Shelter we went to Double Spring Gap Shelter. The trail itself was mostly ridge walking and was not that difficult at all. However throughout the day there were scattered showers and about 3 miles from the shelter thunder storms became a big concern. I ended up getting into the shelter right before it began to hail. This weather made several of us a little worried about the next day as we planned to wake up early to climb to the top of Clingmans Dome (the highest point on the AT) to watch the sun rise. Luckily when we got to the top of Clingmans the next day the clouds parted and we got to see an amazing sun rise. The only bad part to that morning was the temperature. All of our water froze (as did my shoes), and most of our electronic gear died within minutes due to the exposure. Once we hiked off of Clingmas we were able to hitch a ride into Gatlinburg TN to take a half day where I was able to buy a new head lamp (the bulb on mine died the night before). The day after Gatlinburg ended up being an intense day for me as it was the first day that I ended up taking a wrong turn on the trail. Mistaking a patch of white moss on a tree for a white blaze I ended up taking a wrong turn down a different trail from the AT. Mistaking another patch of moss for a white blaze (with my sunglasses on it was hard to tell) I ended up going a good three miles down the trail. By the time I realized my mistake and had found the AT again I had been brought back to the first shelter with another 13 miles to go and it was already 3:30. Thankfully I was able to get to the shelter before sundown and see all of the amazing views of the day. That night the temps dropped down to 0 degrees and when we woke up we found that there was a good 5 inches of snow on the ground. This was easily the coldest day that I have had to deal with on the trail so far and I was thankful to reach Davenport Gap Shelter so I could get into my sleeping bag and get warm. We ended up having an easy day the next day and I won¢t lie I do not remember much to it due to what happened the following day because the next day ended up being my biggest challenge yet. By this time my heel had started to hurt bad on random days but I did not think that it was at a large risk of having anything bad happen. We ended up hiking 23 miles to Deer Park Mountain Shelter which was 3 miles above Hot Springs. My heel became raw and by the time I finished several people believed it to be infected. Trail Fingers (one of the guys in my group) lent me his crocs to hike down the mountain with the next day so I could get into town. There we were happy to meet up with Nate¢s dad who was kind enough to buy us and the group breakfast. Nate and I ended up spending the rest of the day with him and we ended up spending the rest of the day recuperating, re-supplying, soaking in the water of Hot Springs, and refueling on carbs. It was decided that I should remain in Hot Springs for another day (being Sunday the day before meant that the walk in clinic was closed) to get my heel looked at. It turns out that the original assessment was right and I do have an infection on my heel. Nothing a round of anti-biotics can¢t fix. I have been hanging out at the hostel in town with other thru hikers and I am now looking forward to getting out and hiking again tomorrow.