Date: 2012-04-07
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

In the morning I saw that Fastback Wiffleball and Hawk had made it in the night and it was the first and one of the only days that I wore my gloves I had brought. They joked about how rocky I had made the trail and also said that the sunset was really nice. The four of us were the last to leave the shelter and as we did a mama and younger deer walked very close to the shelter. They were not afraid of us at all and it reminded me of how tame the deer were in Shenandoah. I had ten miles until Clingman's Dome which is the highest point on the whole Appalachian Trail. So, after that, it's all downhill, right? There were a ton of section hikers today just like there were yesterday and when I reached the Dome, I realized that it also happened to be the day before Easter Sunday. There were TONS of people. It was a bit overwhelming, but eventually I found the rest of the moving village and headed up the circular ramp to the observation deck with a 360 degree view. It was a beautiful, clear day and I could see for miles. Halfway and The Kid were walking the .5 mile down to the Visitors Center to buy drinks and snacks and I decided to join them. There were no vending machines or snacks of any kind except for $4 bars of dark chocolate and water. Disappointed, we headed back up the hill, but not before I grabbed some extra TP from the bathroom, just in case. You can never have enough TP. In the afternoon's hike we crossed the 200 mile mark which felt like it went by a lot faster than the first 100. Less than 2,000 miles to go! Haha. Anyway, we camped at Mt Collins Shelter and Wiffleball Hawk and Fastback joined later, followed by Biscuits and Firewalker who had done a 20+ mile day in order to get there. During dinner I talked to Trog about his lightweight ways and while laying in my tent I listened to two different conversations which were both entertaining in different ways. One conversation came from the shelter where three guys talked about motorcycles and beer. Two of them had lowered their voices as it had gotten dark, but the third seemed oblivious of the fact that most everyone else was going to sleep and soon yelled about whether there was more than one bear cable or not. The other conversation was by Wiffleball and Hawk and consisted of make believe animals called Grolar Bears and Mountain Panthers. Grolar Bears are a breed of Grizzly and Polar Bears that are practically impossible to see with the naked eye. Not only are they very hard to spot, but those who do usually die. Mountain Panthers have laser beams that shoot from their eyes and when they fight each other they shoot down branches and trees with the lasers in hopes to have them land on their foe. Both are very deadly and rare, obviously. Tomorrow everyone is going into Gatlinburg, but since I still have plenty of food, and drove through the interesting town on the way to Springer I will continue on. Of course, since Bigfoot's dad and mother in law are meeting at the Newfound Gap to shuttle the rest of the Moving Village in, I will hike with them and say bye and maybe enjoy some trail magic as well.