Date: 2022-10-17
From: Mt Collins Shelter Mile 204.0

To: Russell Field Shelter Mile 182.0
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: light rain

I didn¢t sleep well last night. Partially due to anxiety over the cold weather, partially from the multiple heavy but short downpours , and partially from the generally louder noise level in the shelter. I lucked out and each time I had to pee it wasn¢t raining, just dripping from the trees. There are some small scattered puddles but otherwise I think the bursty nature of the rain helped it soak in. We¢re in the clouds and it¢s a damp and foggy morning. Fortunately our gear is dry. One section hiker woke up in a puddle with a wet sleeping bag and another had moved their tent under the shelter in the middle of the night to avoid the same fate. As Orchid and I rolled out, some in the group (including the wet hiker) were still arguing that they should continue with their trip. If I had the wet bag with no sure way to dry it and low 20s I¢d be already working on the exit plan. After a short but surprisingly tough climb, have I mentioned we are overdue for a day off, we reached Clingmans Dome. At 6612 feet this is the high point on the AT. Springer is lower so technically it¢s all downhill from here. On the way up we had the occasional brief glimpse of blue skies but when we arrived at the too it was still fogged in with a brisk breeze blowing. There¢s a handicap accessible viewing tower and we climbed up just so we could say we¢ve been there. Surprisingly there were a number of people up there even though it was likely to be a while before the fog lifted. Mrs Duckie had sent updated forecasts via the Garmin InReach and we actually had a tiny bit of cell service and could also check the weather. 24 tonight and low 30s during the day tomorrow seems to be the consensus. I¢m willing to continue but Orchid is more nervous about the weather than I am and so it was up to her to make the final decision on Go / No Go. She chose to continue, although I did make her pinky swear it was her decision and she wasn¢t feeling pressured into it. And with that we made a hasty retreat from the cold windy summit. We started the long 10 mile descent down to the Derrick Knob Shelter and the planned lunch spot. About a mile in we passed the 200 miles to go mark and another six miles later we hit the 2000 miles completed. We looked for a marker and didn¢t see one and actually didn¢t see the NOBO 200 mile marker either. We found out later from Decadent there was a SOBO 2000 written on a white blaze. We ended up making a marker at lunch. After lunch we had a hard climb up to Thunderhead Mt and then over to Rocky Top Mountain. This was definitely a steep climb up but I¢m also wondering if we¢re seeing the effects of a long big mile stretch without a zero. We had some views from the top but the higher mountains are losing most of their leaves. There is a song about Rocky Top which is an official Tennessee state song and it¢s bizarre involving sex, murder and moonshine. Read the lyrics at your leisure. Coach had sung it so it stuck out when we went over it and I looked up the lyrics. I had turned on cell service at the top and got a message from the Hostel we¢re staying at tomorrow night that their well pump broke and they were canceling our reservation. Service was intermittent and so I enlisted the help of my sister to find a replacement and after a lot of trying we were able to find a new place. This caused a delay on the top if Rocky Top exposed to the cold wind. We had to leave the top as we were getting cold and daylight was becoming an issue before the new place secured. Made the final push to the shelter and got there about 30 minutes before the sun started to set. There were seven people in the shelter already but only one other southbound hiker. They had a blazing fire going in the shelter¢s fireplace. As we entered the open shelter the temperature went up 10 degrees and we were out of the wind. We had planned to tent since it¢s a bit warmer inside the tent and the tent actually does a pretty good job of blocking the wind. However we got lulled into the shelter by the conditions we found. Setup on the upper deck tonight.We ended up cooking on the lee side of the shelter as the eating area was in the wind. Winds are forecast to be 10-15 with higher gusts and temperatures down to 24 at the shelter. AccuWeather is indicating that temperatures are 10-20 degrees below normal and could be close to record lows in places around here. It was still 38 degrees but falling fast and the fire was still going strong when I went to bed so I was wearing sleep plus hiking clothes but not my puffy, buff or gloves. The low is almost 15 degrees colder than anything we have experienced so far. Steps 42700Weather Forecast: 48/23 mostly sunny and windy