Date: 2005-04-19
From: Silers Bald Shelter

To: Grand Prix Motel
Miles today: 12.5

I awoke to find out everyone had moved on to the next shelter except Mr. Fusion. At least I had caught up to somebody. By the way, Mr. Fusion always leaves lyrics in the registers and I about kicked myself when reading his latest for not thinking of it yesterday. It was the lyrics to Rocky Top. Now how can I stand on the top of Rocky Top Mountain and not have ¢Good ol¢ Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee¢ run through my head? Today is a big day because we get to hike up the tallest mountain on the entire AT ¢ Clingmans Dome. How exciting. It¢s also the day we head into Gatlinburg. After talking up Gatlinburg and convincing everyone they need to stop there I wasn¢t about to let everyone get there before me (the main reason for night hiking). I think I had the taste of micro brewed beer driving me today. ;-) Mr. Fusion and I stopped by Double Spring Gap shelter where everyone had pushed to last night. Sunflower had left us a note taped to a rock telling us their plans along with her #just in case. It was so cute! Alright, so Clingmans Dome¢¦I hiked and hiked slowly gaining elevation (not a bad workout at all). All of a sudden it got darker and pine needles were covering the trail. I had entered into a frazier fur paradise. It was so unbelievably beautiful and it smelled wonderful ¢ like Christmas actually. I know this sounds lame, but I loved walking into coniferous territory. I picked up a fallen branch of one of the furs and put it on my shoulder strap so I could smell the forest anytime. :-) When I finally made it up to Clingmans Dome I saw Mr. Fusion trying to hitch a ride from the parking lot. I wasn¢t about to ditch the next eight miles so I kept on. I walked to the top of the space age tower where it was so crowded with day hikers I could barely catch a view. A nice German couple took my picture and I took theirs. After I climbed down I sat on the wall at the bottom of the lookout and ate lunch. There I met Wrong Way Grace. Her name was Grace because she trips a lot and Wrong Way because she has a tendency to hike in the wrong direction. Poor girl! Her and her partner were getting a ride back tot Fontana Damn to zero. So when I started freaking out because I couldn¢t find my trail mix (most likely because I ate it all) she offered me here food. It was so incredibly nice of here. I now had snack food to get me to Newfound Gap. After talking to a nice older couple who were amazed we were walking to Maine I headed down the mountain. I followed the Mountains to Coast trail for a bit and thought about how easy (and quick) it would be to hike which then lead to some daydreams about the Outer Banks. I don¢t quite know if it¢s healthy for me to be dreaming about the beach when I¢m hiking in the mountains. After the trail split off to the East I once again found myself surrounded by firs. I stopped to take a picture and after examining it started flipping through all the pictures I¢ve taken. I must have spent a good 20/30 minutes laughing and reminiscing. A long time later I made it to Indian Gap. I looked at the sign that said 4.5 miles (or something horrid like that) and got all discouraged. I threw my pack down in the grass and laid down resting my head on it. I laid there in despair thinking I would never make it to Gatlinburg and then it occurred to me that it might be for the other trail crossing there. Sure enough I read the wrong freaking sign. The correct sign for the AT said 1.7. I¢m such an idiot, but at the same time was so ecstatic. I was actually WAY closer than I thought. It was 7ish before I made it so now I just had to find a ride. I got stopped by this gentleman who said he worked for a North Carolina newspaper and wanted to ask me some questions about hiking in the Smokies. It turns out he works for the News & Observer which is my hometown newspaper! He came into town to cover Bush¢s arrival (something about planting a tree for Earth Day) and was interviewing hikers for the Earth Day spread. What a small world! He drove me into town while we talked about music stores in Raleigh. On the way I saw two bear cubs frolicking on the hillside. The road was practically blocked from people stopping and jumping out of their cars to take pictures. I¢m happy to say my first wild bear sighting was in the comfort of a car. The last place you want to be is near bear cubs and not know where the momma is. When we arrived in Gatlinburg I had him drop me off right at the Brewery. I hadn¢t been there five minutes when everyone rolled in. It was so awesome seeing everyone again! We got a table upstairs where most of us ordered the beer sampler. It consisted of their eight micro brews in 5 oz. glasses. Heaven! The other kicker¢¦ karaoke night. Things couldn¢t have worked out more beautiful. Erik even showed up which added to our happiness. After getting good and drunk and taking rounds up at the microphone (and witnessing a real life marriage proposal) Mr. Fusion got up and dedicated Rocky Top to everyone in the bar. The highlight of the night (besides Erik singing ¢linger¢ by the Cranberries) was when they cut on the real music at the end of the night and played ¢Sweet Home Alabama¢. It was a great drunken, dancing, bonding experience for Bottle Rocket and I. When the hip-hop came on we were all dancing. It¢s got to be the most fun I¢ve had so far. All night long Mr. Fusion kept saying ¢It¢s only April!¢. We still have months ahead of us! I didn¢t have a place to stay since I got into town late so Mr. Fusion was kind enough to let me stay in his room at the Grand Prix. I love my friends! Sunflower and I stumbled to the motel where we all continued to party and eventually pass out.