Date: 2015-11-08
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Fontana, NC
Miles today: 109.7
Weather: overcast clouds

11/3 day 154: 26.2 miles M1941.0Groundhog Creek ShelterI started out by headlamp from Hot Springs kissing my dear sweet Pinecone goodbye after a lovely two days of much needed rest and good times with other hikers, especially dinner with Jack Rabbit, Slider, and Home. I loved the stay in Hot Springs, the best (and last) trail town the AT actually goes directly through. The time changed during my two zero days with the sun up earlier and setting earlier. This is the first time that the time change has essentially had no effect on life, other than my need to ensure I can anticipate the time of day when the sun will set and in the mornings to know that, when my full bladder awakens me, has the time arrived to begin packing up and hike out. I am hiking these days with a stronger connection to the circadian rhythms than to the artificial weekly and clock times to which civilization marches. My unofficial stretch goal, is to hike from Hot Springs to Fontana Dam, approx. 110 miles, in four days. Hiking into Hot Springs, I put in a 51-mile two day hike and was very tired by the time I arrived in Hot Springs. This stretch goal would mean putting together three 25-mile days and then a 30-mile, as the daylight time shortens, back-to-back. Let's see what happens...   On other topics, the weather today was good, very warm for Nov 3rd. I hiked today until dusk having crossed Max Patch and its 360-degree views about an hour before sunset where I had my first good look at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. These mountains are impressive from this 4500' vantage point towering another 2000' above me in the distance ahead. I'll be up there by tomorrow evening! My feet hurt most of the day, typical after a zero day, so this shelter, Groundhog Creek, is old and the platform is off-kilter, is a welcomed stopping point.11/4 Day 155 25.3 miles M1966.3Tri-corner Knob ShelterToday's hike was under very nice weather, unseasonably warm for Nov. I COULD be hiking in a foot of snow at this time of year. Instead, ankle-deep leaves, partly sunny skies, and gentle, warm breezes. Truly awesome to be alive. I anticipated at the start of today that this would be a challenging hike. Starting with an hour of headlamp hiking in the fog, I ascended 1200' feet to snowbird mountain over a grassy bald (4263') where the rising sun began to work its way through the fog and I had another, veiled, view of The Smokies, towering over the mountains in the foreground, impressive. The AT descended then 2900' to the I-40 underpass and the Pigeon River at 1411'. This descent set up the net 5000' climb that would be the next 16 miles up to Davenport Gap, then Mount Cammerer, and by dusk light and then headlamp over the 6330' Mt. Guyot, the highest point yet on the AT as a SOBO, before I would stop for the evening at Tri-corner Knob Shelter. The gross climb for the day was 8000'. I had the sense much of the day that I was hiking compass north as the sun seemed to be on the wrong side. As I entered the higher elevations, I noticed how the forests had changed to evergreen, what I call the enchanted forests where only moss and fallen fir needles are the forest floor. Very quiet on a calm day like today. The smell of evergreen trees with every breath. There is still a bit of fall color in the lower valleys, but most peaks this time of year are void of deciduous leaves; in the highest elevations, the evergreens still have their leaves and make for very dark hiking at dusk. As the sun set tonight, I noticed below me how the clouds seemed to rise out of the mountains like someone had set them afire, lending the name "Smoky Mountains". This phenomenon can be seen in other mountains, too, but none that I've seen previously on this thru-hike compare to the majesty, mystery, and amount that I saw today from Mount Guyot. After dusk, by headlamp, I could smell a fire burning about 0.5 miles from Tri-corner Knob Shelter. This was good news to let me know that I was getting closer to time I could rest and that people were likely not yet all gone to sleep so I would not disturb when I arrived. I arrived and was greeted by a group of short section hikers who were to meet their wives at the Mount Leconte Lodge in a few days. They generously offered to boil water for me, which I gratefully accepted as it made my dinner prep easier and faster. After some good conversation, I retired to bed, which has become a delicious reward after a very, two very long hiking days.11/5 Day 156: 26.4 miles M1992.7Double Spring Gap ShelterI left Tri-corner Knob Shelter at 5:18am with all other hikers still asleep. I try to pack up and hike out without awakening other hikers -- some days I am more successful that others, today was a quiet exit. Dawn began to break around 6:00am and sunrise around 6:45 and fog lingered a bit longer along the ridge line to Charlie's Bunion where upon my arrival the fog cleared and the sun shone through. Charlie's Bunion is a rock outcrop from a cliff that is blue-blazed off the AT by about 0.1 miles. Signs at the junction with the AT suggest to keep children under close supervision along this trail. The valley was beautiful over the cliffs and outcroppings. As I hiked on to Newfound Gap, another 4.4 miles, the weather turned decidedly more wet and drippy as the heard of day-hikers passed me in the other direction towards Charlie's Bunion, where I expect the weather may not have allowed them the same fine view I had. Among the many heading toward Charlie's Bunion was a group of three hikers, two were named Horne and the other visiting from Germany. We had a very pleasant chat. I hope to attend a Horne family reunion; though, I do not think there is a close family relation between this Horne clan and myself. By the time I arrived at Newfound Gap, the rain had become steady. I re-adjusted my gear to accommodate the rain (poncho and rain pants) and set out again at 1:30pm with many more miles to go before days end. The rain continued steady through the climb to the highest point on the AT, Clingman's Dome. The trail through enchanted forests has been consistently more difficult and rugged, steep over roots and rocks, while being at the same time very well-maintained. I arrived at Clingman's Dome as dusk was setting in and found the tower to be encased in a thick layer of fog. Since I've hiked through The Smokies twice before and seen the vast expanse visible from the tower, I decided to bypass the climb to the top of the tower and continued hiking on into the dusk to the shelter awaiting me ahead. I arrived at 6:45, having hiked by headlamp for an hour. As usual these days, the only way for me to hike this distance in a day is to start before daylight and end after dark. I usually hike 2.0 to 2.3 miles per hour average. Today was some tougher trail for these parts; so, my breaks were very few and short making today feel very long and grueling. I am in good spirits though quite tired. Hungry but feeling so tired I don't want to cook and eat, I was encouraged by a fellow hiker (whom I'd met while she was on her NOBO thru-hike when we were both at The Notch Hostel in N. Woodstock, NH!!) to eat nonetheless as I would need to have the energy in my system tomorrow morning. She is right and so I did. My sleeping bag and Neo-air Xlite mattress feels so amazingly good for a very tired body. I still elevate my feet at night with my rain gear and day clothes. I am in heaven at this moment.11/6 Day 157: 19.5 miles M2012.2Mollies Ridge ShelterToday was a milestone day having passed the 2000-mile mark!! Out by headlamp again, I made the steep climb up Thunderhead and Rocky Top in the fog after sunrise. I had passed 8 fellow SOBOs early morning still just rousing in the Silers Bald Shelter about 1.7 miles down-trail from where I stayed last night. Three soon passed me one by one as we scaled Thunderhead: Buddha, Whiskers, and Burnside. I stopped in at Russell Field Shelter for a brief break and rain gear adjustment where I spoke with a section hiker. I said, you must have seen three other hikers ahead of me. He said, "No, I've only seen two ahead of you today". My stretch goal to hike into Fontana from Hot Springs 4 days later meant that I would need to lay down a 30-mile day today, a tough challenge for me after the miles I had lain down the previous three days and given that much of the day today was in the rain and fog making rocks, leaf-covered trail, and roots all the more slippery. I had a decision to make by the time I arrived at the last Shelter, Mollies Ridge, whether to stay or go. I adopted the policy way back in ME, which is to re-assess my goals for the day at each stopping point, and give myself permission to change my plans to follow the most joyful path for the day from each new vantage point. Today, the most joyful course was to stay at Mollies Ridge after my arrival at 3:30pm already very tired. Tonight, I feel this is clearly the right decision rather than push on to hike after dark into Fontana. So I arrived at Mollies Ridge to find Burnside who said Buddha had just left for Fontana Dam. Burnside asked if I'd seen Whiskers. I said no and recalled what the section hiker said at Russell Field. Odd we thought. Burnside said Whiskers, his hiking partner since the very beginning and the pair which I had met as I first arrived in Monson, ME, had always stayed in the same location each night and that he and Whiskers never hiked too far apart. Whoever hiked first almost always only had to wait a few minutes for the second hiker to arrive at whatever stopping point was along the trail. As a side note: most people who hike in groups don't actually hike nose-to-tail but put some out-of-sight distance between them -- though some married hiking couples do, in fact, hike together. So Burnside seemed at a loss for what to do - whether to wait here or to hike north to look for Whiskers. Not knowing where the other was is something today for the first time this hiking pair had experienced. At around 5:00 pm, Whiskers arrived in camp at Mollies Ridge Shelter saying from up trail, "boy am I glad to see YOU!" Burnside said the same thing back, feeling much relief, too. Turns out that Whiskers had taken a trail to the west heading down from the ridge and didn't realize he was off the AT until he read a sign that pointed to the AT 3.5 miles away! Whiskers also saw that the Russell Field trail was in another direction and that he needed to pass through Russell Field on his way SOBO. He decided to hike towards the Russell Field Trail then head uphill again to the AT and luckily found his way to Mollies Ridge Shelter.11/7 Day 158: 12.3 miles M2024.5Fontana Village, NCAfter a night of rain and only a half-day to Fontana, I had a slow start with breakfast and then headed mostly down hill to Fontana Dam. After a steep climb or two, I realized I missed a trail intersection when I saw Shuckstack tower (0.1 miles off the trail). I retraced to find where it met the AT and hiked downhill in the rain only to come to a sign that was pointing in the wrong direction to Fontana Dam, and oddly had the same distance as the previous sign I saw in the last gap and trail intersection where I'd also met some section hikers and had a very pleasant conversation. How odd that they would put a sign in the wrong gap?!?  Uh Oh! I'M IN THE WRONG GAP! After not intending to take the side trail up to Shuckstack, I returned to hike the AT in the wrong direction. I guess I deserved to have this happen after kidding Whiskers this morning about staying on the right trail today. So, I suppose I cashed in some of my frequent hiker miles today and got free bonus miles. Yeah! Still raining, I made my way down the last mountain before exiting the GSMNP and approaching the dam. I met a father/daughter day-hike team out of the Atlanta area. We had a wonderful and pleasant walk in the rain across Fontana Dam together.   Lynette (Pinecone) met me this evening to spend a zero day together tomorrow. Also ended the day watching the LSU vs. Alabama football game, a real treat to have to arrive when I could watch the game.11/8 Day 159: zero day M2014.5Typical zero of clothes washing, resupply, and a day of rest. But special was to spend time today with Lynette.