Date: 2008-04-16
From: Clingman's Dome

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 9.7
Weather: clear sky

Wednesday, April 16, 2008Clingman¢s Dome to Derrick Knob Shelter, 9.7 milesUp at 6:30AM.   I¢m trying to decide what to wear on my feet to hike on the snow and ice that¢s sure to be up there.45-minute ride from the motel to Clingman¢s Dome parking area, high 20¢s no wind bright sunshine. View fairly clear except for that pink-yellow-gray pall of natural smoky air and pollution that seems to always be present in long-range views from the Smokies.Start hiking the AT south at 9:25AM, temp now probably in the 30¢s.Trail is glare-ice and 3 inches of compacted snow, or bare and hard. A melting yesterday, and refreezing overnight. I¢m wearing one Croc with Pipesmoke¢s ice walker on it and another Croc with a yak trak on it. We¢re taking our time.Hello to NOBO¢s Barefoot Sage and Forest Gimp, to Pod and Rhody, to Hoot (started March 25) from Seattle and Elizabeth, to Opop and Cat. To Waterboy and Papaprofen, who are hiking the Smokies with NOBO¢s Buffet and Mooch. Well, hello to NOBO Croc-a-toe-a!!! A fellow Crocwalker. He¢s slipping and sliding. I¢m finding the yak trak beats the icewalker for traction on today¢s slippery surfaces.Pew, we smell something ripe. Can it be us, so soon? Not us, yet. That odor is the smell of sun-warmed manure tea.My icewalker breaks at the heel, just like the first one. I replace it with a spare yak trak I'm carrying.Hello to section-hiker Pilgrim, NOBO¢s VigilAuntie and Y, and to NOBO Bobcat, who passes them. Y lost one of her yak trax, perhaps at the last shelter.Hello to NOBO Hiker Dave, started March 23. He hiked 6 miles in the snow, 2 of them in a white-out where the whole 2 miles he saw only 3 blazes.Hello to NOBO Hiker Ed from AlabamaHello to NOBO Blaze. When you get to Bears Den be sure to tell Hikelet what your trailname is. ¢Blaze¢ is one of 16-month-old Hikelet¢s favorite words, and one of her first words.New Hampshirites Grey Feather and Memere get too hot. Both of them take off their hats, pick up big handfuls of snow, put the snow on their heads, put their hats back, and walk on. At the trail to Double Spring Gap Shelter where we stop for lunch, we meet NOBO Rest Stop who started April 3 and Wayne, a trail maintainer, and a friend of Wayne¢s. NOBO¢s Cayenne and Tailgate. I find what I think is Y¢s lost Yak Trak. I try but can¢t find a NOBO to carry it forward to her. Oh well, she probably won¢t need it after today. When I get home and start to write up journal notes, (when will that be? answer: June 24), I¢ll try to find her and VigilAuntie¢s journal site and let them know I have it and can mail it to her. (Done).Start walking again at 12:10. Our first up. Spring beauties are out, their tubers rooted by hogs.NOBO Captain John Smith from Chicago.NOBO¢s Cheeseburger, Snap, Snack, Enoch, EZ-Does-It and Slow Train, 5 of them, then Moccasin. Snap and Snack are hiking together. Moccasin usually hikes in moccasins but today it¢s too wet, muddy and icy.Spring Beauties choke the whole forest floor, beech trees with last year¢s leaves. Ramps.As I¢m taking a photo of highly pigmented spring beauty, hello to Oops, out for 5 weeks or so. His dad¢s a science teacher who told him to take the trailname Amoeba. Sorry, Oops, that name¢s already spoken for! Hello to section-hiker Coach from Alabama, who tells us I was married 20 years before I figured out women think differently than men. NOBO Elvis (did I get that name right?) tells us about Etienne and Mountain Mick, from Quebec.Hello to NOBO¢s Babu Simba (I know him as Guam Guy!) and The Breeze. NOBO¢s Chewbacca, Etienne and Mountain Mick from Quebec, Hokiwa (his trail-name is his first name with the letters rearranged, what can it be? I'm just guessing at the spelling of Hokiwa. I should have asked him to spell it.), Maytag and Gobbles.NOBO¢s Fleur and Buck from Nova Scotia.Memere doesn¢t want to step on spring beauties. It¢s OK, Memere, they're not named spring beauties for nothing. The BEAUTY of those plants is they SPRING back. (Groan).5:30 Derrick Knob Shelter. It¢s almost full. Glad we were able to reserve 3 places tonight. We set up inside. We¢ll scoot early in the AM and eat breakfast a ways down the trail.Hello to NOBO¢s Flutewalker (she plays Native American flute, bringing back memories of Beesknees and Relentless in 2004), Birdsong, 2 girls without trail names, one from Scarborough Maine and one from Manchester NH, they don¢t have trail names yet. Memere shares some of her food with them.Also Pilgrim is there and NOBO¢s Bluewater and Gypsy, taking turns tending the fire, Gator, Croc-a-toe-a, who has gone over to the other side, he¢s now wearing Merrells, Twineman, and others.Twineman tells a story about his cast-off Lekis that Chewbacca trash-picked and is now using.Goodnight.