Date: 2013-04-09
From: Clingmans Dome

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 32.4

Hurray! We finished the AT in the Smokies on 4/10/13! Now all we have left is 1 day in Maine for Peace and 2 days for me in Maine which we'll do late August or early September this year. We were grateful we had no falls on this hiking trip thought we did trip on some rocks and roots occasionally! We averaged about 32 minute miles overall.Monday, 4/8/13, we left our rental car at Fontana Dam, dropping our overnight pack with our sleeping bags/food/water at Cades Cove Horse Stables to be left at Spence Field Shelter for us on Tuesday morning. We walked over to the Fontana ¢Hilton¢ Shelter where we met some thru hikers. We met Ducky when we stopped by Fontana Village Resort and gave him a ride back to Gatlinburg with us. He and fellow hikers had white water rafted at NOC on some yellow "duckies" which is how he got is name. Tuesday, 4/9/13, we passed a fallen large rock and some ice and snow on the sides of the road to Clingman¢s Dome. It was cloudy and 45 windy degrees when we started at 7:15 am on our half mile access path to the Appalachian Trail. There was minimal ice and some mud but we were able to successfully navigate around it. We saw the sun rise behind us over the mountain as we walked easily downhill. The first part of the day was like our normal 7 mile hike on our Maryland Sugarloaf Mountain training ground. But as we added miles and long uphills, we grew weary even without overnight packs. The heat (low 80¢s) of the day and the bugs on the final long steep uphills to the shelter reminded us of why we prefer to hike shorter hikes on cooler spring and fall mornings. We enjoyed meeting the numerous thru hikers along the way, including Floater and his daughter Ghee, Jigsaw, Snafu, Staff, Buffalo (from NY), Fozzy, Buttercup, Pathfinder, Grinch, Whiskers and Rocket, Wickey, OB (Old and Busted), Double Dare (his family were on the game show), Windy, Breezy, Bojangles, Oxy, Zeus, Postman, Puffy, Sky, Bucket list, Willow, Luscious (beer drinker), Head bones, Don¢s Bro (walking for ALS), Blue, Paddy, Puddin, Fatty, Janis and Kevin (from Germany out for 3 months), Greer and Ole Boy (from Illinois), Hot Pants, El Grato, Underwear, Sleeping Beauty, Manson, Nutella, Nova (Andrea from Nova Scotia), Soway¢¦.and many more we can¢t remember.We seemed to be the only South Bounders except for Julia who said she was just hiking the Smokies. She said she was hiking to Spence Field Shelter for the night. We saved her a space but she never showed up.We enjoyed talking to Greer from Byron, IL, just 20 miles from Peace¢s hometown of Rockford, IL. He showed us how his hammock worked, falling out twice with a smile when experimenting with it. Peace ate his very squished Subway sandwich from the day before and I had humus and cheese sandwiches for dinner. I claimed the space beside the ladder on the top ¢bunk¢ to decrease the chances of mice and make it easier to exit for my frequent nightly visits to the privy.Everyone settled down soon after dark around 9pm except for one couple who arrived late and squeezed into the space we had left for Julia. Peace and the new guy did the most snoring, but still minimal compared to our last shelter overnight last fall. The loudest noise all night long was the tarp swinging back and forth scraping the ground as it blew in the very strong winds. I tried using earplugs which never seem to stay in my ears but helped when I wore ear muffs over them.The best part of overnighting in the shelter is the many trips to the privy when I can see the beautiful night sky full of millions of stars. And I enjoy feeling and smelling the fresh air (although not the intermingled whiffs of thru hikers) (smile)!Wednesday, 4/10/13, after maybe 3-4 hours of sleep, people arose around 6 am, and we joined them in squeezing the air out of our sleeping pads and stuffing our sleeping bags back in the dry packs. I ate one of my two squished bananas for breakfast and Peace ate his Pop Tarts for breakfast. As we hung our heavy backpack on the bear cables, I smiled, happy that the horse would pick it up later and we didn¢t have to have the extra burden. I just can¢t imagine how so many thru hikers carry that weight day after day for 6 months to complete their hike.We said our goodbyes and reminded everyone that if they wanted a break from the trail when they reached the Harpers Ferry, WVA, area, to contact us through our trailjournals.com Love and Peace¢s 2010 journal. Then we could pick them up, take them to our place where they could stay overnight and visit the DC area if interested, and then we would return them to the AT in Harpers Ferry when they were ready.We started on our South bound hike from Spence Field Shelter when we saw Greer who had left before us. We apparently turned the wrong direction on the trail and he corrected us, saving us from adding extra miles to our already very long day. I gave him a hug in gratitude and we turned in the correct direction.The hike again was easy in the beginning with more down hills and plenty energy and we made good mileage. And again as the day became warmer and buggier and we had more significant uphills, our energy waned and feet became blistered. However, the last downhill was not as steep as expected having easier switchbacks, so my feet didn¢t hurt as much as I thought they would.We passed so many more thru hikers along the way, that we finally stopped introducing ourselves anxious to complete the hike and get to our air conditioned car. However, some of the people we met included Sinner Man who we blessed with Love and Peace, and Mother Theresa, who blessed us with love and peace (smile)!Near the end we saw Pocatello (spelling?) who we had met last fall at the AMC Gorman Chairback Lodge in Maine. He had to get off his thru hike due to a knee injury at the time. I asked him why he was starting over instead of just completing his final 60 miles where he left off and he said ¢I guess because I¢m an idiot¢. I guess he really enjoys the journey as our AT t-shirt says, ¢The Journey is the Destination¢.We were so happy to splash cold water on our very hot faces and hands at the Fontana Dam Visitor¢s Center at 2:30pm. Since we were finished earlier than expected, we cancelled our Fontana Village Resort reservation and proceeded to pick up our pack from the Cades Cove Horse Stable and our car from Clingman¢s Dome.We were glad to be trail angels for the hitch-hiking thru hikers partway down the Clingman¢s Dome road¢Jolly, Blue, St. Croix, and Quick Change (aka Bee Rocket and Barbara). We could accommodate them all with our two cars and drove them to the Grand Prix Motel in Gatlinburg.We overnighted at Sleepy Bear Motel and headed home the next morning happy that we completed our final shelter overnight and only two more days of hiking to do in Maine to complete our 15 year AT section hike.Again, any thru hiker who gets to the Harpers Ferry, WVA, area is welcome to contact us through this website for a 1 hour ride and overnight stay at our place in Rockville, MD, just 2 miles from the Shady Grove subway ride into DC. Happy trails to you all!