Date: 2013-03-22
From: Double Spring Gap Shelter

To: Gatlinburg Motel 6
Miles today: 10.8

(In which I reach the high point of the Trail and the weather cooperates)In spite of single-digit temperatures, I sleep better than I have any other night on the Trail. Careful preparation of my bedding did well to help me stay warm. The college folks took care of the fire well into the night, keeping the inside of the shelter somewhat warmer than the air outside until they ran out of fuel. Having thirteen people in the shelter certainly helped keep things a little warmer, too. I wake up well rested and chat a while with the other thru-hikers before we decide to get moving. I figure the college crowd stuck with their plan to do sunrise at Clingmans Dome, but am surprised to find them all asleep on the top platform. There are eight of them and they all sleep so quietly I thought they weren't even there.I finally break camp and get ready for a big day. Just up the Trail I will ascend beyond 6000 feet for the first time. Already on this trip I have climbed my first 4000-footer with Blood Mountain, and I have climbed my first 5000-footer with Standing Indian Mountain. Elevations starting with fours and fives, while still exciting when they signal mountaintops, are no longer new things. Today I will cross four named 6000-footers. One of those is Clingmans Dome, which has the highest point of the Appalachian Trail at over 6600 feet. I won't even descend below 5000 feet in all of today's walking! I had decided to nero into Gatlinburg with Dumbledore and Grasshopper today. Dumbledore has to make arrangements to get home after she gets through the Smokies, I don't mind checking out the town, and Grasshopper is along for the ride.I am excited to reach this point, but I am bummed that it has to come on a day which, at my last check, was forecast to be less than desirable. Fortunately at this elevation it is supposed to snow, and I will always take snow over cold rain. I was expecting the college folks to clear a path through overnight snow, but when I go outside things are just as they had been left yesterday. The sky is overcast and the air is not terribly cold, giving me the impression that I will be facing heavy, wet snow before the day is out. Before leaving the shelter, Snow Frog and Van Gogh-Go pass by. They had apparently started very early today, and I do not get a chance to inquire how the night went at their much emptier shelter.I push on while the others are still packing up. I figure I will hike hard while the weather holds and maybe there will be some views to salvage from the day's hike. The Trail climbs over a thousand feet, sometimes offering a glimpse of Clingmans Dome looming overhead. I finally break out to a definite landmark - Mt. Buckley at over 6500 feet and less than a mile to Clingmans Dome. The skies are overcast but I am not in the clouds, and I slow down to shoot some photos from advantageous spots along the Trail here. Heading Home, Smooth Sailing, and a couple other hikers pass me in a group as I am shooting photos here. I trail them briefly before dropping behind when I find the next good scene.I am alone for the final approach to Clingmans Dome. The Trail does not go to the summit, but skirts it to the west. I depart the Trail and take the paved path to the summit. Using my 85mm lens and the D800's resolution, I was able to determine that the tower here had a ramp to the top. However, that was barely evident in the photo I took atop Silers Bald yesterday. Now I see that it much more than what I had expected - a simple ramp from the Trail to the top of a lookout tower. The tower here is of concrete construction, with a long curving ramp starting under the tower and winding to the top in one huge 270-degree arc. The weather is holding and I have some views here, but even without any views available the tower itself would have been worth seeing.Heading Home and Smooth Sailing are leaving as I arrive, and Van Gogh-Go and previously unmet thru-hiker Sweat are at the top when I go up. I spend little time up here, as there is no respite from the cold wind and I did not bother breaking out any extra clothing. I snack at the base of the tower waiting for Grasshopper and then leave as Dumbledore arrives. I go back to the Trail where I had left off instead of taking the other side trail from the tower. It seems only a few people have done this short piece between the two tower access trails - I am following individual footprints instead of a well-trodden path. I can spot Dumbledore's colorful jacket on the tower as I pass nearby in the trees, and press north on my own.I have heard about snow and ice lingering on the north slopes of these mountains, where sunlight does not fall until later in the year. Here I find ice in abundance, and the initial descent from Clingmans Dome is probably the most treacherous one yet on account of all the long icy stretches. I get through fine, using the snow along the edges of the Trail and any rocks protruding through the ice to give myself traction. Mt. Love is my third 6000-footer and after passing that point the Trail drops off steeply into Collins Gap. I stop in the gap and write until I start getting cold, and repeat this process a couple times while climbing toward Mt. Collins. The Trail drops below 6000 feet in the gap before climbing right back up above that elevation for my fourth named 6000-footer.I planned to stop at the Mt. Collins Shelter for a snack break, but it is a half mile off the Trail. Instead I stop on one of the dry logs by the side trail to eat and write. Dumbledore, Grasshopper, and Dahigh catch up to me, and Van Gogh-Go comes off the side trail. The latter two are not planning to stop in town. Dumbledore and Grasshopper are okay with hitchhiking, so we decide to meet at the Shoney's and take advantage of the buffet there before we decide on lodging. I move out ahead of the rest so we are staggered and not hitchhiking in a large group.It is mostly downhill from here to town. I encounter Sweat when I reach a side trail and stop to read an info sign about the old road that trail follows. I'm not sure when I passed him, but I push on ahead for the last small climb before town. On this ridge there is a wire fence and a steel grid bridge designed to keep wild hogs out. In this area there are wild pigs that dig for acorns and can wreck some of the local vegetation. I pass through the small patch of beech forest the containment fence protects and then descend away from the ridge.I pass Snow Frog but stop shortly afterward by a stone wall. It is not in the guidebook, but when I take out my headphones to ask Snow Frog what he thinks of it I can hear cars traveling overhead. This is the first time I have approached a major road from below it, and I am surprised by the scene when I reach the trailhead. There is a crowded parking lot full of tourists that do not stray beyond the parking lot itself, mostly congregating around their cars and around the sign marking the Tennessee - North Carolina border. I stop just below the road to change into pants, as it is definitely tougher to hitchhike in a kilt. Snow Frog and Sweat pass me while I am in this process and secure a ride into town quickly.It takes me a bit longer to get a ride. The side of the road leading to Cherokee is closed due to a landslide, so the only traffic is tourists. I have found that folks that are not local do not necessarily understand that I am a hiker instead of a drifter, and are far less likely to offer a ride. Eventually an older couple from Kentucky brings me into town. I explain what I am doing while they are bringing me down the winding 15-mile road into town. They drop me off at the Shoney's and I get to eating before Dumbledore and Grasshopper arrive and fill themselves on the cheap food here.Next comes the decision on where to stay. Gatlinburg is a large, very tacky tourist town and as such it is harder to find cheap hiker lodging. There is no proper hostel here. We walk around checking out a few places on foot and calling some of the places on the edge of town before deciding on the Red Roof Inn. It turns out it has changes hands and is now a Motel 6, but it is still $60 for a double room and that beats most places in town. I stay in to write and take care of some communications with the outside world. It is late before I finally get to sleep. Supposedly we are getting up early tomorrow to have breakfast with Heading Home and Anna before making a long push to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter. That was Heading Home's plan and we are trying to ride her great energy there.Peace,