Date: 2010-05-07
From: Double Spring Gap

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 21.2
Weather: clear sky

The day did not seem to start off well when I stupidly burned my fingers grabbing my very hot pot handle but then some deer paid us a visit (2 timid little ones and their not at all worried mama) and I enjoyed some small talk with a few section hikers and the day was ok again. In fact, today was great. I was in the best mood and all of the unnecessary negativity from yesterday was gone, a small squall that quickly blew off. I enjoyed every single minute of hiking today, and what didn't feel easy at least felt good. Clingman's Dome had lots of downed trees dead from a non-native parasite and you could hear construction and trucks beeping from the road but the land still felt wild. I took a ton of breaks and felt relaxed and happy all day.At Newfound Gap I was very clearly the entertainment for a large family that had driven in. It was as if they had spotted a rare species of wildlife: the smelly female long distance hiker. After a "scuse me, scuse me!" directed towards my back as I walked in front of them they peppered me with questions and assured me that I only had a few months left. Ha! Then on the steep climb out of the gap I had an interesting encounter with a thru-hiker who had decided that he was determined to keep up with me...and of course that just made me equally determined not to slow my pace down. I'm still not sure if the fact that I'm female had anything to do with this man's effort...it was pretty entertaining and slightly bizarre to see the sweat pouring down his face and hear the struggling breathing as well as a few truly deranged sounding grunt/groan/exclamations of cathartic pain and suffering - all this right on my heels all the way up the mountain! It was both intense and hilarious to have this bizarre encounter with a total stranger. I enjoyed it though, and we chatted the whole way...a few times the comments directed towards me were a bit strange to the point of creepy sounding, but I'm going to charitably chalk it up to being too out of breath to make sense. So we cruised up the thousand mile incline and did 3 miles in an hour. I was drenched in sweat and had fulfilled my masochistic quota for the day, but after chugging some protein powder and scoring some beef jerky from the delightful Snail Mail (who was NOT my creepy power walking partner - he's going to stay unnamed) I decided to move on - Icewater Shelter was jam-packed, very drafty, and a little creepy. I'm glad I left, too, because the section of trail around Charlie's Bunion was incredible. Being there alone as the sun started to drop lower in the sky was an experience I hope I will never forget. I felt like I was the only hiker on the entire trail as I stared out at the shear drops and layers of mountain ridges in the distance.It felt like I was walking along the spine of the mountains - the trail winded through these amazing, seemingly never ending vistas and on either side dropped steeply down. Ridges of serrated stone protruded beneath my feet like vertebrae. I watched the sun set and made my way through gray indistinct light to the shelter. Funny how I roll my ankles so many times during the day but when practically running at twilight I don't once. It's like something instinctive takes over. I just ate an entire bag of beef jerky and a bowl of cereal for dinner - time to collapse into bed, right as another hiker rolls in. This would be Dwayne from Florida, who has never hiked before yet is doing 30+ mile days through the Smokies while wearing tennis shoes and subsisting on honey and tuna fish. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this morning a red squirrel dragged one of my trekking poles the length of the entire shelter before Bump scared him away - I have tiny gnaw marks on the handle!