Date: 2006-03-21
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Sriting early, 10:00 Pm on the first day of spring. Wind is roaring outside but the rain and sleet have let up.Terrific hiking today, what a difference. Started and ended cloudy and raining, trademark of the smokies but in between was pretty great. Started out as always bundeled up in many layers. I was going early and was first out of the shlter. Two motives for this. I wanted the trail to myself and I wanted to know there were people coming up behind me if the weather turned into yesterday's.At first I thought I was in for another grey wet hking day.It wasn't as cold or raining as hard, but it wasn't 75 and sunny. Gary had weather on the radio that said the last stormband was passing then it would clear.Out in the rain and mud but no ice. The trail was slick especially in patches of fallen leaves. There were branches down from last night. Two miles up the trail I stopped at Spence Field shelter for water and a snack. While there I wrote a nasty note in the register about the trash the last group had left behind. I packed out some of it. I was shoving down two snickers bars with rasberry energized water. Two section hikers poked heads in to say hi. One asked me if I'd heard about cases of hypothermia in that shelter last night.As I pulled back out into the fog there were bright patches through the clouds. By the time I got to the next shelter a few miles up the trail the clouds had broken. I was down to a couple of layers. Three more section hikers were there hanging their wet cloths from the shelter roof. They were spring breakers who decided on hiking instead of tropical party spots. They had also heard about hypothermia in the last shelter but didn't have details. As I made it to the top of the next peak the sun hit Full on. I pulled off my raincoat and shirt to feel warm sun drying my body. One of those happy little moments on the trail. These moments strung together make for a good day.The trail was going up of course, but gradually. I was making a slow ascent to Clingmans Dome at 6443' the highest peak on the AT. The next highest at 6288' is Mt Washington. As I climbed slowly upward I slipped and fell a couple of times in the mud.Falling is one of my trademarks. I fell for the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st times on the trail today. Sometimes my falls are graceful and I bounce right back up. Sometimes I flail around like a turned-over turtle. I have no coordination on the steeper decents. People pass and glide right down. I plod and trip like I have two club feet much like Frankenstien with hiking poles.I was disappointed until now. I was in the country's most visited national park and hadn't seen anything but fog, ice and rain. As I follow a ridge toward Mt. Bucky clouds parted on the tennessee part of the trail. I looked down into a vast valley and saw mountain top after mountain top. Clouds lifted of the north Carolina side and I got full views of the Smokies. They live up to their name with mist lifting from valleys and lingering around peaks. I literally gasped when I came around a bend to a full view of the grassy topped Mt. Rogers. I could hear and smell the change of the seasons. Tall grass under the warm sun smelled like freshly cut hay. Large flies were buzzing along the trail. Rogers has a steep ascent and the whole range opens up behind. From the peak of Rogers it's just another short climb to Clingman's Dome. It was great to have clear skies. I wanted this landmark of the trail to be memorable. Clingman's is not above treeline like Washington and most other New Hampshire peaks. But like Washington, there is a tourist road to the top. The road is still closed so the observation tower was empty. Three spring breakers were just leaving and stopped to talk.They confirmed the hypothermia story. Last night three others on break stumbled into the shelter, all shivering and one barely responsive. The thru-hikers dried them, warmed them and fed them. We talked about how unprepared so many hikers are. These frozen guys were all dressed in cotton and had no raingear. The guys at the tower said they'd run into three more who only had one sleeping bag between them. It takes so little time to do even basic research about hiking safety and local weather conditions. I find it really hard to believe that people just wander into the woods for a good time. I'm pretty well prepared and hypothermia is still my biggest trail fear.After the stunning hike up and over Clingman there were just four more miles to the shelter. The north face of the mountain had taken the worst of the weather. There were big patches of ice and snow. The trail became a deep muddy gully with snow and ice melt. I took fall number three in the mud, four on a sheet of ice and five climbing over a downed tree. The breakers were there to watch. The sky darkened again on the way down. The college guys stopped for rain gear. Thy are more experienced and prepared.It's funny the difference between thru hikers and short term hikers. I look like such a scruffy dog, unshaven, uncomned, unwashed. They have fresh new clothes. I'm in torn running shorts over long johns with holes from fire sparks. I'm wearing the socks and fleece I burned crispy last night. I have hat and mittens hanging from safety pins off my pack straps. This is just my hiker look. Most of the other thrus have their own ragged style. I got to the shelter and found two more breakers here. These guys also well prepared. One was sharing his Starburst. I of course took cherry. While all these breakers were nice guys, my attention shifted immediately when more thru-hikers came in. Tree Frog and Show Me, Bravefoot, Cookie, and the guy who's an acronym I can never remember.I scooped water from the ice melt stream on the trail. I put in the purifier and set up my space for the night. We all cooked in the bunks and went straight to sleep.It's rain and ice again. Ive got four miles to hike to New Found Gap in the morning, then a hitch into Gatlinburg. Will be interesting to see who actually wants me in their car. I want in and out of town as quickly as possible. I need the outfitter, a dollar or grocery store for resupply, a laundromat to dry all my stuff (no time to wash), and a Burger King.