Date: 2016-04-16
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

Today we got up early and packed up to go...we then however sat and ate breakfast and chatted with another hiker named Silly Moose. He is a section hiker because he starts his work at summer camp in a few months. He got his name last year because he saw several moose during his section hike. We really enjoyed visiting with him, but we did end up getting on the trail a tad later than planned.As we were hiking along the trail, we could hear this loud contagious laughter. It seemed as though whomever we heard was clearly enjoying something. As we got closer, there were three thru hikers discussing a plan for a reality tv show they had and laughing hysterically...the laughter we could hear from a distance was from Mermaid. We chatted for a few minutes and we were on our way again. We passed another hiker who asked us if we heard the cyote pups and he pointed the direction of Mermaid. We chuckled and told him we though he might be hearing Mermaid's laughter! If she didn't already have a trail name, she could have earned one from this! Later when we saw her at lunch we told her of our encounter and we were greeted with more contagious laughter! We have been on the lookout during our time on the trail for any sign of animal wildlife, and today we had our first experience! There was a large whitetail dear on the trail. It, of course, hopped off when it saw us, but it sure was beautiful! During our hike today, the area around us changed drastically! We found ourselves amongst hundreds of fir trees! We named the area "Christmas Tree Forest". It smelled amazing. She kept stopping and picking up needles to sniff them! We decided today that perhaps we will go to a cut your own Christmas tree farm this year for a tree! The Christmas tree forest lasted our entire hike today. As we were hiking through the forest, we were stopped by a couple who exclaimed "You're the hitched hikers! We follow you on trail journals!" It was so fun for us to meet people who have been reading our story! There names are Bulldog and Looney! They were so friendly and we enjoyed chatting with them for a bit! The goal for today was to hit Clingaman's Dome! It is the highest point on the entire trail and the high point of Tennessee! When we got there, we went down to the gift shop and enjoyed lunch on the lawn while the gift shop employees let us charge our phones. The gift shop had a few snacks, one of which was apple butter for $7. We splurged and between the two of us we drank the entire jar! It tasted like delicious apple sauce with cinnamon! Definitely worth the price! Popeye was at Clingmans dome too. We think maybe a better trailname for him would be pickles because he got a jar of pickles from the gift store and ate the whole jar! After lunch, we went back up the hill and climbed the tower on top of Clingaman's Dome. The view was incredible! We were told the visibility was 100 miles today! It is very rare for it to be so clear! We were truly blessed with an amazing view! On the way up, we ran into a couple, Sue and Ron who chatted with us and took our photo! Everyone likes to know what we're doing and why. It works out for us because we love to talk! As a side note, we visited with some national park workers today at the gift shop. There was talk of service animals on the trail. In the Great Smoky Mountain National Park dogs are only allowed if they are a service animal. There have been a few hikers saying their dogs are service animals and having them walk through the smokies with them. Out of this conversation we also found out that according to the ADA a minerature horse can also serve as a service animal! We think this is pretty cool! While we were at Clingaman's dome there was a little girl in a wheelchair type apparatus being towed by an alpaca! She got to be towed all the way up to the top of Clingaman's dome! We think this is pretty cool as the tower is not ADA accessible. In the smokies you must have a special thru hiker permit. As a result, there are a lot of rangers patrolling the trail and making sure everyone has a permit. We stopped and chatted with a ranger today. We were told that approximately 650 thru hikers started on April 1st! We're thankful to be ahead of the crown, but we think we'll end up in this bubble after we return from a wedding were attending! We ended our hike at Mt. Collins shelter. It was incredibly full! We had to go really deep into the woods to find a spot to pitch our tent. It was fun to chat with our fellow thru hikers, most of whom are heading to Gatlinburg tomorrow...which we are skipping. Today, we also hit the 200 mile mark! It was so exciting for us!