Date: 2013-04-02
From: Spence Field Shelter

To: Silers Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: few clouds

Left Spence Field Shelter that morning mentally comparing memories of that June 1985 trip to what was now¢¦realizing that not much had changed. Oh, the chain link fences were gone and tarps took their place across the front of the shelter¢¦and bear cables were provided now for hoisting your food bag¢¦but the overall atmosphere was the same¢¦as it should be. The Smoky Mountains backcountry endures¢¦in spite of the tremendous numbers of hikers rambling around year after year!I have to stop and tell a story on myself from that long ago trip in 1985. Nancy and I had packed up and left Mollies Ridge as soon as we got up¢¦planning to eat breakfast/brunch at Spence Field Shelter before heading down the side trail back to Fontana Dam. So we got to Spence Field and Nancy started cooking¢¦ when we both noticed a fox at a standstill not far from the shelter. Yes, I know you are not supposed to feed the animals but I decided to see if I could get closer by offering food. Crazily, I picked up a carrot to entice the fox to come closer. Nancy got a photo off of me and the fox¢¦before pointing out that the fox is a carnivore and wouldn¢t be interested in a carrot! Duh! I should have offered some of the bacon we were frying. We chuckled about that for quite some time that day and since!The AT goes through rhododendron hedges not too far past Spence Field shelter, leading into a grassy field that offers marvelous, awesome views of the mountains and way below to Fontana Lake. I had to stop for lots of photos before starting up towards Rocky Top. Here is where my faulty memories caused much anxiety! I was dreading the climb up to the summit of Thunderhead Mountain. Thunderhead Mountain consists of three summits, all of which are visible from the eastern end of Spence Field. The first summit is known as Rocky Top. And yes, this is the same Rocky Top that inspired the famous lyrics that are now the fight song for the University of Tennessee, as well as one of the official state songs for the state of Tennessee! You know¢¦.. "Rocky Top, you'll always be, Home sweet home to me. Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top Tennessee."From earlier trips, I remember struggling up to the Thunderhead summit¢¦.what I realized a little later was that I struggled because the hard climb to Rocky Top had already ¢beat me up¢! The approach to Rocky Top made the ascent to the Thunderhead summit look like a mere bump. Rocky Top requires a fairly steep climb of more than 550 feet to reach the small bald area with outstanding views of Fontana Lake, Cades Cove, Townsend and Maryville, and possibly all the way up to Knoxville. There are these giant rocks on Rocky Top where you will find carvings from the 1700s and 1800s. Many of those who passed that way would carve names or initials, for instance, and the date they were there. Now too you will find RD (my initials) scratched into the rock¢¦it will probably be weathered out by next year, though, because it wasn¢t deep!I was hiking alone during all of this part¢¦Postman was way ahead and I still had not caught up with Two-Socks or DBCooper. Leaving Rocky Top behind and walking over Thunderhead, the trail started steeply down¢¦.a drop of about 600 feet in 7/10 of a mile. It became very much like a roller coaster after that point ¢ up and down. I resupplied my water at Derrick Knob shelter, then continued to follow the ¢roller coaster¢ to Silers Bald Shelter¢¦arriving about 6:30 pm. The last 12 mile approach to the shelter was steep and arduous. I was very, very, very tired! I passed 2 section hikers from Nashville as I was coming in who were gathering wood for the shelter fireplace.Tonight¢s shelter crowd included me and Postman, the 2 Nashville section hikers and, later just before dark, a married couple who were thru-hiking named Big Red and Yooper. The Nashville guys had a really nice fire going in the shelter fireplace which was fantastic given how bitterly cold it was. It was also somewhat unusual for us thru-hikers though. Normally we get into camp, set up/out the sleeping arrangements, cook/eat supper and go off to sleep right away. In this case, the thru-hikers in Silers Bald Shelter were already asleep within 10 minutes of the blaze really taking off! When I woke up around 11:50 pm to take care of ¢nature¢s call¢, one of the Nashville guys was still up and putting the last of the wood on the fire. This is only the second time in a month I have seen a campfire where I was sleeping.