Date: 2016-03-06
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light snow

Today was incredible. Shelter talk last night was lively and the good spirit carried over to this morning. Subman gave us the news that last night's gusty winds brought 1-2 inches of snow. Blues Brother's news was that it was 23 degrees. So Subman told Suds to sleep some more. You have to love it - they were up and out by 7:15. As Subman said "Hike so you can get warm." There was a blue sky and it looked promising. Blues Brother was reluctant to commit to going to Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the AT at 6667 feet. I assured him it would be a balmy, sunny day. He acknowledged that yesterday was his best weather day yet, the first he'd hiked with us, and thought that I may be his good luck rabbit's foot.The snow was powder. The Italians' Papa Wolf asked me at a shelter resting stop whether I was tracking the bobcat or whether it was tracking me. And here I thought I just needed to worry about bears. Subman reported seeing a wolf's tracks. At the end of the day, Papa Wolf reported seeing tracks of boar, bobcat, deer, rabbit, skunk, and turkey. The tracks made interesting diversions as they'd be on the trail and then go off into the woods. The trail itself was easier today with less straight-up climbs in favor of pretty consistent graded climbs. White blazes were less frequent than usual. Papa Wolf, Subman, and I all remarked wondering if we were on the AT. If not, then we knew we'd all be someplace together because it was natural to follow footprints.The banter between the 5 of us at Siler Bald Shelter has been so good that Papa Wolf was already talking about a reunion after we successfully thru-hiked together. I've repeatedly read about AT trail family but experiencing it was new and felt great. Speaking of family, I was relieved to get a message successfully sent to Beth here. Access has been near non-existent inside Great Smoky Mountain National Park.The prize today was clearly Clingmans Dome and it did not disappoint. Subman gave this day a "12" on a scale from 1 - 10; the extra points were awarded for there being no cloud over Clingmans Dome and there being no wind. Trust me when I say that the pictures don't do justice to the views. The road to Clingmans Dome is closed now and won't reopen until April 1st so we had the Observatory Tower all to ourselves to take pictures and yell congratulations to each other as each emerged from the trail. The Tower provides peak maps that identify mountains and their distances. It was great to see Standing Indian, Cheoah Bald, and Fontana Dam and to know that we'd already climbed them. Cheers went up as Blues Brother joined us.The sun was out and was warm all day. Unlike yesterday though, we were spared slush for the most part because the trail up to and past Clingmans Dome largely went through evergreens. This is the first such evergreen passage way and it was delightful. I really expected music to start playing because it felt like someone had spent inordinate time and effort to landscape such a beautiful approach. The descent after Clingmans Dome and then the climb to Mt Collins Shelter were as beautiful as the approach. Unlike recent days when the last miles seemed to last forever, this day's hike was tiring but then seemingly all of a sudden it was over.The six of us - Subman & Suds, the Italians (Papa Wolf and Halmi), Blues Brother, and I - were joined by 7 others as the sun set. Our group did 13.5 miles today and that's as much as any of us can handle (except possibly Blues Brother). The other 7 were all extremely fit men, many former military, and they probably hiked close to 20 miles. They'll be far ahead of us in days. It seems all of us are headed to Gatlinburg tomorrow to resupply. Hiker hunger may not have begun yet but there is a lot of discussion about what favorite foods will be immeidately consumed.Today was a special day. One that will never be taken away and one I hope to remember and cherish forever.