Date: 2007-04-11
From: Double Spring Gap Shelter, NC

To: Collins Gap, NC (or close to it)
Miles today: 5.2

Man oh man, what an insane day! Before I get to the hike, a few thoughts on mynite hanging last nite (of course, LOL). I knew it was forecasted to rain, so Idid end up building duff up on both sides of my tarp. I was trying to decidewhich was best, pitch my tarp wider and really taut to keep rain off myhammock\underquilt, or pitch it tight to my hammock (which means touching it onthe sides) and close to the ground for warmth, seeing it was supposed to be 34degrees. I opted for close for warmth and take my chances on getting somewetness bleeding thru if the tarp got saturated and was touching my underquilt. (Silnylon will eventually reach a saturation point).It was weird last nite, the temps said 35, but it felt so warm to me. The windwas unbelievable all nite, but like I said before, we were lucky enough to bepositioned just low enough to be shielded by it. I was very warm with my hot water bottle, but about 2:15 a.m., I got slightchills, and decided to open my last 2 hand warmers. It was all good after that.The rains came sometime in the middle of the nite, and I stayed totally dry. Myunderquilt had a few damp places when I packed it up, but nothing that wouldn'tdry in a day.The smokey part of the Smoky Mt.'s arrived this morning. I took a pic of myhang last nite with it clear and one this morning with the fog. A totallydifferent scene.It was hard getting out of my warm bag this morning, but we were heading for a10.8 mile day (or so we thought).We were all up, packed, and ready to go by 9:15 a.m. The howling wind that wasso loud all nite was going strong as ever. Persistent made the comment that itsounded like we were sleeping next to a crashing ocean, and she was right!70% chance of precip. today, so we started up the 2.5 miles to the top ofClingman's Dome. The thick trees were sheilding us from the gusts that had tohave been 30 mph with a constant roar of about 10-20 mph. It was a wet, sloppy,muddy, slushy\snowy trail on the way up. The higher we got, the windier it got,and it was pretty cold. My temp said 35, but the wet wind made it feel wayworse.Just as we were about .5 from the top it was a ridge walk (the ridge is basicalythe top of a mt., and it drops off on both sides of you). Oh man, the gusts andwind hit us FULL force and I literally got blown off balance! I didn't fall,but it was like those weathermen who cover hurricanes, where they are leaning into the wind to keep from blowing over. The fog\clouds were swirling in every direction, first towards you then away,then in a spiral, and big drops of water would blow from the trees and pelt youon the head. It was by far THE nastiest day I have ever experienced. The treeswere practically blowing sideways. It reminded me of the really bad wind duringthe severe thunderstorms we'd get during tornado season in Oklahoma.We finally see a sign saying Clingman's Tower .3 miles. We head there and alldecide to walk up the spiral walkway to the top of the tower. The walkway isjust a spiraling concrete sloping walkway, no steps. About 10 feet up thething, I'm slipping and sliding because ice is built up everywhere!We all finally get up to the top and oh my gosh, it was seriously like hurricaneforce winds! The gusts had to be 50-60 mph, and we were all trying to get tothe other side of a big column so we wouldn't get blown over, literally. Wesnapped two quick pics, there was zero view, and then headed down. This wasonly the highest point on the entire AT @ 6,643 ft, but no views for us today.Again, walking down the spiral ramp was slick and icy. Little did we know thiswas only foreshadowing of the things to come.Now I am pretty cold, my hands (despite wearing my "Toasty" gloves) were frozenand soaked, and we all started down Clingman's Dome.All I have to say is that an ice axe, crampons, or steele cleets would have beennice. The trail was literally a solid sheet of ice! Now picture this, you arecarrying 30 lbs of additional weight, you are trying to navigate down rocks andsteep sloping muddy trail that is completely coated with ice. It was freakingunbelievable! There were times when I simply could not navigate the trail, there was nothingto hold onto, nothing to grip, nothing to keep me from falling, so it was thenthat I would "scale" the trail by stepping up on the embankment, hanging ontotrees, and side-step along the narrow embankment. There were also other pathsin the sloppy snow that other hikers made that went a few feet into the woodsand around a tree because you just couldn't walk on the trail.We finally get down a bit in elevation, and I thought, "Good, now the rocks arejust wet." WRONG! It was like black ice on the highway. Everything justlooked wet, but in reality, it was all coated with a clear thin layer of ice. This really slowed us down, because you had to strategically place every stepand hope you wouldn't fall.We all made sure we could see each other, because the wind was still howling,and if one of us had fallen, no one would have heard it or known. I think itwould have been extremely dangerous to be hiking alone today. It felt dangerousenough with 2 friends!   Going uphill, you can stay warm in these conditions, but going downhill,especially in these conditions, you get cold. I was trying to move as fast aspossible, but just couldn't build up enough body heat to be warm. By now, it wasabout 12:45 p.m., and normally we would have stopped for lunch, but none of ushad mentioned it because we knew if we stopped hiking, it would be miserablycold.Add to this sweaty clothes, and now you are in danger of becoming hypothermic. I was leading now and I stopped to see on my map what road was paralleling thetrail. We could see it, and hear the ocassional car drive by. Persistent askedme how I was feeling, and what my thoughts were on our pushing on.I was honest, I told her and Eric that I thought these conditions werepotentially dangerous, that I was miserable, and I didn't see why it would benecesarry to push on for the sake of miles, when we could hitch from the road afew feet away, get into safer conditions, and just start from this point onFriday instead of Newfound Gap, which was about 5 more miles. Persistentpointed out that there was rain and thunderstorms forecasted that afternoon, andwe all decided hiking in freezing cold rain was the last thing any of us wantedto do, especially since we were ultimately headed into town anyways.So we were all in agreeance. We didn't know exactly where we were located, butwe hiked up to the road and started thumbing it. The fog was so thick that carshad to be within a few 100 ft of us to see us. One truck, 1 car, 2 cars go by. No one will stop, and we are standing rightin the bone chilling winds!Eric points out that the cars driving by were all tourists going up to seeClingman's Dome, and they probably had no knowledge of thru hikers, so theywouldn't stop. Then, we see a park rangers car, so I stick out my thumb and he stops! I runover to him and ask if it is possible to get a ride to Newfound Gap. He said heneeded to go to the top and do something, and on his way back down, he'd pick usup. S-C-O-R-E!!We all stand in this parking area, and Persistent tries to call our shuttle thatwas supposed to take us back to Fontana Dam from Newfound Gap so Eric could gethis car, but her cell reception is spotty. I decide to capture this moment in apic. I've got frozen hands, and I am really cold. I unzip the pocket, grab mycamera and slip! I dropped my camera! There is grass all around me except fora 3x3 area where a trash can is, and it is sitting on a small slab of concrete. Of course my camera lands ON the concrete. I pick it up and the lcd viewing screen now has a crack in it, going all the wayacross diagonally! Next thing out of my mouth? %*@! ^%#* @#!&Good news is my camera still appears to be working fine, just a big crack in theviewing screen. Whew...I tried to keep it in perspective. If the worse thing that happened today wasmy camera screen getting cracked, we were in good shape. Unfortunate ithappened, yes. But considering the hiking conditions, MUCH worse could havehappened. This is one of life's lessons that I need to work on. Like manypeople, I was raised to really take care of anything nice that I have, sincemoney doesn't grow on trees. So when I do somethig like this, it really bothersme.   Good, something else for me to process and work on out here. The ranger comes back and getting into that heated car was like nothing else,but it was after getting in there I realized just how sweaty and wet my clotheswere. He even cranked up the heat for us, which felt wonderful. He didn't talkmuch, but I think he said his last name was Stiles. He offered to take us allthe way to Cherokee, which was good, because he was able to drop us off at aresaurant called Paul's. This town is about 30 min. from Gatlinburg, on the other side of the Smokies,and it's name is telling of the town, it is on a reservation. The whole town isa touristy Native American town with Cherokee men in full dress standing outsidewaiting for a tourist to pay them to see a "real live Indian dance." I'd thinkthat would all be a little offensive to the Cherokee people, but I guess it justshows how ignorant tourists can be. There's also a huge casino here, and the whole county is a dry county! It is sointeresting experiencing these towns off the trail and realizing that thingswork very differently in different parts of your own country. I had to get out of those wet cloths, and I was just chilled to the core. Ichanged in the bathroom, and when I walked out, Persistent started laughing,because she said I looked like a bank robber! She was right. LOLI devoured a club sandwich and fries and blackbery cobbler. I drank hot tea totry to get my inner body warmed up. It was so freakin good!Finally, our shuttle shows up and we get back to Eric's car @ Fontana Dam. Weweren't sure if we should go to Gatlinburg or go back to Cherokee, but then aphone call from Scribe and Gadget helped us. They were back in Franklin, anddue to the cold weather, were not able to get shuttled back to the trail, sothey decided to rent a car, and they just happen to be IN Cherokee!We miss them a ton, so we called them and told them we were headed that way andwe shoud all meet for dinner. We found an Econolodge in Cherokee for prettycheap, cleaned up and then headed out for dinner.We all met up in the only place in town that did not close at 8:00 p.m., thePrime Sirloin, basically a Western Sizzlin with a buffet!We had a great time catching up, and Persistent and I made a proposition thatGadget and Scribe hop back on the trail with us, and they could go back ad makeup the miles (evil aren't we! hee hee).   They said they felt trapped inFranklin and hadn't met anyone else that they clicked with like us, so we threwthe idea out there, and Eric offered to pick them up tomorrow in Franklin andtake us all back to the trail on Friday. We'll see what they decide, because wewant them to be comfortable with their choice.So there you have it, a crazy day on the trail that turned into a wonderfulevening with friends. Only out here can you be clinging for dear life on icecovered rocks at one moment, and be enjoying hot tea and laughter with friends afew hours later. Tomorrow we zero to do town chores, dry out, Eric andPersistent can have some time together, and we'll be headed out again on Friday. Eric is headed back to Michigan.I am proud that we are basically halfway through our worst fear, and we're doinggood. A few more days and I can celebrate the accomplishment. As far as I know, Sailor is a day behind us, but we don't know how many miles hewas doing each day. I'm sure he'll catch up to us. Rachael may be able to comevisit me in Hot Springs, (crossing my fingers and callused toes), and if thathappens, we'll be hanging out there a few days, and I'm sure we'll see himshuffling into town. We miss him too.~Certain