Date: 2022-10-16
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter Mile 224.6

To: Mt Collins Shelter Mile 204.0
Miles today: 20.6

Orchid and I woke up, ate breakfast, packed up, and were on our way with only two of the section hikers stirring. We had been hiking for 10 minutes before we started to get peaks through the woods at a great sunrise. Unfortunately we never got a good look as the forest never opened up. We¢re headed back into the alpine like mossy pine forest for the first part of the morning. We¢re in the higher elevations of the Smokies and the trees are mostly bare although some trees are only partially fallen. It¢s definitely looking more like winter up here than lower in the valley. Up higher the partial views aren¢t as good since you are mainly looking horizontally at bare trees. When you do get an open vista into the valley it¢s often further away so it¢s colorful but the colors don¢t pop as much as the closer hillsides. Things improve as we descend into the various gaps and get closer to the peak areas. However we think the peak season is probably behind us for the Smokies although it¢s still really pretty.Shortly before lunch we came to Charlies Bunion, a rock outcrop with some really nice views into the colorful valley. It¢s a popular, but long, day hike from Newfound Gap. There were at least a dozen people there when we arrived. We climbed up and got some pictures but some of the rocks were worn smooth and were quite slick so we skipped some of the more adventurous parts of the outcrop. After soaking in the views we headed up to the Icewater Spring Shelter for lunch and our first water source of the day. On the way we passed a slow but steady stream of day hikers heading to the Bunion. While eating lunch, I think we blew some day hikers minds when we told them we¢ve been hiking since May and had almost 2000 miles done. After lunch we continued down into Newfound Gap continuing to pass hikers heading up. Probably saw over a hundred day hikers today, lots more than at Mt Cramerer Fire Lookout. A crowded trail like this does make it hard to pee and when you find a nook it¢s usually covered in toilet paper, napkins or paper towels. It¢s sad to see and makes you understand why some places are putting in information centers staffed by volunteers at popular day hikes. Our stank is not as bad in the cooler weather, but it¢s still shocking to pass day hikers soaked in perfume with a trail of scent wafting behind them. Newfound Gap was a packed zoo. I¢d guess about a third of the people head up to the Bunion while the rest just go to the overlook by the parking lot. I asked Orchid if she wanted to go to the overlook and her response was ¢Get me out of here now¢ so we made a beeline across the parking lot to get back to the trail on the other side of the road. Surprisingly traffic actually stopped for us, although it wasn¢t clear that they were going too. We dropped back into the woods on the other side of the road and promptly lost all the tourists. We passed a parking lot about a mile further with just two cars in it, three section hikers, and two day hikers the rest of the day. The shelter is in a mossy pine forest and there were 7 other people at the shelter when we arrived. We met Jedi who we had been following in the log books. Otherwise everyone is a section or overnight hiker. There was space in the shelter for us which is nice as rain and possibly thunderstorms are predicted for tonight. We¢re trying to keep our gear dry due to the cold snap that¢s coming. We were on the bottom of a double decker shelter which rained down dust as the people above us moved. Not great, but better than being in a soaking wet tent.During the day we had a long debate about what to do with the upcoming extended cold weather. Most sites were indicating lower 20s for tomorrow nights shelter and the surrounding towns. However, there were some outliers which had temperatures in the lower teens. I¢m probably warm down to mid 20s at night and definitely lower than that while moving. Orchid can probably handle upper teens at night but not as low while hiking. If the 20s hold we¢ll be okay but if it¢s in the teens it¢s going to be a very cold night and morning. We decided to make the final call in the morning with the latest weather report at Clingmans Dome which is our only real bail out point for the rest of the Smokies. We also worked out various contingency plans for staying warm overnight. Fortunately we only have one night in the woods with the cold weather as we have a planned, and overdue, zero coming up. Weather reports indicate that record low temperatures are threatened and temperatures will be 10-20 degrees below normal for three days in a row. It will actually be much colder here than in the mountains of Vermont. Steps 37600Weather Forecast: 69/48 chance rain