Date: 2018-04-16
From: Spence Field Shelter

To: Silers Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: light snow

When we woke up in the morning, the forest was blanketed in a soft white coat of snow. Our ridge runner companion was on the move very early, and so we got ourselves packed up as well. Once you crawl out from under those covers, the only thing to do to keep warm is to move. It was so cold, and the thermostat continued to dip. I was so grateful that we were starting the day warm and dry. I¢d like to say that the day continued on that way, but it did not. Snow continued to fall as we trudged north, climbing Rocky Top which should have given us spectacular views. The trees were certainly majestic in their white coats, but beyond what was in close proximity to us there was only fog. The cold was not kind to our gear. Within an hour our mouth pieces and tubes on our hydration systems were frozen. With the fresh coat of snow on the trail and no tracks to follow, we were occasionally nervous about being off the trail. The Guthooks app on my phone was of little help. In the cold weather it kept telling me that we were off the trail. If the distance hadn¢t been so ludicrous, I may have believed it, but when it told us we were 24 miles off trail, I knew that couldn¢t be true. Eventually the cold zapped the power out of the phone completely. Have you ever tried to dig a cat hole in the frozen ground with a plastic trowel? Ya. That didn¢t go so well. Sorry SMNP, I couldn¢t ¢leave no trace¢ that time.I had put my right foot inside of a plastic bag before putting on my boot that morning, hoping to fend off the moisture. It delayed it, but it did not keep the wetness at bay for more than a few hours.Cole¢s fingers were frozen in his new ¢warm¢ gloves. I gave him my thin gloves to wear under his, and when that failed to keep him warm, I gave him a pair of my wool socks to wear over top of both. We had one pair of hand warmers that he tucked inside his gloves as well. Eventually what warmed him up in the end was just constant, continuous movement. Normally I let him hike ahead for a while and then stop to wait up for me. I did not want him standing still in the cold, so today he had to slow down to my pace. We plowed on through the snow, not stopping to rest as we normally would. It felt like we were in a Farley Mowat novel, fighting against the natural elements and the odds to reach a far of destination. Around lunch time we came upon Derrick Knob shelter which had been our original destination the day before. Inside, it was half full of hikers all huddled around a blazing fire, still trying to get dried out and thawed from the day before. In the vicinity there were still tents set up, partially buried in snow. This scene reassured me that we had made the right decision the previous day. We ate our lunch outside of the shelter as the frozen hikers continued their thawing process by the fire. Then we headed north once again. Our plan was to get as close to Clingmans Dome as we possibly could. There is a free shuttle every morning from the Clingmans Dome parking lot down to Gatlinburg where we intended to thaw out and resupply. By the time we reached Silers Bald Shelter, I was quite wet, but still warm and feeling like I could press on. There was one more shelter 1.7 miles ahead that I wanted to reach. The scene inside Silers Bald Shelter was just as dismal as in the shelter before. The fire was blazing and an enormous pile of gathered wood was heaped outside. Just to be clear...the fireplaces in the shelters really don¢t do much to warm up the inside of the shelter like you think it should. The only way to benefit from the fire is to be directly in front of it,so that is where we found a group of hikers huddled, a string of socks hung and a pile of frozen boots heaped. One of the hikers informed us that the road to the Clingman¢s Dome parking lot had been closed due to ice. There were no indications of when it would open. I really wanted to press on. I did not want to become part of this scene. The lady who had told me about the road closure encouraged us to stay. ¢There is room in the shelter here for you. You don¢t want to go on to the next shelter and end up having to stay in your tent,¢ she said. I¢ve watched enough TV to know that the guy who presses on when he should have stayed always freezes to death....or gets eaten by zombies, so I decided we would stay. After all, the scene had already sucked me in. I had been standing still for ten minutes and that was all it took for the cold to set in. It hit my poor wet toes first and hung on relentlessly. Cole and I set up our beds and I immediately put on my wool base layer and heavy wool socks and crawled under my covers. My toes throbbed from the cold. I rubbed them and rubbed them. I stayed there under my covers until morning ( except for one quick escape to pee in the snow), never getting warm and not sleeping very much at all. I had a clear internet signal so I chatted with my husband for a little bit, and I cried. Cole, who has the exact same sleep system and clothing layers as I do, was toasty all night and slept well.