Date: 2017-10-27
From: Davenport Gap shelter

To: Icewater Spring shelter
Miles today: 26.9
Weather: clear sky

"I'm kinda thinking," I said to the others as we lazed about in the sun, "about doing 27 miles today to save hiking much in the rain tomorrow."This did not make a lot of sense, given that I said this at 11.30am and, in true Team KRT procrastinatory fashion, we'd done all of 3.5 miles so far today before settling in for an extended break. We'd planned to do the 30-mile haul across to Newfound Gap, from which we'd head in to Gatlinburg, in two 15-mile days. There was even a shelter at almost exactly the halfway point, which seemed impossibly apt.But then we got the weather forecast, which was for mild and clear weather today but for a serious cold and wet blast coming in overnight. The high today was forecast to be 47degF/8degC but tomorrow, the warmest it would get was forecast to be 29degF/-2degC. And that the warmest -- the low was predicted to be 23degF/-5degC. And that was in Gatlinburg, 5000ft lower than we're going to be.As we left the shelter this morning there'd been talk about reaching the shelter at 20 miles, which was quite a way off trail and was said to have an unreliable water supply. By the time I reached the lookout, the idea of a 27-mile day had crept into my head.Sweetblood and Dirt didn't think it seemed likely, although they increased their goal to the shelter 20 miles in so they'd only have 10 miles to do tomorrow. But Sriracha, 2am, OK and Happy Feet could see the wisdom of this change of plan, even if the wisdom of adopting this at 11.30am was not nearly as obvious.To say the least, the tenor of the day changed rather a lot at that moment.One reason why we'd tarried so long at this break was that it was a spectacular viewpoint and that the forest below included the best autumn colours yet. At some point we're going to hit peak colour, after which they'd decline, and we were wondering if this was the moment -- and a sunny spot on a windless day seemed like quite a good place to contemplate this.But from then on, we had to haul ass. As the designated slowest member of Team KRT, I was resigned to finishing in the dark but the others were hopeful of having enough light.And it's not like the next 23 miles is easy. By one estimate, we have 6000ft of cumulative climbing, including 500ft at the very end of the day.In truth, I actually enjoyed the rest of today as one of those improbable challenges that feel so good to complete. After nearly 2000 miles, we're pretty fit and have a now finely-honed ability to settle into an all-day pace, even though in this case "all day" really did mean what it said.I had one short break at Tricorner Knob shelter, our original destination, for a late lunch at 3.30pm and then pushed on for the final 12-mile leg. Fortunately the climbs were steady rather than brutal and the trail tread was good.It helped too that the final seven miles was particularly beautiful, along a narrow crest of a ridge that had been made into an easy horse-grade trail thanks to unknown workers when this was a depression-era work project.After one of the nicer sunsets I'd seen, I had to finally break out the headlamp around 7.10pm, after which it took a little while to get used to the spooky effect of shadows moving around. I knew from my adventure racing days that it was important not to put the head lamp on one's head and better depth perception would come from carrying it wrapped around my left hand, which in turn grabbed my pack strap.It took another hour and a half in the dark to complete the hike to Icewater Spring shelter, which was full to the rafters with other hikers also hiding from the storm. Thanks to a generous overhang, I was able to crash out on the dirt in front of the sleeping platform, alongside OK and Happy Feet.I was in pretty good shape considering the distance and the exertion, which failed to out-trump the feeling of satisfaction of making it here tonight. Life is good.AT fact of the day: Our last for the day: the last time on the AT that I expect to do 6000ft of cumulative climbing or hike a marathon. That's not such a bad thing.