Date: 2013-04-02
From: Double Spring Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: clear sky

Last night was the worst night's sleep I've had since I've been on the trail. I was sound asleep when 3 more hikers arrived about 10:00 p.m. I awoke to someone tapping me on the head asking me if I could move over. I'm always happy to make room for one more but I was a little disoriented and had trouble communicating since I had my ear plugs and oral sleep appliance in. We crammed 15 people in a shelter for 12. My hard was against one of the support posts and my feet were against the wall. As long as I kept my knees bent I was okay. Every time I turned over I was bumping into someone. There was a symphony of snoring that was too much for my earplugs to handle. I woke up my hiking mates at 6:45 and we packed up in the dark. I could see blue sky but sun had not hit use yet and the grass was frozen stiff. We were all excited about our climb to the top of Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the AT. I led the way followed by Quaker, Trouble, and Son Driven. The trail was clearly different than the days before, but that doesn't mean it was better. It was way more icy than precious days and the higher we climbed the more icy it became. It was a beautiful day and when the sun finally hit us it felt so glorious. The views were spectacular but the trail was becoming more and more treacherous. Several members of our group had uncontrolled falls as we continued our ascent. We summited Clingman's Dome (6,655 ft) at 10:30 and to our amazement there sat Sour Patch (we shared a hostel at NOC). He got up at 3:00 a.m., hiked past our shelter and summited in time to watch the sun rise. We have also now hiked more than 200 miles - woohoo!!!After a round of picture taking and celebration we began the even more dangerous descent. The trail was literally a sheet of ice and before the day was over our group had 19 falls combined. And that didn't even count going to your knees - we only counted falls in which someone went all the way down. Luckily no one was seriously injured - just bruises and minor strains. Son Driven received the award for the best fall when he took a swan dive off a rock and did a face plant on the ice. I really don't know how he didn't hurt himself. The forrest has definitely changed and is now a lush evergreen growth. This is different than the"toilet bowl brush" looking tall pines of Georgia. This forrest has evergreens that have branches that come all the way down to the ground, rich soil, huge trees, and a thick growth of moss. We were so focused on Clingman's Dome that it completely escaped my attention that we also had to climb Mt Collins (6,182 ft). Between the climbs and the ice it took us 10.5 hours to go 10.8 miles. I don't know if it was the thought of getting into town or just how we coped with the stress but as the day went along we got more and more giddy. About half way through the day we also began to talk about food and continued that conversation all the way in to Gatlinburg. I cannot tell you how happy we were to see our trail angel, Lee Evans, who drove up from Georgia to meet us at Newfound Gap. We were only in the car a few minutes when Lee opened the sun roof and said "whew, you guys stink!"Our angel had arranged hotel rooms and had scouted out restaurants, laundromats, etc. We showered, put on our least stinky clothes (I wore my rain pants) and went to a steak place for dinner. We stayed up to after midnight getting our laundry done so we could go out in public tomorrow. The original plan was to get back on the trail tomorrow but we have decided to zero in order to get everything done.