Date: 2009-05-05
From: Fontana

To: Clingmans Dome
Miles today: 29.0

Dawn is now rising on the day I get to begin my goal of hiking the AT through the Smokies. I'm very excited. We've come a long way! We've learned a lot, ached alot, and even lowered our blood pressures. The trail has been very pretty this spring. I think the abundant rain and lack of late season frost has helped the plants grow some awesome buds, flowers, and leaves. It was almost tropical arriving in Fontana. With the exotic blooms and large ferns, I was thought I would see a small dinosaur. While at Fontana, we decided to visit Joyce Kilmer Forest. It was a pretty roadtrip to a rare virgin forest. My camera was working and I uploaded a bunch of pictures of the trip.I can't wait to hike up to the high ridges of the Great Smokies. I've been up there before to Clingmans dome. It's one of my favorite places. There is rare blue quartz in the rocks, a scent of pine from the frasier fur forests, panoramic views, and no civilization. I remember 10 years ago seeing backpacks and heads bobbing up and down on a trail in the woods above the short young fur trees when I was in the parking area at Clingmans Dome. The thought of hiking up to a point in the woods where my car could hardly make it seemed awesomely crazy. I start my journey and will become one of those people crazy pack/head bobbers in a few days! Foot update: This time we got off the trail in Fontana to give my ankle a rest. The pain from the plantar fasciiatis in my right foot was annoying and unrelentless and my stubbed toe from 20 days ago never quite got better. Yesterday I visited the podiatrist and the x-rays found nothing fractured or broken, just swollen. I was told it was a typical athletic wound. That's right I have an official athletic wound. Before this trip paper cuts and carpal tunnel were my desk jockey athletic wounds. I had a steriod shot to the ball of my big toe *ouch* and was told to lose more weight and ice the area a couple times a day. I think that is the standard treatment advice. I told the Doc I was hiking "a bit" and showed him my crooked shoes that I had for only two months. The over pronation of both feet wore out my trail running shoes that I wore since Springer (165 miles). He told me to get a new pair and maybe if I lost weight, shoes wouldn't do that. I took the advice of the podiatrist and I went shoe shopping. Not many brands carry 12 4E trail runners so I stuck with New Balance. I now have a new pair, the 2009 model of similar trail runners.Unorganized Thoughts/Info:1) From Nantahala to Fontana, we stayed dry for 68 hours! That's the longest time since Springer. Who knew the trail can get dusty? 2) There's plenty of water on the trail and we are heading out into a long rainy period. My new shoes will be not so new in less than 4 hours and I'll have plenty of places to soak my feet in cold water.3) I've mastered the art of cooking w/o a microwave4) I carried a camera with me, took 200+ pictures only to discover when I got home that 54 pictures were there. I had some great shots of 20+ different wildflowers, some critters, shelters, and outhouses. I think I resloved my issues with my camera and hope to recapture the wildflowers in the Smokies.5) My foot issues and Green T's knee issues. We are working to get these under control. We have to take it slower than everyone else or risk permanent damage. 6-8 mile days seem to be our maximum. I'm thinking 5-7 mile days in the Smokies since there are something like 22 mountains to climb over in 70 miles. I'll always have pain issues with my feet so I'm just going to grin and bare it. I'll take some advil and cool my feet in the 40 degree creeks, and take it as easy as I can. I'm already used to sliding down boulders on my butt instead of jumping off of them. 6) The snakes are out and they like hanging out next to the trail. Two copperheads crossed Green T's path. The good news is the snakes seem to slither quickly away from him and then stop about 6 feet away and stay still. We should be OK as long as neither of us actually step on a snake.7)One night the mice decided my tent was a jungle gym. The forest was 99% quiet. No wind, no BIG critter noises, and hardly a whoot from an owl. I woke to the sounds of little squeaky noices and something hitting my tent. Mice were climbing my tent and sliding off. I'm glad I could provide them some entertainment. I'm sure living in the wild near the bottom of the foodchain is stressful. I miss the fresh air and the trail right now so I'm heading off to pack and return to the trail where we left off. Take care friends!