Date: 2004-05-11
From: No Business Knob

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: light rain

Nice to be back in touch! Got the new pocketmail device today, and will be able to get all emails sent since 4/24. A quick summary of life sinceFontana Dam...life in the Smokies was awesome. So much beauty and so much space and true wilderness. We were fortunate to have good weather -great visability most days. Had a very cold and rainy day on 4/26...almost got hypothermic...kept trying to drink, recalling somewhere that a hypothermic person is always dehydrated! The woods felt very much like home- spruce and pine and rocks and cold. Going over Clingman's Dome the next day, we even had snow! Once we came out of the Smokies, we were delighted to stay at Mountain Mamas...nice to be around animals again, and great food. We met Welsh Nomad and Cali there...nice folks. On then to Hot Springs-a great little town just made for hikers. Our friend Redbeard left the trail and headed home to FL...what a great guy, too. Caveman also needed to leave the trail-he was bitten by a rattlesnake as he hiked away from town, came back to call his family and found that his dad had a heart attack-and he was stable at that time, so he went home. Melanie and Murphy stayed behind, as Mel was nursing a bad knee. So, it's just Mosey, Nana K. and me walking now.We did have a wonderful walk from Hot Springs to Erwin with my dear old friend from almost 20 years ago at Camp Pinecliffe who joined us...Diane whose trail name is now "Cotton" - since she brought cotton on the trail, much to my chagrin. It was great walking with her, and she was excellent company and fit in wonderfully with our little tribe.The terrain has been the toughest yet on the trail - up then down then up again. And as we leave Erwin, we have some big climbs and big miles. Roan Mountain is coming up on Friday, and it's only few feet less than Mt. Washington. We have had some big storms in the afternoons which has made the days hard to push on. I leave the trail at the next town, Hampton, TN on the 17th and will get a ride to Johnson City and a bus to Roanoke and a plane to Hartford and will get to see some important folks in my life! (and will fly back to meet up with 'the girls' on the 28th)Here's a summary of the days past:4/24 Fontana Dam to Mollies Ridge Shelter, 12.4,shelter4/25 Mollies Ridge Shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter,11.7,shelter4/26 Derrick Knob to Silers Bald Shelter,5.54/27 Silers Bald to Gatlinburg, 12.5 (where we had wonderful trail magic as a tour bus of two Baptist churches from GA picked us up and brought us in to Gatlinburg in style!), hotel4/28 Gatlinburg to Icewater Spring Shelter, 3.0 miles, tent4/29 Icewater Spring to Tri Corner Knob Shelter,12.6, shelter4/30 TriCorner to Davenport Gap / Mountain Mamas, 15.7 AT miles plus 1.3 making it the longest day - 17.0 miles,hostel5/1 Davenport Gap to Groundhog Creek Shelter, 9.6, tent5/2 Groundhog Creek to Roaring Fork Shelter, 11.3 miles,shelter5/3 Roaring Fork to Hot Springs, 14.9 miles, stayed at Elmers hostel.5/4 a zero day!5/5 Slackpacked North to South, Allen's Gap into Hot Springs, 14.7, another night at Elmers!5/6 Allen Gap to Jerry Cabin Shelter, 11.7, tent5/7 Jerry Cabin to campsite past FLint Mtn. Shelter, 6.9 miles (hit the 300 mile marker!)5/8 Campsite to party at Sam's Gap, 10.2 miles, tent5/9 Sam's Gap to Bald Mountain Shelter, 7.6, shelter5/10 Bald Mountain to No Business Knob Shelter, 10.6, shelter5/11 No Business to Erwin, 6.3 miles, hotelthat's all for now...more in about 6 days!!littlefish