Porcupine 2008

After 200 miles on the Trail I’m feeling good and I think that perhaps this just might happen.

On Thursday I finally got out of Fontana Village, crossed the dam, and entered the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Land of bureaucracy. I had to fill out a government form in order to use the park shelters and campsite.

I still need to take care of my feet, so I took it easy the first day, and only went as far as Campsite 113, for 5.6 miles. It was almost all straight up, though, and made for a fairly tough climb. The campsite was fairly nice, and I caught sight of a deer on the way in. It actually stood still and let me take pictures of it, though it did want to hide behind a tree.

Friday, I did 11 miles to Spence Field shelter. I stopped here for lunch at Mollies Ridge shelter, which is typical of shelter designs in the Smokies. Notice the hitching post; horses are permitted on parts of the A.T. in the Smokies and that means the Trail has the occasional bits of horse manure. Fortunately for you, I took no pictures of that.

On Saturday, it began raining shortly after I left the shelter and was also quite windy. I did get over Rocky Top (no, not that one) at 5,440 feet and Thunderhead at 5,527 feet before it started really raining. I only made 6.5 miles that day to Derrick Knob shelter, which I got to around lunchtime, and decided to stay and try to dry out because of the forecast for thunderstorms in the afternoon. Instead, the sun came out and it got nice for a while. So I lost a half day or so there.

Yesterday I hiked 14 miles from Derrick Knob shelter to Mt. Collins shelter. The morning was five miles of following ridgeline to Silers Bald, at 5,607 feet, where I got the first good look at Clingmans Dome, the afternoon’s climb. Of course, when I finally got to the top of that mountain, I discovered to my dismay that I wasn’t done climbing; Clingmans Dome was actually the next summit over. At 6,643 feet, it is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail and very nearly the highest point in the eastern United States. You can actually drive up there and take a look for yourself, but it’s a bit more fulfilling when you walk there.

The views from the observation tower are quite spectacular and it’s well worth going up there. Ironically, a couple of tourists actually asked me for directions, separately. I have no idea why.

And to add insult to injury, Mt. Love, at 6,446 feet, stood between me and the shelter. So I had to climb that one, too. But I finally got to the shelter and discovered yet another bit of pointless bureaucracy. This shelter has a privy.

And this morning I hiked 5 miles to Newfound Gap, where I hung around for about 20 minutes until a nice elderly couple who just dropped off their kids who are also thru-hiking picked me up and gave me a ride into Gatlinburg. There were a couple of things of note on the Trail there, such as a fenced off area of a few acres which is ostensibly fenced off to keep out wild boars. It included a bizarre contraption which appears intended to let hikers cross the fence and still keep out boars, though I fail to see how it would stop any animal from crossing. Looks like a waste of money.

The strangest thing I saw at Newfound Gap, though, was a sign saying that it was a “‘First Amendment’ Expression Area.” As far as I know, the First Amendment applies everywhere in the borders of this country. But that’s another story…

The trail through the Smokies has been more moderate with fewer and shorter steep climbs and descents, but makes up for it by having more rocky sections. I hate rocks. I really hate rocks. Overall though it’s a beautiful section.

I also did make a short video, though I didn’t actually do a lot of filming I wanted to, since I don’t like to show the video camera around tourists and section hikers and anytime I get a suspicious feeling about someone, which is a lot. So it’s not as good as I’d like, but enjoy it anyway.