April 26-May 11, Miles 164.9-274.9

Fontana Dam sits right at the beginning of Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The trail literally crosses over the dam before heading up to the trailhead. A permit is required to enter the Smokeys – a $20 fee and agreeing to hang your food (for bears), bury your poop, and only sleep in the shelters gets you 8 days to complete the 70 mile hike through the smokeys. Only being able to stay in the shelters presents a logistic issue as sometimes you might need to walk further or shorter than would be ideal. Also up until this point I’ve been avoiding sleeping in shelters. Fortunately if the shelter is full it’s typically OK to to set up a tent around the shelter, which I found to be more comfortable in general.

Spring is well underway now as the barren trees are turning bright green with new growth and the wildflowers are in full bloom. While the views are beginning to become blocked and the “green tunnel” is developing, the beauty of the forest springing to life outweighs the limited sight distance. Instead, we seek the peaks clearings to catch a glimpse of the layered Smokey Mountains.

The first great view came from Little Shuckstack fire tower. To say this tower was capable of holding a grown adult would be stretching the truth a little. There were sheared bolts on the ground where the handrail used to be, and the floor of the tower was at least 3 layers of rotten wood stacked. It was enclosed with a roof and a handful of broken windows. The thrill of the view from the top of the world was rivaled only by the fear of falling through the floor to a most certain death. But the experience was totally worth the trip up the rickety steps.

The next highlight view came from the top of the famous Clingman’s Dome. I took a short day hiking after twisting my ankle yet again and ended up stopping at the shelter before going over the peak while my other friends carried on. Since I stopped early and nobody was there yet I decided to sleep in the shelter that night instead of setting up my tent (per the permit rules). As the shelter slowly filled up and I met a new crowd of people the other folks sleeping there began to discuss getting up at 4am to catch sunrise at the summit. Apparently this is a thing to do and I just happened to land at the right spot to do it. The weather was looking pretty good but it was definitely cold and windy during the night. When 4am rolled around everyone else started scurrying to pack up and get hiking, but I had practically convinced myself it was too cold and too dark and too early and there probably wouldn’t be a view anyway…

But I was awake. And it would be dumb for me to be awake and able to have this experience but decide to sleep in instead. So, I did what I always do when it’s time to get up but I don’t want to; I reached back to the corner of my air mattress and opened the valve to let the air out. Within a minute I was laying on the cold hard wood of the shelter. I practically had to get up now. I’m usually a slow packer and love to have hot breakfast and everything before hitting the trail. But this morning I got up, shoved all my stuff into my pack, donned a headlamp, and set out on the trail in the dark.

The hike up was amazing. The stars are so bright (when I could see them through the dense Douglas Fir forest) and the summit was silhouetted by the rising sun and crescent moon. I was behind all of the other people (naturally) but could see their headlamps ascending the trail ahead of me. I arrived at the top with perfect timing before the sun began to rise. The top of Clingman’s Dome actually has a handicap accessible viewing platform with a long ramp. Apparently some people just drive up. Weird. The wind was howling as I got to the top of the ramp and it was chilly as I doffed my pack and was made aware of how sweaty I was from hiking. I had a couple or minutes to bundle up before the sunrise began. It was the big event that we all woke up at 4am and hiked nearly 3 miles in the dark to see and we weren’t disappointed. The sun cast brilliant colors in the clouds as fog lay down in the valleys. It was a memorable sunrise and worth the effort to get there for it.

I wasn’t planning on stopping in Gatlinburg, but decided I really needed to give my ankle a rest and some ice. I hadn’t taken a zero day since Franklin and the brutal up and down climbs carrying 7 days of food were taking a toll and my body thanked me for it. Gatlinburg is a very touristy town nestled in the mountains featuring attractions such as “5D” movies, wax museums, celebrity car museum, a mountain roller coaster and gondolas to the longest human suspension bridge, and lots and lots of shops. Most of it seemed to be part of a Ripleys Believe It Or Not franchise, including the aquarium that boasts the best in the US. I passed on most of the attractions (in fact they made me want to go back to the mountains) but I did find a really great pinball museum with about 60 games on free play which I enjoyed a lot. After indulging in some BBQ and getting the break I needed I headed back up to the trail to finish the Smokeys.

Unfortunately many of the mountain views were obscured by drizzly weather, including the famous “Charlie’s Bunyan” overlook. I’ve come to accept that I’m going to see some of the amazing views on this trip that other hikers may have not caught but others will just be socked in.

However coming down out of the Smokeys into Davenport Gap after the rains was very beautiful. The eco zone switched from alpine forest to diciduous rain forest as I descended a couple thousand feet out of the mountains. It was misty in the valley but clearing above and the green really popped. There were salamanders and toads and Cricket and I got a glimpse of more magical forest fairies (fireflies) after everyone else had gone to bed. I slept in the shelter again due to lack of suitable tent spots (and the pouring rain), and was only slightly disturbed by the chain link fence and gate that locked to keep the bears out. People have described that shelter as the “bear zoo” where bears can come and view real life humans safely confined in their cage. Thankfully we didn’t see any bears that night.

Once out of the Smokeys it was just a few days of hiking into Hot Springs, NC. The main highlight in this section was a bald mountain top called Max Patch (derived as a homophone for Mack’s Patch). While I didn’t entirely plan it this way, the summit happened to fall right at the end of a long day in wonderful weather. All of the reviews said if you get a chance to camp the summit definitely do it. There’s a parking lot nearby and it’s a popular place for people to go and watch the sunset or sunrise. A couple was taking their wedding photos, another woman snapping pictures for her new outdoor T-shirt line, and a group of sorority girls all jumping simultaneously for the sorority-girls-jumping-simultaneously shot. Once the sun set it cleared out quickly. My tent was positioned with the vestibules facing east and west. I slept with the vestibule open so at first light I just rolled over and unzipped the door of my tent so I could watch the sunrise from my warm sleeping bag. I heated some water for oatmeal and some coffee and enjoyed the sunrise with the other folks on the mountain. Apparently Max Patch is often covered in clouds or blowing gale force winds, so I consider this sunset and sunrise combo a win in the view book.

Next stop is Hot Springs, NC where I’ll get to take a break and meet up with my friends Brad and Beth who I met while working at the brewery in Honolulu. They live in North Carolina and have been big supporters of my adventure on the trail. This entry is getting long so I’ll post more on that in the next post.