Day 37-38: Zeros in Gatlinburg, TN and Photos and Videos

Nathan, Gloria and I have had an awesome time in Gatlinburg, TN.We’ve ridden the Ober Gatlinburg tram car to the top of a mountain. We’ve ridden down that same mountain on an Alpine Sled Ride, which is a bobsled type of ride. We’ve visited the Ripley’s Aquarium. We’ve eaten at several really good local restaurants.

In addition to all this, I’ve met up with some of my hiking partners! MotMot and Zeeba arrived in town the day I did. I randomly ran into Wayward while walking through town. Then I also saw Woodstock and Giggles on the streets! Maynard, Whistler and a few others were also with them. It was really cool to run into fellow hikers like that. It’s like you’re running into lost companions or something. It serves as a degree of familiarity in an ever changing journey.

Tomorrow, April 20, 2015 I head back to the trail. I will start from Clingman’s Dome and plan to finish at Ice Water Shelter, a 10ish mile hike.

Sorry about the misleading title – the photos and videos will have to wait. I’ve successfully uploaded all of them, but I’ve run out of time to add them here to this post. I’m leaving the placeholders (with the not-so-creative placeholder text of “blah.”) for the various days below- my plan is to add the photos and videos over the next few days if I have good signal while on the trail.

Day 28

This was April 9th, the day I returned to the trail from the double zeros in Bryson City. The day involved shuttling back to the Nantahala Outdoor Center and embarking on a 3000 foot climb over 7 miles to Sassafras Gap Shelter. It also involved the trail feature called “the jump-up” which was just a really steep section of trail – no jumping was required. Here’s the photos and videos from the day.

First, some photos from the NOC area itself.

Here’s a nice photo of Woodstock and Giggles, the two I stayed with in Bryson City. They look like they poped right our of Doc Brown’s Delorian after a trip to the sixties! 🙂 Great people, these two are.

Here’s a video at the start of the day’s hike, crossing over the Nantahala River. After crossing, we are in search of the trail as it wasn’t immediately obvious where it headed.

A bit further, I passed a striking rock feature that deserved a photo.

Here’s a photo of a memorial to a firefighter who perished in this area while attempting to control a forest fire.

After reaching the area of the jump-up, there’s an amazing view looking back into the Nantahala River Gorge. I caught up with Woodstock and Giggles here so we took non-selfie photos of each other.

And several views looking out into the gorge. These could be assembled into a panarama if someone weren’t too lazy to do it. That someone isn’t me!

And that’s all the footage from Day 28.

Day 29

This was April 10th, the day I hiked from Sassafras Gap Shelter to Stecoah Gap. I’d originally planned on pressing to the shelter 3.4 miles further, but was totally beat from the previous day’s hike. I ended up hitchhiking into Robbinsville rather than pitch my tent on the side of the road.

Owing to my crappy mood throughout the day, I didn’t take a single photo of video. Sorry guys and gals!

Day 30

This was April 11th, the day I returned to Stecoah Gap and busted out my first 14 mile day, ending at the Fontana A.T. Road Crossing. From there, I called the Fontana Lodge for a shuttle into Fontana Village where I finally met back up with MotMot and Zeeba! Previously in the day, I’d met up with Wayward and Chef Oden at one of the shelters where I took a lunch break.

First up, some photos from Stecoah Gap before hiking on.

Once on the trail, I shot a short trail hike video. Here we see nice long shadows which prove an early start! I also mention Jacob’s Ladder – a trail feature that involved a short but very steep climb.

Next two photos are looking back at Jacob’s Ladder. Not so impressive looking here, but it was a tough climb up and over that thing!

Here’s a video looking back at Jacob’s Ladder.

Here are some photos from a scenic overlook at the top of a mountain. Here, I was seeing the first signs of Fontana Lake and the Smoky Mountains in the distant background!

A bit further, we have these views from the top of another mountain.

Near 3:00pm, I finally came in view of Fontana Dam itself! Here’s a photo and video of the first sighting.

A bit after 4:00pm and halfway through the descent to Fontana, I got some closer views and another video of the dam.

Here’s a section of trail passing by a huge rock face. It doesn’t look like it, but this part of trail was downhill.

While continuing to descend towards the road crossing, I all the sudden noticed green leaves on normally-barren trees! I surmized that it was an altitude thing – leaves had started appearing down in these lower elevations. Here’s a video of what I saw.

Finally at 5:00pm after 9 hours of hiking and 14 miles, I came to this view of the Fontana A.T. Road Crossing.

And finally after crossing the road, I arrive to a parking area that has boat access to the lake. Additionally, there are restrooms here and a phone which is used to call Fontana Village for shuttling services. There’s a soda machine here too. I am almost certain this is the same location used in the A.T. related film “Trek” where the hikers were unable to obtain a soda. They finally erected a nearby sign that said, “Dead End Road” as a warning to other hikers who may attempt to get a soda. The machine here looks newer, but the location looks identical to the one in the film.

This location had some trail magic being given earlier in the day. Although the trail angels were nowhere to be seen, they’d left behind a cooler that still sported a few goodies. One of them was a still-cold can of Bud Light. I decided to celebrate my first 14 mile day while waiting for the shuttle to arrive.

After I’d arrived at Fontana Village and checked into my room at the Lodge, it wasn’t more than 5 minutes before I saw MotMot and Zeba walk right past the rear door to my room! I hadn’t seen these two since Franklin, NC over a week ago. They were headed to dinner and I decided to join them. We sat outdoors on a deck. After our meals, we had a visitor who decided to “clean up” after other restaurant patrons.

 

 

After dinner, we retired to our rooms and promptly fell asleep

Day 31

This was April 12th, the day I zeroed in Fontana Village. Technically, it wasn’t a zero day at all – it was a nero. While having breakfast, MotMot and Zeeba and I hatched a plan. To avoid the 1.2 miles between the road crossing and the Fontana Dam Shelter, we decided to slackpack that during our zero day. We therefore converted the zero into a nero. Also, at the shuttle driver’s suggestion, we hiked the 1.2 in reverse.

Here’s some photos from that short hike. First, a few views from the dropoff near the Fontana Dam Shelter.

We then hiked down the A.T. southbound and arrived at the Fontana Dam Shelter. This shelter is one of the nicest along the A.T. and has a great view. It is known as the “Fontana Hilton.”

After visiting the shelter site, we continued back towards the road crossing. To be clear about this section, I’m not sure we saved any effort by hiking it backwards. There were just as many ups as there were downs. I did check the trail profile afterwards though – indeed there was a net 100 foot drop by hiking backwards. It didn’t feel like it though. Some think the trail profile lies!

Here’s some photos from the hike.

Back at the Fontana General Store, we celebrated our short slackpack with White Zombie – a locally brewed ale.

While doing laundry, I rented a golf cart and had been using it to shuttle hikers all around Fontana Village. I’d given my services the name “Mojo’s Shuttle Services.” Here’s a picture of my golf cart shortly before it’s final run back to the general store.

Here is a video showing the golf cart.

And here is a video I took while driving the golf cart.

And that’s all the footage from Day 31!

Day 32

Today was April 13th, the day MotMot, Zeeba and I hiked out of Fontana and entered the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. First, here are a couple pictures near the Fontana Hilton where we were dropped off.

Hiking along, I passed the emergency spillway for the dam.

Shortly afer the emergency spillway, I approached the main dam and the dam visitor center for a round of photos.

This dam really is HUGE!!! The road crossing over the dam is about 1/3 mile long. The dam itself is 400 foot high and holds back a so-much-I-don’t-remember-how-much amount of water. After we crossed the dam, we prepared to enter the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. But first, a few pictures looking back at the lakeside of the dam.

We were now ready to enter the smokies!

Courtesy of MotMot – we have a photo of all three of us! MotMot had taken a photo of him and Zeeba. After that he said, “c’mon – get on over here Mojo!” Sweet!

 

Despite the GSMNP having a “no stealth camping” rule for backpackers, we saw our fair share of evidence that violators do exist.

At a short break stop, here’s MotMot and Zeeba. Zeeba is sitting on “the throne.”

A short while later, MotMot stopped to top off their water supply at a gully.

A video and photo of a picturesque spot. Video also features footage of MotMot and Zeeba.

and here’s a photo taken at the same spot.

We continued on our way to the top of Shuckstack Mountain which sported Shuckstack Firetower.

I began to climb the tower which MotMot had already climbed. I got two flights up the tower and was getting nervous. I’ve never considered myself to have a fear of heights. Not ever! But on this occasion, something didn’t sit right with me. I stopped two flights up and had to shoot my video there.

We arrived at the side trail for the day’s destination – the campsite at Birch Spring Gap.

With darkness setting in, a fast tent pitch was essential. Here’s photos of our tenting locations.

 

And that is all the footage from Day 32!

Day 33

This was April 14th, the day we hiked from Birch Spring Gap to Russel Field Shelter – my first night in a shelter!

So the first footage from the day was a trail walk video taken at 2:45pm after 6 hours of hiking. I give some info about the shelters and speculate that depending on conditions this may be my first night spent in a shelter. I also ramble on about other random topics while walking in the mud.

video

And here are some photos taken at the same spot.

The plan had been to press on to Spence Field Shelter, but when I arrived at Russel Field Shelter, I found MotMot, Zeeba and several other hikers already taking up residence. Spence Field was only 3 miles further, but the worry was that it would be full. Everyone was more in favor of taking a known shelter space. It reminded me of the ancient pearl of wisdom, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” So, I decided to also stay. Additionally, it would be my first night in a shelter.

Here’s some photos of the interior and exterior of Russel Field Shelter.

And some other random shots inside the shelter.

And that’s all the footage from Day 33!

Day 34

This was April 15th, the day we hiked from Russel Field Shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter. The day started late for me, with MotMot and Zeeba leaving about an hour before I did. We’d all planned on making Derrick Knob Shelter with the understanding that we’d be too late to secure shelter space and would have to tent. Even one night in a shelter had changed my mind about them. It is really nice to not setup my tent in the rain!

Here are some photos from Russel Field in the morning looking at the conditions. Rainy and socked in with thick grey soup!

After hiking about 3 miles, I stopped at Spence Field Shelter to have a hot coffee and hot meal. It was a time waster to do this, but psychologically, I needed it! It had been raining throughout the morning, so getting into the shelter was the only way to get a break from the rain.

Here are some photos from Spence Field Shelter during my break.

A video from Spence Field Shelter…

And some photos after hiking for about 20 minutes.

And here’s a video taken from the same location as those photos above. I still sounded ok at this point which was surprising seeing the continuing conditions. Oh, and I was definitely confused in the video. I spoke of my destination of Derrick Knob Shelter being a mistake – it was actually not a mistake! Oh well.

The only additional footage was in the form of videos. From my tone, you can hear the mental deterioration happening. Here about 45 minutes after the video above, I am lamenting the lack of any views from areas that would have a view in clear weather.

30 minutes later, at 4:30, here’s a video showing how the trail itself is nothing more than an actual stream here in the Smokies. My tone has hit a new low here, complete with an audible, “This sucks.”

I finally did arrive at Derrick Knob Shelter at I-don’t-know-what-time. I was near hypothermic, owing to being completely soaked and the temperature dropping rapidly outside. There was no shelter space, as anticipated. There were about 8 tents pitched when I arrived. The order of business was to get dry and warm, but I couldn’t do that until I pitched my tent. I also would not have dinner without gathering water, and I was not about to risk drenching my dry camp clothes. So, I had to pitch tent, collect water, then get dry, then cook dinner. Here below is the final picture of the night – at 9:15pm. I am waiting for my food to re-hydrate.

And no more footage from Day 34!

Day 35

This was April 16th, the day I hiked from Derrick Knob Shelter to Silers Bald Shelter. I had planned to hike all the way to Clingman’s Dome, a total distance of 10.5 miles. However, due to the trail conditions slowing my progress, I only made it 6ish miles to Silers Bald Shelter.

In the morning before heading out, I took this photo of the shelter graffiti. It is a Big Lebowski reference that alot of my friends and family will appreciate, so here it is guys – enjoy! 🙂

That’s all well and good, but this dude was most definitely not abiding. This dude was privy to all kinds of new shit… A lot of ins and outs and what-have-yous… And all of that involved rain and mud. This dude will not stand for that any longer.

But this dude was forced to endure more of that. Rain and mud and serious slippage. Because of that, no more footage of this day exists. Sorry guys!

Day 36

This was April 17th, the day I hiked from Silers Bald Shelter to Clingman’s Dome and then got the hell out of dodge. With a day’s hike of only 5 miles, I was in no huge hurry to leave the shelter. I took my time packing and having coffee and a hot breakfast. I was hiking by about 10:00am.

A couple hours after hiking, there was a noticable difference in the type of trees I was seeing. Here, at about noon, I captured these photos and the following video.

And a video…

After this, I was so focused on getting to Clingman’s Dome that I didn’t take any additional photos until I made it there and met up with Oak and Accorn from Germany. Here are those photos.

Oak, Accorn and I then hiked the 0.5 miles down the paved path leading to the Clingman’s Dome parking area. Here’s some photos taken while hiking down that path. The path has some rest benches along the way. Most who hike this path are not used to elevation changes on a walkway.

Once at the parking area, Oak and I tried to secure a ride by calling area shuttles. While we were waiting for calls to be returned, I took some photos during periods of local clearing.

And that’s it for footage from Day 36. Oak, Accorn and I finally had to resort to hitchhiking to get a ride to Gatlinburg. We were lucky; the very first car we flagged down was willing to give us a ride! Score!

Day 37-38

These two days were my zero days in Gatlinburg with Nathan and Gloria. Here are a few pictures I took while we visited some of the town’s attractions.

And that’s the end of the footage from our weekend in Gatlinburg!

 

Wandering On…

Mojo