I made it to Clingman’s Dome and to Gatlinburg, TN!
Mother nature was relatively kind to me today, not dropping an single rain drop on me. For that, I was most happy. The skies sure looked like rain though, and so I was expecting it all the time. The view from the observation tower at Clingman’s Dome was thwarted by cloudy skies, though. Sadly, there are no awesome views in any of my photos. I remain hopeful, however, that this will not be true when I return to the trail this Monday.
The previous night, I fell asleep very early. Recall that I was a bit miffed that I didn’t make Clingman’s Dome the previous day. Because of that fact, I was mentally exhausted since I was not where I really wanted to be. So, the end of day procedure was just to eat dinner and then sleep. It kind of sucked, because there was a lot of socializing going on that normally I would’ve been a part. Since my hiking day ended so early, I was done with dinner by 6pm and lay down for the evening.
By 4am, after 10 solid hours of sleep, I kept waking up. Partly this was because I’d slept so long already, but mostly it was due to a bladder call. For some mysterious reason, I had neglected to remove my headlamp from my pack. Being that it was currently pitch dark out with no lighting aid, I had little choice but to place my bladder in a holding pattern.
I finally managed to return to sleep for short intervals. Wakings occurred every 15 or 20 minutes until 6am when my daily alarm finally sounded. I heard several rumblings from the other shelter inhabitants. Fortunately for me, none of them seemed hell bent on doing me harm. At 640am, there was finally enough light for me to comfortably get up and take care of business. After I got up, others followed in short order.
Getting ready to leave in the shelters is crazy. Everyone is scrambling about, packing and collecting their gear, eating breakfast and tending to other needs. I basically had my coffee and breakfast while waiting for the mad dash of activity to abate. By 930am, I was near ready to leave. Last item for me was collecting and filtering water for the short day’s hike to Clingman’s Dome.
By 10am, I was hiking. A short 1.7 miles into the hike, I passed by Double Spring Shelter. I had to make a short stop to adjust my clothing. I’d been hiking in both my base layer, micro-fleece, and rain suit. I’d been anticipating rain, being that I was still in the Smokies. But as yet, there had been no rain. I was sweating like crazy, so I stopped to make clothing adjustments. Having ditched the rain gear pants and the micro-fleece, I was far more comfortable. I hiked on to conquer the final 3 miles to Clingman’s Dome.
My mood during the hike was considerable better than the previous day. I knew that a town stop was close at hand. Additionally, the weather was far better than the previous several days. The clouds threatened rain and thunderstorms, but none ever came. With the exception of a still-wet and muddy trail, there was no additional moisture being introduced into my belongings.
I finally arrived at Clingman’s Dome at about 1pm. Oak and Acorn, who left the shelter shortly before I did, were also at Clingman’s Dome. I passed them as they were hiking down the Clingman’s Dome paved trail towards the parking area. From previous conversation at the shelter, we were hoping to find a ride into Gatlinburg together. I asked if they’d been up to the Clingman’s Dome observation tower. They said they hadn’t, since the present view was so horrible. It was completely cloudy and there was no view.
However, here we were at the highest point on the Appalachian Trail!!! I told them I was hiking up there anyway, regardless of the view. I mean, we’ve hiked 200 miles to reach the highest point on the A.T. I told them that you don’t hike all this way, you don’t take on a thru hike and miss out on the highest point on the trail!!! It took a little bit of convincing, but they finally decided to join me and hike to the top of the tower. They were either happy they’d changed their minds, or cursing me. I’m not sure which!
So from the top, the view was pretty horrible. Mostly socked in, with occasional areas of clearing that would briefly reveal a mountain top or a short section of a ridge line. We all took some photos while up there, chatted with a few local visitors and finally hiked back down. Hiking down that paved path was awesome. Normally, hiking on pavement is downright painful. But after hiking in the damn mud for 4 days straight with no traction, hiking on pavement was like a dream. Real traction; what a novelty! The other funny thing was all the rest benches along the way. The paved path is only a half mile long, but most folks hiking it are just day trippers that aren’t accustomed to walking with lots of vertical gain. So the benches are there for short rest stops.
After reaching the parking lot, we tried several phone numbers for shuttles into Gatlingburg. Most were not answering their phones at all. The few that did were not available. Oak and I finally resorted to hitchhiking. We got so lucky! The very first car we thumbed down stopped. I asked if they would be willing to”give three weary hikers a ride into Gatlinburg.” They said they’d be happy to do so. They cleared out the back seat of their SUV and then the three of us crammed three bodies and three backpacks into the backseat for the near-hour long ride into Gatlinburg.
I checked into my hotel and was happy. My first order of business was to retrieve my mail drop and bounce boxes from the NOC in Gatlinburg. It was only a short 5 minute walk to get there, but I was not going to carry those heavy boxes back to the hotel. Instead, I waited for the trolley and took a lengthy 45 minute ride back to the room.
Eventually, M’mot and Zeeba made it to town. We’d been in touch throughout the day and were planning to meet up for dinner and drinks. Also, my cousin Nathan and his girlfriend Gloria were arriving later in the evening, but that wasn’t until 9pm-ish. I headed to the Smokey Mountain Brewery at about 7pm where MotMot and Zeeba met me shortly after. We had a few drinks and dinnner until about 845pm when I headed back to my hotel room.
Nathan and Gloria were being held up by traffic jams that were associated with some car show in Pigeon Forge, a neighboring town to Gatlinburg. So I decided to take a “short nap.” The next thing I remember is that near midnight, someone was banging on my room door. It was Nathan and Gloria. The traffic jams had delayed them a full 3 hours. It took them 3 hours just to cover the final 6 miles here. Man! I could’ve hiked faster than that!
But no matter; they were here and were safe and sound. We ordered a Philly Cheese Steak Pizza from a local restaurant that sported late delivery. By 1:30am, we all had full bellies and were tired. We laid in our beds and fell fast asleep. For the morning, we would have an excellent breakfast and a day of touristy things to look forward to..
Wandering on…
Mojo