Day 26, Friday, March 9. Newfound Gap, Gatlinburg—10.5 miles

I think it was colder last night, but I felt warmer once we got settled in our bags. The hot water nalgene works great to get everything toasty until your body heat takes over. The hardest part of all in the cold weather are the transitions into and out of the sleeping bag. It’s imperative to take your sweaty clothes off when it’s this cold. My socks hold a lot of sweat and they could freeze to my feet. As it is, they froze and cut the underside of my big toe when I put them on in the morning yesterday. Today, I opted to donn my clean pair since we are, hopefully, going to make it to town today.

The equivalent of 3 red-shirted crewmen from Star Trek (the 3 young guys going so fast we didn’t ask their names because we will never see them again so they are “one episode” only) were the first ones on the trail. They were all traveling ultra-light and only one of them cooked something for breakfast. Bunny and I always try to have a hot drink and hot breakfast to start the day. It was so cold that Dancing Dog even skipped her French press coffee and drank some instant.

The eight named crew members all got on the trail within 15 minutes of each other. We were not the last ones out of the shelter at 9:15. Patches took that honor today. Stickers and Lady Bug were just ahead of us. Of the 8 of us, Stickers is, by far, the fastest hiker. The rest of us hike in the 1 1/2 – 2 mph range (with our speed gradually dropping throughout the day). It was sunshiney and gave the illusion of warmth although it wasn’t even 15 in the sun when we left. I didn’t share the temperature with anyone thinking that if they knew how cold it was they would start feeling colder.

Clingmans Dome, the tallest mountain in the Appalachian range, was less than 3 miles ahead today. It was an easy 1,100’ climb to get to the summit from our shelter. We crossed a couple of “knife’s edge” ridges on the way up. Since it was sunny and clear, the views were breathtaking. We kept stopping to admire the views, but I started getting impatient for a couple of reasons—1) the sun was melting the snow which would freeze into ice once the sun was gone making the trail treacherous, 2) we had a long way to go today and the road may not even be open when we get to it if it doesn’t warm up more, and 3) I wanted to get Dancing Dog off of the trail because of her heel, but more so because she has had the Hershey squirts for a couple of days and none of us has been drinking enough.

My goal is to take at least a day off in town for all of us to heal up. Bunny and I are having lots of chafing between our legs from the wet and cold. Trail Runner is the only one not showing any wear and tear—she’s a beast! During the last few days, I’ve discovered DD has been having plantar fasciitis issues the past year, but she’s shown no issues on this trip (or if she is, she isn’t letting it show).

The tower on top of Clingmans Dome is just a little off of the trail. Bunny and I dropped our packs to go get some pictures (this is a major highlight of the southern end of the Appalachians). Trail Runner and Dancing Dog decided to keep moving and we would catch up in a bit. Lady Bug got there the same time we did and the three of us headed up the ramp of the tower. Stickers was coming down when we were headed up.

By the time we got back to our packs, Patches was dropping her pack to head up to the tower. Bunny and I headed north on the trail to catch up with the other two. They were like horses on the way back to the feed bag and barn after a long ride—they were making time. It took us almost 2.5 miles to catch up with them. We split a protein bar while walking so we wouldn’t have to stop to eat and run the risk of getting cold again. It was warmer now, but nowhere near the 50s we were hoping for. At best,it was 30. On the bright side, we started passing day hikers which meant that the road is open so we would be able to get to Gatlinburg (imagine we were actually looking forward to getting to Gatlinburg—we were a little desperate).

Dancing Dog and Trail Runner were waiting for us at the turn to Mt. Collins Shelter. Lady Bug had dropped her pack to head the 1/2 mile to the shelter for latrine access. While we were catching up with what had been happening, Finnegan and Patches joined us. 7 of the 8 named crew members were still here. I knew as long as we were around Lady Bug we would be fine because Stickers would make sure to make arrangements for us to get to town.

We began the last 4.5 miles to Newfound Gap as a group. A few more thru-hikers, Pizza and Dare Devil caught up to us and passed us after a bit. Dare Devil, I later found out, is legally blind. I didn’t even realize it until we were sitting next to each other in the shuttle and he was trying to count his money—he couldn’t see it. This guy was hiking faster than me and he’s blind! I can’t imagine the type of determination and guts he has to be out here alone.

Dancing Dog had to make a few pit stops along the way, so she and Trail Runner dropped back a bit. We kept going because of the cold. We were relieved to see the “pig exclosure” ramps which meant we were almost to the road. We checked the data book only to realize we still had a mile and a half still to go. This felt like the longest mile and a half of our trek so far until we caught sight of the road above us.

When we emerged to the parking area, we saw Stickers, Patches, Pizza, and Dare Devil. Stickers had gotten us a shuttle that would be here within the hour. Before we could drop our packs, Trail Runner showed up. We went to take some pictures and get rid of some trash. When we turned around, Lady Bug and the shuttle were both there, but no Dancing Dog. I started to panic, but then she popped up on the road. She was bubbly (as usual).

I think Trail Runner is an animal, but Dancing Dog is more so because she has covered the same 50 miles these past few days that the rest of us has, but she has done it in much worse conditions than us. Her blister now covers her heel and she has been having digestive issues almost the entire time. I only dealt with the digestive issues for a couple of days in Spain last year, but not under the same bad weather conditions she has. Plus, I always had a bed and bathroom to look forward to. She has done this trip under constant pain and illness and never once complained. Not only has she not complained, she has been happy. I can honestly say of the four people in our group this past week, I am the weakest.

We rode the shuttle into town to the Travel Lodge. We checked in and agreed to shower and head out to dinner as a group at 7. It will feel strange to be clean and warm after these past few days. We also ran into Durwood who left us 3 days ago. He ended up having to walk the 15 miles into town because of the road being closed. For now, we just want to eat and sleep before we want to think about what we are going to do tomorrow. We’ve heard of another approaching snow storm.

EFG