Today, Bunny Tracks was a rodent on fire today, a crazed animal in search of food, a rabid rabbit, excuse me for this one, but one energized Bunny. For most of the day, she was out front and I was huffing trying to catch up. I guess a good night’s sleep made all the difference for her. Or maybe, she seems to revel in my misery and if I’m dragging a bit, she races ahead with glee.
We were not the last one’s out of the shelter, but nearly so. Finnegan and Chloe were just behind us getting out. The trail was mush from the rain in the middle of the night, but Bunny finally developed her “snow” legs. She realized she could push and glide and stabilize herself with her hiking poles. We did our first 4 miles in an hour and 45 minutes.
Chloe caught up with us at the Snake Den Ridge Trail. She pointed out the Mt Cammerer Fire Tower in the distance and said that we definitely had to stop there when we passed. We said our goodbyes and she headed down to her car and took the snow with her. It was amazing, as soon as she left us, the trail cleared up. We were at 5,700’ and the more we dropped, the warmer and dryer it got.
We popped in at Cosby Knob Shelter for a quick bite and a short break. We thought that Finnegan would have caught up with us by now. He did show up as we were finishing up. He was covered in sweat. He was having a hard time with the snow and ice, but the downhills in general are giving him a little problem. When we left, he said he’d probably follow us to Davenport Gap Shelter.
The turn to the Mt Cammerer Fire Tower was just about 3 miles after the Cosby Knob Shelter and about 10.5 miles into our day. Rolly Polly passed us just as we were getting close to the turn and told us that Finnegan was on his way. We dropped our packs and hiked the little over a mile round trip to the tower and were rewarded with outstanding views. The fire tower was built in the late 30’s and remained in use up to the 60’s when it was abandoned. In the 80’s, a group was formed to restore the fire tower to it’s original condition. Rolly Polly wanted to stay there for the night but realized he didn’t have enough water.
Our plan was to stay at Davenport Gap shelter which would have given us our longest day of the trip so far. When we got there, it was full. Not only was it full, but there are absolutely no flat spots anywhere near it, other than by the latrine which is not normally our first choice of tent sites. There was only one spot left in the shelter and we let Finnegan have it because he was dragging a little bit after his 14.5 mile day. We chose to go on and leave the Smokies.
Under cover of darkness, we exited the dark region of our AT experience. Normally, I am a big National Park fan and defender, but the Smokies have given the NPS a black eye. It’s not like the AT is something new—it’s been running through the park for 80 years. During all of that time, they haven’t bothered to make any flat spots for camping. They make ridiculous requirements that are anti-thru-hiker in nature. It’s not the trail runners, or the trail maintenance crews—they are doing a fantastic job. The problem is entirely the fault of the Smokies NPS. This is the first bad experience I have ever had the NPS.
Outside of the Smokies, camping is permitted, pretty much anywhere that you can find a flat spot. Less than two miles after the shelter, we left the Smokies. We started to look for a spot to camp, but when lightening lit up the sky, that was it for Bunny—we were hostel bound. We crawled the final 2.5 miles (I crawled, Bunny was running with glee knowing that I was suffering) to the Standing Bear Hostel. We dropped down and went under I-40. I’ve often driven over the trail here and saw the trail below us, but now we were hiking it in the dark with the threat of a storm hanging over our head. The minute we got the hostel, it started to pour.
We had several milestones passing through the Smokies. The day before we climbed Clingmans Dome, we passed 190.2 mile mark. That means we only had 2,000 miles to go. When we left Pecks Corner Shelter on the way to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, we passed the 219 mile mark which is 10% of the trail. In the words of Mizman, all the work and effort we have done to date, we just have to repeat that another 9 times and we’ll be done. Speaking of Mizman, Happy Birthday old man—we hope to catch up with you again some day. He’s about 80 miles ahead of us (coincidentally, the approximate length of the Smokies, which he chose to skip because of the snow and ice).
EFG
Thanks for sharing the views and notes! Keep those updates coming.