Bulldawg
10-25-2008, 21:29
Well, this was a great day to be hiking. We left the homestead at 6:20AM and were at Newfound Gap at 8:30, without a single soul there yet. The rain had gone, but the clouds and fog had not. We could see the sun trying to burn through the clouds and fog so I thought we would be OK as far as views go.
I had my wife with me who doesn't do a whole lot of hiking really, maybe 20 or 30 miles a year, so I wasn't sure about how long this would take. After restroom and pictures at the trail head we started on the trail around 8:45AM. The climb out of the Gap was a steady one for sure. The trail was a river in water. I mean there was not a dry place to put your feet unless you walked up on the berm on the sides. We made it to the Sweet Heifer Creek Trail in about an hour, so I figured we were making decent time. We continued on with the sun out and no clouds or fog up where we were. But the fogs were still pretty thick further down in the valleys so we just got views of mountain tops sticking out of the fog. The temp was nice at around 50F. We made it to Icewater Springs Shelter at around 10:40 and took a nice pack off break. We had views here and it was clear into the valleys. Nice shelter, seemed clean and all; signed the register and was out. Debated about possibly leaving the packs here for the hike out to Charlies Bunion but was unsure of whether we would need anything and if they would be there when we got back.
Anyway, we started down towards the Bunion and the fog really rolled in, the winds picked up and it got cold really fast. The 56F and clear we had at the shelter was replaced by 42F and socked in fog by the time we got to the split to the bunion. The views were NIL, NOTHING, NADA. The rock was neat. There were 12 college students there, one in shorts, tshirt, and sandals! We stayed about 30 minutes hoping the fog would roll out, but it did not.
We went back to Icewater to cook lunch. I got really cold sitting there cooking. By the time I had cooked, ate, and cleaned up it was 37F with a good breeze stirring. We left Icewater at 12:40PM headed back to the Gap. The smell of Pine was awesome walking back towards the Boulevard trail. we had planned on doing the Jumpoff, but with the fog socked in, decided against it.
When we crossed over the ridge of Kephart just west of the Boulevard trail I felt a sudden change in the weather. It was weird really. The wind stopped, the sun was out, I could see out towards Gatlinburg, and I knew the temperature was up. I checked my thermometer after about a 1/4 mile. It had went from 37F to 54F in the course of about 1.5 miles. Common Smokies weather I guess. We had went out to Charlies Bunion and to within a mile of being back only seeing about 16 people. Now, within an earshot of the parking at Newfound, we ran into a freight train. I bet we saw 150 people in the last half mile. The trail was a muddy mess, ankle deep mud, it was bad, really bad.
We got to the parking lot at 3PM sharp and there were 29 1/2 million people there. Talk about getting some funny looks, I did. We both changed clothes in the bathrooms there to get down to Cherokee for an early supper at the buffet at Harrah's. Fat, happy, sore, and full; we decided it best to come home. Thanks!
I had my wife with me who doesn't do a whole lot of hiking really, maybe 20 or 30 miles a year, so I wasn't sure about how long this would take. After restroom and pictures at the trail head we started on the trail around 8:45AM. The climb out of the Gap was a steady one for sure. The trail was a river in water. I mean there was not a dry place to put your feet unless you walked up on the berm on the sides. We made it to the Sweet Heifer Creek Trail in about an hour, so I figured we were making decent time. We continued on with the sun out and no clouds or fog up where we were. But the fogs were still pretty thick further down in the valleys so we just got views of mountain tops sticking out of the fog. The temp was nice at around 50F. We made it to Icewater Springs Shelter at around 10:40 and took a nice pack off break. We had views here and it was clear into the valleys. Nice shelter, seemed clean and all; signed the register and was out. Debated about possibly leaving the packs here for the hike out to Charlies Bunion but was unsure of whether we would need anything and if they would be there when we got back.
Anyway, we started down towards the Bunion and the fog really rolled in, the winds picked up and it got cold really fast. The 56F and clear we had at the shelter was replaced by 42F and socked in fog by the time we got to the split to the bunion. The views were NIL, NOTHING, NADA. The rock was neat. There were 12 college students there, one in shorts, tshirt, and sandals! We stayed about 30 minutes hoping the fog would roll out, but it did not.
We went back to Icewater to cook lunch. I got really cold sitting there cooking. By the time I had cooked, ate, and cleaned up it was 37F with a good breeze stirring. We left Icewater at 12:40PM headed back to the Gap. The smell of Pine was awesome walking back towards the Boulevard trail. we had planned on doing the Jumpoff, but with the fog socked in, decided against it.
When we crossed over the ridge of Kephart just west of the Boulevard trail I felt a sudden change in the weather. It was weird really. The wind stopped, the sun was out, I could see out towards Gatlinburg, and I knew the temperature was up. I checked my thermometer after about a 1/4 mile. It had went from 37F to 54F in the course of about 1.5 miles. Common Smokies weather I guess. We had went out to Charlies Bunion and to within a mile of being back only seeing about 16 people. Now, within an earshot of the parking at Newfound, we ran into a freight train. I bet we saw 150 people in the last half mile. The trail was a muddy mess, ankle deep mud, it was bad, really bad.
We got to the parking lot at 3PM sharp and there were 29 1/2 million people there. Talk about getting some funny looks, I did. We both changed clothes in the bathrooms there to get down to Cherokee for an early supper at the buffet at Harrah's. Fat, happy, sore, and full; we decided it best to come home. Thanks!