ElizabethClose

April 26 -crossed from GA to NC. Passed friend Lefty and his dog Lucy at Bly Gap. Tood out "Good Feet" insoles at 3pm and feet felt WAY better. Got to Muskrat Shelter at8pm- RedRobin and Hydro were there. Got hammock set up by dark-thirty and there was a hoot owl argument nearby - made me laugh out loud...all alone in my hammock..people must have thought I was a loon - 11 Miles


April 27 - Long climb in rocky streambed -feet were KILLING me. Cool Thunderstorm atop Standing Indian Mtn - what a fabulous clean smell! I was limping on sore feet so I stoped at 5:30 during a break in the rain. Fell asleep to the patter of rain on my rainfly -very cool -9 miles


April 28 - woke at 4, no rain so I tore down and hiked in dark until 6. Getting light and no rain so I stopped at a stream and cooked food, filled camelback. Somebody said 90% chance of rain, but we got none. Albert Mtn by 4pm - out of water so kept going to next water - 8pm just in time for sunset - 14 miles


April 29 - Last Day ULB - up at 5 - fast hike to Winding Stair GAp, caught shuttle to Franklin-Microtel/shower/boots... call in for services - 6 miles


April 30 - Called shuttle for ride to trailhead - Nancy, nice lady from trail group. Got to Silver Bald Shelter by noon -Al(weird old fart) burning plastic in fire ring, ppl started arriving to escape rain and party atmosphere started so I picked up and moved up trail a mile or so. Got hammock hung before rain - wooHOO - 4+ miles


May 1 - up at 4 and no rain so hiked in dark until 6... wanted to get ahead of shelter folks :-( Around 5pm I passed a shelter as thunder moved in so I stopped just in time to be under roof while it hailed. Didnt last long so I moved on 2 miles up trail. Met Tony-Jerry-Andrew at next water. Interesting conversation about organic farming...got Tony's email - 14 miles


MAy 2 - Rain all day... long downhill to NOC left me achy knees. Arrived in time to pick up food drop. No new clothes so I had to buy pants(current pair got 2" gap in rear and I didn't want to go another 100 miles with AirConditioning) NOC closed while I was on phone and I needed fuel. Talked to tourist while trying to figure out plan and guy came out to lock up and overheard me say I forgot fuel so he took me in and let me pay cash - SWEET - so I didn't have to find campsite and wait until 9 next morning. TStorm came in so I waited it out...10:30, yes, 10:30 PM!!! ... storm passed so I hiked up rocky goatpath until I found two likely trees off trail. 9 miles


May 3 - Tired feet, no breakfast, rainy day - made me cranky. Stopped early at Sassafras Shelter and set up on ridge where wind was blowing - spread out gear to dry, hung clothes with safety pins - 6 miles


May 4 - COLD morning 34..hurrying in semi dark I put shoes on wrong feet and walked around that way for about 30 min - duh. A quail flew across my path today, trail magic bananas at Cheough Gap...broke stem on glasses (yay duct Tape). Got to shelter and set up hamock before rain - wooHOO - 9 miles


May 5 - Another cold morning 33 degrees. Started to rain, turned to sleet. Stopped at 1:00 at shelter to make Ramen and couldn't stop shivering, decided to change into dry clothes and found my camelback had sprung a leak and all my stuff was damp. Took me 2 hours standing in my sleeping bag bouncing up and down. Robin/Hydro came in and decided to stay so I stayed too. Glad I did as it rained all night. 6 miles


May 6 - Made it to Fontana Dam by noon.Shuttle to laundromat-stealth changed into extra T and threw all in, sat wrapped in sleeping bag until finished. Met Proton in laundry-shared shuttle to Fontana Hilton Shelter had solar cell phone charging station and shower with HOT WATER!! Grandma and Old Goat made trail magic Jambalaya dinner and kept meat out of mine. 6 miles


MAy 7 - Grandma and Old Goat made Cheesy Grits with scrambled eggs for us all - YUMMY, new favorite!! - Proton/Hollywood/Nameless/me caught ride to Fontana Lodge to print out our Smokies permits. Got going by 10 - saw Giggles and Pie at water stop - hiked to first campsite. Bear was there but I didn't see it. Group of college kids made for interesting conversation over dinner. 6 miles


May 8 - Sunny day, mellow climb. Lots of bear scat and boar sign. 11 miles


May 9 - Up early and stopped near Rocky Top for breakfast - great views. Saw huge tom turkey near next shelter...tried to get him to fan-no dice... Lots of climbing today, feet really hurt by shelter..bed by 7 no dinner


May 10 - Cold, windy/rainy/misty morning climb to Clingmans. not great views due to weather. Met state college couple on trail - cool spiral bound book of wildflowers. Got to shelter early-Hopalong was napping so I talked to 75 year old section hiker about off-grid living (she used to DO it as a child) Rain started by 5 and Freebird (loud talker), Solo (self-important motormouth) and a few other people came in. Everybody smelled, all were wet to some degree - 8 miles


May 11 - Rainy morning. Caught ride in to Gatlinburg from Newfound Gap, got groceries and trollied back out to NOC Outpost. Tried to hitch for an hour - no takers so I called a taxi (driver:Frank-thought I was a badass LOL) ... $40 to get back out to trail :-( Got up to shelter -Hopalong, Freebird, Moore family of 8 ... rainy evening -8 miles


May 12 - Morning Rain - sheesh - A lot of razorback trail where path was 24" wide and steep drop off on both sides. Made it to shelter just before HUGE thunderstorm hit - 12 miles


May 13 - And more rain in morning - decided to stop at first shelter and hang lines to get gear dried out a bit. Battery on camera died so I skipped MtCammerer Fire Tower. Several ppl said views were great (rats!) Met two kids out of college who got caught in Tstorm previous night-they were sharing a tarp and one kids hammock was couple inches too long so his hammock fille dup with rain-they ended up sleeping in same hammock, struck me funny. 8 miles


MAy 14 - Slippy trail. Stopped at last shelter in smokies (chain link across front?) and hung lines to dry socks and shoes out. Proton and friend came and got very smoky fire started. Group of 8 came in, and more straggled. we fit 14 or 15 into 12 person shelter - 7 miles


May 15 - Fast downhill to i-40. Couple in SUV stopped and offered ride, when I declined they started to drive off, then backed up and handed me a sprite and a water. Made reservation for Hot Springs and guy said "34 miles, easy two day hike from i-40" I said I'm old and slow, lets reserve for Tuesday LOL. Conversation fueled my desire to see if I could make it in two days ... managed 15 miles before stealth camping on ridge.


May 16 - Slept in -didn't get started until 8. Feet kinda tired from previous day, took several breaks. Max Patch Bald - huge field, great views! hiked a bit with Jennifer and Dad from Raleigh doing a few days hike to Hot Springs. Just after dinner break I met "Mtn Man"- big beard like D.Q. - chatted about aches and pains and happy trailness - he asked for a hug - I gave it and headed for mile 15. The site was occupied where I wanted to stop so I headed up trail assuming there would be another close ... nope! 2.5 miles up a goatpath through Rhododendrons, sun set + thicket meant hiking by headlamp with achy feet ... finally came to clearing with couple tents @9:45 - set up as fast as I could and collapsed into hammock. 17 miles


May 17 - Up at 6, rain spitting, got packed up before it got serious. Made it to Hot Springs by 10:30. So glad I made a reservation as Sunnybank Inn was booked. Checkin at noon so I spent time organizing the shelf with Hiker Drop Box stuff. Proton came! Such a beautiful old building - a little run down, but SO charming! Took shower and changed into new outfit from food box, did laundry, went to outfitter to pick up replacement camelback bladder. Stopped at Library for WiFi to check mail, do banking, post this :-)