Trail Magic

Sorry folks, one more post without pictures. But next week I'll be in Erwin, TN and they've got a Wall-Mart so I'll pick up a card reader there and finally post some pics! WOO HOO!

So, the last 10 days have been amazing. The Smoky Mountains were all they are cracked up to be. 70 Miles of wonderful forested ridgeline. The climbs were fairly tough, but worth it for the views. Crabapple and I even discovered a little trail magic along the way.

For those of you unfamiliar with trail magic, it's a term given to when you find something amazing while on the trail. Usually in the form of a weekend or day hiker carrying extra beer, pizza, ice cream, or the like. For Crabapple and I it came in the form of two weekend hikers, Jody and Carver.

We met them on our second night in the Smokys at the Silers Bald shelter. They were up for the weekend and were planning on meeting up with some more buds at the next shelter north. We planned to meet them again there the next night.

Walking the short 6 miles to the next shelter was short and amazing. Half way through the day I climbed Clingmans Dome, at 6400+ feet it's the highest point on the AT. The peak was a bit underwhelming with cloud cover and tourists streaming in from a parking lot 1/2 mile down a paved walkway, but the walk up was where it was at. Beautiful views of the southern Smokys on one side of the ridge, and clouds pouring over the top on the other. The vegetation looked almost manicured it was so perfect. If you ever get a chance to take a walk there, I'd highly recommend it.

That night we partied it up. Crabapple had gotten a ride in to town with Carver and a few others to get supplies and they had all brought back a ton of beer, pizzas, and whisky. The shelter (which holds 12) was filled to the brim, and thru-hikers had to tent outside. All in all, there were 16 of us, most all having a great time drinking and talking late into the night. The more seasoned hikers all commented that it was one of those 1 in 100 nights that rarely comes along when everyone is getting along, the weather's nice, and everything clicks. For me, it was a great break from the routine of the trail and I met some of the most fun people I know.

When one of the weekenders by the name of Big Bear started falling over and puking next to the shelter after watching three of the other hikers trying to perfect the "scorpion" yoga technique, I knew it was time to crawl into the sleeping bag.

My poor feet carried me HOW far?!!

6/27 - 11 miles
6/28 - 11.7 miles
6/29 - 5 miles
6/30 - 8 miles (to the party shelter)
7/1 - 15 miles
7/2 - 12.8 miles
7/3 - 12.3 miles
7/4 - 14 miles
7/5 - 17 miles! (my longest day yet)