Day 14

If yesterday was when we discovered other hikers, then today is when we found the rain.

From when it started raining last night, it hasn't stopped. Last night alone, I'd guess we got wind speeds up to 35 mph, and probably 2 to 3 inches of rain. Although there wasn't much for wind during the day, I bet there was at least another 2 inches that fell. It was so unbelievably wet.

Usually I don't set an alarm on trail, but we had decided to get on trail before 8 which meant I needed an alarm. Without one, I wouldn't have been able to hear other people moving and know to start moving myself. 

Anyways, we packed up in the rain, walked up to the shelter, ate breakfast, and got on trail before 8. What we initially noticed about the trail was the severe mud from nanthahala had returned and the ground was quite waterlogged. 

Clingman's dome was the major objective for the day and the 200 mile mark associated with it. Before then, we had a couple small ridges to climb in the morning, plus a decent ascent up silers bald (not to be confused with the silers bald in the nanthahala section of the trail).

We stopped for second breakfast / first lunch at 11:30 at double spring shelter, roughly 3 miles south of clingmans. While there, we ran into a couple guys that were at Derrick's Knob and who must have headed out early in the morning. 

As a side note, I get the whole hiking style of taking things slow and working up to bigger miles, but they probably left camp around 7:30 and by 11:30 their day was over. Personally, I just couldn't do that -- I don't want to spend 20 hours a day in a shelter. Either way, they were nice to chat with during lunch, but I'm not to sure we'll ever see then again. 

Upon leaving double spring shelter, we summited clingmans dome, the highest point on the Appalachian trail. Walker already made the obligatory joke that everything is downhill from here, so I'll spare everyone hearing that joke again... 

Clingmans dome is also where I consider the high smokies starting. Now, technically you could probably include thunderhead or silers bald, but the forest floor changes more distinctly from leaves to rocks and the trees from hardwoods to softwoods. The eastern part of the smokies, from clingmans over to Mt. Cammerer is my type of forest, and I'm looking forward to walking through them again. 

Now, within .5 miles of the clingmans summit is really where our day got goofy. For the 10 miles leading up to this, the trail was already waterlogged. There wasn't a single step we took where water didn't seep up from the ground underneath our feet. Most of the trail had standing water, decent puddles, and even a little bit of flowing, run off water. Half a mile from the summit of clingmans, this turned into a stream. Like an ankle deep constantly running stream. And for the next 7 miles we walked through it. 

There was just way to much water on the trail and nowhere for it to go. Any diversions or channels cut into the trail to take the water away would just result in the water flowing over the trail farther down on a switchback. There were waterfalls everywhere going onto the trail and at least an inch deep of water at all times, minimum. The trail was legitimately a stream. 

For camping, we had planned to go to icewater shelter, a 21 mile day. After hiking 18 miles and getting to newfound gap, we had enough and wanted to dry out. I had been coordinating with a shuttle for about 2 hours at that point while I was coming off the mountain into the gap, and after getting there at 445, the shuttle picked us up right before 6. 

We aren't going to stay here in gatlinburg very long, just long enough to eat some town food and dry our gear. Our plan is to get a shuttle out of here at 9 and get back on trail this morning.

Originally, we were going to do a 20 mile day out of icewater, but with doing 3 less miles yesterday, and the way the guys are feeling, a 23 mile day doesn't really make sense. So, we'll do a 15.5 mile day today and then a 14 mile day tomorrow, and get out of the smokies tomorrow night. 

On Saturday we'll take another zero, and hopefully after that walker's ankles will feel better and stop swelling up. He's been saying that apart from that, he feels fantastic -- so we really just need to solve that issue.

Daily recap: 

- 18 miles

- from mile marker 190.1 to 208

- from derrick knob to newfound gap

- high temp: 40 and 5 inches of rain

- low temp (both morning and night): 40

- ascent: 4800 (roughly)

- descent: 4000 (roughly)

Last but not least, we crossed the 200 mile mark today and we're essentially 1/3 of the way back to Perrisburg. 

Thanks for following along.

Tyler M.