6/21-25/23 67.6 miles

I took a zero in Hot Springs the day I got to visit with Bling and Darby and the next day I had Jason pick me up at 7 am and drop me off at Max Patch for a slackpack back to my motel. You never know what the actual tread on the trail will be like. The uphill and downhill profile looked modest, meaning mostly down, but my goal was to make it before dark.

“Happy Solstice” says the chubby white guy with bangs combed to his eyebrows like a Beatle and a towel clutched in front of his junk. Thanks for that at least.

“Oh, Hike Naked Day,” I grunted as I cruised past him without a pause. What, am I supposed to take a photo?

All I saw today were 10 hikers going the opposite direction to me with 2 dogs, 1 hiker starting her section hike going my way and 1 naked guy standing in the middle of the trail. Slack, rain, cloud, I did it! Great day!

I printed my Great Smokies NP permit at the outfitters across from my motel. You can only stay/camp at shelters, and you have to hang your bear canister or food bag on the provided cables. And there are a lot of bears and a lot of bear activity in the most visited Park in the National Park system. So planning the mileage from shelter to shelter will be a bit of a challenge.

Jason returned me to Max Patch the next day but couldn’t give me a ride till much later in the morning so I figured I might as well book another hostel for that night. The thunderstorms, clouds and humidity are a plague upon my hike. Standing Bear Farm has mixed reviews but I loved it. I think because this is not the busy season, I get what I want. I have a cute little space with a bed called the Upper Treehouse. There’s portapotties, outdoor shower, a bunkhouse with a few guys (and Dakota the bear-running-off dog gets his own bunk!), kitchen and other cool stuff. I had a beer and my freeze dried dinner in a thunderstorm which had held off all day as I hiked. I’m blissfully happy not being in my tent. The rain went on all night and into the next morning. I took a zero.

Next day I entered the Smokies. Lots of uphill in my future. Should I stay after a very short day at the shelter 7 miles in or go on to the shelter 18 miles in? When I got to the first one after mostly steep uphill, it creeped me out. There was a guy sound asleep at 2 pm, his hiking boots propped up nearby. Seeing as how this shelter was a short walk from an alternate trailhead, it reminded me of shelters up north on the AT where people kind of lived in them. So, I pushed on, eventually getting to Tri Knob around 6 pm (not bad!) with 12 of the 18 miles uphill. Nobody else was here, massive numbers of tent sites.

I pitched my tent, ate dinner, then started texting potential shuttle drivers to get a ride into Gatlinburg the next day—I have a box to pick up at the NOC outfitters there. Instant response from David, I estimated a 5 pm pickup after 16 miles.

The next morning I saw a few people in the morning, about 4, they must have stayed at the next closest shelter south of me. Then, 1 hiker who stayed at the shelter 3.25 miles, he informed me, from Newfound Gap where David will get me from a huge parking lot. Not a bad day, the trail in the Park has been constructed right on a knife edge ridge, like actually built with rock cribs and fill rock in many places. But it was “smoky” all day, clouds above and gathered in the lows below me. Ups and downs in lush rainforest. Everything was going great and as I got closer, day hikers started popping up which meant I was less than 5 miles from the trailhead as rain started falling. As I approached the top of the last climb and the shelter 3.25 miles from the parking lot, it started raining, hard. Thunder claps right overhead. I got rain gear on as day hikers in shorts and tees continued uphill. Dumb. The wind came up, the rain was torrential and the rocks were slippery as I went downhill as fast as I could. If I didn’t have a shuttle set up, this is the exact situation where I would have pitched my tent, crawled in, warmed up and waited it out. Even moving, I knew the signs of impending hyperthermia. I get cold too easily.

Made it to the bottom half an hour earlier than my estimated arrival time. I went into the big restroom (I’m so lucky there was a place out of the torrential rain!) and changed into dry clothes and waited 1/2 an hour for my ride. By the time we got to my motel all I could think about was getting into a hot shower. Check-in took forever as I waited in line.

And then, woo! I’m warm, and every wet piece of gear is drying. Now for some food!

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