The tower at Cingmans Dome was pretty cool. It was a nice day, so you could see pretty far in all directions. A ridgerunner I would meet that night at the next shelter told us that we were prety lucky b/c the only people going to Clingmans were other hikers. Normally, when the road to Clingmans is open, the tower is swarming with families.
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| From AT 2010 |
In the Smokies, hikers are required to stay at shelters (which are really nice, btw, compared to shelters outside of the park) - no tent/hammock camping unless the shelter is full. That night, I stayed at Icehouse Spring shelter w/ maybe 3 or 4 other thru-hikers and a group of 6 Canadian college students on some sort of leadership retreat.
The next day was supposed to be one of the easiest days in the Smokies as well as one of the most picturesque. Charlie's Bunion was a quick walk from the shelter and I was able to get there in time to get my picture taken. On the horizon, you could see rain clouds moving in - and in not too long, we were surrounded in rain and fog.
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| From AT 2010 |
That night I stayed in Tricorner Knob shelter with roughly the same group of hikers - the Canadians were headed south towards Clingmans. Late in the afternoon, the ridgerunner gets a broadcast over his walky-talky: apparently, one of the Canadians had stage I hypothermia on Clingmans. A couple of the Candians were wearing cotton hiking clothes in an an attempt to disprove the "Cotton Kills" expression. The ridgerunner had apparently gotten on their case about that - so when he heard what happened, he wouldn't shut up about it ("I tried to tell those kids, but they wouldn't listen...").
The next day was a long and easy walk - leaving the park. Davenport Gap marks the boundry of the Smokies and I got there around 4 or so. Then, a couple miles further, you cross under I-40, which had zero traffic b/c it's been closed since winter due to a rock slide. Shortly after crossing I-40, I arrived at Standing Bear hostel. I was relieved when I got there b/c I had very little cash and I assumed that that was all they accepted - but apparently they took credit as well (awesome!). I put my pack on a bunk, took a long shower and attempted to wash my clothes. They didn't have a washer, so I had to wash my nasty hiking clothes by hand. After drying them out (sorta), they didn't look too clean, but at least they didn't smell as bad.
The hostel has a store (of sorts), where you can grab the food you want and then when you leave, you total up all of the food/drinks you took and pay the hostel accordingly. I had two bbq rib sandwiches, 1/2 a frozen pizza, a hot pocket and four Mello Yellos. I slept well that night - dispite the excessive levels of caffeine coursing through my veins!
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