April 13

The early bird gets, frozen

Up at a frigid 4am, and out of camp by 430, we donned our long johns, fleece hats, puffy jackets, and head lamps and started out for Clingmans Dome, 3 miles ahead on the trail.  Clingmans is the highest elevation on the entire AT and is the 3rd tallest mountain on the east coast.  In the dark, we entered the high elevation Spruce and Fir forests.  My water froze up again in this 6000+ foot area.  We got to the summit of Clingmans Dome, elevation 6643, at around 6am.  We hiked the side trail to the observation tower.  We climbed the concrete ramp to the top, and shivered in the sub 30 degree temperatures, while the wind whipped around us.  The sky started turning pink as we eagerly awaited the sun's warmth.  However, we hadn't anticipated that it would take nearly an hour for the sun to finally crest over the mountains.  Despite the numbing cold, I was able to take some great photos from our perch, in the ambient light beginning to illuminate a new day.  When the round, orange globe of the sun finally crested, we snapped a quick photo and hurried down from the tower to get out of the wind and try to warm up.  We went a half mile down the paved access trail to the parking lot.  Several photographers where there snapping pictures in the morning light.  The towering mountains cast some amazing shadows in the early morning light.  We waited around in the parking lot, while hundreds of cars pulled in.  Tourists from all over North America are driving up here to see the views.  Some people ask us what we are doing.  After explaining that we had been hiking for weeks, and covered almost 200 miles from Georgia, one man in particular said we were his heroes.  I definitely felt like a bit of a celebrity, haha.  Thai Dye had a friend of his drive up to give him a resupply.  KB was waiting for a relative in the area to pick him up to take him in for a visit for a few days.  Thai Dye strapped a 16 inch sub to his pack, saying he was going to start a trend, and we hiked back up to the top of the mountain, and got back on the AT.  I was hiking alone for the rest of the afternoon.  Coming down from Clingmans I passed the 200 mile mark of my trip!  I am really enjoying the Red Spruce and Frasier Fir trees, it smells like I'm hiking through a Yankee Candle.  Sadly, many of the firs are dying off, due to an invasive pest.  The tall, grey skeleton-like trunks, speckle the mountainsides in stark contrast to the dark green hues of the live ones.  I hiked down into Collins Gap, at 5738 feet.  Yep, that's right, a gap at 5738!  Then up Mt Collins I went to get to the shelter.  Unfortunately, the shelter was 0.5 off the trail, but it was late in the day, and I couldn't make the next shelter, 7.5 miles away, by dark.  Mt Collins shelter was full, so I got to tent, which I actually prefer.  I've only slept in shelters a few times so far, and I find I get a much better night's sleep in my tent.  At just over 6 miles, this was a spectacular nero day.

sunrise at the observation tower on Clingman's Dome, GSMNP