March 26 Mollies Ridge Shelter 177.3 miles
Left Fontana Dam late, around 11AM, and decided to forget the PO and have them forward my mattress to my home.
Set out with Jersey Gerbil and we had a nice walk across Fontana Dam under a hazy blue sky. We walked three miles on paved road before hitting the trail which happens to be the the southern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains Park. A hiker has to have a permit to walk in the Smokies so the park rangers can track you.
It was a long two thousand foot ascent but relatively easy trail (low rocks and roots). I got way ahead of Gerbil and after seven miles was at Birch Spring Gap where we were supposed to tent. But it was 3:30 and I figured I still had the juice in me to get to Mollies Ridge.
So I went on the other four miles. But then it turned rough with lots of ups and downs and I was tired when I got into camp.
In camp Conneticut Cowboy and the English Boys and others from the Deep Gap gang were building a nice fire inside the shelter. I was ok with the boys.
At Fontana Dam, over dinner, I told Cowboy that he had a big head and he got hurt and said he "didn't have a big head. Take it back." I was surprised at that because I don't think of that as such a bad thing, and said "ok you don't have a big head Connecticut."
When we left he bought a round of whiskey shots. "You are a good man Connecticut." He looked at me and said, "And I don't have a big head do I?"
"No you don't man, you got a small to normal one."
I had forgotten how it was to be twenty-five, in good shape, energetic, and feeling like the world is all your oyster. I may not have had his family's money but I was pretty happy with myself too. But then, again, I remember I could be very unhappy with myself. Miserable. Ah youth!
March 27 Derrick Knob Shelter 189.3 Miles
I felt a little guilty about about leaving Gerbil behind and I texted her a few times but I knew she wouldn't get the message until a day or two later with the lack of reception out here. But why should I feel guilty? I'm not her daddy or her uncle. And she mentioned that some people could think I was because I was hiking with her. That bothers me. I'm not Daddy or Uncle. Just another hiker on the trail. What am I hiking with girls anyway? Jeeze.
I'd rather hear the shit and fart jokes of the boys and the straight talk about pissing and having a good dump. As the English boy Teabag says about them, " The Fellowship of the Poopah."
I also like their intense drive on the trail. Those boys walk fast. I'm always a couple miles behind them coming into camp but they keep me on a goal.
But boy am I tired when I get into camp. Eat and in bed by 7 and wake up a 7.
I'm liking my Radiant sleeping bag: very toasty, sometimes hot. I use my clothes bag for a pillow. I hang my sweaty shorts and shirt from my backpack and hope they are dry enough to put on in the morning. I try to keep a shirt and pajama bottom for sleeping. But the bottom is hot. I'm gonna buy a third pair of shorts. Two for hiking and one for sleeping.
I also gotta buy more food. I'm only getting 1500 calories a day to save weight in my pack. Bad idea. Probably why I'm weak at the end of the day. Gonna stock up in Gatlinburg when I resupply.
March 28 Mt. Collins Shelter 202.8 Miles
Passed Bionic Man on the trail about 9AM, a guy my age 61, and he said my singing made him smile. I told him that if I sing I can set my own rhythm and not the recorded songs rhythm. Always liked singing, it gets my endorphins going.
He said he is too busy watching his step to sing too. Said he was walking eight miles and stopping at the shelter before Clingman's Dome.
Clingman's Dome. The highest mountain on the AT at 6667 feet.
I told him I might too. But I knew that I wanted to hit the top today. The weather was clear and it was supposed to rain tomorrow.
So I stopped at Double Spring Gap Shelter and the gang was sunbathing; it was warm for March, I threw my nasty shirt over a branch, and took a twenty minute nap while the boys ate and chatted.
They were gone by the time I woke up and I set off in short order. I know I have been up tougher climbs but this one was a hard 1500 ascent. But I reached the top and there was a wild circular path to the tower view. I could see Gatlinburg off in the distance and Georgia Mountains way off in the blue mist.
Also I had hit 200 miles on the AT! Yeah!
I met a guy named Plant who had started ten days before and was walking 25 mile days. He had a super lightweightpack, a one pound sleeping bag and a one pound tarp set up. Amazing speed.
My feet and ankles were hurting by the time I rolled into camp around 7PM. It was the accumulation of long hikes over the past week and a half.
I was hoping to go straight toward Hotsprings, NC and skip gaudy Gatlinberg and it''s gross commercialism but I didn't have food for six days on the trail. I also realized I was tired.
I slept in the shelter next to Eighty-Two, a former Air Force member of the Eighty-Second division. His paycheck hadn't come in yet so he had to hang at the shelter tomorrow and pick it up in Gatlinburg the next day. It costs a lot to be on the trail.
It also costs a lot physically. A helicopter came down at Siler's Bald Shelter about 4AM this morning according to False Summit, and took Atta Boy, another 61 year old guy like me off the mountain. Summit said Atta Boy had pains on the lower sides of his back. Sounds like kidney problem to me. At Fontana Dam, I dined with Brisbane, an Aussie who had to go into Gatlinburg because he slipped on a rock and hurt his hip. He was hobbling.
Then I've hear tales of twisted ankles and bad knees taking people out. And it's only been a few weeks into it.
Whatever your weak spot is The Trail will Teach You where it is. Ya gotta have a survivor's sense of humor to be out here where living in mud, cold, and a bloody blister is a normal thing. No Pain No Rain No Maine.
March 30 Motel 6 Gatlinburg, Tn. 207.1 Miles
Damn there are alot of tourists here on a Wednesday. Coming down the mountain with an Indian Uber driver, I saw a hundreds of people at the visitor center and walking around the designated day hiker trails.
And when he dropped me off at the cheapest place, the Motel 6, there plenty of people up and down the streets buying fudge, beer, trinkets, and souveniers.
I met the Gang at Cici's all you can eat pizza. I had about two medium pizzas and a large salad and three Dr. Peppers and some sweet rolls. The boy's were on their fourth one. A big burly construction worker remarked that he thought he could eat a bunch, but these skinny boys put him to shame.
I did my laundry at the local Day's Inn, since the Motel didn't have one, and went down to Walgreen's to resupply on cheese and bread and power bars and pop tarts and honey buns and trail mix. High calorie stuff and so healthy for you! This is coming from Mr Health freak before the trail where I abhored how sugar was killing the USA. But you gotta do what you've gotta do. Carrots and spinach and fruit ain't gonna fill you up on the trail. I had ditched my cooking gear and cold mashed potatoes didn't make it for me.
Most of the gang went back on the trail today, taking a Nero day, a Near to zero hiking day.
I took a Zero day because I was tired and needed sleep and a shower.
I have realized I can't keep up with them. Most of my peers are doing eight mile days and I'm doing 13 to 16 mile days. Well, it's caught up with me. And I have a long way to go so it's time for a reset.
Anyway, it's not a race. And I do love walking. But I also enjoy feeling the landscape, taking pictures, and getting lost in my thoughts. Thoughts like what am I going to eat when I get to camp? And how many football fields in a mile? How many football fields is thirteen miles? How does a Macy's escalator compare to the steepness of this hill? All this high end thought slows me down, besides the sheer physicality of it all. And, you know, I'm ok with that.
The Motel 6 gave me a room with a king size bed and a huge Juccuzi. Nice. Only the Juccuzi didn't work. And you know, I'm ok with that too.
Before going to sleep, I got a text from Tough Nut. She was traveling with an Army officer who worked with wounded Vets but now she is off the trail; left somewhere between Fontana Dam and Gatlinburg and going to Jamacia or the Bahamas. She says she lost weight on the trail and looks better in a bathing suit.
Women. Even tough Marine women are thinking about how they look in a suit. She wants to hook up with me in New York. Cool. That would be awesome. She's something else.
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