Stephanie's Trail Journal

Thursday, May 13th

--Stats from Day 21--
Beginning Point: Derricks Knob
Ending Point: Mt. Collins Shelter
Daily Mileage: 13.8 miles
Total Mileage: 199.8 miles
Weather: Cool, windy, foggy, rainy, and misty.

Today's hike was a little chilly but overall not bad. We missed a lot of great views (I think) because of the fog - its hard to tell. There were lots of vistas and rocky outcroppings but all I saw was white and gray air with a few apparitions that took the shape of trees. Overall, today was either drippy or soggy, including my nose, the ground, the trees, the sky, and my boots, among others.

Yesterday I told you that the Juncos were scaring the poop out of me... Now I know why I keep flushing them up - they are nesting in the slopes of the trail. Today one flushed a half foot from my boot and after regaining my composure, I lifted the grass from that spot to find a tidy little nest with four neatly placed light blue eggs with gray speckles. I wish I'd taken a picture but I thought it would be better to move on as soon as possible so momma could get back to her nest.

After leaving the shelter this morning, the forest composition changed from cherry trees and beech/birch areas to frazier firs and small beeches. They smelled so good -just like Christmas, and that guided our conversations for awhile. The firs really only appeared as we gained altitude, and this area must get a lot of moisture because they looked like an enchanted (or haunted) forest. Everything is covered in moss; moss and clubmoss line the forest floor and the edges of the trail. Again, I wanted to take so many pictures, but the rain and mist made me think twice. I managed a few photos today though.

We made it to Clingman's Dome around 4 this afternoon and it was a little anticlimactic because we couldn't see it from below and when we got to the top, there was a road and a giant cement observation tower. I guess this tower would be awesome on a clear day for the views from it, but as you will see in my summit photos, all we could see was a bunch of white fog. Oh well, perhaps another time.

Today we met about 4 people who work in the field of yoga - must be a hiking thing (guess I should learn some!). Some real nice folks we met in last nights shelter are going to be yoga instructors at a buddist retreat in Colorado for the summer. At a water break this afternoon we ran into a woman who runs a yoga studio in Columbus, OH (home of my college alma mater - Go Buckeyes).
During the day, we often go for long stretches of time without talking - sometimes you are just breathing to hard to carry a conversation. Other times we laugh so hard we can't hike uphill. My sisters will find it quite amusing that Dan and Stephan think I am The Hiking Nazi. Dan has been lamenting that Stephan and I make him hike more than he wants to. He is forever requesting zero days (essentially town visits where you make no forward AT progress) when we pass through towns and we always convince him otherwise. He thinks that if he can convince Stephan to "switch" teams that they will take control of our hiking schedule and have fewer hard days on the trail. Those 2 were even referring to me as the Emperor of the Dark Side (Star Wars reference) today! Well, no more rest breaks for those guys, and now we'll hike through lunch. Maybe I'll even cancel second breakfast! Ha! On second thought, I really like lunch and second breakfast so I might have to devise another plan.

We are all looking forward to Hot Springs. They have a pub and hot tubs, and a massage therapist, and cabins, and a pub... mmm, beer. Just about every thruhiker I know is planning a zero day there - even if its only half as good as we've built it up to be, it will certainly be like the Garden of Eden.

Okay, 9:15 and time for bed. Its another cold and windy night in the Smokies. Hopefully the fog will blow off tomorrow and we can have some good views of the mountains.

Take care you guys!
Steph

Posted by steph at May 18, 2004 04:24 PM