Hiking Matt

Great Smoky National Park - Day 2

    Woke up numerous times throughout the night, 2:30, 3:30, 5 something and 6:00 before finally getting up around 7:15am. I figure that I kept waking up because I am used to getting around six hours of sleep a night. Go figure, but hey, I’ll take 10-11 hours of rest any day.

    I am actually shocked that my legs and body don’t hurt as bad as I’d thought. My knees cricked a little as I got down from the top of the shelter, but other than a bit of tenderfeet (to be expected) I was okay. My heal had started a very small blister but it was nothing to get worked up about. I was kinda shocked to still see sleepy hiker in the shelter, you’d think that with all that sleep he’d gotten he would’ve took off long ago. Seems as though his alarm didn’t go off. See, even in the woods we use that excuse!

    I was out of the shelter and on my way at 7:45. A bit later than I desired because I wanted to catch the sunrise over the mountains and enjoy breakfast while doing so. There’ll always be next time. Boy did the climb out of Peck’s look totally different than the sauntering in that took place the night before.

    While hiking up Mount Sequoyah I ran out of water and my stomach was complaining about having nothing to do but slosh around acid while huffing and puffing uphill, so I took my first break and got some food in me which was a good thing because I also needed to take some Vitamin I (ibuprofen). Since my first x-hike, I am always petrified when I run out of water because it was my second biggest downfall to that hike. First being the imbalance of my electrolytes.

    Pulled into a wonderful shelter, Tricorner Knob. There, an overnight hiker was finishing up his lunch before pulling out just as another hiker had just come in. Fool was his name and he too was a SoBo thru-hiker. What luck, two hikers, one each day. Very cool. I took my time and just chatted with him while we both enjoyed our lunches. He had started his hike in July and was only two days behind Young Gun (Young Gun admitted that he’d taken about a month’s worth of zero days on the trail). I picked his brain about various trail activities and the like. He was very courteous and joyous. When I spoke of this being a shake-down hike he told me that his was from Harper’s Ferry to Springer last year. Then, this July he started at Katahdin and was hiking all the way back down to Springer, again. I acknowledged how cool it was that he didn’t just get off in Harper’s Ferry but decided to continue on to Springer. He shared in this thought and mentioned that other (thru-hikers mind you) thought he was crazy for continuing on. Just when you thought you knew thru-hikers huh?

    He took off after about 45 minutes and I left shortly thereafter. I looked at my watch and realized that I’d broke for lunch for about and hour and half. What was I thinking?? Sheesh. Did I really want another night hike, with that crappy light to boot? I knew I’d be okay, but I don’t like to cut comforts off that close. The views, like the day before were spectacular. Granted on the east side, a lot of color was washed out due to the sun, but on the west side, the colors were warm and inviting. You could see Gatlinburg and the surrounding areas, truly brilliant.

    As I was walking through some thicker, green shrubbery and trees, I noticed some metal on the ground and looked about. Just down the way there were more pieces, large pieces, the size of sheet cake pans and bigger. Ahhh, this must be where the plane crash was that Eric mentioned that I would see while on this section of the trail. How interesting, I’d like to learn a little more history about this wreck before my hike next year. I wasn’t certain exactly where I was so-as to know what mountain to look up regarding the wreck until mere minutes later I was at the sign post for the AT and Snakes Den Ridge Trail. 5.3 miles until I can get to my car, take off these boots, put down this pack, drink some Gatorade that I left in the car, eat a Rice Crispie Treat that my sister made for me.. ahh, just a couple hours away.. I can almost taste it. But first, I have about 5000 feet in elevation that must change before any of that’s going to happen.

    I realized something on the way down the windinginess (new word) trail I’ve been on to date, mountain trails are peculiar. At the top, some 6000 feet, the path is nice and relatively flat, perhaps some rocks, but not much to worry about. Usually there are more rocks used for erosion control that you need to worry about more so than naturally protruding ones. Then, you come down in elevation a bit and there are rocks galore, all over the place, your ankles twisting left and right trying desperately to keep the rest of you upright and prone. Then you make it down a few more hundred feet and the trail is somewhat rocky but much more wet and therefore muddier.   After a short time in that, you hit the elevation where fallen leaves play a role in how you must try to hike. This time, your feet have been taking all kinds of abuse but you knew what to expect and were able to counter it, most of the time. Now, the trail is hidden under a blanket of leaves, leaving your body at the mercy of your feet to work everything out on their own. This will continue for some time until you make it down to an 2000 to 1000 feet where there is much less rocks and mostly hard terra firma where your paws can finally just going about their daily task of taking you where you ask them to. Except on this trail, by the time I reached this ‘zone,’ I, at the same time, entered the horse trail dung area. So, I had to constantly be aware of my footing of old and fresh horse manure. There were a few close calls, but man there must of been a whole herd of them that decided that this section (about 1800 feet) is where they did their business.

    Right on schedule, at 3:57pm (4:00 was my goal) I’d made it to the bottom of the mountain to Cosby Campground. Five minutes later, I was at my car enjoying that Gatorade.

    Due to the aggressive schedule and the constant downhill my foot was able to create a nice big blister on the bottom of my foot (just groovy.) Other than that, I felt fine. In fact, I was a amazed how well my knees held up the entire time. Very pleased.

    Off to Gatlinburg, into the heart of the beast. I wanted to stop by the Happy Hiker outfitters to pick up a pair of hiker crampons, not the large Antarctic-style ones that were in my pack. Not only that, but they cost $158 and I didn’t even need to wear them, not so good. I knew that the outfitters had what I was looking for (thanks, once again to Eric at A Walk in the Woods). Made it to their establishment and walked about reading the numerous Polaroids and thank you cards tacked to the walls throughout the store. What’s sad/cool/interesting were how many people I recognized, either from encounters, online journals or references from others. There were even some people that I recognized from published literature.. pretty cool. I chatted to the staff for quite some time (there were no customers) and was able to learn a lot about the area and the people. I additionally learned that hikers usually don’t have too many problems making it up and down the mountain during the ‘thru-hiker season’ which occurs right before droves of tourists descend upon Gatlinburg to start the summer season. In fact, A Walk in the Woods will take hikers up/down for $10/ride.. which seems completely reasonable. As it was getting late, and I was a hungry hiker, they pointed me to an Italian restaurant close by and I was off. Hopefully I’ll be able to stop in come April and say hi.

Matt

TrailJournals Link: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=163192