Hike *this*

English Idiom: "A walk in the park" means "an easy undertaking".

say what?

This is the Appalachian National Scenic Iceway. This is your walk in the park.

Before I go on, let me just say that today, Saturday March 10th, was a memorable day, both because of its unforgettable positive experiences and because of the grueling length and trail conditions. I'm going to get the negatives out of the way first, so skip over it or bear with me.

For a stretch of about three miles north from Newfound Gap to Charles Bunion, this 'walk in the park' was more challenging than any section of trail I've yet hiked. It rained an inch and a half yesterday. Then it froze. The trail through this section is over-used and uncharacteristically poorly tended anyway. Even when dry and ice free it is a serious obstacle course. There are three-foot-deep rutted, rooty, muddy sections. There are rocky scrambles where no good foothold presents itself, or if one does, it is slick with white ice - which in the light of a headlamp (my return trip was after dark) looks just like dry white rock. And then there are the places where the trail pretends it's a stream bed, some places frozen with black ice, others still soggy and flowing over the trail daring you to find a way to avoid getting wet.

The challenge was the variability of the challenges - rocks, water, ice, roots, mud and some three-foot vertical steps up out of eroded washouts, all coming together, in varying combinations, and unceasing for miles. Now compound this with the fact that I had to walk this both ways, one of which was, as I said, after dark. In the dark I had to pause with each step, study the next foot placement, place the foot, and repeat. Wow - it took a long time to get back to Newfound Gap. Today's 32 mile trek began at 6:10AM and ended at 11PM.

But the bad stuff was at the beginning and the end. The vast middle portion was pure idyll - warm air, calm winds, better trail, infinite vistas, absolutely astounding ridge-crest geography, and a chance to meet some genuinely great people.

I first met these guys at Icewater Spring Shelter at 7:45AM. They offered me some coffee. They went out of their way to be inclusive. Little wonder that they chose to hike together although each of them began their thru-hike alone. They had already gelled as a team. I was on my way before they were packed up, promising to meet them again on my return trip.

As it turned out, they caught up with me just as I was at my turn-around point at Tricorner Knob Shelter. They all came in together for their lunch break - not straggling in one at a time. This spoke volumes about their chemistry. I spent half an hour that I didn't really have talking with them. Naturally they wanted to get to know me and it was four vs. one, so I didn't gather as much of their individual stories as I wish I could have.

Working left to right, 'Green Bean' is from Connecticut, 'Moses' is from Texas, 'Spoon' is from Indiana (if my memory is intact), and 'Huckleberry' is a local boy from Boone, NC. They all have similar motivations, age, and ambitions, as far as I can tell. This hike is a hiatus before each of them heads to graduate school. They make a great team and I wish them well. I told them I hope to see them as they pass me up north somewhere later in the year. I look forward to that day, and to hearing of their ongoing adventures.

Now to the scenery. What can I say? Superlatives describe the weather - I cannot conceive of how it could be more ideal. Air so still that, when standing on a precipice above a vast amphitheater-like valley dropping half a mile below you, all you could hear were the distant waterfalls. Sky so deep blue that all traces of "Smoky" had vanished from the mountains. Temperature at midday - well just look at what the four above are wearing.

I took dozens of photos of the various vistas and closer-in settings. Here are some of my faves:

I tried to get shots that capture the amazing knife-edge ridges that connect the various high points, but the photos don't do justice to that feeling that you're almost on a suspension bridge. "You just had to be there" is true for many of these experiences. Vastness does not photograph well, nor does the sound of distant waterfalls.

Yes, this was one majestic walk in the park.

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Here's the complete track, showing the out-and-back route of today's hike. Embedded in the link are many more photos:

AT 063 - Charlie's Bunion and the Smokies at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Tennessee

Notes from a rest day

After 32 miles yesterday and with a 30 mile day next on the agenda, it was a logical choice to take a rest day today. Had a chance to check out the mega-tourist-trap known as Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is a downtown destination on steroids—bigger and more packed with gaudy, quirky shops and eateries than anywhere I’ve ever seen, including Honolulu. In many ways it has surpassed the original attraction, the Natioinal Park at its doorstep, becoming a destination in its own right. Even on midday on this cool, clear sunny Friday (March 9th), the streets were packed with tourists and shoppers and people seeing and being seen. It was much busier than, for example, the trailhead parking areas in the park, and the Park's main visitor center.

There at the visitor center I got some semi-good news. The road to Clingman's Dome will open a week from today. That's not quite soon enough for me to continue an uninterrupted progression southward, but at least I won't have far to come back and do the missed section next weekend.

In other developments, I learned this week that I have a personal friend (OK ... the little sister of my brother's good friend from High-school) who is doing a thru-hike with her husband this year. 'X Trovert' and her husband, soon to retire from the National Park Service, 'N Trovert' plan to step onto the trail April 10th. X and N are actively posting pre-hike reports on the Trail Journals site, and they're very interesting and entertaining reading. Take for example this gem from N's post of yesterday:

"the #1 Thing about Africa I will miss while on the Appalachian Trail is Park Rangers leading hikes with AK-47’s"

Suddenly X and N are not just casual distant acquaintances any more - the kinds of connections that all of us have thousands of. Suddenly we are close family! We will be following each others' progress and hope to cross paths later in the year somewhere up north.

And finally, a little trail miscellany. When you're hiking 8 hours a day or more, sometimes you get a little 'trail crazy' late in the day, and the strangest things catch your imagination. Here are just a few examples.

First, there's the poltergeist who swept up from nowhere, in the form of a log, blocked the trail in front of me, held up a ghostly arm and called out "Halt! Who goes there?" in its eerie, quavering haunted voice. (Well I made up the part about hearing the voice - I'm not that far gone ... yet.)

Now, if that's not bad enough ... you know you're tired when you begin to see Chinese Calligraphy in the roots at your feet. This is my idea of how a Chinese Calligrapher might render the classic AT logo, except in this case the calligrapher is good old ma Nature.

Last for now, from my collection of white blaze photos - here's Bart the Blaze who lives near Tanyard Gap not far from Hot Springs, NC:

Thumbs up

Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP) throws down the gauntlet for anyone thinking of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail by out-and-back day hikes, or even one-way day hikes. There are two 30+ mile stretches of trail with no intermediate road access, not even with a short side trail. For me that means parking at each end, hiking 15+ miles in and 15+ miles back to the starting point, and repeating that pattern four times. Today was the first.

Into the unknown I plunged, choosing to get an early start to avoid some of the rain forecast to begin late in the afternoon on this mild day (Thursday 8 March): 5:20AM.

I had to visit Davenport Gap Shelter in the dark. It is my policy to visit and photograph every shelter. Luckily nobody was there to be disturbed. This shelter is one of those where the humans are locked in the cage while the wild animals (bears) roam free. Honestly, the whole world ought to be like that. Humans should keep themselves in small 'reserves' and let nature run its course undisturbed elsewhere. Bravo, GSMNP!

But I've learned that they've removed the 'cages' from nearly every other shelter within the park. Why? Because idiot hikers would feed the bears through the 'bars' and then become trapped there when the bears refused to leave, demanding more hand-outs. It just goes to show you, stupidity always finds a way ...

The climb from Davenport Gap is 4300 feet to the high point at Mt. Guyot. But there are ups and downs, so the actual vertical climb for the hiker is more than 7000 feet. But the trail is high quality. Despite being shared by horses, it avoids becoming a rutted wallow because of the hard work done in erosion control, and, in places, a truly heroic effort at stone work. Much of the trail through the park was constructed by the CCC in the post-depression era - the iconic example is shown at right.

Once you get 'way up there', the vistas are the main attraction. Here's a view northwest into Tennessee. The ridge rising rightward is English Mountain, and beyond it you can see the sprawling Douglas Lake, one of the TVA projects on the French Broad River.

I could post broad vistas like this by the dozen. They're the real 'money' for one who "Seeks It" (fellowship with the wilderness on this granddaddy of all footpaths), but there are other aspects of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail that I find just as scenic. My very favorite stretch of trail on today's hike was a level section at the very high point (6360') while rounding the summit of Mt. Guyot. It was a very raw windy day; but here the deep spruce woods tamed the wind. Mosses abounded. No trail erosion marred my footing. There was even a delightful spring gushing pure, cold, delicious water. This point on the trail is higher than Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, and the highest point north of Clingman's Dome. It was a special sanctuary. May it always remain so.

Rain came as predicted, but only in little spits and spurts that barely wet the ground. Once again today the weather worked in my favor - I did not get wet - the rain only got serious in the last 30 seconds, as I was dashing back to my vehicle in the dark at 7:30PM.

It was a long day - 32 miles is five miles farther than I've ever hiked in one day before (and that was on level paved road). But in the end it was the 'proof of concept' that I so desperately needed. I can do this! Thumb's up, and full speed ahead!

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Here's a map of the route of today's hike, with link to detailed GPS information and many more photos:

AT Day 62 - Smoky Mtn Park north end at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in North Carolina

On the brink of the deep Smokies

Today was a prelude. Try as I might to 'live for the moment', my mind was not on today's 14 mile hike. It was on tomorrow. You see, I have this challenge looming large over my head that is truly daunting: Four thirty mile day hikes, one of which I have to delay because the road to Clingman's Dome isn't open yet.

I hiked to the northern boundary of Great Smoky Mountain Park today (Wednesday, March 7th). And all I could do was look up that dark tunnel of trail as it plunges into the park and shudder. A sense of dread and trepidation coursed up and down my spine as I stood there at Davenport Gap. And it will not go away until I face the fear. I feel like Dr. Livingston, about to plunge into deepest, darkest Africa. Frankly I'm scared, worried, intimidated. Tomorrow could make or break my plans. Tomorrow I must be larger than life, hike farther than I've ever hiked in one day, and come back alive. It will be a 32 mile day, and the weather looks to be deteriorating - I could be finishing the day in the dark and in pouring rain.

Logically, I know I am capable of this. One step at a time. GSMNP is no trackless African jungle, it just feels that way standing on the brink, as I am tonight. It's actually advertised as well-graded trail, never more than 15%. And I won't have to hike the whole thing in the dark, although somehow that's how it feels.

Well, having set up tomorrow's challenge, I suppose I ought to get down to the business of describing today. It didn't seem to present a theme of its own, perhaps because I was so preoccupied with tomorrow, and also because I did not meet a single soul out on the trail. But it was still a nice hike.

One of the huge advantages of hiking the trail out-and-back every day is that you can pick turn-around points that you'd love to visit twice. Today that point was Snowbird Mountain, the one with the gleaming white navigation tower on top. As I returned today it was windier, and there were enough clouds to cover the highest peaks of the Smokies from view (that didn't help my frame of mind regarding tomorrow). I also got to look wistfully back to Max Patch one more time.

Then it was back south, under I-40 and on to Davenport Gap and my confrontation with the unknown. That southward leg featured a truly first-class walk beside a boldly cascading stream, the sort of trail setting that always delights me and will never get old no matter how far I hike.

Maybe that's the hook I can hang my hat on tonight -- The Smokies, after all, are a National Park. The scenery ought to be top notch. I know the vistas will please. With any luck there will be cascading streams as well. Time to set aside the feeling that this is a hazing - a gauntlet to be endured - and just soak up the beauty.

My trail name, 'Seeks It', partly derives from the widely distributed AT sticker, which says around its lower edge: "A footpath for those who seek fellowship with the wilderness." Yes ... yes ... I am one who seeks that. I am here seeking the serenity of such deep and unreachable places. I am here on the brink of the Smokies precisely for that experience. Bring it on!

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Here's the mapped route of today's hike, with link to many more photos:

AT Day 61 - To the edge of the Smokies at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Tennessee

A neatly wrapped package

Don't you love it when a story comes in a neat package - has a clear beginning and a satisfying end - in other words, 'closure'. That was the story of today's hike (Tuesday 6 March, Day 60 of this adventure).

The day started at sunrise atop Max Patch. In the above photo, the Smokies loom above everything at left, and in front, centered is Snowbird Mountain. Perhaps you can see a little white gleam on its summit. The zoom-shot shows it. As advertised in the guide book, if you look west to the summit of Snowbird Mountain on a sunny clear morning, you can see the white painted Aerial Navigation Tower gleaming in the light.

Next comes the eight mile trek to the summit of Snowbird to see that tower close up. It involved a drop down to another of the ubiquitous places called 'Deep Gap', this one containing the Groundhog Creek Shelter where I met 'Selva' and 'Skezzer', two delightful guys out hiking during their spring break. Then came the climb and finally the 'payoff' - the close up view of that Nav Tower on the summit:

Looking back toward Max Patch, now in full noon-day light, the light brown grass stood out in this wide view:

And looking more closely, there were people looking back, no doubt some of them peering across the eight miles of clear mountain air toward me. Closure.

Of course, for full closure, you have to do what few AT hikers do, return to the beginning point. On the way back I met two guys out for a long section hike from Newfound Gap to Shenandoah Park, forgot to ask their trail names, and later I met fast moving 'just Paul ... I don't really have a trail name' who is thru-hiking and hoping to finish before July 1st.

Paul started in Springer on February 16th, so he's making good time. He lamented that all the trail friendships he's making don't last long because he hasn't yet found anybody who keeps the same pace. I told him about the two Shenandoah guys - turns out they plan to stop at the same shelter tonight (Roaring Fork) - and Paul's eyes lit up, hopeful of a worthy set of trail companions. I wished him good luck and explained that he may pass me again somewhere north of Caledonia Park in PA after I reach Springer and make my 'flip-flop'. I've made such promises to a number of NoBo thru-hikers, and I'm afraid I'll forget faces - I'm really bad that way. But that's a 'closure' issue for another day. Today my story was all wrapped up neatly in a package and tied with string - no loose ends allowed.

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Here's the track with link to more photos from today's hike:

AT Day 60 - Max Patch to Snowbird Mtn at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in North Carolina

Max Patch, Mini Patch

I visited both today (Monday, March 5th). Above is what I call Mini-Patch, which was one of the highlights of the morning leg north from Limony Gap (sorry, Lemon Gap). It’s a small ‘bald’ or field atop Walnut Mountain, and just feet from the old drafty 1938-vintage shelter of the same name.

Among the other highlights of this morning’s adventure was snow. It had snowed a bit overnight, but the main event came during an hour of fog and wind and dropping temperatures between 9 and 10AM. About an inch fell on the high peaks – not enough to seriously affect hiking conditions, so on I went.

The turn-around point for this leg was the summit of Bluff Mountain, which, for the record, I put my finger on but did not actually stand on—it’s a bit too small for that.

The stretch of trail between Limony Snickett (sorry, Lemon Gap) and Roaring Fork Shelter almost religiously follows a level contour, deviating right and left as needed.

Here I met NC State students Alex, Holly, Tham, Steve-O, Graham, Rebecca and their dogs Mogley, Biscuit and Hugo spending their spring break on the AT. Hugo seemed locked in a one-dimensional world, and was deathly afraid of passing me. Yet he would not leave the trail to do so. Finally mustering up all his courage he made a hilarious, crazed-eyed, full-speed dash past me.

This gang had spent the night at Roaring Fork Shelter and were headed to Walnut Mountain Shelter tonight. I’m afraid they would find the new accommodations rather less appealing. Roaring Fork is roomy and new and in a protected valley. Walnut Ridge had accumulated snow on its sleeping platform and wind-sculpted snow drifts all around. I’m betting it was a cold night for them, with a forecast low of 22 degrees. Fortunately by midnight the wind was relenting.

Meanwhile, on I plugged. And soon the day’s crowning jewel came into view – Good old Max. In this iconic photo, which I’ve seen on AT guide books, the trail shown isn’t even the AT! The shot is indeed taken standing on the AT, but is of an (unnamed, as far as I know) lesser trail that follows the brink of the steep right-side slopes to the summit.

It was still windy up there on the summit, but the crisp new airmass that pushed in after the morning snow was pure cerulean crystal. As I had on Bald Mountain a few days ago, I found myself wishing that the earth was flat, so I could see Kilimanjaro and Mt. Everest poking up above the tropical hazes of far-off continents. As it was, I wished I had a guidebook to point out all the names of the peaks. The Smokies, with Clingman’s dome dominating everything else, were not hard to identify, and in the opposite direction, a gleaming bald in the distance was probably Grassy Ridge, barely noticeable in the center of the reduced-resolution image:

I turned around at Max Patch Road and did the summit all over again, and enjoyed it so much the second time that I came back for a third. The parking lot is just a ten minute walk from the summit, so I ventured up there again and caught the sunset. If you look closely you can see the aerial navigation tower atop Snowbird Mountain just above the post and to the right of that last glimpse of sun.

Max Patch is considered one of the North Carolina balds, but that’s a fraud. It is just a farm; it was originally all wooded. Well, we can forgive those who lump it in with Hump Mountain (my favorite by a wide margin), and Big Bald, because it’s every bit as spectacular.

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Here's the route of today's long sojourn - a memorable day. Embedded in this track, if you click the link, are a bunch of additional photos.

AT Day 59 - Max Patch, Walnut Mtn at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Tennessee

Gettin' up

Bluff Mountain, that is.

The climb up Bluff Mountain from Garenflo Gap is the kind of climb I like: no ‘dicking around’. It gets to the business of “up” and just keeps going for more than three miles – 2000 feet of elevation change at near-constant rate. I like it because you can really get into a rhythm. And on a cold windy day such as today was, when ups-and-downs require constant fiddling with clothing in order to regulate body temperature, you can ‘set it and forget it’, when it applies to your ‘thermostat’ on a steady climb.

There wasn’t much spectacular or iconic about today’s (Sunday 4 March) section of trail. The trail guide says there are no views from Bluff Mountain, but there is a minor one, shown here, from a rock outcrop just north of the summit. But it was snowing as I passed, so the full majesty of whatever is out there was shrouded by the snow-made mist.

And so, getting’ up some inspiration required turning to closer subjects. The trace of snow added some highlights to this tiered moss garden on a growth of burl right beside the trail. Moss was also clinging to the grooves of this maintainers art in a step-over log.

The section of trail from Garenflow Gap to Deer Park Shelter had only minor climbs and many sections of nearly level trail – very pretty but not terribly photogenic. The frequent winter views of Bluff Mountain, such as the one shown at the top of this post, were the highlights. As for close-up subjects, this little reminder of spring was the best I can come up with.

Getting’ up the courage to show its sunny face on this snowy day in the biting wind must have been tough. But it’s a reminder. The snow may not be over (accumulation is forecast for tonight), but its days are numbered. I saw robins yesterday in Hot Springs. The red maple flowers are already dropping off the trees. The signs of spring are mounting daily. Snow – your days are numbered!

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Here's the map with my route shown. The big long 'spike' is a GPS glitch, not real. Sorry, but I don't have enough tech savvy to know how to edit this away. There's a link below that leads you to the EveryTrail page for today's hike, which includes many more photos.

AT Day 58 - Bluff Mountain at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in North Carolina