We found a little time and a computer, so let me tell you a bit about the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.
The smokies were beautiful, really fantastic hiking. It's the highest mountain range on the AT until the Whites up north, and the highest we've been ever. The AT crosses it's highest point here. The mountains range above 6,000 feet. The highest mountain we'd climbed prior was 4,000 feet in the Catskills, so it was a new experiance being up on the high ridges. The views were incredible - check out the pictures. We saw some wildlife: a coyote, a mother bear and two cubs, a red squirrel, lots of pretty birds.
Our first few days were good but cold, nothing super-exciting to write about. Then one night when we were still a good mile or more from the shelter, it began to pour and thunder and lightning. Now, this may not seem like such a big deal, but let me tell you, being the tallest object on an exposed ridgeline at 6,000 ft with lightning flashing all around you isnt just scary, it's downright dangerous. We had to make a tough call. Either 1.) immeditley bushwack down the side of the mountain to slightly lower ground, shed our pack and poles and spend a freezing night exposed in the rain crouching on our foam packs in our raingear 200 yds away from each other (risking hypothermia), or 2.) run for the shelter, and lower ground (risking a strike). Since we were only a mile or 2 away, we ran.
We made it safely (soaked) to the shelter and shared it with 2 weekending navy boys (dry), an overnighter and another thru-hiker (both soaked) named Hartly Hounddog. The good navy boys shared carrots with us - fresh veggies, yum! The other non-thru-hiker gave us some food too. I think he felt bad. Later that night two more thru-hikers rolled in, SwampFox and BlueSky from Bangor, ME.
In the morning we noticed the couple from Maine had left a bunch of food garbage in the fireplace, probably not thinking much of it, but that attracts mice and bears and various other critters. We started a quick fire to burn it and dry out our clothing. By the time we were ready to leave, we looked outside and -surprise surprise - it was snowing. Not flurrying, mind you, really blowing down. In an hour we had an inch accumilated. Hikers started pouring in, half of them unfocused and distant, a few thinking they were hot (advanced hypothermia). Now, there was no way we were heading out in below freezing, snowstorm conditions with sopping wet clothing. Again, hypothermia is a real risk out here. We stayed put, kept the fire burning, hung clotheslines, heated hot water bottles, plyed the hypothermic hikers with hot tea and stayed as warm as possible. It was the smartest thing we could have done.
To make a really long story slightly shorter, we ended up sharing a 12 person hiker with 25 people. We were packed like sardines. There were like 10 on the top level, 12 on the bottom and 3 on the dirt floor near the fire. One person tented. A few pushed on through the storm to the next shelter. It was below freezing in the shelter, but 25 bodies warmed it up a little. When we all fired up our stoves to make dinner the temperature jumped like 7 degrees for a few minutes!
We met some neat people, like Sandalwood, a lovable carpender from Toronto, and Mike, a Pa-born missionary based in China taking a break.
The next morning there was just under a foot of snow outside. Hiking to the next shelter was infuriatingly slow-going. I feel so bad for whoever headed out first and had to break trail. It was hard enough following footsteps. On the ridges, it was difficult to push through the gale-force winds trying to blow us off the mountains. Everywhere else, we had to negotiate tons of fresh blowdowns. Climbing over huge trees, getting lost in the evergreen branches, and then having to scout for the trail again is quite an experiance.
The next few days weren't much better. The snow started to melt, but then the trail was always one of three things: slushy, muddy, or icey. Still, we consider ourselves lucky for several reasons. One, we made it through safely by the grace of God and good decisions. Two, we got to see and experience a side of the Smokies many people don't get too see. And three... I'm not sure I've ever seen anything as beautiful as that snowy wonderland that we walked though for 3 days.
