The Smokies (March 10-15, 2011)

"I still continue to be amazed that this is all free (so to speak) and how few people are on the trail excepting the thru-hiker. What a sham the billion dollar diet business is." Anonymous, 4/26/11, Eagle's Nest Shelter

The AT in the Smokies (March 4, 2011)

4 1/2 inches of precipitation hit the North Carolina mountains right before we entered the
Smokies. I had naively believed this precipitation had fallen as rain and therefore cleaned up all the lingering snow. Temperatures went from the 60s to the 20s quite quickly. As we left Fontana Dam and ascended into the Smokies we could see the snow accumulation increasing with elevation. There were 1-2 foot snowdrifts at the highest elevations. People just ahead of us were pulled off the trails by Rangers.

We would later hear a crazy story about a hiker who went section hiking in the Smokies right before we were there. He decided to go bushwhacking and got lost. In a colossal act of stupidity, the guy left his backpack behind because it was causing him too much trouble by getting caught on branches. He was lost, off trail, for 3 nights. Finally, he showed up at a shelter in the Smokies, bloodied and confused by hypothermia. The hikers in the shelter had to keep him warm in one of their expensive down sleeping bags and also find cell reception to call for help. When the paramedics showed up the guy asked one of them to take down his pants and hold him so he could piss. He couldn't feel his hands. The good news--the guy is fine. Bad news--someone had to aim for the guy while he pissed.

Water bottles are freezing. Mornings and evenings are just a race to get hiking or get inside your sleeping bag. There are no privies (outhouses), so we have to squat over cat holes we dig in the ground like burrowing rats, shivering with our bare asses over the snow.

We started pushing for bigger days in the Smokies just to get out--16 mile days. This actually isn't really that much compared to everyone else but I'm fat, so don't blame me.

We end up hiking with Storm Song, Treebeard and Delaware Dave for the first time. Delaware Dave had just been given his own room for a weekend by an elderly couple who took him in just because people want to help Delaware Dave. People see Delaware Dave and want to empty their wallets into his open palms. It's either the smile or that angelic face. He is trail magic.

I still have a storm cloud over my head. Just 1,953.0 miles to go.