Day 15

Day 15 is the second day in the Smokies. Got going at 7:45 with a desire to get through as much of the Smokies as possible. Probably in the mid-20s. There was snow on the ground, and my first night in a shelter was put in the category of just okay, because of all of the snowing. I'd have to say that I could measure my sleep time in minutes rather than hours. Just a very, very restless night for me. But even so, once the day got started, the beauty of the whole Smoky Mountains became clear to me. It was very foggy last night and this morning when we got underway. When I got above the fog though up to a place called Rocky Top, it was sunny and just absolutely spectacular. Down below, you could see all the clouds hugging the mountains, and then the mountains that were exposed were all white because the trees had been laced with icicles from the fog. As soon as the sun warmed the trees to a point, all of the ice that had built up on the trees just started collapsing and while I was coming off Rocky Top, it was like walking through a a rainforest of frozen slushy stuff and it was really quite amazing. I have to tell you, the beauty of the Smokies I've come to understand now That morning, on day 15, was probably the most beautiful experience I've ever had out in the wilderness- certainly during this whole trip and perhaps ever, including my experiences in the Rockies. So it was just a really spectacular day. Decided to go a little farther as usual - a 16.4 mile day, and ended up at Devil Spring Creek Shelter, which is an interesting thing because on one side of the trail is Tennessee, and the other side is North Carolina, and I happened to be sleeping in a shelter that's on the Tennessee side, so I can now lay claim that I have hiked through three states, including Tennessee. Dictation made on 3/26/2011 7:37 PM EST.