Date 16 is pretty straight forward. Got up very very early and then again at 6:15 after sleeping in the shelter. Same regulars in the shelter - Dave,survivor man, Muggles and Malarky and two new people. One called Stretch and a guy by the name of Dean. A Ridge Runner (kind of an AT maintenance volunteer) was also there for awhile. Was again very cold, but we had a fire and I got a great nights sleep - overall very pleasant evening. Got an early start so I could get to Clingaman's Dome (highest spot on the AT) and Gaitlinberg by midday so I can do some resupplies. It had rained and snowed last night, so the trail was quite slippery and it was very foggy, cloudy, overcast and somewhat rainy. So unfortunately by the time I got to Cingaman's Dome at about 8:00am there was really nothing to see. Elevation is about 6,500 feet so it was too bad I couldn't see much. Then just took a long long hike down -not bad, about an 11 mile day. Got onto the street at about quarter to twelve and stuck my thumb out and was able to get a ride very quickly with a group of college students escorted by some teachers from a small state college that were going into Gatlinberg for the day. It was nice to talking to them for the 15 mile drive into town. So here I am checked into the hotel and resupplied marginally, not a whole lot of options here. And depending on the weather I'm planning on moving on, but the weather is supposed to be pretty shaky so we'll see how things go.
Dictation made on 3/26/2011 7:41 PM EST.
No comments:
Post a Comment