May 12, 2022

Wow I haven't written anything in a long time. I've been out here taking it day by day.

We made it to the NOC and had a huge breakfast. We got some more gear upgrades at the outfitter. We spent a lot of the day getting to know our new friends who may become our tramily. We had dinner with them before we hiked out a couple miles to the campsite with the big boulder that was teeming with poison ivy. We managed to avoid it!

We stayed at Wolf Creek Hostel, which was a very kind man's childhood home. I was over the moon when he led us to our room for the night and found that there was a piano there. I got to play for awhile during our stay there and I was delighted. We also had our own bathroom and we were able to do laundry. The gas station nearby allowed us to get enough snacks to keep moving on trail to Fontana so we didn't have to find a ride to town. They had dippin dots and I ate four of them immediately in different flavors. The next morning, I got us a pound of bacon from the gas station and cooked it up. It was so good.

The next stop was Fontana Dam. We went down to the marina to resupply and see about the free canoe rental. When I walked in the door, our friends were there! We had caught up to them and they were renting a pontoon. So, we got to go on a pontoon ride around Fontana Dam with the mountains in the background. Love bug, the mayor, samwise and I all jumped into the low 60s water and swam around for a bit. We camped near the Fontana Hilton shelter that night before heading into the smokies. It was lovely getting to shower for once.

The next day, the smokies began. We put our permits in the box and started climbing. It rained a little off and on, but was mostly sunny. We caught up with the crew again, who started earlier in the morning. We all camped at the only campsite in the smokies without a shelter. There were cables for our food. We all sat around eating dinner and playing word games.

The next day was sunny and beautiful and we did 12 miles. However, the next several days turned miserable and quick. It rained nonstop for days. We were constantly in a cloud and couldn't see any views. Nothing would dry. We would take our wet clothes and shoes off at night and they would freeze in the very low temperatures. So we would have to force ourselves into them in the morning. We also had to sleep on hard floor boards in the shelters in order to stay warm and dry.

At one point, my pack cover didn't seal completely and I ended up dragging it behind me for about 2 miles in the rain, and my pack got soaked too. The conditions were not ideal. Because of the rain, it became very muddy and slippery on the trail. Parts of the trail were like rivers we were walking through. My feet were in so much pain from walking on them for hours while they were pruney. We were so glad when it finally stopped raining on the day we climbed to Clingman's Dome.

We woke up that morning, peeled on our frozen soaked clothes again, and headed up the mountain. I played Hamilton on my phone to get us hyped, and we were to the top before we knew it. We finally got to see the notorious smoky views. Clingman's Dome was a very cool lookout. It was definitely a lot less scary than the fire towers I've climbed!

We were able to hitch a ride to Gatlinburg with a couple of older sisters, who were there trying to get some pictures of flowers. They were disappointed that there weren't really any, but we got to stop at a bunch of waterfalls on the way down to get pictures of those. Our companion for the day, Paladin, kept getting out to take Trish's pictures for her and they looked like they were having a great time.

At the bottom of the mountain, we stopped to have a picnic. They fed us sandwiches and chips, and we all sat around talking about life on the trail. When they dropped us off at the quality inn, they gave us all hugs even though we reeked and were filthy and damp.

We really enjoyed Gatlinburg and having some hot meals there. There is a family of bears that lives there and eats trash. We were able to observe and watch them for a couple days. It's shocking that the hotel doesn't get proper bear trash cans. They wouldn't have this issue, but it was nice to get to watch the bears interact with each other. It's kind of sad to see them not in their natural environment. It seems wrong somehow. There is a mother and three cubs. We named them Honey with the two boys Rock n Roll. And then ladybug, the little girl cub who just wants to forage and climb trees. We got to watch the boys wrestle for about an hour while we stood on the bridge behind the hotel.

Our friend Gabi came to visit from indy and we got to spend some time with her. She dropped us off at Damascus so we won't miss trail days. We'll be able to shuttle back to standing bear hostel with the tramily when the festival is over. We spent the night on the trail just barely up the stairs heading northbound. We're going to secure our spots in tent city today and the festival will start tomorrow! It's supposed to rain this weekend, but I really hope it doesn't. I've had enough of the rain and would like to enjoy Trail Days!