April 13, 2016 - Day 26

Ken called while I was at our church's Wednesday night free community dinner.  I put him on speaker so he could hear all of the well-wishers who ask about him each week and have been praying for him.  A few youngsters were VERY happy to hear from him and felt much better and finally believed me when I said he was doing fine.  He filled me in on the past few days and sent a number of pictures and videos.  With cell service so spotty along the trail, I only get periodic updates.  So thank you for your 'blog' patience! 

There are a group of 12-14 hikers who walk at different paces, but meet up at night at the campsites or shelters.  Today, 3 hikers dropped out.  Two of them stopped due to sickness.  Limey's travel partner dropped out due to weakness and loss of strength.  Ken described him as 'lean' with no body reserves to draw from.  When you are burning 6,000 calories per day, a little body fat is a good thing.   Ken is quickly using his 'reserves' and has dropped at least 20 lbs. so far.

He met up with a critter who was posing waiting for someone to take his picture, so Ken complied.

 

As he crested a mountain, he captured this breath-taking view.  When asked where he was, he was (once again) "on top of some mountain at some point along the trail."

 

He said what struck him was that as far as the eye could see, he would walk past that!

As you can image, after all the rain the day before, there were waterfalls along the trail.  He thought this was one of the prettiest.

 

Dennis (Southpaw) has been having issues with his heel.  He has no blisters but has a great deal of pain coming from inside (he thinks one of the bones).  He has a friend in the area and called him to pick him up at the I-40 crossing near Mile 239.  He has a doctor's appointment scheduled for the morning and will keep our hikers updated.  All are praying that he won't have to drop out of the hike.  Ken has truly enjoyed his company and experience.



Ken got to the Standing Bear Farm and Hostel near Hartford, TN.  This is a quaint gathering of buildings about 3 miles outside the northern limit of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  Visitors describe the owner, Curtis, in a variety of ways...grouchy, gruff, funny, humorous, helpful, not helpful.  So basically, if you are a jerk and treat him like a jerk, you won't get much cooperation from him.  Ken and his hiking companions are all great people people, so Curtis gave them his biggest cabin.  The rest of the jerk hikers got stuffed into the bunkhouse (at $15 per person), which houses 20 with a shared bath house.  Ken & Co.'s cabin has all the comforts of home, including kitchen, bathroom and free WiFi!  Curtis charged them $25 per person.  There are two queen beds and two single beds.  They had met up with a woman and her young daughter at their lunch break and offered one of the queen beds to them, after they arrived later in the day.  Ken and Limey are sharing the other queen and Jill get's a single to herself.

The goal for the next two days is to put in at least 15 mile days so they can arrive in Hot Springs, NC(Mile 273.7) in time for their weekend Trailfest celebration.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Mile 240
Elevation 1,800

April 12, 2016 - Day 25

The best way to describe the day's hike is with one word...miserable!  Our hikers hiked all day in the rain.  The trail was 3 inches deep with water and they were SOAKED. 

After 12 miles of rain-drenched fun, they stopped at the Cosby Knob Shelter.  Jill captured the only commemorative photo of the day. 

Mile 229.9
Elevation 4,700

April 11, 2016 - Day 24

Jill had made a good recovery from her sickness and was able to join the boys when they left Gatlinburg.  They caught a shuttle back to the Newfound Gap to regain the trail.  Ken took a picture of Gatlinburg as they left.

Gatlinburg, TN

This day found them hiking a treacherous section of trail.  The A.T. followed the crest of the mountains on a 'path' only 4-5 feet wide.  1,000 foot drop offs on either side.  Ken was glad they had no rain this day as a fall would lead not to a rescue, but to a recovery!  He captured this moment in the video below:

 

As they came over the Charles Bunion mountain, they could see Siler's Bald in the distance.  This is the mountain they crossed over 2 days ago.

 

 

They stopped at Peck's Corner Shelter for the night and a well earned rest.

 

Mile 217.3

Elevation 5,280

April 10, 2016 - Day 23

Jill called yesterday the "worst day".  The worst day continued today and she woke up in the middle of the night and was...SICK.  She was very worried when she continued to shiver and had to keep returning to the woods to...you know.  She phoned me about 1pm and said she had left the guys very early and had hiked as fast as she could to Clingman's Dome (the highest point of the A.T.) with the hope of getting a shuttle into Gatlinburg at the visitor's center.  She was told there weren't any services to help her there and she would need to wait 2 hours for a shuttle.  She went down to the parking lot and found...a shuttle!  She got into Gatlinburg and tried to find a room at the Grand Prix.  The office was closed on Sunday so the owner could go to church and spend the day with family.  She went to the Motel 6 next door, but they wouldn't have a room until late afternoon.  The gal there told her she knew the maid at the Grand Prix who would give her a room and she could pay at the office on Monday.  She grabbed the opportunity and got a room at the Grand Prix.  She wasn't able to get ahold of Southpaw or Ken or Limey, so she called me and asked me to relay the info if I heard from Ken first.  She said she was feeling much better and thinks it was just a 24 hour bug.

The Norovirus lasts about 24-72 hours and she had many of the symptoms, so she is not sure what it was.  Let's just hope that the guys don't get it!

The guys hiked and made it to Clingman's Dome in time to catch the later shuttle  the Newfound Gap.  There they caught a shuttle into Gatlinburg.  They had hiked past the spot where Jill caught her shuttle back at Clingman's Dome to the next road crossing.   They caught up with Jill at the Grand Prix.  They got a separate room...just in case she was still contagious.  They were taking no chances!  Ken found it ironic that, for the first time, they couldn't catch up with Jill on the trail.  I told him a woman with intestinal problems and no bathroom has super human resolve and it didn't surprise me at all!

View from Clingman's Dome

They are now entering the part of the A.T. where the hikers like to say they hike with their left foot in Tennessee and their right root in North Carolina, since the trail follows the state line and they go back and forth.

 

Mile 199.4  207.1

Elevation 5,045

April 9, 2016 - Day 22

The hikers hiked about 5 miles to the Derek Knob Shelter and ate lunch.  During the afternoon hike, Jill started walking slower and slower and started feeling sicker and sicker.  She was worried she was getting the Norovirus so she sent Southpaw and Ken on ahead to get a place in the shelter.  She was worried she would have to leave the hike and by the time she reached the shelter, she had hit an emotional and physical wall and broke down.  The guys were worried about her and Ken made her supper while she rested.  When I talked to her, she said that helped...a little.

They spent the night at the Siler's Bald Shelter and all hoped that IWOX would be up for walking the next day.

Mile 195
Elevation 5,460

April 8, 2016 - Day 21

I received a couple of text pictures early this morning.  No words necessary, though the second picture came with the caption below.



Morning Snow

"Help, I'm freezing!  Bring me a hot cup of coffee?"

A bad storm was coming, so Ken left early and hiked fast for 6 miles to the Spence Field Shelter to ensure they could have 4 bunks in the shelter.  Limey had now joined them as a traveling companion and they were now a quad of hikers.  Ken got there around noon and the rest met up with him at 2 pm.  Even though the shelter is only 3-sided, it had multiple bunks and a fireplace.  Ken had already started to scavenge for wood (none available close to the shelter) and the others joined him.  With temperatures estimated to hit 20 or below, they wanted to make sure they had enough wood to keep the fire going throughout the evening and night to come.

 

The shelter filled up quickly and many hikers continued on to try to make it to the next shelter at Derrick Knob, 6 miles further down trail.  The Spence Field Shelter is meant to hold 12, but with the storm they stacked like cord wood and fit more in to sleep on the floor.

 

Ken had a hot meal of broccoli and noodles.  The afternoon was spent telling tall tales, I am sure.

 

Limey, Southpaw, unknown, unknown, IWOX



Ken worried after the hikers who went on ahead and hoped that they found shelter before the storm hit.

 

Mile 183.2

Elevation 4,915

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





April 7, 2016 - Day 20

The hikers got up early to catch the 8:30am shuttle back to the trail, but it was full.  A visitor to the village offered them a ride back to the trail head in her jeep.  They squeezed in and were thankful they didn't have to wait for the next shuttle.

A few miles down trail they came to a shelter with an overlook of Fontana Lake, known affectionately as the Fontana Hilton.  They took a rest (and pictures/video) and got back on trail.

Fontana Lake

 

 

A short distance down the trail was the Fontana Dam.  For those of you who saw the movie "A Walk in the Woods", this is the same dam.  At 480 feet, the Fontana Dam is the highest dam in the eastern United States!  The dam is a 1 1/2 mile hike across with an awesome view down to the base.  Ken took a video but he says it doesn't come close to the actual view.

 



Once across the dam, they began a long uphill climb.  They were now in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park!  At the crest of one of the hills, Ken got a breathtaking shot of the village below.

"I took this on top of some mountain"

A little about the park:  Established in 1934, the Smokies is the most visited of the traditional national parks.  The highest elevation of the A.T. is at Clingman's Dome at 6,643 feet.  The Smokies also has the most rainfall and snowfall on the A.T. in the South, and many hikers are caught off-guard by the snow and cold temperatures that the high elevation means.  And our hikers are heading right for it...

Up, UP, UP they climbed until they reached Mollie's Ridge Shelter.  When they arrived, it was "Very Cold!"  Ken put every piece of clothing he had, wrapped himself in a space blanket and climbed in his sleeping bag.  He called me from inside his tent and I tried to help him visualize somewhere warm.  He picked one of our favorite spots...my Uncle Jim and Aunt Gayle's house on Abaco Island in the Bahamas.  We talked about the palm trees, warm sand and gentle breezes.  He finally said it was more torture than help (he also said he was warmer!), so we laughed and I bid him a good night.

Mile 177.3
Elevation 4,570