Week 4: Stuck in a Rut

Day 22: The Smokies

After Cynthia weighed her dogs newborn puppies and her husband Jeff cleaned up the dog poop on the floor and we washed the trout swim we were back in the car headed to the dam. It was a sunny, clueless day walking across the dam where we say Mac and Moc again enjoying their day off. We walked up some more road and finally entered the smokes and deposited our permits into the box. Then we climbed uphill for hours but the time flew by. We reached another firetower, this one was the scariest yet. It was really tall, missing handrails, and shook in the wind. We still climbed up to the top. Really I thought the smokies would feel different but it just looks like we’ve other part of the trail. Then we ran into Andy the ridge runner after passing like 8 day hikers. An ambassador of the trail warned us of the bears, norovirus and terrible weather ahead. He even said there’s some consideration of banning hammocks because bears seem more interested in them. So that was comforting. Honestly he didn’t nothing but scare us, thanks Andy. In the smokies day hikers have to pay too but get a reservation in a shelter and thru-hikers must also stay in the shelter unless its full then we can camp. Luckily there was enough people today we camped outside when we arrived but this shelter doesn’t have a privy. Also funny enough it’s just on the other side of the boarder so technically I’m in Tennessee tonight. We ran into James and Nick here and decided to camp near them. Sunny rolled in just as we made dinner and we had some laughs about the people commenting on her YouTube videos. I sent a picture of the sunset to some friends and it was cool to know they were on another mountain behind me watching too, the sky mixing fire reds and cool blues with highlights of pink.

Day 23: Easter Bunny

Today was the first time I got to camp and thought about how I just hiked 12 miles and it didn’t feel like work. I had a little out of body moment while listening to my audiobook watching my legs take me where I needed to go and I wasn’t thinking about each step and each mile. We woke up to the same story. This time fairly early around 8 because it was only in the high 40s last night but alas still most people had packed and left already. This time we heard some gobbles of wild turkeys while making breakfast. They weren’t close enough to see but it was exciting to hear, I hadn’t heard them in the wild before but as the temperatures warm more flora and fauna will come out. I don’t think I can trust the topographic maps anymore it just doesn’t do the trail justice. It’ll either look deceivingly easy or hard but end up being the opposite of your expectations. I had a lunch break on top of rocky top mountain and had Joey play  Rocky Top by the Osborne brothers while we danced around for our enjoyment, thanks Sarah, I’ll always remember that moment. With my peanut butter and snickers tortilla and the rest of my peppered beef jerky I was ready to finish the day. We briefly talked to some day hikers, one of which had a son who’d done the trail when they were my age and met their current girlfriend about halfway through. The trail took us up and down some more as usual with a climb near the end to make sure we were sweating. Expecting rain from the forecast I was able to glimpse last night, I setup my rain fly. Immediately after I took my shoes off and just laid there for a bit with my eyes closed. After dinner we hung around the campfire the 8yr old had started. His parents said the Easter bunny had visited them and given them a packet to put in the fire to change the color along with some other goodies. So once it got dark, they put the packet in and the fire changed to a teal and stayed that way well into the night. We talked about the trail, trail names, the Barkley marathon, among other things. I’m glad there are others out here, hiking a trail along would be a cool experience but it’s not one you’ll find out here on the AT. Every person I meet feels like a new character in a story and I’m only reading a chapter everyday. Except it’s an unwritten story, and for me to remember I try to enjoy the idiosyncrasies of people and what I can learn from them.

Day 24: Tourist Trap

I woke up at 7 only because I didn’t want to breakdown camp in the rain again. The smell of rain was in the air and the clouds grew darker. Just before we packed up our things to get out on trail it started to rain. We waited a minute and it stopped just as quick as it started. Stopping every few miles for a snack or water we eventually made it to clingman’s dome, the highest point on the AT. One moment I’m walking through the Forrest, quiet and alone. The next moment I’m on a paved path with a bunch of tourists. Now I’m the odd one out. I walked up to clingman’s and up the spiral ramp to the lookout and it’s full of people and screaming children. It was still a surreal experience but all the people there who’d just parked below kinda took away from the fact that this was the 200 mile mark. I did feel like I earned this view (it wasn’t much of a view due to the fog) and it didn’t feel as good compared to 100 miles. I had been thinking about the milestone on the walk up and how far I’d come and how long I’d been away from home and that meant a lot more to me. James and Nick got there after us and left before us overwhelmed by all the people, we left shortly after with no signal to contact rides or places to stay for tomorrow. We hiked down towards the shelter and I saw Joey and Spence sitting on a log at the trail to the shelter and I knew they were thinking. They thought that without service we should push an extra 4.5 miles to newfound so we can get a ride to gatlinburg tonight and beat the storm and the other hikers looking to do the same thing tomorrow. After a few moments of consideration we pushed to newfound. After a few hard miles later, I was parched for thirst and ran out of snacks. The last couple miles were the hardest. I crossed the street and waited for a mom to take a picture of her kid I took my own picture at the Tennessee/North Carolina boarder. I saw Joey and Spence talking to people and looking for places to stay. Joey was able to get a hold of flash and she said the storm was pretty serious but was willing to help us if we needed. We started walking down the road with our thumbs out hoping to get a ride to town. We found a bend and stood there. Spence told us he’d done some hitching while on the long trail and said something along the lines of “usually it doesn’t take that long we’ll get one eventually.” And before he could finish his sentence a car came around the corner and pulled over. The guy driving said he’d hitchhiked along the country… we talked all the way to the super 8 motel in gatlinburg where they dropped us off. We got our room and I talked on the phone while the guys showered and after I did we went into town for dinner. By then it was dark and the town was lit by shop lights and various tourist attractions. We wound up at the barbecue restaurant Calhouns that the guy who drove us into town recommended. Thirty minutes to close we walked in and got some food and were out within an hour. Joey was the first to fall asleep with a gentle snore, I didn’t last long after that.

Day 25: No Parents No Bedtime

It’s not that I haven’t had good rest while on trail but sleeping in a bed, especially one you have to yourself, will always be more restful. Without reason to wake up early—the breakfast wasn’t worth waking up—I slept in while Joey and Spence got their morning coffee. The weather only seemed to be looking worse on so we decided to book a couple more nights with the expectation that more people will have the same idea. Down the block was the log cabin pancake house were we decided to have breakfast the night before. The line was out the door but moved relatively quickly. Joey left to go into the puzzle store next door and I followed not wanting to wait in line. I walked around aimlessly looking at the various puzzles until one would catch my eye because of my interest or how it reminded me of someone else. Fifteen minutes had passed and I’d seen the whole store and joined Spence back in line for the next ten before we got our table. The place reminded me of a Cracker Barrel but more unique and the ads on the table reminded you this town only wants you for your money. With too many choices to pick from we all ordered two meals mine consisting of pancakes and waffles; which I was sick of way too quickly and wished I’d ordered an omelette instead. We sat in the rocking chairs on the porch of the restaurant and watched the trees start to dance in the wind. It still wasn’t easy to walk around town with my legs still tired from yesterday. We bought some supplies and washed our clothes and waited for time to pass. I migrated from the bed to the chairs outside to get fresh air. I watched the owner walk around with a leaf blower blowing every single bit of dust and dirt off the sidewalk, it was so loud you could hear it whining from inside the room all day. We all stood outside for a bit and eventually saw Tiffany walking up across the parking lot. She made it through the smokies to clingmans just before the storm we all were avoiding rolled through. While we did our laundry downstairs we saw the other guys were here too. In the evening we decided to checkout the local brewery and passed some of the guys heading back to the motel, they’d had more than enough to drink. Opening the door we were bombarded with terrible karaoke. Joey and I got a flight of the local beer ( I thought they were all bad except for one) and the three of us split nachos and a pizza. When all the food was gone and the karaoke was over we decided we to leave and see what the other guys were up to. We hung out with them for a bit, they even told us they saw a bear this morning walking through the parking lot. Soon enough it was 2:30 and it was hard to stay awake so we went to bed.

Day 26: Mirror Maze

I woke up a little later than the guys did but I still made it down in time for the small selection of breakfast foods. I grabbed whatever looked good and took it back up to the room. That was pretty much the extent of our morning. We got going later in the evening and walked around the near entirety of gatlinburg. We went to the popular donut place that Mac and moc mentioned and the Bulvarian donut was sooo good. We then went to go get dinner at the steakhouse. At the bar we ordered our food which included a salad buffet and watched Spider-Man 3 on the tv. I sat there and thought about what the hell im doing out here, nothing. We’re not hiking because of the storm and we’re just laying around without direction and I really contemplated how people do this on a regular basis. Finally we went to go play some mini golf and accidentally walked into the mirror maze beforehand. The mini golf was nothing special, they were all par 2 but we made it fun and kept score along the way, soence got 45, Joey got 43, and I got 41. Then we thought the mirror maze would be fun so they ticket attendant let us split the difference for the combo deal and we went in. It was ten times more fun than the mini golf we couldn’t keep a straight face walking around with the music blaring and the lights flashing and changing colors. At some point we lost Joey and it actually took a minute to find him again and then we ended up playing a few rounds of hide and seek. We all bumped into the walls a bit. Then we hung out at the rooftop shamrock bar that had a guy playing live music upstairs. It started to hail and we made our way inside and there was some good karaoke and some bad but we hung around for awhile and waited for the rain to die down before heading back to the motel.

Day 27: Black Bear

I just couldn’t bother waking up in time for the motel breakfast, not that it was much to miss anyway. After four nights in a hotel it’s weird to think that I’m hiking the trail when I haven’t hiked in what feels like forever. Even though we’re not happy with the situation we  are trying to make the most of it. We all talked on the phone and then Joey got a message from flash saying she was coming into town to pick us up. She lives an hour away but was kind enough to drive all the way here then drop us off at REI for free. She left us with her daughter and went back to pick up Tiffany, Tj and bear bite. I walked around and got an extra pair of long pants to wear while I hike Incase it gets too cold/windy and looked at everything else in the store to make sure I didn’t need anything else. Then we got a ride to Walmart where we picked up a few more food items to make sure we had enough for 5 days. I also decided to pick up cheap rain pants and jacket to help block wind and rain more effectively than my poncho, it’ll also give me something to wear while we do laundry. We ended up getting lunch at a pizza restaurant with an arcade in the back so we played games while we waited. Joey, spence and I played so much that they had to come get us when they were ordering food. We got a ride back to our motel and then flash’s daughter (i forgot to mention her trail name is noodle) dropped us off at the popular hillbilly mini golf spot on her way out. This place was really cool. It’s 2 mini golf courses on the side of a hill and you take a cog tram up the mountain to play. Of course we played the first course and then had to go back and play the second. Joey won the first round but I think I won the second (we’re too busy and tired to tally the scores). We walked back to the hotel looking for a bite to eat but all the stores were closing or about to close. There was one that was still open right across from the motel in the lobby of another hotel so we ended up there. We came back to our room not long after and as we were packing our stuff we heard a car alarm go off and some noise coming from outside. I didn’t think much of it but Joey went outside to investigate and he came back saying a bear was outside! So naturally we all went outside to see our first bear, technically not on trail, but I guess it counts. Most people were out on their balconies watching from a distance, some people closer than others. It had knocked over the trashcan feet from the 1st floor rooms and I could see their phone flash on behind the window as they took videos. I don’t understand why the motel just has their trashcans out for easy access or why they’re not bear proof. This was no small bear either, it was probably 300 pounds and had a radio collar on it. Once it was done with the first can it walked across the parking lot to the trash can just below us. We watched it for a good bit before a policeman showed up and scared it off with the sound of his taser.

I just can’t believe these people were getting within feet of this bear and were harassing it by makes noises trying to get a reaction. All the people that work here too know about the bear activity yet there is nothing in place to stop them from accessing trash. At least the bear did not harm besides flip over some trash cans and make a mess. If anything it’s peoples fault for they way they treated the bear and the easy access to food.

Day 28: Tod the Turkey

The garbage cans were still knocked over with trash spilling out when I got up for breakfast. It wasn’t long before flash was here to pick us up and drive us back to her place. An hour later we arrived in the country and there’s a big chicken run with 70 chickens, a golden retriever and a beagle running around, and a female turkey named Melanie and a male named Tod. We got a tour of the coup and the new barn that they’re building. We lounged around the house and Jackson the golden retriever repeatedly came back to get us to throw his slobbery ball. Flash’s husband, Mark, got the black stone grill fired up while Flash was cutting up the fresh onions, garlic, carrots and peas that came from their backyard. Then she preceded to cut up the meat. Mark whipped up some dam good hibachi on that grill we all got multiple plates. I forgot to mention that flash was baking a chocolate cake from scratch with her daughter’s recipe, who used to make wedding cakes. I made room for that cake even though I finished my plate before I got more ridicule for not finishing. We all talked and laughed and drank in the living room which was basically the kitchen for some time. Afterwards we went up to bed and talked on the phone with Steve for over an hour before going to bed.