Day 173: Spence Field Shelter

Start: Clingman’s Dome (AT mi 200). Stop: Spence Field Shelter (AT mi 183.7). Today’s miles: 16.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 2009.4 miles.

I overslept this morning at Bill’s place.. but luckily only like 20 or so minutes and not the hours I used to oversleep. I jumped up, rushed to pack, and then met Bill in the kitchen to help bring the breakfast he had been making out to the screened in porch with gorgeous morning mountain views.

He made scrambled eggs with artichoke hearts, bacon, potatoes and coffee. It was delicious! I was surprised I could eat anything after all the food I crammed in my mouth at the BBQ place last night, but my stomach was growling at the smells in the kitchen before I even finished packing.

Bill drove me back to Clingman’s Dome so I could start southbound from the top. It was a beautiful, chilly morning, with clear skies so far. And-being 9:30am, there was way less people! I headed up the paved road to the observation deck, Bill took a side trail to his favorite spot. We’d end up meeting there later when I started going south.
The paved walk up to Clingman’s is a steep half mile, every tenth of a mile or so there’s a bench for people to sit and rest a bit before carrying on.

I was speed walking up that thing, weaving around the others.. and giggling when they’d say things to their spouses like, “how the hell is she walking up this so fast with that big ole pack on her back? I need to sit down, just watching her makes me tired!” Haha-if you ever need some validation that your hard physical work is paying off-go truck up to Clingman’s Dome!

Once I got some lovely pictures from the top (with only 4-5 people, compared to the droves of hundreds packed in shoulder to shoulder yesterday), I headed into the woods on the AT. I liked this part of the trail. It was moss covered and it felt like a hidden gem again, like the masses were clueless that this beautiful trail was snuck in just beside their paved walkway. About 10-15 minutes later, I met up with Bill and he showed me his favorite spot. A tiny ledge behind some trees had a view of mountains and sky for miles and miles. I was awestruck as he pointed out the names of the mountains, the ridge lines, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

We took some pictures and when I felt the wind picking up, I said my goodbyes. Rain was in the forecast, and the way the sky was changing, I knew it would be here soon.. and I still had a long way to go. We hugged, and I was off. Within thirty minutes the sky was dark and I decided to go ahead and put on my rain pants.. I already had the jacket on. I passed view after view of vast vistas of mountains in their autumn best. With the dark clouds over top, it made the leaves pop that much more.. these views are what you expect to see in a calendar for October, peak fall color. As pretty as it was, I kept a quick pace, always waiting on that rain to come and slow me down.

Sometime before the rain I came across my 2000 mile marker.. someone made it out of sticks on the ground. Y’all. I cried. I can officially call myself a thru hiker now, not someone attempting a thru hike.. once you complete 2000 miles of a long trail, you’re considered a thru hiker.. and as silly as words and self proclaimed titles are-this one has been a dream of mine for years now, and I’ve made it happen! I’ve hiked through rain, Lyme’s Disease, rolled ankles and busted knees, treacherous mountains in the dark, and cowboy camped under a sky of stars.. I’m a thruhiker. And now I’m tearing up again, dammit.

Around 2pm the inevitable happened. The sky dropped. My rain gear was holding its own, but I was now freezing cold. It was probably in the mid 40s-not that I would pull my phone out to try to find out in that kind of downpour. Strangely, even with the lakes of wet leaves and slick muddy trail, I didn’t fall any. Part of me thought I should just flop down now, so karma would see I already fell once, no need to make me do it again later.. but I stood on my two feet the whole time. Shocking really.

I paused at a shelter, a quick reprieve to check my phone and see how much farther my destination was. I also needed water.. funny, needing water when I was getting pounded by it. The people at the shelter attempted to talk me into staying there, instead of moving on.. I declined their kind offer, but did accept a liter of the water one guy had already collected, so I wouldn’t have to walk half a mile downhill to get my own.

I trudged on, I had 6 more miles to get to the shelter I was aiming for. It was getting so cold, and the higher I climbed along these ridges only made that worse. The rain was a steady drenching until just after 4pm, and then, as quickly as it came, it stopped. But, since the leaves were all soaked, when the wind whipped through, the leaves showered me instead of the sky. And the wind did not seem to stop howling. My fingers and toes were numb.

I ended up taking my rain pants off as I hiked up Thunderhead Mountain. The climb wasn’t tough, but it was demanding, got my heart pumping and warmed me up. I was actually grateful for it, especially when I started to feel my fingers again. The views at the top weren’t phenomenal, but when I went down and back up to the top of Rocky Top-they were breathtaking. The sun was shining through the rain clouds off in the distance and it had a magical feel to it. It’s moments like these that have me feeling immense gratitude for the situation I’ve found myself in. Such a beautiful life and a profound feeling of being so small in a world so enormous.

I got to the shelter just after 6pm. There were 8 women on a guided backpacking trip from REI (2 of the 8 were guides, both of which did the AT!). There was also a guy on a section hike there. The women were so happy for me and my 2k mile crossing, they congratulated me and asked questions. Savage, one of the guides, completed the AT in 2019, and knows Lady Di! Such a small community of folks! We chatted a bit while I unpacked my stuff and set up on the bottom floor of the double decker shelter. The guides were sleeping on the top deck, the ladies were all camping. I knew more rain was coming overnight and tomorrow, so I didn’t set up my tent.

I ate dinner shivering, it was already down to the high 30s and the wind was harsh. I ended up wrapping my water filter and putting it with me in my sleeping bag when I finally snuggled into it. If it dropped to below freezing, the filter could break and be useless. I’ve made it this far without catching giardia, I don’t want to take any chances of ruining that streak.

It took a long time to get warm enough to stop shivering in my sleeping bag. I had it tented over my body and head, worrying that my hot breath might make me pass out if I stayed under there too long, and then thought maybe that would be ok.. haha. When my hands could be semi steady, I only typed out short, choppy reminders of the day, in list form. It’s technically 5 days later that I’m writing all the details out.. it’s been a mixture of making sure I write out that day’s journal and then being too tired or cold to come back and write up today’s journal. Sorry about that. Lately, with rushing to make it to camp before the sun sets, and then having the cold set in, it’s been difficult to get this done. But, I’m almost done with the trail, so, I’ll make it happen either way!

Thanks for following along! So very sorry for the delay. (Just know, as I’m typing this up, I’m toasty warm in a hotel room with my mom!)