The Unpolished Princess

Start: Peck’s Corner Shelter (AT mi 218.2). Stop: Clingman’s Dome (AT mi 200). Today’s miles: 18.2 miles. Total AT mileage: 1993.1 miles.

I slept so good last night, at this campsite/shelter all alone. I was tucked in deep in my sleeping bag, and when my alarm on my watch started vibrating.. I quickly ignored it. I finally got up at 7:25, got out of my tent only long enough to pee and grab my food bag. I rushed to get back in the tent, back under my sleeping bag, for a few more minutes of warmth. I cooked my oatmeal and dumped in my packet of instant coffee. What a strange thing to love so much.

Eventually, I packed up and finally got hiking around 8:15, with the first half mile not counting towards my goal, since it was a side trail to the shelter. The views were beautiful from the very moment I started moving. It felt like I was walking along the thin spine of the mountains themselves, like each rock I stepped on was a vertebrae holding the mountains together. Each side of the trail had a sharp drop off.

I didn’t see a single soul on trail until I passed a sign for “Charlie’s Bunion”—6ish miles into the hike. And then they were everywhere! So many day hikers! It was overwhelming, and honestly, irritating. One guy made the comment, “you really need all that for a hike to Charlie’s Bunion?” Insert eye roll here. And then when I stopped to filter water at a piped spring crossing the trail, a lady whispered to her husband, “dear God, honey, she’s actually going to drink out of that thing..” Can I go back into the deep woods now?

About a mile before getting to Newfound Gap, SoFarSoGood came hiking my way. She met me on trail to do a little hiking with me! We got to the gap and I asked her if she’d be willing to drive me up the road to Clingman’s Dome, so I could hike back down to Newfound Gap. A friend of Tiedye’s offered to let me stay at his cabin tonight, in Gatlinburg, and it would be easier for him to get me from Newfound Gap or to hitchhike from there into Gatlinburg.. but not so easy from Clingman’s Dome.

She kindly drove me up the mountain and we talked the whole way. When she let me out at the top, I started hiking, and she drove down the mountain to a less crowded area to hike some more, too. I was going to go up to the observation deck at the top, but there were so many people absolutely everywhere, that the second I saw the sign for the AT I all but ran to it. I quickly got into the woods that surround the paved walkway to the top, and was back by myself. Not a single person was on the trails around the dome.. it was weird, but peaceful.

I started my descent back down to Newfound Gap. It was about 7 miles, mostly downhill-but there were a few little hills thrown in for good measure. When I crossed a boar bridge, I found a gift left for me by SoFarSoGood. She left me some hand warmers and an orange bandana-something I had been wanting, so hunters would be able to see me when I hike. It was so kind of her to leave me this present, in a spot she knew I’d be the only one (most likely anyway) to spot.
I made it to the gap parking lot just after 5pm.

Tiedye’s friend, Bill, asked if I could get a ride into town, and no worries if not, he was at a work commitment though, and it would take him a little bit before he could leave. So, I walked to the road and stuck my thumb out. It took about 10 minutes (an awkward 10 minutes, seeing how there were tons of people in this completely full parking lot). Then, a sweet couple in a Jeep Wrangler stopped for me. They were visiting the Smokies from Miami, to see the fall colors in the mountains.

We talked the whole way to Gatlinburg. Once we got to the first red light in town, I thanked them and hopped out of their Jeep. I called mom, to let her know I was staying in town, and then literally ran into Bill outside of the convention center in the middle of downtown. He was helping breakdown the craft show that had been going on in the convention center and still had an hour or so of work to do before he could leave. He let me put my pack inside, and while he went back to work, I walked around the corner to a BBQ place.

Y’all. I flat out demolished a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw, baked beans, mac and cheese, AND an order of hush puppies. Oh, and a large sweet tea. It was just what I needed! While I was sitting there, a family came in and sat at the table near mine. They got me talking about the trail, asking the normal questions people ask hikers.. and being so excited knowing I only had 200 miles left of this thing, I was more than happy to chit chat and answer every question that came my way! They were so kind, asked if I needed anything, to resupply or if I was low on money. I declined, but thanked them for the sweet offer.

After we said our byes, I walked back over to the convention center and stretched a bit while I waited for Bill to finish up. When he did, we went back to his cabin in the Gatlinburg mountains.It was so delightful! And he had a hot tub, too! I was just too exhausted to take advantage of his offer to soak a bit. I did shower though, and enjoy a beer while we chatted about all things, like how he and TieDye met, their friendship and the crazy adventures they’ve been on together.. and he filled me in on the Braves!! I had no clue they were headed to the World Series! Bill pulled up some highlights for me. I’m thrilled!

Now, I’m laying in a comfortable bed, snuggled in with even more comfortable quilts. I’m so tired I’m struggling to get this written up. Looks like it’s bedtime for me. Sweet dreams!

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!)

Start: Spence Field Shelter (AT mi 183.7). Stop: Fontana Dam Road (AT mi 164.3). Today’s miles: 19.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 2028.8 miles. States Completed: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee

I eventually got warm in my sleeping bag, but any time I moved the cold sliced through me, starting all the shivering all over again. I had to get up to pee around midnight, in the pouring rain, causing a whole body shake for about 45 minutes after getting back into my sleeping bag. Apparently I didn’t put my toilet paper roll back into its zip lock bag, because I woke up surrounded by toilet paper confetti between my sleep stuff and the shelter wall. Mice found my TP and decided to use it for their nesting, shredding it all over the place. Whoops!

I got up just after 7am to it still raining and the wind creating a cacophony of noise. The wind was beating the trees and smacking nuts and limbs into the shelter roof. I packed, put my rain gear back on, and then got my food bag down to make breakfast. I ate with the REI ladies, and then headed out into the rain minutes later. They hooted and cheered for me, thinking I was nuts for hiking out into the rain and cold so early in the morning. They would eventually do the same, but they weren’t hiking many miles.

It was so cold, my fingers were numb, and my toes tingled in my socks and shoes, completely drenched through within minutes of walking out of camp. Before too long, they too were numb. It was so wet and sloshy on the trail, I could see each breath in front of me. I was supposed to be hiking to the Fontana Dam shelter, called the Fontana Hilton, but I was so miserable with the weather that I decided I’d try to get a room for the night so I could warm up and sleep in a dry space.

Once the rain slowed and I had service on my phone, I started making phone calls- the first 2 hostels I called were booked solid with people up visiting the mountains for the fall colors. I was calling the 3rd hostel when the call dropped. I couldn’t get my phone to make the calls again.. so, I text mom that guys number and told her the situation. The text made it through to her, thankfully, but then I lost service again. At some point I got service back and mom text me to tell me she got me a room at the Fontana Dam Resort Lodge because it was cheaper than the hostel would be after the charge for shuttling to get me and drop me back off tomorrow.

Happy, knowing I’d have somewhere warm to sleep tonight, I stopped at Mollies Ridge shelter and ate a peanut butter tortilla as quick as I could, too cold to sit still a second longer. And then kept on going. The trail was wet, sloshy, and slick, but again I had no falls. The views were non existent in the woods and with the ledges surrounded by rain clouds. Some time during a climb up to Doe Knob, I crossed out of Tennessee for the last time, although there was no sign saying that. I’ve officially completed 12 of the 14 states that the AT goes through!

After 1pm the rain stopped and the sun decided to come out. While the temperature didn’t improve, thanks to the wind, the rain stopping made it all so much better. I even started to feel my toes again. Sometime during this moment of enjoying the sunshine, I thought maybe I overreacted about needing a warm bed tonight.. and then decided that I do want that bed so, overreaction or not, it worked out how it should have.

The trail went down steep switchbacks to the valley that held the Fontana Dam Lake. It was beautiful, and the trail went along the road around the dam for awhile before snaking back into the woods along the water’s edge. I talked with some tourists driving through, they shared some water with me and I happily accepted it, not wanting to have to filter any. I got to the road crossing that held the marina just after 4pm. I walked down to the store at the marina, originally wanting to find something to snack on, but I was underwhelmed with the options, so I just got a shuttle instead.

The driver picked me up to take me into Fontana Village. This area used to be where the workers for the dam lived, now it’s a resort with a lodge, gas station, restaurant, laundry mat, post office, and general store. The lodge has hotel rooms and cabins, too. Plus a pool.. but it was too cold for pool fun. I had the driver stop at the gas station so I could resupply (and get snacks), then I was dropped off at the lodge to check in.

I got my room key and set off to find it and get into the shower immediately. My feet felt the way they do when you’ve stayed in the bath too long-and then ran a half marathon on them. They were tender and way too cold and soggy. I actually turned the heat on in the room before I got in the shower-with the water as hot as it would get. When I finally felt back to normal, I got out and got dressed. Then washed my socks and undies in the sink-there was a laundry mat but I was not about to walk to it.

I walked down to the restaurant around 6:30. When I was being seated, a man that I had briefly met on the trail doing maintenance work with some other people invited me to sit with him. His trail name is Ox, and he did the trail in 1997 and again in sections over the years since. He was so fun to talk with.. we laughed and shared stories for what felt like a minute but ended up being almost 2 hours. While we were eating, another hiker came up to us and remembered ox from years ago, doing trail maintenance during a sleet storm. We all 3 got a good laugh at them reminiscing.

I tried to pay my bill when the checks came, but Ox refused to let me. He payed for my dinner and beer. If I had known he was going to do that, I wouldn’t have ordered so much food! I was so grateful to him for his kindness, the company alone would have been more than enough. I took my left overs with me after we said our byes and made the cold walk back up to the lodge.

Back in my room, I smiled at how this day turned out. I started off cold and miserable, I’m ending with a full belly, great conversation, and a warm bed.. then I remembered the World Series! I quickly turned on the TV and started watching my Braves beat the Astros. I was planning to multitask, download the app my friend Tijuan’s movie is coming out on, upload pictures for the blog, post yesterday’s blog.. BUT, I didn’t have any service and apparently the WiFi only worked in the lobby. And I was not about to get out of that bed!

So, I’m laying here, eating the leftovers I thought I was too full to eat, typing this out, yelling at the TV like I’m at the game.. I doubt I’ll make it through the whole thing, I’m already tired and it’s inching close to 10pm.. way past my bedtime..
And so, this is time to say goodnight 🙂 sweet dreams!