Just another backpacking trip to the Smo kies TR

“Just got back this evening from GSMNP. Hats off to ENS for planning a superb trip. A more detailed report will follow as soon as I get things together.....”

“I'm considering driving down from NY in late June. Haven't been near the smokies since I was little and don't really remember them. Any suggestions on where I should go, etc.?”

“MagnumCrow: A lot of it depends on what you like in a BP trip.. and how many days you have.

If you don't own the little brown book -- that's a really good place to start.”

“okay...got to ask it...but when I drove home yesterday, I passed by the smokies...

what happend? They looked so unreal. I mean...so much larger. you sure they didn't grow a couple feet? (heeheehee)

Took pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/330448169/330681327OaENAU
http://community.webshots.com/photo/330448169/330681918GJygPQ
http://community.webshots.com/photo/330448169/330682441abFBkn
I swear they changed...someone get out there and messure.”

“Gem, where were those pics taken? I40 out of Knoxville?”

“yeah I think that's when I took them. (yesterday)

I drove on that road many times, but I swear they are bigger. Sorry, I can't get over the fact that they looked huge.

Oh: Of course I know that they are not, but it sure looks like it.
last edited: 4/25/05 8:08:01 AM”

“I heard something on the news last night late about some sort of tectonic shift that took place over the weekend. Geologists were still trying to determine exactly what happened.
















the sky is falling



the sky is falling



........”

“hmm...soooo MAYBE...just MAYBE....they really did grow and Mt. Whitney did shrink?? LMAO!!!”

“sure would have been nice to wakeup to snow Sunday morning”

“I'll try and post a trip report tonight. My camera died due to the crazy weather we had there. I had my camera in a pocket in my goretexx coat and thought it would be ok, not!

It was an awesome weekend though and we had just about every kind of weather imaginable for the Smokies. We had to finish the hike Saturday night instead of Sunday morning due to the snow.”

“Wow.. they look beautiful, don't they Gemini?”

“those are awesome pics Gemini. Makes me wish I were still in the Smokies. I had so much fun this weekend.”

“so ENS...you didn't feel like the smokies got larger huh?

LOL damn, they look huge!

hurry with the TR already! hope you have at least some pics.”

“EnS, you would have freaked at the snow @ Deep Gap, tried to get up Winterstar, but needed crampons. The wind was at least 80 mph!!!”

“TownDawg, What's this little brown book? I'm pretty new to backpacking, I've never done more than 2 nights, but I've got all week, so I was thinking of doing 4 or 5 nights. However, there's also a pretty good chance I'll be going by myself, so I don't want to do anything too tough...just in case.

Anyway, little brown book? Something I might be able to order online?”

“This it it:

http://www.smokiesstore.org/browse.cfm/4,5.html

Best book for the smokies
last edited: 4/25/05 6:43:54 PM”

“Thanks Genini.

20 Bucks! Well, it'll probably be worth it. I'm gonna hold off though, I still don't know for sure if I'm coming down.”

“Wow, the best way to describe this trip is extreme, literally. From the longest drive ever to the latest arrival at a trailhead ever (4:30 AM) to the hottest weather ever to the most humid weather ever to the wettest weather ever to the most tiring climb to the most amazing view ever to the most vicious thunderstorm ever to the most entertaining head-bump ever to the latest snowstorm ever to the quickest hike out to the most hurried road trip home, this trip pretty much had it all...

I'm working with pictures now; stay tuned for details...
last edited: 4/25/05 7:46:20 PM”

“what is taking you all so long? That's a first!”

“...to the longest time to post pics and a real TR ever...”

“And the call me Slacker sheeez.......”

“...to the first time ever hiking in two states at the same time...”

“As the phantom mentioned, twas a trip of extremes.

Phantom arrived at my place around 630ish and we hit the road around 7pm on Thursday night.

After a long drive to Tennessee we arrived at the GSMNP visitor center at 4am, registered and hit the road up to Newfound Gap and then Clingmans Dome Road up to said dome. Got there around 430am and immediately crashed.

7am arrived pretty quickly and Clingmans was totally socked in and it was windy. Soon after Blalock arrived. Blalock had coffee and biscuts for us! Thanks man! We waited until after 8 for Refrigerator to arrive, but we didn't see him, so we continued down to the Alum Cave Trailhead, spotting Blalock's truck at Clingmans Dome.

We hit the Alum Cave Trail around 9. It was a beautiful morning, warm, sunny and on the humid side. Spring was definitely in the air. The trail is a nice leisurely stroll in the woods up to about the Arch Rock and then it starts to go up and up and up and up as you climb Mt. LeConte.

The view from Inspiration Point was awesome. Clingmans Dome was still hanging out in the clouds, but everything else was visible. You could see flowers starting to bloom down below in Huggins Hell.

We continued on to Alum Cave Bluffs and then past the knife edges of Little and Big Duck Hawk Ridges. The view continued to astound. The entire trail is along a cliff and offers up a constant view. We spread out, with Blalock clipping up the mountain and Phantom and myself starting to lag. We didn't get much sleep the night before and it was becoming evident.

As we neared the top, clouds started to roll in and rain started to fall. The views vanished in the clouds. We started to round Clifftop and got an awesome show of cloud convection as the clouds made their way up the southern slope.

When we arrived at the Lodge it was pouring. The rain stopped momentarily when we climbed Clifftop (second highest peak on LeConte). The view opened up and it was an amazing show of cloud acrobatics dancing over the mountains and ridge lines. I was awestruck.

After a few minutes on the peak which is entirely exposed and an open heath bald, thunder started to sound and we decided to de-peak and make out way to some protection with in the LeConte Shelter. It was also lunchtime.

The weather on top of LeConte was a huge contrast from what it was at the trailhead. It was very cold and windy. I later found out that the weather in the morning was in the 70's but dropped down to 40 around noon and then back up to the mid 50s in the afternoon. Only in the Smokies.

We ate lunch as it poured some more and thundered and lightninged all around us. The rain wouldn't let up so we decided to move along.

I thought my camera was safely stowed in the pocket of gortexx shell, but after a few a while of constant downpour, I unzipped the pocket to find water inside with my camera and my camera would not turn on. :(

So my camera is now dead.

We left LeConte via the Boulevard Trail and half down the trail, the rain stopped and the clouds opened up to reveal some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. Along the way, we bagged Mt. Kephart, but stopped short of the Jumpoff.

We made our way to the AT and hooked a left for the short hike to the Icewater Springs shelter, where we met a group of 10 or so thru-hikers. They were spread out in the shelter, but they all moved their stuff to the bottom deck and a few of them set up their tents. They let us have the top deck.

It was around 4. We set up camp and had dinner, and started chatting with the thruhikers. A guy showed up at the shelter and he took one of the empty spots on the top bunk with us. I told him I was from PA and he mentioned that he had some friends from PA, Elverson, PA (near Reading) as a matter of fact and that he thru-hiked with them a few years ago. I started to think, hmmm, I have some friends from Elverson and they also thruhiked the AT a few years ago. Turned out that we knew the same people.

He asked how I knew them and I 'spained that I went to summer camp with them. He asked if it was Crystal Lake Camps and I said yes and he said he went there too. I knew he looked familiar, he turned out to be an old friend of mine. Wow, go figure. He was hiking the AT through the Smokies since that is a section of the trail he missed when he did his thruhike.

After that Phantom, Blalock and myself hiked out to Charlies Bunion which was a mile from the shelter and took in what has to be one of the greatest views anywhere. It was so beautiful it was perfect.

It was still light out when everyone went to bed. It was fun listening to the thru hikers talk about food.

That night it stormed like mad. I never heard a storm like that before. It sounded like the shelter was the launch pad for the shuttle. The rain slammed the roof and the wind pounded it as well.

During the night Jackstraw hiked in and joined us in the shelter. I believe he got there around 2am, but luckily he hiked in after that crazy storm.

The next morning we all got up around 7, had breakfast, packed up and hit the trail around 9.

It was completely socked in and snowwing as we hiked. We nearly got blown off the mountain whilst crossing Newfound Gap Road.

The climb out of Newfound Gap going south on the AT is a buttkicker and the higher we got the more severe the weather got. It was full on snowwing the closer we got to the Mt. Collins shelter. We got there around 2.

We all pretty much had lunch, got in our bags and took a nap for an hour or two while it snowwed like mad outside the shelter.

I awake to the sound of people talking. I listened into the conversation. They were out dayhiking and stopped by the shelter to see if anything was going on. They were from NC. They started talking about the storm and said that they were calling for 6 inches over night and that road conditions were getting bad.

It didn't take long for all of us to decide to continue on to Clingmans Dome where Blalock's truck was parked. One of the thruhikers that was staying in the shelter, Brewmaster, decided to come with us. His leg was injured and he wanted to ride out the storm in Gatlinburg.

We hiked the last three miles to Clingmans Dome which was all up hill and fairly steep and rocky. Great climb though. I had no idea that the AT from Newfound Gap to Clingmans Dome was that much of a climb. Along the way we bagged Mt. Collins and Clingmans Dome for a few more southern sixers.

It was around 7 when we got to Clingmans Dome and it was completely socked in. I didn't even go up to the top of the tower.

The parking lot was like a skating rink and the wind was blowing so hard it knocked me over twice.

We took it easy descending Clingmans Dome road in blalock's truck, road conditions were slick, but improved as we dropped. We parted ways with Blalock at Newfound Gap and the rest of us had dinner in Gatlinburg at the Smoky Mountain Brewery.

Brewmaster bought us all a beer. He is considering dropping out of the thru-hike due to his leg injury. Hope the best of luck to him.

It was a great weekend in the mountains. Interesting weather. I never seen weather change so much, so quickly, in such a short amount of time before. Everything was pretty much thrown at us.

Lots of elevation gain on this trip. I'm not sure how much, but maybe 7500 feet. We hiked a total of 27 miles and bagged 4 sixers.

Mt. LeConte (I already had)
Mt. Kephart
Mt. Collins
Clingmans Dome

I love the Smokies. I wish I could take them home with me.
last edited: 4/25/05 9:39:29 PM”

“I got a late start going down. So I missed La Conte, but had a cool trip none the less. I arrived just after midnight at Newfound Gap. The horrendous storms had subsided so i decided to hoof it in. About 2 1/2 miles Icewater Spring Shelter. Unfamiliar trail, limited visability, clouds moved in and out droping sight distance to about 4 feet. Awesome. I made it in by about 2AM and as one would think customary, woke eveyone else up by banging my noggin on a beam in the shelter and letting loose with a couple choice words. I was blessed with a view when I woke up for a few minutes then the fog rolled in and it started to snow.
After saying good morning and breakfast we Packed up and headed out.Did the eight miles to Mt. Collins in a flash.By 2PM the snow continued and we decided to do the rest of the hike. Hiking to the top of Clingmans dome was tough but well worth it. Coming around the summit from the right PhantomSoul was the first to spot the tower.We climbed the winding ramp just long enough to realize we could be blown off by a strong enough gust.There was no one else on the summit.It was like a vast Ice planet.It was great meeting Blalock and being on the trail with PS ans ENS again. Great trip Rob, TOP NOTCH!!

PS Ive got my first two sixers. Collins and Clingmans Dome”

“Great Trip Report ENS, you have truly outdone yourself this time. I could almost feel the snow on my face. Oh, and you fell twice.....no not you! LOL

*PS How 'bout some pics Phantom man!
last edited: 4/25/05 10:11:20 PM”

“Gemini, those pics you took of the smokies are awesome.”

“dang Gem, i knew i shouldn't have clicked on your pics :(”

“I. Longest Road Trip Ever

So, after bailing out of work at 3PM on Thursday and getting all my stuff together, I was finally on the road at quarter after 4, just in time for Trenton rush hour traffic. Joy.

I got to Lancaster at 630PM and finally we were on the road by 7PM. Opting to eat dinner at Fazzulis (sp?), in Martinsburg, WV, we drove on, only to be disappointed in its disappearance there. Alas, we had to settle for Chick-Fila. Dang. So back on the freeway we continued, ever southbound...

II. Latest trailhead arrival ever

After what seemed like the longest ride ever, we finally pulled into the Clingman's Dome parking lot at 430AM, the latest trailhead arrival ever for me, and proceeded to immediately pass out in the car.

Woke up to Blalock knocking on my window at 730AM with an egg muffin-like thing and cup of coffee -- whadda guy! Thanks man, I neede that, especially after that drive...

III. Hottest weather ever

Anyway, it was foggy and kinda chilly up on Clingmans, but as soon as we started down the hill on the shuttle to the Alum Cave Bluffs TH, the fog cleared away, and the weather got really hot. I mean it got to the point where we were down to short sleeved shirts and, at Inspiration Point, even opened the zippers on the pant legs to vent out...

IV. Most humid weather ever

In addition to this unseasonable heat, 'twas also ridiculously humid, such that the sweat would just hang off of you, like a thousand overpacked backpacks, while climbing Le Conte.

(Ok, so maybe the last two extremes are a bit exaggerated, but still, it sure felt like the hottest and most humid weather ever...)

V. Wettest weather ever

Just before hitting Le Conte's lodge area, I noticed some serious clouds moving in, and a few moments later the sky opened up in a massive deluge that could only remind me of last summer's Loyal-SOAK episode. Nevertheless, I donned the raingear and pushed on.

The view from Le Conte's Cliff Top was amazing but short, as we were all-too-quickly chased out by a couple bolts of lightning and a few quick claps of thunder. EarthNSky and I met up with Blalock at the Le Conte shelter, where we waited out the bulk of the thunderstorm.

VI. Most tiring climb ever

The drop into the saddle (for lack of a better word -- it was really more of a really wide knife-edge) between Le Conte and Kephart was a bit of a relief after the Alum Cave Bluff Trail's 5-mile ascent up Mt Le Conte. But unfortunately, my energy had been pretty much drained by Le Conte, and was reduced to the levels of a candle in a windstorm.

This had caused the otherwise-probably-very-easy climb up to Mt Kephart to seem unnecessarily brutal and tiring. Folks, by the time I reached the summit, an entire year may have passed, and more importantly, my butt was kicked in ways I could not even imagine...

VII. Most amazing view ever

We pulled into Icewater Springs shelter where we'd be staying for the night, and I was pretty much feeling as dead as I ever wanted to feel. I just unpacked, and chilled out, glad to finally be off of my feet. Eventually, I made my way to cook and eat some dinner, and the sky had cleared up a bit, so we decided to mosey on down about a mile to Charlies Bunion.

Folks, this place could quite possibly have the best view I've ever seen in my life, and I'm not even exaggerating this one. In a word, breathtaking -- the rock jutting out like a divine pedestal, with the entire world opening up all around you. Totally awesome is all I have to say about that...

VIII. Most vicious thunderstorm ever

We got back to Icewater Springs and all our thru-hiker roomies were battening down for the night. We chatted for a while with some of them, and pretty much nodded off to sleep even before dark, mainly because of the severe sleep depravation from the night before and the lack of anything else to do.

I was awakened in the middle of the night by a really bright flash and even remember thinking to myself, "Is someone fooling around with a camera?" Well, this thought was immediately discarded when the loudest crash of thunder flooded the house, stirring all of its creatures, even the mouse.

The storm continued to put on its midnight show, flooding the sky with its light, and filling the air with the most violent crashes of thunder I've ever heard. The wind had started to pick up and was really howling past the shelter. I had even thought to myself, though really unlikely this high up on the ridge, if that storm spawns one of those tornado-like things, this shelter and everything (one) inside is history. I could only hope that Jackstraw, who was supposed to arrive late at Newfound Gap and night hike in, and who had apparently not arrived yet, was not hiking thru this storm...

IX. Most entertaining headbump ever

After several encore performances, the mother-lode of a storm finally bid us farewell and I was once again able to resume my peaceful slumber.

Sometime later, I don't know exactly how much later -- you can never tell these things -- I was awakened by another crash. However, this was a different crash; this crash had come from within the shelter and sounded more of thud, like that of a clumsy hiker smashing his head on the shelter beam.

I couldn't help but have a chuckle as I turned around and greeted Jackstraw as he seemed a bit dazed from trying to imprint his head on the shelter beam. As I turned back to go to sleep, I observed that I apparently wasn't the only one once again roused from their slumber as I heard the faint sound of chuckling eminating from throughout the house (even from the mouse)...

X. Most drastic weather change ever

We awoke the next morning (finally) to some pretty thick fog, and we could actually see the cloud blowing thru the shelter. It was almost heavenly; in fact, for a while I wondered if a tornado did rip through the shelter, and we were all now on the other side.

Of course that thought was quickly dismissed when I realized how cold it had gotten, and as a result, I was rather reluctant to get out of my sleeping bag. Finally, after being threatened to be left behind, I made my way out, ate a quick breakfast, packed up and we were out.

Contrary to the t-shirts of the day before, I was now wearing almost all the clothes I had brought, even a fleece hat and gloves. Still my body had managed to find ways to shiver. Fortunately, we soon began to make our way up out of Newfound Gap toward Mt Collins, and the uphill hiking heated me up enough.

XI. Latest snowstorm ever

After several double-takes, for I could just not convince myself to believe my eyes, I had reconciled the fact that it was, indeed snowing, and that the snow had started to accumulate on the ground.

By the time we reached Mt Collins shelter, our destination for the day, I was absolutely soaked by a mixture of my sweat and the rain/snow/sleet/whatever that was falling out of the sky. However, I was just happy to be out of the snow, and being that I did not have dry pants to change into, I figured I'd better hop into my sleeping bag in attempt to dry my pants off before it got too cold that night. I ended up taking a nice little nap too; what a lazy afternoon watching the snow fall. I was loving it...

XII. The quickest hike out ever

...watching the snow fall. As peaceful as it looked, something seemed very distraught about it.

...watching the snow fall. The thru hikers in the shelter were all battening down for spending the night out of the storm, waiting for it to pass.

...watching the snow fall. I thought of Kim, the girl I had been seeing back home as of late, and when I'd get to see her again.

...watching the snow fall....HOLY S! We had a car parked up on top of Clingmans Dome that was getting snowed in meanwhile. And even more disturbing was the news some passer-by day hikers brought about significant accumulations being expected. And still worse yet, the access road to Clingmans Dome is not plowed; but rather simply just closed, and it was our only ticket out of there.

Needles to say, we packed our stuff up just as quickly as we unpacked it and made a bee-line for Clingmans Dome, 3 of the most butt-kicking miles ever, mainly because we were already pretty butt-kicked and would've much rather just crashed at the shelter that night.

After what seemed like way more than 3 miles, Jackstraw and I finally came into view of the tower on Clingmans Dome. We decided to celebrate by walking up to the top, despite the horrible weather. And so, state high point #4 went into the books, continuing the curse of denying me a view. All 4 state high points that I've bagged to this day still owe me views.

We got to the top, gave each other a quick hi-five, and I was like, let's get the hell out of here, and so we went, but not before Jackstraw almost went down the ramp on his butt (ice is slippery, folks).

We caught up with the rest of the gang and shuttled down to Newfound Gap in the nick of time, where Blalock went his separate way toward NC, while the rest of us, along with Brewmaster, a thru hiker we picked up at Mt Collins shelter -- wow, our very own thru hiker -- I feel so important, headed to Gatlinburg for some eats before we'd figure out what to do for the night.

Drinks, food, and service at the Smoky Mountain Brewery were excellent, and after we got our fill, EarthNSky and I said our goodbyes to Brewmaster and Jackstraw, as we had decided we would pull an all-night road trip back up-country so we could hang out with our "friends" Sunday afternoon. We left Gatlinburng around 1030PM and made PA around 7AM and I got back to Jersey around 9AM before taking a long-awaited nap and catching up with my "friend" afterwards.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

Turns out that just another trip to the Smokies was my first, and very eventful nonetheless. I'll have to go back sometime (damn) to get a better panorama from Charlies Bunion, as Blalock managed to mess this one up (I told you not to move -- jk).

I would've have taken more pictures, but didn't want to bust the camera out too much in the lousy weather. Besides, of the pictures I do have, it's pretty evident that my camera has a hard time focusing in lousy weather. But anyway, here's what I got:

PHANTOMSOUL'S GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN PICTURES

I had a blast and can't wait to go back.”

“Very cool! Great TR and Pics Del Sol. You really DO have to be prepared for anything in the Smokies. Glad you guys had a great time!”

“great report PS!

Blalock, how much snow at Deep Gap?”

“Great Reports guys, sorry I missed it.
Nice pics PS.
next time...”

“Alot of snow @ deep gap, you guys said it all. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful weekend, I promise to get up north soon. George, cool pics, you know what you problem is, HAHA!!!Jack straw nice to meet you, Rob, awalys a pleasure, I'm sure everyone that knows you were surprised to hear that you fell, twice.”

“ENS I swear I read both TR's but I missed the part where you fell. Did you? LMAO??
You fell?”

“Oh yeah...and off of Charlies Bunion, too. I think he wanted to pull the master fall-off...

LOL”

“I got good news and I got bad news.

Good news:

I got a new camera and my extended warrenty covered it.

Bad news:
my pictures still don't work and that memory card is toast it seems. Dang, I had some good ones from LeConte. Some sweet video of the clouds dancing too. Sucks!”