Day 23 – Spence Field Shelter to Siler’s Bald Shelter

“I’d keep playing. I don’t think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while.” – Carl Spackler

Rained hard in the night. Foggy, chilly, and drizzly this morning. Up at 7:00. Got moving slowly with this weather. Made hot tea and ate breakfast. Packed up, topped off water, and headed out with my umbrella at 9:30. Not quite the last out of camp, but close!

Started raining hard about 10:30. I submitted Rocky Top Mountain and Thunderhead Mountain at 5500 feet right at the worst of the storm. Thunder, lightning, driving rain, and I’m standing in ankle-deep mud and water with minimal cover. 

Hustled down off the mountain, but had to be very careful with the river of water and all the slippery mud on the trail. Rain stopped about noon, and the sun came out, and a breeze kicked up. Starting to dry out.

Made it to Derrick Knob Shelter at 1:30. Stripped down and hung out clothes to dry in the sun and breeze while I ate lunch. Good timing as I’m developing a blister on my right foot from being wet for 3 days. Will wrap that before I head back out.

Dana got me a two-night hotel reservation in Gatlinburg for $59 per night at a good central location. Looking forward to drying things out and getting clean! I’ll take a zero and be back on the trail Thursday morning.

Back on trail at 2:00. Got dumped on by a bad thunderstorm. Wet and cold. Lightning was close again. Miserable late afternoon. Made Siler’s Bald shelter at 6:00. Cold and wet and not going any farther tonight. Lolly came into camp about 6:30. Very wet and cold. We have 4.5 miles to Clingman’s Dome tomorrow morning. Easy morning. Just hope it’s dry. We get our shuttle at noon. 

Got into dry clothes fast and set up camp. Tried to dry some clothes but not much success. I’ll wear my camp clothes tomorrow as they are dry and I’m headed into Gatlinburg.

Ate at 7:30, got water, and climbed into my quilt at 8:00. Another group of 5 came in about 7:45 . One guy was borderline hypothermic. We made him ziplocks of hot water to put in his pits and crotch. It got right chilly and windy when that last storm came through.

Overall, a miserable day. Two bad lightning storms with negligible cover, dumped on twice and drizzled on most of the rest of the time, wet, cold, and ready to be done with the Smoky Mountains.

Technical Notes:

• Tea 0
• Pop-Tarts 340
• Snickers 250
• Trail mix 270
• Pepperoni 560
• Ramen x 2   740
• Dehydrated chicken 170
• Water liters 5
• Miles 11.8 
• Time 9:10
• Elevation gain 4046
• Calories consumed 2200
• Calories burned 6500