Day 6

Dad at the top of Clingman's Dome



Me at the bottom of Clingman's Dome

Day 6:

Day of days. Dad and I started out very late (10am) thinking that we'd cut the planned hike short from the Icewater Spring shelter to the Mt. Collins Shelter (14+ miles to 8 miles). Plan was to meet Paul + Mr. Mines at the Mt. Collins shelter but upon arrival, we found that the 5 miles they would travel at night would have been terrible. We continued to the next gap. But I digress. The day started with a hard 3 mile ascent of Clingman's Dome. Dad and I met back up with Needles, Flash and Chairman. We had some oatmeal at the observation deck + answered the tourists' questions. They're always disappointed that we're not headed to Maine. The hike down was rocky and difficult. My left ankle was pretty painful. Dad's boot's sole is separating from it's toe. The Mines are bringing epoxy to see if we can fix it. After we reached the trail head to the Mt. Collins shelter we started down it, but decided that we shouldn't let the Mines do this at night. We committed to the extra 4.5 [miles] to get to the Newfound Gap. The hike was mostly downhill but difficult. Lots of obstacles + scrambles. Once we made the gap, we settled into the business of finding out way to town. I got a B+B on the phone, discussing how the hell we're getting off the ridge. Two guys in a Jeep from [Florida] overheard us and offered to bring us down. 1/2 hour later and we're in the lobby of a Comfort Inn, setting up for the night. Showered, underwear + shirts hand washed in the sink + burgers in our bellies, we feel pretty good! The mines show up at about 9, fully prepared and also with our resupply! We've got too much food. Maybe tonight will be the 1st time I sleep the whole time. Hope my underwear is dry come morning. Tomorrow is a planned rest NERO! We're on schedule! 3+ mile climb to Icewater Spring and time to kick around.

* Gatlinburg sucks ass. There is no reason for you to go there. In Gatlinburg, there is a small building that's sole function is to get you dressed up in funny hats for an Old West photo shoot. Gatlinburg, TN isn't even in the West! That point is moot: you shouldn't be wearing that hat. Having a burger and a beer was only marginally better than drinking in the concerned looks of the old dudes with socks and sandals and their wives on vacation over Memorial Day. I don't think Dad or I said a word to each other after the waiter dropped the food into our piranha tank of a restaurant booth. We slaughtered those sandwiches without mercy or remorse. I owe my friend Paul a favor; not only did he drop my Dad and I off at the trail, but he delivered my first resupply package and hiked with us over the long Memorial Day weekend. I had a lot of fun planning the logistics for this hike: quitting one job, starting another, counting miles, elevation, calories, dividing food caches and mailing them to myself hundreds of miles apart, and setting up travel by car, air and bus. I over-planned a few things, including quantity in my food caches, but in the future this would make me a very popular guy. This day was long but surprisingly fun! NERO means "near to zero" or however you want to interpret it. Pretty much, NERO means you hike a very short day as a recovery without hiking zero total miles. My itinerary, which I researched and developed multiple iterations of, included a NERO and a zero (day off) per the recommendations of the guidebooks.




Wildflowers