2009 Backpacking the Smokies (south to north)

Appalachian Trail – Hiking in the Smokies

Saturday, July 18 to Monday, July 27, 2009

We just got back from our backpacking trip through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. As always, we enjoyed the hiking and the time together. We had great weather (it was cooler than normal, perfect for hiking!). If only we could have gotten the blisters under control :(

Saturday, July 18

We left Fishers about 7:30, after a quick trip to Starbucks to wake us all up. We stopped for breakfast at a Bob Evans just south of Lexington and we chatted all the way to NC!

packing up the truck before we hit the road

statement in the car: well ladies, I'm planning to walk off my belly fat on this hike. . .

response: how far are we walking?

haha, we laughed for miles!

The last part of our drive was an 11 mile stretch that contains 318 hairpin turns. It's called "Dragon's Tail" and we were surrounded by motorcycles and in every pull off there were photographers clicking away with websites advertised where you can buy the prints. We waved as we went by, but they were much more interested in the bikes behind us!

Durena's truck on the "Dragon's Tail"

We drove to Fontana Dam, NC, and stayed at the Hike Inn. (430 miles, 7 1/2 hours). We had 2 rooms and the accommodations were very reasonable. Basic, with with everything we needed (bed and a shower!). A great place that rents only to hikers and the couple that run it, Jeff and Nancy are great hosts. We chatted with Nancy and Jeff gave us a "wildlife" safety talk later that evening. We're still not sure if he was serious when he told us to "bark like a dog" if we saw a bear or if he and Nancy were chuckling each night imagining us doing so!

front porch of The Hike Inn

Sunday, July 19
We enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our rooms and then about 8:15 Jeff took us to the trailhead at Fontana Dam. We were carrying full packs (minus tents) with 3 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 3 dinners + snacks. We estimated our packs weighed between 30 - 35 pounds. We walked 11 miles to Mollie’s Ridge Shelter (el. 4570). It was a long hike and the first 4 miles were a steep up. At the end of that first climb, we detoured off the trail and hiked up to Shuckstack Tower, where we enjoyed lunch and Jan began 'doctoring' her feet.

Jan applies second skin - ouch!

Shuckstack Fire Tower

Durena and I climbed to the top of Shuckstack

We stopped a couple of other times and came upon a sign that said there might not be water at our shelter, and pointed to a spring. We took our backpacks off and took our Nalgene's to fill up. It was a slow trickle (5 minutes per quart) but we filled all we could and then added this new weight (one quart = 2 pounds!) to hike the rest of the way. Of course, when we got there, the water was flowing just fine!

We set about unpacking our stuff, getting organized and making coffee! We took the new 'instant' coffee packs from Starbucks and it is surprisingly delicious. Plus we save lots of weight by not carrying the ground coffee (actually, Pat saves the weight!). The shelter sleeps 12 and each person gets 22" of wooden platform to sleep on. There were only four of us there and it's a good thing because we take over all available space when we stop!

We did camp chores (fetched more water, filtered it, started fire, laid out sleeping bags, etc.) It was Pat's night to prepare the main course and we enjoyed pepperoni pizza (tasted great and NO cleanup - bonus!). I brought the s'more ingredients and we enjoyed those and then hung all the food, "odorous items", and backpacks outside on the cables.

Pat's Pepperoni Pizza!

bear cables behind the shelter to hang packs and food on

Durena and Jan went right to sleep. Pat and I were both reading and heard a "big" noise behind the shelter which caused us to stay awake for quite a while, talking loudly and banging rocks to keep the bears away. I donned my headlamp, headnet, baseball cap contraption which I hoped would stop the mice from running across my face. This caused Pat to laugh uncontrollably for about 15 minutes (and also scared the bears away!)

ah, 22" of wooden platform after a long day of hiking!

mouse and mosquito deterrent (also a form of entertainment for others!)

Pat is settled comfortably (you can't see her arsenal of rocks by her side)

Monday, July 20
We headed out in the morning for a long day of hiking but everyone was in a great mood. The weather was again just perfect - sunshine, cool, no humidity and no rain! We also saw some beautiful flowers. Jeff told us that up in the mountains the blooms are about 6 weeks behind those on the ground. We were amazed and delighted to walk past so many blooming rhododendrons!

Jan and Durena hiking past a white blaze (AT trail marker)
beautiful orange flower

We stopped for lunch at a big rock in the sun and enjoyed talking to a daughter and dad who were hiking the park from north to south. They didn't anticipate the colder nighttime temperatures and hadn't brought any long sleeve clothes or pants. We shivered thinking about it and were glad for them that they only had one more day.

survey marker in rock at lunch spot (elevation 4950')

We got to the shelter and went about making ourselves comfortable (relative term!). This turned out to be a killer day and did Jan's feet in. Her blisters were raw before the day was over. We walked 11.7 miles to Derrick’s Knob Shelter (elevation 4880 ft; gain, 3k ft., loss, 1k ft.). It took us about 8 1/2 hours and the hardest part was the second half of the day when we're all starting to drag anyway. We had tortilla soup for dinner (just add water, it was yummy!) and were all ready to turn in early. We hung all of our bags again. The cables work well keeping the bears away, but the mice have it figured out! This will be the second night that they eat through two of our food bags! It's also the second night that we have the shelter to ourselves!

bear bags hung on the cables with care!

It was chilly and Pat decided to wear her sleeping bag while she was reading

Tuesday, July 21
We had a leisurely morning at camp today, as we had a relatively easy hiking day. We walked 7.4 miles to Double Spring Gap Shelter (elevation 5507 ft., gain, 1500, loss, 500.) It was another beautiful day and we enjoyed the sunshine and the trail. Jan bandaged her feet the best she could. Durena also has the beginnings of some terrible blisters. I have a sore spot on one of my toes but hate to even mention it after having seen theirs!

We encountered several groups of trail volunteers today and walked in appreciation of their handiwork. We stopped at Siler's Bald Shelter for lunch and spent a pleasant hour or so with the group of men and boys from Indiana we met at the Hike Inn on our arrival day. While they were talking to Jeff at the Inn, we noticed their plates were from Indiana, and upon further inspection, Pat realized she had seen one of them at Gander Mountain the day before we left, buying a fuel canister!

We were traveling in the opposite direction. There was a father, his two sons (Bones and Zero Gravity) and his brother. The grownups were carrying very full packs (professional camera, tripod, guitar, and MRE's). The brother said his pack weighted 70 pounds!!

group from Indiana

We continued on after lunch and only had another 1.7 miles to our destination for the evening, Double Springs Gap. We got there early and spread out and there was a lot of day hiking traffic. We visited with several groups of people and spent a couple of hours with two friends who day hiked in from Clingman's Dome. They had strong southern accents and LOTS of interesting stories about hikes they had done and people they had encountered. After everyone left we set about getting organized for the night. We had tuna and noodles for dinner and tried to get a fire going, but it was slim pickings on the wood and what we could find was damp so we mostly had a smoke fire.

Double Springs Shelter

We had heard about a very friendly deer at this shelter and it wasn't long before we saw her. She wasn't afraid of us at all and she was beautiful!

Deer at camp

A thru hiker named John got to camp about dusk and we enjoyed talking to him. It was the first night we shared a shelter! He had hiked 20 miles that day! He also had a bear spray canister attached at the waist and he had seen at least six bears since he entered the park. He is an industrial arts teacher in NC.


Wed. July 22

Double Springs Shelter in the morning

We woke to a very foggy morning and took our time getting out of camp. We had decided to shorten this day and stop at Clingman's Dome (3+ miles). Jan's blisters are raw and becoming infected. Durena's are worse and Pat has a raw spot started. We were told that it was quite a climb over the three miles to Clingman's, but we found it quite pleasant. The fog cleared early and the sun came out and we were able to see out over the mountains for the first time in a couple of days. The views were magnificent!

sun shining, beautiful orange flowers, great views!

magnificent views!

We soon arrived at Clingman's Dome (highest point on the AT) and Jan waited at the bottom with our packs while Pat, Durena and I went up to the top. On the trail, Jan was practicing her pouty face in order to get us a ride into Gatlinburg and if that didn't work she was going to bare her bloody heels so someone would take pity on us!

Made it to Clingman's Dome!

Jan strategizing at the bottom

Before we got back to the bottom, Jan found us all a ride in a van with a mother and daughter who were more than happy to help. We walked down (.5 miles) to the parking lot with them and it was strange to see so many people again. They were all walking up to Clingman's and we stuck out like sore thumbs (actually, sore feet!).

Our trail angels, Debbie and her daughter!
We were so happy to be in the van, we were giddy!

Debbie drove us all the way into Gatlinburg and we got out at stoplight #10. From there it was just a couple of blocks to The Grand Prix Motel (inexpensive, close to the park, laundry facilities, on trolley route). We checked in, started showers, laundry, unpacking, etc. We saw Nick on the front steps while doing a laundry load and spoke to him for a while. We had also met him at the Hike Inn the first night and his itinerary was similar to ours except he had not planned on stopping in Gatlinburg. It turned out that the day before, he left his shelter in the morning and went the wrong way and didn't discover it until he was all the way back to the shelter he had stayed at the night before. It's not too hard to imagine, the woods look sort of the same coming or going, but it made for an 18 mile day for him and he had injured his knee. He ended up being shuttled back to the Hike Inn and going home from there.

Soon the laundry was finished and we were dressed and ready for dinner! We enjoyed a great meal at a local restaurant and wandered up and down the main street before we got ice cream, groceries for the rest of the hike, flip flops for Jan, and went back to sleep in real beds!!

Jan was happy after the decision was made for her to stop hiking (I don't know how she walked on those heels for the last 2 days!)

Thursday, July 23
We slept in, had coffee in the room and walked over to the Pancake House where we fortified ourselves for the day ahead! We said goodbye to Jan and boarded the 10:00 shuttle to take us to the Alum Cave Trailhead.


We started up the Alum Cave Trail and walked 5.4 miles up to LeConte Lodge. The trail was beautiful with blooming rhodos for the first few miles. We stopped for a lunch break at the Bluffs and after that the trail was straight up! But it was such an interesting hike. The weather was good again and we were passed by lots of people going up or down. We were the only ones carrying full packs, and as Le Conte has beds and food and we felt the need to explain that we were hiking on from there so that people wouldn't think we were idiots!

bridge created by a long log with cement poured over it

my favorite kind of trail - rhododendrons next to flowing water!
climbing up and through Arch Rock
great views along the way!

cable handhold next to a steep dropoff

We stopped and talked to several people and along the trail we met Stan T. who had hiked up to the lodge and back. He was there celebrating his wedding anniversary and because his wife was not overly fond of hiking, he asked us to look him up and hike with him next time we're in the area of Grayson Highlands (which is one of our favorite places to hike!).

We soon came to LeConte and it was amazing. It's a little cluster of wooden cabins on the top of Mt. LeConte. The reservations are hard to get and back in October we asked for any night within a 3 week period in July. When we got this night, we built the rest of the trip schedule around it!

cabin at LeConte Lodge

We checked in and were shown to our room (2 double bunk beds in one room of a three room cabin). We were give a metal pail, directions to the hot water spigot, matches for the oil lamp and a key to the flush toilets! A little bit of hot water never felt so good!


We cleaned up and sat out on the front porch in the rocking chairs. We visited with lots of people up for the night. Dinner was at 6:00 and we sat at a table with a father, his son, and his two sons-in-law. We enjoyed the food and the fellowship. After dinner we made our way to the common room where we all did our own thing (reading, writing). Others were there playing cards and games and having snacks. There is no electricity so everything was done by lamplight. None of us had any trouble sleeping that night!


Friday, July 24
The Lodge breakfast was served at 8:00 and it was delicious! Actually, there wasn't a meal we didn't enjoy the whole week! We duct taped feet, took pictures and got on the Boulevard Trail about 10:30.

Elevation 6593'

On the trail again!

The Boulevard trail was awesome! It followed a ridge that connected two mountains and we could see out both sides. It was shaded and covered in pine needles and we enjoyed the day. After about 5.5 miles, we joined the AT again and followed that for another three miles to NewFound Gap where our shuttle was picking us up. We peeled off the boots and socks and visited with another backpacker while we sat in the shade. His name is Chase (trail name Tarn) and this was his 25th birthday. He had hiked the whole AT except for the Smoky Mountain section and he was back to finish it up. We all had feet issues and were amazed that he hiked the 2000+ miles in open toed sandals!!

poor tootsies!

in the parking lot at NewFound Gap

Our shuttle came early and we rode back to the Hike Inn with Andrea. We said goodbye to Jeff and Nancy, got Durena's truck, drove to the dam and then headed into Bryson City for the evening. We checked in to the Ridge Top Motel, got cleaned up and then drove into town for one of the best pizzas I've ever had! Yum!

With Jeff and Nancy at The Hike Inn
last look at Fontana Lake

Pizza at Anthony's in Bryson City

Saturday, July 25
We had our coffee out by the pool this morning and enjoyed the peaceful morning. We packed up, stopped for breakfast and then drove on to Wesser, North Carolina to the Nantahala Outdoor Center.

we enjoyed our morning coffee out by the pool at the Ridge Top Motel

We arrived in plenty of time and looked through the gift shop, bought some ice for cold drinks later and looked forward to our rafting trip. Our guide was here on a working vacation and we enjoyed our float down the Nantahala River.

ready for rafting!

We got on the road about 2:00 or so, took our time getting home, stopped several times and got into town about 10:30. We plan to continue our trip next summer and go back out for 3 nights, 4 days to finish up the park (Clingman's to Davenport Gap).



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