Total: 1967
Miles to go :153
November 3
We stayed at Standing Bear farm hostel last night, which was such a nice respite from the previous few days' trails, and it was so nice to sleep in a warm and toasty bed. But alas, we had many miles to travel today, so we pulled ourselves out of bed to tackle the day. We had decided the previous day as we slogged our soggy shoes through slush that we would certainly not attempt to hike through the Smokey Mountains, that we are not prepared for the conditions and that we would take the lessons learned from our friends who had to be rescued. We had a big conference with seven other hikers in the dining cabin last night and luckily some other stranded hikers in Hot Springs had organized a shuttle to Fontana Dam, 70 miles away and out of the Smokies (and according to all reports, blissfully snow free). So after a windy two hour ride, we found ourselves safe and sound and out of the danger zone with our friends Sherpa and Starfish.
We arrived at Fontana Dam at around 1 and started making our way up to the second shelter on, about 11 miles in. It was SO NICE to be walking on dry ground in dry shoes and in dry socks. We were relishing the slippery leaves under our feet and how wonderfully un-snow-like they were. We saw in total about one square meter of snow the whole day.
Finally we made it to the Brown Fork Gap Shelter and Sherpa and Starfish soon followed. We had the place to ourselves and we slept oh so comfortably. Skipping the Smokies = great decision.
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| Chillin' in the kitchen |
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| Viewtiful |
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| Brown Fork Gap Hostel |
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| Standing Bear Farm |
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| Kitchen at Standing Bear |
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