Leaving Gatlinburg, we figured we were in good shape. Ana had had low iron, but we had iron pills, and therefore we'd just take it easy for a few days and we'd be rolling. The first day we started back at Clingman's Dome, walked down to Newfound Gap and then three miles back up to Icewater Creek Shelter. The twelve miles were not easy for Ana, but weren't nearly as bad as before either - please remember that she walks in front to set the pace and mileage and don't send me emails about being a slave driver, thanks.
View from the shelter
One cool thing about the second half of the Smokies is that the trail runs the ridgeline of the range. Sometimes the ridgeline is basically the path with very steep dropoffs on either side, which gives great views. It was almost never narrow enough to be worrisome. We did another 12 miles the next day, and Ana still felt mediocre.
Those sides go down a looong way
Not so mediocre as to pass up an opportunity to pet moss. She said "It looks fuzzy".
The third day we had great weather and Ana was feeling better, so we pushed for a hostel, which was about 19 miles away, but almost entirely downhill.
We made it with daylight to spare and found the hostel, named Standing Bear, something of a wonderland for hikers. They had a store on-premises stocked with everything a hiker could want for supplies and pretty much nothing else.
We ate freezer pizza and I doubled up entrees by also eating I think a pound of quinoa & rice mix. Ana felt OK that day but not great, and the plan was for her to get off-trail for a few days to make sure she was ready to continue, meeting me further up the road in Hot Springs. She found a free ride from a non-hiker who was going that way and left super-early the next morning, while I headed up into the mountains.
No comments:
Post a Comment