I had thought that a night in the shelter would be relatively warm and quiet, but with Mike (one of the guys we met the day before) snoring like a freight train and the wind blowing right through the shelter it ended up being a cold and restless night. I think I only got about 4 hours worth of sleep the whole night. It ended up being so cold that the mice only lingered out in the open for about 30 minutes to see if they could find any goodies before returning to their nests and leaving us alone for the rest of the night.
I wasn’t too cold, but I was not looking forward to getting out of bed in the morning either. Although I packed a sleeping bag rated down to 15 F, it just didn’t seem warm enough for me. I ended up layering a few clothes for some additional warmth. In addition to the cold, sleeping on planks of wood has never been very much fun for me. I’d rather sleep on the ground as opposed to wooden slabs, but at least I wasn’t out in the freezing rain and snow.
I woke up the next morning right about the time the other two hikers were getting packed to set out. They had about 8 miles to trek that day, while we were only planning on about 6. This gave me a bit more time to cook something warm to eat, and pack my bag as the sunlight began lighting up our side of the mountain.
We finally set off around 8:30 in the morning on our push toward Clingmans Dome and the shelter at Double Spring Gap. The trail was hard going and the weather had turned uncomfortably cold. There were points on the trail where you had to step up between a foot to two just to clear a boulder or a log or whatever. Other times you had to leave the trail to get around trees that had blown down. One time I had to find my way through a dense canopy of trees that had blown down while trying not to get sumped into the mud that was all around. It was like crossing a marsh on the top of a mountain. In addition, the trail was covered with snow and ice which made for a hard trek, especially in the rough spots described above.
By the time I’d been on trail for a few hours, I could really feel the temperature dropping. When we started, the temperature was around 36 F, but by the time I got halfway to Clingmans Dome it had already dropped below 28 F. Stopping to rest became almost impossible due to the cold and wind. When I stopped for more than 30-45 seconds I could feel the wind and icy rain pelting me and sapping my heat. I had to push on at a constant speed so I could generate body heat to keep myself from freezing, while trying to avoid overheating and tiring myself out.
I stopped about a mile from the top to snap a few pictures; a few was all I ended up getting too as my batteries died after 3 shots. It was cold! I couldn’t linger, so I plodded on to the top. By now, I was well ahead of Coy, and hoped that he was doing okay, but I wasn’t ready to start going back down the mountain to try and find him.
I finally reached Clingmans Dome and the top of the mountain around 11am. The wind was horrendous, and the ice that was pelting my face made life miserable. Quite honestly, I was ready to call it quits. This was not fun anymore and I couldn’t justify pushing on just to say that we’d done it.
The SatPhone I’d rented was a piece of crap. I stood there for 20 minutes trying to get a signal to call the wife with no luck. Apparently snow and clouds bloc the signal. I wasn’t surprised seing as how I stood in the open for 15 minutes the first night trying to get a signal too. I was trying to get a hold of Kristie to find out if anyone was in the hospital, or if something happened that needed my attention at home; anything at all that I could use to justify my escape from the elements. I didn’t want to just quit, but the weather was simply too much for me. Remember, I’m the one who loves cold weather too, but this was getting to be unsafe.
By now the temperature had dropped to 20 F and all the water sources were beginning to freeze. We were still 2.5 miles away from the shelter, and the snow and ice had begun to make the trail difficult to tackle. The wind chill was in the single digits, and getting colder that night. It was time to bug out.
I sat on top of the mountain for about an hour before Coy finally arrived. We discussed the trail, discussed the weather, and discussed our water situation. I could almost hear it in his voice: he was ready to back out too. I told him that this simply wasn’t fun anymore and he agreed wholeheartedly. He admitted that he didn’t think I’d want to leave already so his plan was to stay at the shelter the next night, then talk me into walking back to the truck via the road up to Clingmans Dome. I told him that if we were figuring on backing out, lets just do it now as opposed to fighting an icy trail for an additional 5 miles, and possibly risking dehydration if our water sources freeze completely.
So, with that in mind, we headed back to the jeep via the road. It was much harder than I ever though it would be. The constant pounding on the asphalt made my legs ache, and my feet become numb. We had to stop a couple of times just to rest and take some weight off, but we made good time overall. It was approximately 9 miles back to the jeep from the mountain top; a distance we completed in about 3.75 hours. I was glad to see the jeep, glad to be able to use the facilities without having a cold blast of air hitting my hind quarters, and glad to be able to take my pack off and rest.
All in all, I’d consider this a successful trip. I had a few days of testing equipment, my share of cold weather for a month or so, and met a new friend. Yea…. I’d say it was rather successful.
