Monday, 10/2/2006 @ 2 pm

I've just hiked 1/2 mile to the top of Clingman's Dome, elevation 6,643', where I'm about to turn west along the Appalachian Trail (AT) for another 4-1/2 miles to Silers Bald shelter for my first overnight stay on this trip.  Janice had bid me farewell from the parking lot just about 15 minutes earlier with our plan being to meet again at the Fontana Marina in four days.  If I'm successful, this four day trip will allow me to find enough bits and pieces of historical artifacts to relate back from the flooding of Fontana Lake in 1944 to more than 176 years ago when Moses & Patience Proctor with their young son came over the mountains from Cades Cove in 1830 to become the first white settlers in the Hazel Creek area.

The visibility today is fabulous and as I pass across the ridgetop area known as The Narrows I can see mountain ranges over 80 miles away.  Traces of autumn colors already dot the slopes on surrounding high peaks of the Smokies while brilliant scarlet clusters of fruit on the Mountain Ash trees frame my views.  It is a glorious day for a ridgetop hike and from the moment I leave the crowds of tourists at Clingmans Dome I am blessed with solitude.  I don't see or hear another human, vehicle or noise until reaching Silers Bald shelter some 2 hours 15 minutes later.

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Enroute I pass Double Spring Gap shelter which is still the old style with a chain link fence enclosure for its front "wall." 

My destination, Silers Bald shelter, has been renovated and I arrive about the same time as another pair of hikers from Orlando: A father and his 12th grade son.  Later in the early evening we will be joined by two recent college grads from NW Pennsylvania; they tell us they're hiking the AT from north to south having started their journey in Maine in early June.   Their plans were to be at the end of the trail in Georgia by October 13th--just 12 days from now.  Lately they've been hiking 20 miles per day.

Mother Nature takes this opportunity to suddenly turn down the temperature and crank up the wind reminding us we're on an exposed ridgetop at an elevation of 5,460'.  Everyone starts pulling out warmer clothing but the temperature keeps dropping and the wind keeps blowing.  Finally I just crawl into my sleeping bag and call it a day.  Unfortunately Mr. Orlando snores loudly most of the night but finally it is Tuesday morning and time to resume my journey toward Hazel Creek Trail.

Click here to view all photos from this hike (opens in new window).

Coming next:  I find evidence from the year 1907 plus 17 very cold stream crossings.  Click to read day 2 now.