The Smokies
On the morning of April 20, we walked across the top of Fontana Dam and into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The park boasts a population of 2,600 black bears. To protect the bears and tourists from each other, additional regulations are in place. All camping must happen in designated shelter areas. All food and smellables must be hung using provided cable systems.
These regulations are not so bad. The shelters are stone structures with high capacity, tarps across the front, and fireplaces. Tent sites near the shelters are limited, but workable. I hung my backpack from the cables without issue, but some cable systems were in need of repair.
Besides bears, the other notable hazard to tourism in the Smokies is the weather. Forecasts change rapidly, and you can reach an epic vista only to find yourself staring into the inside of a cloud. Due to the elevation, it is generally cold on the ridges. We did hike and camp on some freezing, raining, and sleeting days, but were very fortunate to have clear skies for the best views.
Clingman's Dome is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and we arrived on the 22nd with excellent visibility. We could see across the hills to Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi. This also marked the approximate 200 mile mark of the trail.
The flora is different in the high elevations of the park. Evergreens dominate the canopy, their needles soften the ground, and moss covers everything. The party forester was particularly interested in this section.
After Clingman's, we stopped briefly in Gatlinburg to resupply. There is not much to say about this city; it is a late stage tourist trap. A grocery store and a pizza buffet later, we were back in a van to Newfound Gap.
Shelters were crowded; the Smokies are a popular stretch for the section hikers, and Fontana tends to funnel the thru hikers. On the cold and rainy nights, hikers were shoulder to shoulder on both levels of the interior and working hard to keep the fireplace burning. Almost as many spent these nights in tents, ducking inside to warm up by the fire while bringing their own shelter up and down.
During a wet stretch I failed to keep my feet dry, and developed a mild case of trench foot. Switching to dry socks and improving daily habits quickly fixed it.
The last high point of the Smokies was Mount Cammerer, featuring a stone fire tower in good condition and in excellent position.
The final shelter on the north end of the Smokies is unique. All shelters used to feature a cage across the front to barrier bears from hikers, but they were all removed due to abuse (tourists luring in bears to take photos). All were removed except one: the Davenport Gap shelter. We spent a night caged in with the mice.
On the way out of the park, Strider and I got a parting gift: our first black bear sighting. Two young cubs jumped down into the valley as we approached the final check point. We carefully stood still and made noise to drive them away; where there are cubs there can be protective mothers, but mom did not make an appearance.
The next leg was to Hot Springs, NC.