Great Smoky Mtn Ntl Park Mix Tape

Due to a combination of connectivity, temperature and battery issues, here is a 4-pack of AT updates for everyone. We are going to start putting locations with each day also for those playing at home.

Day 19 - 13.5 mi/194.8 mi tot (Spence Field Shelter to Double Spring Gap Shelter) - Ice Ice Baby

Day 20 - 13.8 mi/208.6 mi tot (Double Spring Gap Shelter to Icewater Spring Shelter) - Stairway to Heaven

Day 21 - 12.6 mi/221.2 mi tot (Icewater Spring Shelter to Tri corner Knob Shelter) - Jump in the Fire

Day 22 - 18.1 mi/239.3 mi tot (Tricorner Knob Shelter to Standing Bear Hostel) - Down

OK, here is the quick summary of the song titles:
- Day 19 - it was 35 degrees in the tent when we woke up and it was frosted all over for most of the day. We ended up hiking with socks as mittens for most of the morning to keep our hands warm.
- Day 20 - Climbed Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the AT at 6643 feet ASL and had a great 360 degree view in the clear morning.
- Day 21 - A wet day where Princess melts part of her shoes in the fire in the shelter trying to dry them out.
- Day 22 - We drop from over 6300 feet to under 1500 feet during our longest day hiking so far at over 18 miles.

We made it through the Smokies in 5.5 day (we had planned for 7 days) and it was a tough set of days. We had 90 degree days going in and 35 degree days up at altitude. The terrain was tough with lots of rocks and a ton of ups and downs.

The saving grace through the Smokies was the forced company since we had to stay at shelters each night due to bear concerns. We had a group of 11 or 12 thru and section hikers who stayed together the whole trek through the park and it worked really well. To use a line from Brett - "we are one small disfunctional trail family". And that is about how the past portion of the week went for us. We will try totalk some more about this group as we get into the next week or so, but need to check with everyone to make sure they are OK with us talking about them on the blog here. Should be a fun "turtle trail days" we are going to have in Hot Springs when we get there in a few days.

To use another great quote from the famous Vanilla Ice - "Yo man I'm outta here, word to your mother"

- Snowfox

Sent on the go from my Peek