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In the Smoky mountain, hiking can be
hard on the ankles, and it rains a lot. So my days hiking a stretch
of the Appalachian Trail would be another good test for my ultralight
gear. I had on New Balance Running
Shoes
(14 ounces each), a GoLite Breeze Backpack
(14 ounces), and would be sleeping in a Western Mountaineering Highlite Sleeping Bag
(17 ounces!),
under a lightweight tarp. My pack weight was around eleven pounds
total, with all food and water.
A friend from Asheville took me up to Newfound Gap, in the middle of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where we took in the view with a hundred other tourists. Then he hiked with me for the first mile or two, before heading back. I found a good tree-branch on the ground and made it into a walking stick. I figured it might help my knees when I was hiking the steep downhill stretches. It was cloudy, and getting cooler, but I hadn't heard anything about bad weather.
Hiking In Snow
I think I was in Tennessee when it began to snow. The Appalachian Trail here in the Park weaves back and forth across the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. In any case, I was somewhere near Clingman's Dome, above 6000 feet. It was getting dark and the flakes were getting larger. I had tarp-camped in snow before - one time, but I hadn't expected to in early May, in the Smoky Mountains. I had come south from Michigan for warmer weather, after all.
I set up the tarp quickly (and illegally, I was later told) on a hidden hillside, with a shoe on a stick holding up the weight of the snow gathering on the nylon roof above. I woke up occasionally to see how far I had slid down the hill and to shake the snow off the tarp.
In the morning I was within a foot or two where I started, and somehow dry. There was a blanket of snow seven inches deep, covering everything. I packed up quickly, and was soon hiking up the trail to the top of Clingman's Dome. There is an incredible tower there, with a spiral ramp going to the top. I had a view of the surrounding twelve feet of Smoky Mountains to myself.
Hiking In Rain
Fortunately, by noon I was below the snow, in the cold rain. It was so wet everywhere, that when I reached one of the Appalachian Trail shelters, I couldn't get a fire going in the fireplace - for the first time in my life. I ate my soggy noodles cold. Fortunately, my Frogg Toggs rainwear kept me dry during the hours of hiking in snow and rain. I was happy for that. My feet were even dry for a while, before the rain returned that evening.
Hiking Through The Seasons
After hiking the Appalachian Trail for half a day, and explaining to the through-hikers that I wasn't just on a day hike ("Is that a day pack?"), I headed lower. I discovered that the trees above a certain elevation in the Smoky Mountains don't get their leaves by early May. Lower down the leaves open up by the middle of April. So as the trail went up and down, I passed from leafy forests to winter landscapes repeatedly. It made it seem like more time was passing than the few hours it took me to reach a good springtime campsite.
By now, after a conversation with a couple backpackers in the shelter, I knew that I was hiking illegally, or at least I was camping illegally. It was too late to go get a permit, so I went off the trail far enough to be out of sight when I set up my tarp. The rain returned, and I realized that one of the benefits of a tarp is the space to move around during long stays. Another is the view. Birds and squirrels made regular visits.
Long-Distance Smoky Mountains
Hiking
In the morning, I realized that although I was warm, dry, and impressed with the equipment, I had enough of the Smoky Mountains - hiking in them in the rain, in any case. I don't like rainy woods, and you don't get to see the views in the heavily-wooded Smokies, like you do in the Rockies. Twenty miles later I was on a highway, and in another 19 miles I found a bus to take me back to my friends in Asheville.
I had never hiked 39 miles in a day before. I don't think I could have in hiking boots. And I stayed warm and dry through snow and rain. My Smoky Mountains hiking experience proved to me the value and safety of ultralight backpacking techniques and equipment. It was also fun to tell the other hikers that, no, I wasn't day hiking. (You'll find the story of my first ultralight backpacking trip on the page, "Colorado Hiking.")
Smoky Mountains National Park
In the Smoky Mountains National Park, the hiking is free (forever, according to the law). Camping, however, does require a permit, and you must camp in one of the shelters, or next to one, if it is full. There are hiking opportunities throughout the area, and some of trails are particularly beautiful and unusual. The Trail head up from Bryson City, for example (where I
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Tennessee and North Carolina