Trail Letter 4: 3/21

19.8 high miles today. We climbed Clingman’s Dome, the highest point on the entire AT @ 6,643′, along with some other peaks/balds (including Rocky Top). The 360 degree vista at Clingman’s was quite amazing, but signs there pointed out that air pollution from the last 50 years alone has limited winter visibility by up to 40% and summer visible distances have been reduced by up to 80%. There are many dead/dying firs and hemlocks — caused by two killers: non-native insects and acid rain. The hemlock wooly adelgid has been destroying forests of hemlocks, and the Great Smokey Mountain National Park is the most visited park in the U.S., so there are plenty of automobile emissions.

We’ve been keeping pace with a few other guys for the last week or so. Today we got to know Sam and Dynamite a little better. Bigfoot invited Sam to his house for some time off, but we’ll see. When we arrived at the shelter, 3 high school seniors were already here. They’re from St. Louis, taking 5 of their spring break days to live in the woods. They asked us questions about thru-hiking, so we got to pretend we knew what we were talking about. I guess we did, relative to their knowledge.

The wood here is wet, and it was quite an effort to start and maintain a fire, but we did anyway. I twas great, too, because everyone helped out voluntarily — a team effort.

Hiking through the rock fields and ice-patches was an absolute blast today. My blisters still look hideous, but they’re healing (I think) and are hurting less… two more days until they get a well-deserved, much-needed rest.