Once again we have tried to hike part of the Appalachian Trail and once again, we weren't very successful. Back in June, we had dogs with us and they aren't allowed on trails inside the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. This time we had other issues. We had a great plan! Friday morning we would have breakfast and then drive over to Clingmans Dome, park there, and hop on the AT for a 5 mile hike over to Silers Bald. We would have lunch there and then hike back, getting to the campgrounds in time for dinner. Best laid plans of mice and men and all that . . .
First we took a wrong turn inside the park and went about 30 minutes out of our way before we figured it out and headed back. Second, it was extremely foggy once we got to the parking lot and up along the road to CD. Third, this was the time of year known as the "fall shuffle" for the bears and several areas were closed due to "aggressive bear activity" - including the shelter/campground at Silers Bald.
We did decide to press on though and managed to start along the trail, however we kept seeing bear droppings and some were quite fresh. About 10 minutes into the hike, with me in front, I see a black blob bound across the trail. Um, yeah, that was a bear. After my heart went back where it belonged, we did decide to continue as I think s/he was more scared than we were. However, not much more than 15 minutes after that it started raining. And I'm not talking just a light drizzle, I'm talking torrential downpour to the point we were having trouble seeing 2 feet ahead. 10 minutes into that, we are completely soaked and starting to get miserable.
As we had forgotten to pack the small backpacking stove and were looking at a cold lunch in the open and were not prepared for rain (my socks were soaked and my shoes were squeaking) and we had nothing to prove . . . we decided Mother Nature was telling us that we were not supposed to be out there today. So we turned around. And boy was the hike back even harder as now we were heading uphill and my legs were reminding me that most of my hiking is done on fairly level terrain.
After finishing up back at the car (in which we believe we hiked a total of 1 mile out and 1 mile back . . . sigh), we drove over to Newfound Gap and heated up lunch on the larger camping stove we did remember to pack.
A very tasty lunch later, we explored the area where we were and learned a little bit of National Park history.
Then we headed back to Townsend and hit up the Old Timers Festival before going to the campground and cooking up a very tasty dinner. Maybe third time will be a charm and we'll make it through part of the AT yet?
