march 28-30 into the smokies

Hiking in snow is not fun. It makes for some decent views when the clouds go away, but is more tiring and slower than hiking on solid dry ground. Its been a really busy and tiring few days. We managed to get a ride back to trail on thursday morning, the 28th. After miriam made us breakfast, david, one of the guests from the seder, came by to pick us up and drive us back to the trail. Davids fulls name is david perkins. He has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles in both america nad israel. He said that some israeli newspapers have written that he may be the messiah. And one there has called him the king of klezmer, because of his clarinet skills. Though he plays multiple instruments. He gave us a ride back to fontana dam. He told us his story of moving to knoxville. It was an interesting story, some of which was covered in knoxville newspapers. When we got to the dam. He wanted to play some music on the dam. So he played flute, and clarinet, and trumpet, and made us balloon animals to bring with us on the trail. The beginning of the way into the smokies wasnt so bad, just alot of uphill, and the weather was nice. Sunny, in the 50's. I was able to hike in my tshirt until we started getting to higher altitudes. I started to see patches of snow every now and then. We continued climbing higher, until we were walking through slush and snow. We started hiking late in the day. Around 3pm. But the first shelter was almost 11 miles in. We were hiking fast, and my ankle went right back to hurting, after a week of rest. We got to the shelter after dark, i was too cold and tired to cook so i just ate the rest of my trailmix and got in my sleeping bag. ... We woke up in the morning on the 29th of march to the sun shining bright as ever. It looked like it was going to be a good day. Then, after only a few minutes of hiking the clouds covered the sun, and a light snow began. The light snow continued for most of the day, but towards thye end, the last few hours, it was a heavy wet snow, with the snow being almost a foot in some areas. The trail was very slippery and the going was slow. When we got to the shelter, around 6pm, it was already full. The only spots left were the floor. So we spread our tarps down and put our sleeping bags on the floor. Our clothes were very wet from the snow, so getting everything dry was a priority. The smoky mountain shelters have fireplaces and wind tarps up, so as long as a fire is burning, it can keep the shelter a few degrees warmer. Me and another hiker, rocky, kept the fire going, he was rotating the drying shoes and socks by the fire, and i collected wood. It was very hard to fin wood because of the snow. So i broke down a small tree and brought it back to the shelter, i broke the tree up and we kept the fire going til about 10pm. Sleeping on the floor meant that i was between everyone else and the door. I was repeatedly stepped on by other hikers dring the night who woke up to pee. On the plus side, it was surprisingly warm in the shelter because there were about 29 people in a shelter thats meant for 12 people. ... The next morning, march 30, was another sunny one. We got up slowly, made a hot breakfast, and were almost the last ones to leave the shelter. Half a mile in i realized i left my watch at the last shelter. I ran back while dj and sarah continued hiking. i got my watch and caught up to them after an hour or so. The sun eventually came out and stayed out. The ground still had alot of snow from the night before. About a foot deep still, but the warm sun kept things somewhat pleasant. We didnt hike very far today, only about 7 miles. Its very difficult to hke in snow, every 3 steps only takes you forward for 2. Your foot slides in a different direction every time you take a step, and having a backpack only adds to the instability. Ending our day early also helped ensure that we got spots in the shelter. About 4 hikers here didnt try for spots in the shelter, setting up tents and hammocks instead. Theres enough space in here for a few more people, and more people might still come. Were gonna go over clingmans dome tomorrow. Its the highest mountain on the appalachian trail, 6655 feet above sea level. Theres talk of rain tomorrow, which in the temperatures wont be fun. Not sure if we'll stop in gatlinburg, we have just enough food to get us to the end of the smokies, but im running low on fuel for my stove. Yesterday, someone mistook it for my water when he asked me for some for his stove. I realizd after the fact that he had took half my fuel and poured it into his pot along with the last of his water. That was wasted, and i went from having more than enough fuel to having only enough that i might have to go a day without hot food. Dj gave me some of his, because he got his pocket rocket in knoxville, which runs on canned fuel. I still might not have enough. We'll see.