march 31- clingmans dome

March 31 was a very wet day. All the snow that had fallen was beginning to melt. so the day was trudging through watery slush and sliding down the slippery descents. The day wasnt as bad as it sounds though. When i swtarted hiking in the morning i felt light and energetic. The slush was fun, and as long as i was hiking i felt warm. I slid down every slippery spot and loved. I dont know if it was the vitamins i took the night before or the dump i took in the morning, but i felt great all day. The beginning of the day was the climb up to clingmans dome, the highest mountain on the appalachian trail. At 6655 feet its not as high as the rockies or many other high mountain ranges, but you can feel the altitude in the cold weather, and you can see over all the mountains in every direction. There was no view when i was up there though. The entire day was cloudy, and even rained later in the day. The bad weather did have a good break to it, in the form of trail magic. Trail magic can make a bad day feel good, no matter how bad the day is. And dj was having a pretty bad day. I think the cold and the wet and the not having had dry socks since last thursday is getting to him. Its getting to me too. Its getting to everyone. Also, he left the shelter almost a half hour before i did, and told me he'll wait at clingmans for me. I took my time getting up clingmans. Its was only about 2.5 miles from the shelter, so it didnt take very long. But shortly after i began i caught up to silver fox, an older hiker. He hikes pretty fast despite his age. He attributes his energy to herbalife. A nutrition company that runs on multi level marketing, and evidently is the best quaity nutririon company there is. I spoke to him while hiking about what it takes to make money of multi level marketing schemes, particularly herbalife, which he has made millions off of over the years. We spoke and hiked, not too fast, not too slow. By the time i got to where dj was waiting, he had been waiting 45 minutes, and he was cold, and pissed. He continued hiking with silver fox, and i continued up to the top of the mountain. It was only a quarter mile so it didnt take long, and i picked up a few small rocks as keepsakes. I was able to catch up to them quickly afterward anyways. It was alot of fun sliding down the descents and jumping off the small ledges and continuing the slide, using my trekking poles like ski poles. Ive decided that i have to try skiing when i finish the hike. We eventually got ahead of silver fox, and another hiker, northstar, hiked with us for a few miles. He eventually stopped when we passed a road to wait for a friend of his who was hiking slower. From there it wasnt long to newfound gap, the parking lot and road that goes to gatlinberg. Thats where the trail magic was. Free food always makes people feel better. We hung out there with godspeed and mountain momma, the two trail angels providing the trail magic, for about a half hour. It was raining at this point, but was only 3 miles to our destination shelter. So it was only another hour and a half to the end of the day. There was space in the shleter but it was crowded, so it stayed in the low 30s dring the night inside the shelter. While it was in the low 20s outside.