Icewater Springs Shelter to Tricorner Knob Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 12.6 miles

The sunrise this morning at Icewater Springs was lovely. Though the highest peak of our trip was yesterday, we are still really high up. There is a strong scent of pine in this altitude because more conifers seem to grow at the higher elevations. It's a wonderful smell.

And speaking of smell, I'm happy to say that hygiene is on the upswing. Last night just before going to bed, I sponged the grime and sweat off my body and switched into my second set of hiking clothes. Typically, for a one-week trip, you bring only two sets of hiking clothes: one to wear for the first three or four days, and one to wear for the second three or four days. Yes, I did write that correctly: you wear the same clothes for days. You can imagine how close to the earth you feel (and smell) after hiking and sweating in the same garments for that long. But extra clothing equals extra weight, and there's no room for frivolous ounces in an already heavy pack. Princess that I am, I also bring my "black ensemble" for changing into at the end of each day: a lightweight black long-sleeved capilene shirt and long-john pants. These offer dryness and warmth -- which is important because hypothermia can happen even in spring and summer if you get caught in rain and your body temperature dips too low.

Also on the topic of clothing: this time I brought with me a homemade hiking kilt that I made out of ripstop quick-dry nylon. Kilts are all the rage among female and male hikers these days. In fact, just yesterday we saw a guy wearing a kilt on the trail. Mine's not working out though. It's comfortable and all, but it's too long to stay clean -- it drags in the wet grass and gets caught on stuff. Any shorter, though, and I'd feel like it offers too much potential for flashing other hikers. So I won't bring it again. For this trip, I'm putting it to use as a pillowcase by wrapping it around my frontpack, which doubles as a pillow.

Today's highlight was Charlie's Bunion. (You gotta love a mountain that's named after a foot deformity! Especially after spending the last several days abusing our feet with all this climbing!) Getting to the top reminded me of hiking Angel's Landing in Utah a couple years ago. It was pretty breathtaking. The photo of Cindy and I was taken at the top. It's hard to appreciate how high up we were; I wish I would've photographed this spot from a few different angles.

Here's that hazy view that the Smokies are famous for. This was taken from the top of Charlie's Bunion.

And here's a great view I snapped about a mile later, showing the backside of Charlie's Bunion.

This afternoon it started to rain pretty intensely and we got soaked on the way to Tricorner Knob. I still don't have any blisters, but I'm feeling a lot of hotspots from all the friction produced by wet feet sloshing inside of wet boots. My feet were absolutely pruney by the time I took my boots off at the shelter tonight. I'm sad to say, I think I need to lay these boots to rest when I get home. They've lived a long and happy life, but they're really starting to fall apart.

I slipped on a wet log this afternoon and I went down really hard. I cut my leg and hand, and I'm afraid I really injured the back of my arm. You know that spot where I should have a sinewy little tricep but which is actually pretty soft and fleshy? Well, when I fell it got slammed (badly) between a rock and my pack. I think I'm going to have a gigantic bruise there; it's quite sore. I'm lucky I didn't break anything, especially since our location at the moment is considered to be the most remote shelter area in the park. Actually, pretty much everyplace in this park feels remote and wild. Unlike previous sections of the AT, there are very few places where you feel at all close to civilization. In the entire stretch of Great Smoky Mountain National Park, the AT only crosses a road twice, and both of those times were yesterday. Once at Clingmans Dome and the other at Newfound Gap. As Dan the Bear Man put it, "You should try not to get hurt; it takes a long time to get help. Sometimes we have to carry dead people out of here."

Speaking of Newfound Gap, it felt so weird to emerge from the wild and see a parking lot, a rest area, sidewalks, and people! We felt like a freak show. We were covered with dead bugs, grime, and sweat. We drew curious looks from more than a few tourists. It felt good to get back into the woods.