My wife and I headed out last week to finish the section of the Appalachian Trail through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. It was this section of the trail that got me interested in the AT many years ago and I was happy that she and I were able to finish it. We had physically prepared for the hike with workouts and hiking near St Francisville and also carrying our packs each morning with 30 lbs of weight which is heavier than we carry on the trail. Our base weight usually is about 15-17 lbs and then with food and water we get to about 23-25 lbs on the trail. What we can never plan for is the weather. The date you plan to go is the date you gotta go, so there is no working around the weather. When the shuttle driver dropped us off at Clingmons Dome the wind was whipping and the rain was pretty steady but did eventually quit a little into the hike and remained pretty good. The next two days were pretty rough as a cold front moved in and the temps fell. We were camping at approximately 6000 feet for two of the 4 days we were on the trail. One night was near freezing and the other was in the mid 20’s. It actually snowed on us and the trees were iced over for some of the hike. We had the right gear but it was still too cold for this warm weather hiker for sure. We did not sleep well any of the nights on the trail and one night I slept on my side and did something to a nerve in my arm with caused loss of feeling in my thumb, index finger and middle finger. It has gotten better but the tingling is still there. Hopefully over the next few days it gets better. Besides the weather the trail was as beautiful as ever and we got to spend some time in Hot Springs North Carolina before and after the hike. We were lucky enough to soak in some of the natural hot springs at a local resort which was awesome for a body that had been put through the wringer for 4 days. We did end up traveling to a few other cities after the hike but I’ll post about that another time.
