Thanksgiving Day from Andrew’s Bald in the Smokies.
Sunrise view from Shuckstack Fire Tower.
I decided to make an attempt at a high-mileage backpacking trip this week. Over the past 2 years or so I’ve done a lot in the Smokies. I’ve seen pretty much everything up there that I wanted to see and been almost everywhere that I wanted to go. The only thing left on my list that I really wanted to do was the 72ish mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail that runs through the Park. I’ve done little sections of it but haven’t done the whole thing, and I wanted to do it in one trip. And, since that stretch is a really popular hike, I decided to put a little twist on it. I wanted to try and do the whole thing in 2 days.
I decided on 2 days mainly because I don’t know anyone who has ever done it that fast outside of professional ultrarunners trying to set AT thru-hike records. And since I don’t know anyone that has done it, why not try it?
Austin Morgan is about the only person I know who could and would be willing to try it with me, so we woke up at 3am Tuesday morning to get started. My mom dropped us off at the southern trailhead by Fontana Dam and we hit the trail at 5:45am with headlamps on in the dark. One very long day later we made it to Mt. Collins Shelter, our halfway point a little past Clingman’s Dome, just before 9pm that night. We woke up the next morning at 4am and hit the trail again in the dark with headlamps on. Another VERY long day later we made it to the northern boundary of the Park, Davenport Gap, right at 8:30pm. It ended up totaling about 74 miles (with side trips to water sources and shelters) in 2 days, stringing together back to back 37 mile days. Finishing this trip marks about my 250th mile in the Park.
We saw 2 black bears and one big ole’ rattlesnake. We actually came really close to the first bear, probably within 30 yards. We startled it early in the morning on day 1. It saw us and crashed about 15 yards through the woods, stopped, turned towards us and let out an earth-shaking growl (evidently they rarely growl). Which brings me to a side lesson…
*What To Do When You Encounter A Bear*
First off, the worst thing that you can do to a bear is startle it. So your best bear-deterrent method should be to make some noise when you’re in bear country. Without being annoying and ruining the peaceful mountain atmosphere, make a little noise just so anything in your vicinity knows you’re in the area. Any bear that hears you in the woods is most likely going to try and avoid you. Being so quiet that you accidentally round a corner and come face to face with an unexpected bear would not be a great situation.
If you do happen to accidentally startle a nearby bear that doesn’t immediately turn and run from you, like what happened to me and Austin, here’s what to do…
Make sure you let the bear know that if a fight does go down, you’re going to kick his tail. But, the HUGE key to this is relaying this message without seeming aggressive. It has to be a stern yet passive message. You want to let him know, “I don’t wanna fight you, but if it has to happen, I’m gonna kill you.” You communicate this by holding your ground, bowing up and making yourself look big, and yelling or making loud noise. The bear doesn’t want to fight you unless it feels like it has to be aggressive to protect itself. If you are assertive it will turn and go the other way. This is the method I like to call, “Don’t want none, won’t be none.”
DO NOT turn and run away. This could possibly trigger a chase instinct in the bear. Don’t look or act scared. If possible, keep moving down the trail.
This VERY rarely happens, but if a black bear does become aggressive, DO NOT play dead. That method is only true for Grizzly Bears (and goodness pray you never see a Grizzly in the East). If you play dead with a black bear it will just kill you easier. If a bear becomes aggressive, then its time to put your money where your mouth is, and kick his tail. Fight back with everything you have, that’s your best chance.
When the black bear stopped and growled at us a little north of Fontana, Austin and I bowed up and respectfully yelled at it, “If you value your life, black bear, you’ll keep moving.” It turned and headed the other direction, and we moved on down the trail. Textbook.
Then we dominated 74 miles in 2 days.
*What To Do When You See A Big Ole’ Rattlesnake In The Middle Of The Trail*
Run as fast as you can in the other direction.
Panorama of a sunrise in the Smokies from the top of Shuckstack fire tower. Cades Cove is off in the distance under all those clouds.
She also edited my pictures from Siler’s Bald and they look wayy cooler.
I fell out of a tree today. I climbed up in one to try and take a cool picture. The tree was a little icy (see above) and I took my hands off the tree to look at the camera, my foot slipped and I fell about 12 feet to the ground. My feet caught some branches on the way down and flipped me, and I ended up hitting the ground head/shoulders first. I heard a loud crack (my back) and thought I had broken a collarbone or something, but everything was okay actually! Just a sore back and neck, headache, and a few scrapes and bruises. Every now and then I like to test gravity out, make sure it’s still working properly. It is. I wish someone had been there to see it, I bet it was hilarious.
Here’s the picture I took right before I fell. It’s near Siler’s Bald looking towards Clingman’s Dome (Clingman’s Dome is the highest point in the distance if you follow the ridge line.)
Other pictures from the hike are here.
This thing needs pictures to make it less boring. Here’s my favorite one that I’ve taken lately. (Thanks to Hannah for knowing how to edit stuff to make it look cooler than it really is.)
I took this picture of a sunrise in the Smokies, in the far eastern part of the park in Cataloochee Valley at the end of the summer.
