Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Start: Newfound Gap/Gatlinburg
End: Derrick Knob shelter
Miles: 17.8
After a nice evening in town, I got to bed around 10pm. I was up this morning at 6am and my shuttle picked me up at 7am. I was on trail by 7:30am.
From Newfound Gap (5045′), I climbed past Mt Collins (6187′), descended to Collins Gap (5750′), and then up to Clingmans Dome and observation tower (6667′) which is the highest point on the AT. I passed by Mt Buckley (6590′), down past Double Spring gap shelter (5510′), and over Silers Bald (5607′). From there, I went down to Buckeye Gap (4817′), up to Cold Spring Knob (5203′), and then descended to the shelter (4882′).
I arrived at 4pm and settled in; there were already two people there, one of them a ridge runner (Morgan from Nashville). A group of 4 section hikers came in around 5pm and 4 thru hikers (B squared, Magic Mike, Bushman) arrived around 6:45pm. Looks like the shelter will be fairly full tonight. Here’s to hoping things will be quiet-ish tonight; I bought some earplugs in town. Tomorrow I have a long day planned to get down to Fontana Dam Shelter.
Transcending Mountains 