We were getting ready this morning and Nothai exclaimed that his trekking poles were missing! He said someone must have taken off with his and left theirs, because the ones left were the same brand but felt wrong and were adjusted too short for him. Chef and I told him we'd meet up at Clingman's Dome later if he wanted to try to hunt down his poles. He took off...
Chef and I ran into tons of day hikers on the way, asking us lots of questions and treating us sort of like celebrities, even taking our pictures. Being female, they were further in awe by us than the males they had passed earlier.
We met Nothai at Clingmans Dome and took some pictures. I am so happy to say that the weather was nice and we had good views. Last time I was in the Smokies, the weather was crap and the view was terrible, so this was great!
The first half of the Smokies has been completely different than what I expected. I guess before I had come here before and camped years ago, I hiked mostly at lower elevations and was scouting waterfalls. Now I'm walking high ridgelines and it feels like a totally different place.
I said I was going to walk down the road to Newfound Gap instead of the trail because it would have better views of the mountains. Chef is insistent on passing every white blaze, so we separated with Nothai following me. Maybe a mile down the road a couple from Florida stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride down. “THIS IS CHEATERY!” ran through my head, and I took it! I skipped 7 miles, and I'm so okay with it. Anyone who has a fundamental problem with this, HYOH (Hike Your Own Hike)!
Nothai and I made lunch waiting for Chef and answered a bajillion questions from passing tourists, asking if were thru-hikers, and all about the experience. It was actually neat to see people so interested in what we were doing. Nothai had a Frenchman's dog get very friendly with him. LOL! A few other hikers found us and were amazing and confused how we got there before them when they were sure they had been in front of us! We fessed up. The definition of 'hiker trash' was captured as a bunch of us lay there on the shaded concrete looking scummy and homeless.
We were napping and heard, “VERY NI-CE!” (Borat style). This was confusing to me, because I thought Nothai was asleep and the only other person....BLUTO! Bluto had rented a car, gone to his doctors and decided to see if he could catch us here to give us a ride into town. He also brought Trail Magic for us and the others that were passing through. We went into Gatlinburg and stayed at the Grand Prix (a very hiker friendly place) were we ran into a bunch of other fellow hikers. It is a good thing too, because we weren't planning on stopping at all, and after the last three days of heat my clothes were salt encrusted and I smelled the worst yet!
Lastly, we passed the 200 mile mark today, and have entered into the third state (TN) as I started the Smokies. I'm no longer wearing underwear while hiking. Nothai also pointed out to me that using Iodine for my water treatment might be a REALLY poor idea and potentially kill. I thanked him and called my doctor because I hadn't thought of it. My doctor said its okay, but I think my doctor is confused on what I was talking about. I didn't even think about it, but Iodine isn't something I should be using. Back to the water tablets. I confirmed with an outfitter (Happy Hiker) that the tablets only need 30 minutes to treat for most stuff. The dude actually has thyroid disease also and said that yeah, using iodine was really bad and I should not use it at all. I'm now doubting the intelligence of my GP.
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