Through the Smokies in 4.5 days, a hiking primer, Part IV

The next day we woke up and found frost on the ground. Whatever items of wet clothing we'd hung the night before were now frozen in the position they'd hung in. So my sock looked like a boomerang.

Then the sun came out and warmed the house up as we made breakfast. It was one of the better mornings on the trail so far, hanging out with EB, Shortay and High Noon and talking to a trio of retirees doing the trail in sections. Cheeseburger, a very tall German kid, warmed up his Nutella in boiling water in his camp stove.

[View from the trail somewhere near Guyot Spur, above 6,000 feet in elevation, April 9.]

It took an hour before my hands could hold my trekking poles without freezing. The first half of the day was almost as cold as the hike into Franklin had been. But the views were spectacular. The frost in the trees gave the trail a different look:

Later, around 5 p.m., I got my second wind where a side trail leads to Mt. Cammerer Fire Tower. I dropped my pack and trail-ran the .6 miles to and fro the tower, which Johnny Thunder had pointed out as a highlight. It felt sweet being able to run along the trail, dodging rocks and roots and getting my heart rate up.

The tower had been rebuilt to look the way it had in the 1940s. I actually looked down on an airplane flying over the valley floor 5,000 feet below.

[The western view from the Mt. Cammerer Fire Tower, April 9.]

At the end of the Smokies we hit Interstate 40. Again, the "I Am Legend" feel. I-40 has been closed since October because of a major rockslide that can't easily be fixed. So the road was deserted and quiet, much different, Early Bear said, than when he came through last year.

We were officially done with the Smokies. It took us 4.5 days.

That night we stayed at Standing Bear Farm and Hostel, a rustic little place with a shed full of snacks and things useful for hikers for sale, like tiny bottles of honey and single AAA batteries, and a bunkhouse, kitchen, cabin, privy and, best of all, a hot shower.

The shower was heated by a gas burner that we had some difficulty with. In general it was overwhelming arriving at the busy hostel after dark. But one of Curtis's [the owner] assistants helped us figure the burner out.

I have to say, that shower was one of the best in my life. Washing away nearly five days of Smokies was a trail highlight. It was similar to the shower I took in Gorham, NH after finishing most of the Whites.

We had heated up fries, burgers and rib sandwiches for dinner and were entertained by Lucky, a Viking-looking SOBO who drank an energy drink and said he planned to hike south to Charlies Bunion by the light of his headlamp that night, while listening to metal music. That's a SOBO for you.