Appalachian Trail - Day 014 - Silers Bald Shelter to Newfound Gap (then ride to Gatlinburg)

Day: 014

Date: Monday, 08 May 2023

Start:  Silers Bald Shelter (AT Mile 195.5)

Finish:  Newfound Gap (AT Mile 207.7) but staying at Gatlinburg

Daily Kilometres:  20.1

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  351.6

Weather:  A very mixed bag.  Cool overcast and foggy early, then some clearing and an icy wind, followed by some light rain, then warmer with sunshine.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Wraps & peanut butter

  Dinner:  Hamburger & chips, thickshake.

Aches:  Dave - struggling with a painful ankle and fatigue, but getting there; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  The views from the lookout on top of Clingmans Dome (6,612’), the highest point on the whole Appalachian Trail, were fantastic.  Following the weather front that moved through last night, we could see blue ridges with valleys filled with white cloud as far as the eye could see, in almost every direction.  On the climb up we feared the top would be covered in cloud, so were delighted to find it was not, though an icy wind didn’t encourage dallying up there.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

It poured much of last night, especially around midnight when the rain, accompanied by thunder, absolutely hammered the shelter’s tin roof.  It was deafening, and I’m sure none of us was sleeping.

However, seemingly miraculously, it was stopped when we woke at 6:00am and we only had one very light shower later in the day though there was plenty of threatening cloud around.  We were hiking by 6:45am, eager to see the views from Clingmans Dome (see above), but also looking forward to getting to Newfound Gap and then hitching into Gatlinburg for a day off tomorrow.

After about an hour’s hiking up and over Silers Bald (5,587’) with no views, the vegetation changed significantly to conifer forest with a moss-carpeted forest floor.  It was fairytale scenery and a nice change after the deciduous forests of the last two weeks.  The trail remained hard work - very rocky with big step ups and step downs, and some boulder scrambling - and our (Dave’s) pace was slow.  We were passed by a few young hikers we had briefly met at the shelter after ours earlier on.  They seemed a cheerful bunch, though most travelling separately and, half of them girls, gave the impression of being fit and likely to make it to Maine.

As we neared Clingmans Dome, the fog cleared and we were given some glimpses of the kind of views we were going to get from the top.  When we did get there, the views did not disappoint, and we felt rewarded for all of our hard work to get there.

Then we began what seemed like a very long hike down to Newfound Gap through the damp and dark conifer forest on, initially, some very technical rocky rooty trail.  Perhaps the 7.5 miles seemed long because, in our minds, it appeared a short step after Clingmans Dome to the end of our day but it took four hours.  On the plus side, the lower we got, the sunnier and warmer it became, and our spirits were high.

We arrived at Newfound Gap (4,996’), a tourist destination in its own right on a scenic highway, at around 2:30pm and immediately began hitching towards Gatlinburg from just beyond the carpark at the Gap.  Within 10 minutes we had a ride with a lovely couple vacationing from Massachusetts in their brand new vehicle (in which we left some muddy footprints on their rear carpet!) and chatted all the way down the pretty winding highway 15 miles to Gatlinburg where they went out of their way to deliver us to our hotel of choice and insisted we took their phone number in case we needed a lift back to the trail on Wednesday morning.

We really feel like we have had exceptional good luck over the last few days - finding an empty shelter last night just before the rain hit, getting clear views from Clingmans Dome and then getting a ride almost immediately down to Gatlinburg.  Hope we haven’t used up our quota!

The hotel we picked was recommended by the hikers app we are using which has crowd-sourced information.  It is central, has a laundry, and offers a hikers discount.  Although we hadn’t booked, we got a room without trouble and were soon showering, snacking and laundering.  Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge is a tourist hot spot (home to Dollywood) with all kinds of attractions and sights.  It has been described as “Las Vegas for Hillbillies”, which may be a little cruel, but it has that feel and was bustling on a warm sunny afternoon.

We passed the 200 Mile mark on the AT today and it is evident from chats that we have had with hikers along the way that we are moving faster than most.  We are looking forward to our well-earned day off tomorrow.