We knew we were lucky with the warm weather when we started our hike. Even in Georgia, 70s in February was very unusual. And now the cold has finally struck! The nights have been getting progressively colder for the last week, getting down below freezing a couple of nights. We have found that as long as we are dry, we stay cozy enough in the tent when the temps are at or above freezing. But anything much lower than that and our gear just cannot handle it! We got our first taste of snow the other day when we hiked into Fontana Dam, North Carolina. We tend to check the weather obsessively and it has been reliable for the most part, but that day it completely steered us wrong. Weather reports called for sunny skies and we walked through clouds and blizzardy conditions the whole day! It was a tough 15 miles.
The hike North from Fontana Dam led into a much anticipated section of our hike – The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Smokies brought us our first National Park on the trail as well as the highest peak, Clingman’s Dome at 6,643 feet.
The Smokies are a hot topic among thru-hikers because they are super challenging and the weather can be unpredictable. They certainly lived up to their hype! We set out on a chilly, but beautiful day. The initial hike into the National Park was a long 5 mile climb, but it was gradual. No steps, no steep inclines, and a beautiful day…we’ll take it!
The second day was another hike of walking in the sun around snowy, icy trails. This section was definitely a lot more challenging than the day before. The climbs were steeper, the trail was more treacherous (icy and muddy), and consecutive 15 mile days still take it out of us! I was totally beat after this day. We were going to try to push for 17 miles, but it was slow going and we just could not hike any further. The temps were dropping quickly and there was a harsh wind blowing up the mountain, so we set up camp at the nearest shelter and hunkered down for the night.
Our plan was to get off the mountain on the third day and get into a nearby town to resupply. As we looked at the weather, the conditions for our hike out of the park were looking more and more dismal. High winds, heavy rains, and cold temperatures – ALL DAY. On a day that we were going to climb the highest peak on the trail. Add that the evening was supposed to get well below freezing, we made the decision to hike through the crappy weather the following day, get into town, and stay the night there so we didn’t freeze through. We were about a 12 mile hike from the road junction, so we messaged a shuttle driver and got 2 options: 1pm pickup or 4pm pickup. We didn’t want to hike in those conditions any longer than we had to, so 1pm it was! The rain was not supposed to start until after 5am. The plan was to wake up at 5am, pack up all of our stuff, and hit the trail no later than 6am. We usually hike a little over 2 miles an hour, so this gave us a good buffer to be there by 1. We both felt good about the plan! So we set our alarms for 5am and tried to get some sleep as the temps dropped and the winds intensified. I remember wishing so hard for the wind to die down and the rain to stay away at least long enough to get all of our things packed up. My wishes were not granted.
As our alarms went off at 5am, the wind was as harsh as ever and the rain had already begun. Packing up in the wind sucks. Packing up in the rain sucks. Packing up in the dark sucks! Packing up in windy rain when it’s dark? You get it. So we donned our headlamps, strategized how to get everything packed up as quickly and dryly as possible, and executed that plan about as flawlessly as I could have hoped. We were on the trail by 6am! The sun didn’t rise until 7:30ish, so the first part of our day was hiking by headlamp. While the gusts of wind and sideways rain/snow were downers, the hike in the dark was really special. It felt so adventurous! And hiking into the dawn was definitely memorable.
These are the only photos we took before it was way too wet to take out our cameras.
The novelty of the extreme conditions wore off pretty quickly, especially as we started climbing steeper and steeper up towards Clingman’s Dome. There was hardly any flat trail, it was either steep up or steep down. The trail also began to flood, turning it into a literal stream, impossible to avoid sloshing through and soaking into our boots. At some points the trail was a sheet of ice, at others a trench of mud. We both slipped and fell once, with several other close calls. It was a very slow, technical hike. At 11am we looked at our location and saw that we had 5 miles to go. We had made zero breaks in those 5 hours and were both running on one granola bar and a few gulps of water. We HAD to make it by 1pm – no time to lose! We pushed hard for the last 5 miles and hiked through the treacherous conditions as fast as we could. I was so miserable and soaking wet at this point, all I could think about was getting off the mountain. We hauled ass the last 5 miles – no stops allowed – and made it to the parking lot at 12:59pm. I could hardly believe it when we were greeted by our ride with a warm car, she even came with snacks and bottles of water. It ended up taking us 7 hours to make those 12 miles with no real breaks and not even close to enough food or water. We were absolutely exhausted, but slightly euphoric that we it was over. The ride to town was about 15 minutes and we asked our shuttler to take us to the big grocery store in town. We needed food and lots of it.
When we got to the grocery store we were cold and realized how thoroughly drenched we actually were. All of our “waterproof” rain gear had failed and we were soaked to the bone from head to toe. We threw all of our wet, muddy clothes and gear into a grocery cart, rolled into the store, and took turns going into the bathroom stripping down and changing into dry clothes. We were definitely a spectacle, but what an incredible feeling that was. After shopping for all of our spoils, we got a taxi to the cabin we were renting with a couple of friends who spontaneously decided to meet us for the weekend. We walked into a cozy cabin with a full kitchen, a gas fireplace, and a laundry room. I honestly don’t know what could have been better in that moment. We wasted no time throwing all of our nasty clothes into the laundry, laying our soaked gear in front of the fire place, and scarfing down some much anticipated food. What we had been dreaming about all day had finally been realized!!! Once we had dried, warmed up, and nourished ourselves, were were able to look back on the intense day of hiking with some kind of appreciation. We had made it through a gnarly day and it didn’t make us want to quit. I find a lot of satisfaction in that.
We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend with friends. We cooked, relaxed, watched TV, shopped for some necessary gear replacement, and waited out the few days of far below freezing temps forecasted in the National Park. It was memorable for sure and I will be glad to have the Smokies behind me.
Wandering Between Meals 
You are a gifted writer, you had me crying I will say it I’m the mom don’t care
Hey there, love your blog!
Wow, what an incredible and challenging adventure! You did such a great job of painting a picture of the harsh conditions and the determination it took to make it through. I’d love to know if you have any tips or tricks for dealing with gear failures like your waterproof gear not working properly?
Charlotte 🌿 http://www.arvorlife.com 🌊
With you from mountain to sea
I love the pics; thanks for sharing so many of them.