(Spence Field Shelter (mile 183.7) - Double Spring Gap Shelter (mile 197.2))

I woke up this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find that the rain had held out overnight. I quickly packed my things expecting that the rain would be coming any minute. Sure enough, as soon as I finished packing my tent, I felt the first couple drops of rain. I made my way down to the shelter to eat breakfast before heading out on trail. The initial drizzle soon gave way to a heavy rain and Calypso announced that wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour were forecasted alongside thunderstorms all day.

After eating breakfast, I headed out into the monsoon. My goal for the day was to hike 14.5 miles to Double Spring Gap Shelter. This would put me about 3 miles from Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. Last night, a small group of us had agreed to morning to Clingmans Dome to see the sunrise tomorrow, so we needed to get as close as possible tonight. As I hiked, I quietly worried if hiking almost 15 miles in this weather was a bad idea. Fortunately, I would be passing two other shelters today before Double Spring, so I had bailout options. I also worried if there would even be a sunrise tomorrow, but there was nothing I could do about that so I pushed it from my mind.

I quickly caught up to Delta, Cloudkicker, and Justin and decided to tag along with them. Soon, we were joined by Amanda, Steve, and Cranberry which meant that there were seven of us in total. This is by far the biggest group I have hiked with, but given the weather conditions, I was grateful to have company.

The rain continued heavily throughout the morning and our large group stopped for lunch at Derrick Knob Shelter. By the afternoon, rain runoff had transformed much of the trail into a river. The wind also picked up substantially and I was amazed by the strength of occasional wind gusts. The wind was blowing perpendicular to the trail, so the most severe wind gusts would make it difficult to walk straight. I have never felt my body being moved by the wind before, but I guess there is a first time for everything!

The thunder also picked up in the afternoon, which combined with the heavy rain and wind made for very intense hiking. We made the best of it though and had fun splashing through puddles and sliding down muddy hills. We joked that in these conditions we needed to be on the lookout for alligators and sharks!

After about 12 miles of hiking we reached Silers Bald Shelter. In the shelter we met a thru-hiker who introduced himself as "The Woking Buffalo." He explained that he earned his trail name because he carries a full size wok which he uses to cook over fires in camp. Apparently, a couple days ago he packed out all the ingredients for tacos and had a trail taco party with all the other thru-hikers at a shelter. The Woking Buffalo had a fire going in the shelter fire place, so we stopped to hide from the weather and warm up. We only had about 2 miles left to reach Double Spring Gap Shelter, so after a few minutes we tore ourselves away from the warmth of the shelter and continued hiking.

As we climbed up the ridge, the forest slowly changed around us. We were now surrounded by hemlock, pine, and fir trees which really gave off an enchanted fairytale vibe. Soon we reached the shelter and I hung out under the awning for a while to let myself warm up. I then headed back out into the rain to set up my tent in a hemlock grove. After setting up my tent, I returned to the shelter to eat dinner and hang my bear bag. I consulted with the other hikers and we agreed to try to head out at 5:30am tomorrow morning in hopes of catching the sunrise on Clingmans Dome. I then retired early to my tent and fell asleep to the sound of rain and the smell of damp conifers.

During heavy storms
the trail becomes a river -
good thing I can swim!

This picture of me was captured by “Lighthouse,” a fellow thru-hiker whose YouTube channel is “Shaker Hikes.”