Fontana Dam, NC to Garenflo Gap, NC

Day 5, Monday, October 2

Spence Field Shelter to Double Spring Shelter, 13.5 miles

Up at 7:00 AM and away at 7:40 AM. Earliest start so far. Gonna need it today. Big climb ahead. I eat a cold breakfast of crackers and a snackbar so I can get started.

It takes me almost an hour to reach the summit of Rocky Top (5,441') at 8:35 AM. What a gorgeous view! The sun is just peaking over some of the ridges below. Fontana Lake is completely shrouded by fog below, as well as on the Tennessee side of the ridge. Gonna be another beautiful day! Stopped to rest and take some pictures until 8:50 AM. On to Thunderhead.

Reach the top of Thunderhead (5,527') at 9:07 AM. The top is covered by rhododendron. No view to speak of. The grass is very wet this morning. Heavy dew. Next several miles are downhill and very rocky. Hard to keep pace.

I meet a Southbounder from Derrick Knob on top of Brien knob at 10:15 AM. Fifteen minutes later I pass Jeff Boyer and Robert Kingsmore from Duke Energy sitting on the side of the trail. I know Jeff, but I didn't recognize him at first. We talked for a few minutes and as I turned to leave they saw my Duke Energy hat on the back of my pack and asked if I worked for Duke. I said yes. They said they worked in Charlotte as I do, and as soon as Jeff started to say who he was I recognized him. He hadn't recognized me at first either, although we both thought the other looked familiar to each other. Jeff and Robert try to go on a trip each year and it just happens we are both on the AT at the same time. Small world!

I take a break at 11:15 AM at Sugar Tree Gap (4,435'). I've covered 5.2 miles in three hours and 35 minutes. Hard to do any better on this terrain. On at 11:30 AM. Reach Derrick Knob Shelter at noon. Lunch and a POBO! Beautiful sunny afternoon. Slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky! Leave DNS at 1:00 PM.

I meet several folks coming south over the course of the afternoon. I finally reach the top of Silars Bald at 4:15 PM. There are four guys smoking dope camped in tents beside the shelter. You are not supposed to tent camp on the AT unless you are thru-hiking and the shelters are full, but that hasn't deterred these guys. I rest for fifteen minutes and then push on. I'm going to make Double Springs Shelter one way or another. I'm dead.

I finally meet a guy looking for the shelter spring so I know I'm close to Double Springs. I reach the shelter at 5:35 PM. There are four folks already here, three from the Memphis area. A lawyer, a Tennessee environmental engineer, and a land developer. There is a fourth guy from Murfreesboro, TN who has hurt his knee pretty badly. He was trout fishing on Hazel Creek and had started hiking up the mountain to cross over to the TN side when he hurt his knee. It has taken him two days to travel four miles up to the Appalachian Trail to this shelter. We try to call the GSMNP headquarters on a cell phone to find out if he can get help.

I cook Ramen noodles and soup and after an hour I feel like a new person.

Four more folks, two from Asheville, and two from Atlanta show up about 7:30PM. Awfully late.

It seems like it is going to be a cool night tonight. Again, the stars are unbelievable. The crescent Moon has already set by 9 PM and the sky is very dark. A shooting star passes overhead just like in the movies. It lights up the ground as it passes overhead. We talk until 10 PM and then turn in.