May 12: Mollies Ridge Shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter, Great Smoky Mountain National Park

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Wind and rain pelted the shelter all night. Trees were snapping and falling in the forest around us all night long. No nocturnal creatures came to visit us while we slept. The temperature dropped in to the mid 30s, but we were comfortable enough.
Cloaked in a thick blanket of fog, wind blew though the underbrush and roared as if we were camped on the ocean shore. One tree we had worried would fall over last evening was now standing straight, tall and proud. I slid out of the bag and rustled up breakfast for CC and I. She was served hot cocoa and oatmeal in bed. Eventually she too managed to get up and dress for the trail. We started out at 8:30AM, like most days the first mile had a 200' climb in it. This one was up to "Devils Tater Patch." You have to love these Southern names.
Both of us were wearing most everything we owned as the temp was only in the low 40s, misting and a constant 20 mph wind. These first six miles of today are supposed to be the hardest miles in the park. The ups and downs were constant, long and steep. The entire day we continued to slowly gain elevation as we neared Clingman’s Dome, the highest point of the entire AT at 6,643'. The only good thing about the wind and low temp was it motivated us to move briskly to try and
stay warm. For being a work week, there were a large number of park hikers moving both North and South. We met a hiker who is almost finished the 800+ miles of trail within the park. We saw no new flowers or plants but still managed to take 15 or so pictures. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will post all the pictures once we return home. We are not stopping in any towns where we could download the camera, then mail the disk to Matt so he could post them.
We arrived at the Derrick Knob Shelter by 4:15PM. There was quite the crew at the shelter, some 12 folks. We opted for the tent to avoid the snore-fest that was sure to ensue. By the time we made the shelter the wind and rain had stopped and the temp started to climb. After supper it was some brisk conversation around the cook tables then off to bed. 11.7 miles today and we are now 185.6 miles from where we started at Springer Mtn.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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