Clingmans Dome to Fontana Dam Visitor Center (32.8 miles)

We started hiking this section on July 15, 2013.

We were joined on this section by SIMS which is an abbreviation for Song in My Soul.

Day 1 – Clingmans Dome to Derrick Knob Shelter

The theme song for today was the Sesame Street Lyrics – “Sunny Day…Sweepin’ the clouds away…On my way to where the air is sweet.”

We started hiking at 8:50 AM and the observation tower was again socked in by clouds (it was 57 degrees).

We walked about 2 miles on the ridge line. The trail was very muddy and overgrown but we saw some beautiful Turk’s cap lilies.

We were all very happy once we started to descend and could see a “real” trail again. Due to the clouds we did not have any views until we reached Double Spring shelter. We took a short break at Double Spring shelter and talked to a nice family of 6.

The ascent before Silers Bald was very steep.

We stopped for lunch at the Silers Bald shelter just before noon time. Python screamed “RAT!” Okay, it was actually a mouse but Dirigo also saw the little critter.

We met 2 hikers who told us they could not find the water source at the Derrick Knob Shelter. They said that there was a good water source 1/10 of a mile off of the Greenbrier Trail.

There was a steep ascent after the Miry Ridge trail and the last 2.7 miles was in the steamy afternoon heat. We cameled up with water at the Greenbrier trail and then carried it 0.3 miles to the Derrick Knob shelter.

We got into camp at 5:42 PM and we were the only one who stayed at the shelter that night. We boiled water using the Esbit stove and then cooked our Ramen noodles in ziplock bags.

There were bugs and bees around the shelter. At one point we both put on our bug nets to get some relief.

We even tried to build a fire because we thought the smoke would keep away the bugs. But, the wood was too damp so we never got a fire going.

We hung our food bags and our backpacks on the bear cables since there was no rain in the forecast.

We went to bed some time after 8:30 PM. We heard the mice crawling around the shelter all night long. Python even felt a mouse run across her sleeping bag – and gave it a swift side kick. Dirigo tried to hit a mouse who was running near her head. In the morning, all the toilet paper that was in Dirigo’s pants pocket was shredded.

SIMS screamed during the night because she was being chased in her dream by somebody with a pipe. We did not sleep well that night.

Day 2 – Derrick Knob Shelter to Mollies Ridge Shelter

We left camp at 7:50 AM. The trail started out nice and gentle. But, then we had several long climbs as the temperatures were quickly rising.

We reached Brier Knob after 1 hour 47 minutes. The clouds rolled in around 10 AM and helped cool us off. We reached Beechnut Gap at 11 AM (3 hour 7 min). There were slippery rocks on the way up to the eastern summit of Thunderhead (@11:42 AM).

We took a short break at Rocky Top to take pictures but had to move on quickly because of the afternoon sun.

We met a group of hikers yesterday who told us the trail was “easy” after we reached “the rock” – we think they meant Rocky Top. The hikers also told us there was an aggressive momma bear near the Mollies Ridge shelter.

We took a long lunch break at the Spence Field shelter which is actually on the Eagle Creek Trail. This shelter has a privy which was really nasty but it had a really good water source.

Right after lunch we had a climb but after that the trail was nice and gentle – it reminded of us the footpath in the Shennies. We made good time to the Russell Field shelter and took a break while talking to a nice family of four.

About a mile after the shelter we met a solo hiker who told us he startled a momma bear and her cubs. He told us 2 other hikers went down a side trail because the bear freaked them out.

About 30 minutes later we met the two young hikers who told us that the momma bear had climbed a tree and growled at them. They were so scared that they backed away and waited an hour before coming back to the trail.

The climb up to Devil’s Tater Patch was downright painful! We were all tired and grumpy and our feet hurt. We were also on the look out for the bears so we stayed close together and made a lot of noise.

We decided that the theme song for today was “Midnight Blue” because of the lyrics “And I think we can make it, one more time, if we try.”

We finally reached Mollies Ridge Shelter at 6:15 PM.

Once again, we were the only ones staying at the shelter. After dinner, we heard thunder so we decided to hang our packs in the shelter instead of putting them up the bear cables. Of course we hung our food bags.

As we were getting into our camp clothes, we saw a mouse running down the stones in the shelter. The mice were starting early tonight! A mouse chewed a hole in Dirigo’s hiking pants during the night.

Dirigo heard 2 Barred owls and either wolves or coyotes during the night.

Day 3 – Mollies Ridge Shelter to Fontana Dam Visitor Center

We left camp at 8:11 AM and reached Ekaneetlee Gap by 9 AM. We reached the Gregory Bald Trail just after 10 AM. We were seeing a lot of bear scat right on the trail.

Just north of the campsite at Birch Spring gap, Python screamed “BEAR” when she saw the black rump of a cub! The cub then scurried up the closest tree and we all started making noise while we looked for the momma bear. SIMS then spotted the top of the momma bear’s head. Then we all started looking for the other cub – desperately hoping we were not between the momma and her second cub.

Momma bear then stood on her hind legs looking for her cub – she moved her head towards us but did not move her body.

We all kept talking to the momma and Dirigo kept clicking her poles together. Momma then went down on all fours and then we saw the second cub climb up the tree.

The momma bear did not seem bothered by us and was not aggressive so we walked slowly past them and kept telling her what a wonderful mother she was.

Our hearts were all beating really quickly so we made good time to Birch Springs gap and took a short break. I think we were all still shaking from seeing the bears.

We ascended slowly to Shuckstack Mountain due to the heat. We dropped our packs at the intersection of the AT and the old road to the fire tower. We climbed the fire tower and had amazing views in all directions.

We had a leisurely lunch once we got back to our packs.

The descent to Fontana Dam was long, steep, and hot, hot, hot. We started to hear thunder and felt a few sprinkles as we got close to the hard-surfaced road.

There was a light rain as we crossed Fontana Dam and we reached the visitor center just before 4:00 PM.

We are all happy to reach SIMS’ car and be done with the heat, bugs, bears, and mice. We put our packs into SIMS’ car and opened all the doors to air out the car. SIMS saw that a mouse had eaten a hole in her bag of broken pretzels and then we saw that the mouse had shredded the tissue paper in her back seat!

SIMS created our theme song for today – it was called “Rump on a Stump” and she sung it to the music of “Little Drummer Boy.”