Post 900 Hike #70: AT from Dome to Cades Cove

Today’s hike is the same one that I did ~25.5 months ago; upon reaching Jenkins Ridge trailhead (~15 mi.), I had completed requirements for membership in The 900 Mile Association. Although this hike is 21-22 miles, in the GSMNP it exceeds in difficulty the day-hikes 5-6 miles longer. Our hiking club’s sage John Kennerly, after delineating its ~5000 ft of serious ups coupled with its ~9000 ft of downs, labeled it as a “Hike from Hell.” The fact that I was the only veteran willing to do it with three novices also makes a statement relative to its “enjoyability.”

I picked up John Hutsenpiller at 0530 at Lakeside Market; when we arrived at Food Lion Charlie Woodward and Carl Muse were also there. Janetta Baker arrived momentarily; she and Bob Bolinger were going to help with logistics. We then proceeded in Charlie’s and Janetta’s SUVS to our hike’s Lead Cove terminus on Laurel Creek Rd. Janetta then took us to SVC; from there we embarked in Bob's SUV to the parking lot at Clingmans Dome. (On the trip up my HR monitor registered a new low for me, 50 bpm.) The first picture is of Bob and Janetta taking in the view from the parking lot.

We started up ~0.5 mi. paved path to the observation deck to get to our AT starting point; there is also an alternate "true" trail route. Not surprisingly since the Clingmans Dome is the highest point in the Park (~6,500 ft), our first leg of the AT descends; to my surprise on this negative work descent my HR reached a low of 39 bpm. (Did not know my HR could get that low; perhaps my monitor erred.) We met many AT hikers going North; some would hike in sections but some would plod on to the trail’s terminus in Maine.

Shortly into the hike Carl realized that his water bag was empty; however, we thought as a group we could cover Carl’s fluid needs and proceeded. Only I truly knew how hellish this hike was; had I really had my mind in gear, I would have recommended to Carl that he wait for those from our hiking club who would be doing a much shorter hike off of the AT.

The second picture poses one of the mountains that we climbed in the foreground and immediately to left in the background are two humps. The hump on the right (framed by a diagonal branch) presents what I think is our tallest quest, Thunderhead (~5,500 ft). (Keep in mind that in the GSMNP the AT is essentially on the ridge that divides NC from Tenn.) Although Silers Bald and Brier Knob were the only other mountains that we would go over that exceeded 5,000 ft., believe me even some of the smaller mountains that we went over were daunting too, particularly as our hours on the AT mounted.

At lunch when we reached the junction with Miry Ridge Trail I changed my socks and put talcum powder on my feet. I then went ahead; after ~2-3 hrs. I decided to “air” my feet and wait until someone else in our group reached me; Charlie was the first. I re-laced my boots; after passing Charlie I told him that I would wait for him at the crest of Thunderhead (in error I told him that it was nearer then it actually was--the more vertical steps required on this trail inflated my pedometer distance). I reached the crest ~1530; I then put back on my first pair of socks and again powdered my feet. When Charlie arrived I told him that I would wait for John and Carl so he could keep his momentum; however, he would then wait by the Jenkins Ridge trailhead, ~0.3 mi. from junction with the Bote Mountain Trail.

It took awhile for John and Carl to reach me. Carl had experienced cramps and John was in essence his 1st aider; I gave the remainder of my water and Gatorade to them. Shortly after we had reached Rocky Top, I went ahead; I shot the next picture of Fontana Lake on my way down. When I reached Charlie I erred in suggesting that he go ahead and to get fluids after he reached his car; I did not realize then that he was having a hydration problem too and was in worse shape than Carl. When John and Carl arrived, John wanted to go to the Spence Field shelter to see if he could get water from back packers (they often have water filter pumps); I thought that this was a long shot. Since John had gotten Carl to a point that he was feeling relatively good, he and I proceeded on our downhill trek. After Carl and I completed the 2.9 mi. of Bote Mountain Trail, he waited for John and I proceeded down Lead Cove and reached the Laurel Creek Rd. 1930.

I iced my knee for 15 min.; I really should have done that at Thunderhead, for I had some swelling. When Charlie arrived he was experiencing extremely severe hamstring cramps; I did not know until then that he had experienced such vicious symptoms previously. John and Carl arrived later than expected, primarily because John ran down parts of Bote Mountain Trail to catch up with Carl, he too had leg cramps.

The good nurse Janetta arrived with Gator Ade and water; John added his elixir (i.e., a Gatorade powder that is a slightly different version than that bought in bulk) and gave it to Charlie. I drove Charlie’s SUV back to Food Lion and Janetta took him there; at this point Charlie felt quite capable of driving to his home in Vonore.

I apologize for writing such a long treatise on our hike; however, I know that if you have read this far that you could only be a damn fool if you attempted the hike that we did today without adequate water and an electrolyte such as Gatorade. One should also be aware of the condition of hyponatremia; it is basically low concentrations of sodium ions in the circulating blood and can be gravely serious. One of our hikers collapsed on this same trail ~4 years ago; John Kennerly gave him Stamina (a powder that mixes with water), and may have prevented an extremely serious outcome. I would also strongly recommend following a good physical training regimen prior to undertaking today’s hike; for that matter staying in good shape would enable you to do all of our hikes in the GSMNP with minimal discomfort. (Omron data included: 49,917 steps taken, 1,821 calories burned, 121.9 gr fat burned, 431 min. aerobic walking time--did not get much credit for vertical steps up Thunderhead)