200! — Finding A Path

Two hundred miles behind us. Two thousand to go…

Clingmans Dome, highest point on the AT and the official 200 mile marker from Springer Mtn.

So you might wonder what happens when a couple of tired and wet hikers walk out of the woods into one of the most visited tourist sites in the Smokey Mountains. First you get some odd looks, then someone asks how far you have walked to get there. Tell them in a matter of fact tone that you walked 200 miles and they get very curious. Then tell them that you are walking to Maine and have 2000 more miles to go and they want to know EVERYTHING about it. We had a great chat with several very curious groups of visitors.

After chatting for a bit, we were trying to decide how much further we wanted to hike when a fella walks up and asks if we want a ride to town. In unison we said yes and 45 minutes later we were in Gatlinburg with no room or plan. Ian, our generous driver had ulterior motives as we discovered. He is planning a through hike in 2 years and wanted to pick our brains during the drive. So, we are now very well fed and preparing for our first “slack pack” of our trek tomorrow. We plan to hike 7.7 miles with just a lunch and a bottle of water before hitting the trail with full packs for the final bit of the Smokies on Tuesday.

Of course the weather doesn’t always cooperate. So despite the fog, before leaving we walked to the top of the observation tower and took a selfie to commemorate the moment.