7.4 miles

Derrick Knob shelter (mile 189.4) to Double Spring Gap shelter (mile 196.8)

The wind was howling outside when I woke up. I crept cautiously out of my sleeping bag and immediately regretted it. It was freezing. And I felt like I had been beaten up.

“Bloody hell! It’s pure Baltic out there!!!”

*Blank looks all around*

“Uhhh…I mean it’s really cold out there.”

Putting on cold, wet clothes, socks and shoes is a pretty miserable experience. I would recommend avoiding this if you can.

I decided on a short day of around 7 miles because of the state I was in. Even so, it was still after 3pm by the time I reached the shelter that night.

The trail was pretty uneventful. It was even dry in some places. I had to wear my puffy all day though, as it was proper freezing.

Still no views to be seen. Only clouds, so yeah, the Smokys were living up to their name. I didn’t realise how much I had come to rely on the views, the little reward for hiking up steep trails, through mud and slush that said “look at that bloody view! Of course it is worth hiking. Just look at it!” Without them it just felt like a slog.

The shelters in the smokys have fireplaces. No one had yet been able to light a fire because there was no dry wood. Until today. The shelter had plenty of spots and the fire was burning merrily in the fireplace when I arrived. It was a very welcome sight.

We were able to partially dry our shoes and socks, which was a little exciting.

Happiness turned up at around 5pm. It was good to catch up and we all had a good night talking rubbish around the fire.

News travels fast on the trail. Every one had heard about the hiker who had his food bag taken, I heard “that was you!” Multiple times. One hiker, Hoot, was at Mollies at ridge shelter the day my bag was taken. He had stopped for some lunch at around 1:30 pm when a black bear showed up. He showed me a picture of it and it was a beast, probably around 400 pounds. Seems he was still hungry.

Bastard.