[at-l] Re: Steve's recent AT-L post on the Four College Hikers Rescued in the Smokies, and their rescuer

[icw at esisnet.com (Clark Wright)]

Hey Steve - tx for the post and link to the story about the guys who did 
the rescuing.  Hearing of this story brought back some great memories 
from my winter storm experiences in the Smokies on my big AT hike back 
in 2001 - even a specific memory or two about a stormy night in late 
March at the nearby Russell Field Shelter, and then the infamous "eagle" 
incident where our efforts to return some hiking poles to their owner 
got me and my buddy Leif accused of trying to steal them!  Anyhow, for 
those who want to join me in a visual trip down memory lane, check out 
these individual pics from my backcountry.net 2001 AT hike photo album:

http://gallery.backcountry.net/ThruThinker-2001AT/adc

http://gallery.backcountry.net/ThruThinker-2001AT/add

http://gallery.backcountry.net/ThruThinker-2001AT/adj

http://gallery.backcountry.net/ThruThinker-2001AT/adk

http://gallery.backcountry.net/ThruThinker-2001AT/adm

http://gallery.backcountry.net/ThruThinker-2001AT/ado

And now for a few pics of the beautiful (but potentially dangerous) 
resulsts of the same winter storm experienced by the guys down in the 
Smokies - except Dave and I were up in the exposed Grayson Highlands, 
which led to a short, but right wild day of hiking on Saturday, and a 
beautiful, crisp, clear and sunny day of hiking back out on Sunday - it 
was incredible how the weather would go from calm and partly cloudy, to 
screming winds and whiteout conditions, and back again in a matter of 
minutes.  It also blew my mind how we would walk along on windswept, 
frozen ground for a few hundred yards, and then come around a corner and 
be faced with two to five feet of snow for the next several quarter mile 
where half the time we could walk gently and stay on top of a frozen 
crust, and then suddenly posthole down two feet up to our thighs - and 
then turn another corner and be back to the windswept terrain . . . 
truly amazing.  I now know why snowshoes were invented - even a southern 
boy needs them every now and then! :)  I also realized on this trip the 
dilemma of having a very good down sleeping bag that is cut fairly snug 
- I REALLY needed to sleep with my boots Saturday night, but decided 
against it due to the lack of room inside my Feathered Friends down 
bag.  The temps dropped to (my guess) around 10-15 degrees that night, 
and since we did not have snowshoes, or even good gaiters, our boots 
were soaked due to snow infiltration that then was melted by the heat of 
our feet.  Sunday morning, I almost panicked when I tried to put my 
boots on - they were frozen totally, and I mean totally solid; so were 
Dave's.  We spent a long, painful and scary 30-plus minutes fighting to 
crack our boots open and force our feet into them.  And, of course, once 
in, our feet then were painfully cold for the next hour or more of 
walking.  I knew better, but sometimes mother nature needs to remind us 
of the importance of thinking ahead and very carefully planning for 
severe winter conditions.  We had our own "mini-rescue" of sorts, as 
there were three younger, poorly equipped hikers who showed up late at 
the shelter - with their dog, no less.  Their only stove was an alcohol 
stove (sorry you lightweight lovers, but that just does not cut the 
mustard in a winter storm in the mountains!)  We ended up cooking supper 
for them that night, and - lucky for them - the Thomas Knob Shelter has 
two stories to it, so we let them sleep upstairs where there was more 
protection from the wind and snow . . .  needless to say, if this had 
been like the Smokies, where getting down off the highlands was not a 
mere matter of four miles of walking, this could have been a serious 
situation.

Anyhow - hope you enjoy the pics from our recent weekend winter hiking 
adventure in the Grayson Highlands, and perhaps a lesson or two about 
preparedness for winter camping and hiking..

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/aao

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/aas

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/aat

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/aau

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/aax

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/aba

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/abe

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/abg

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/abh

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/abj

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/abm

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/abp

http://gallery.backcountry.net/Thru-Thinkers-March-2005-Grayson-Highlands-Winter-Adventure!/abr


Thru-thinker
[Clark]




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