Agile Trekker: NC Appalachian Trail - Section 2 - Clingman's Dome to Derrick Knob Shelter

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/22/2022	11.2 miles	7 hours 25 minutes	1,369'	2.1 mph	268.1

Parking:

1 car at Clingman's Dome Visitor Center, 1 car at Fontana Dam Road

Maps:

FarOut app (Guthook)
GaiGps app
National Geographic Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Directions:

Walk .5 miles up paved trail to Clingman's Dome. At the bottom of the tower, get on a side trail to the AT. Turn left and hike on the AT to Derrick Knob Shelter.

Carolina Mountain Club Challenge:

100 Favorite Trails Challenge, #21 Silers Bald

I organized a 3-day section hike of the Smokies, and was joined by Tara, Dian, Sharon, and Lori. It was fun to have a small group of friends to do it with. I've discovered that if I organize backpacking trips, people will come. Dian, like me, needed this section as part of her AT section hike.

Glen helped shuttle us so that he could do the hike from Clingman's Dome to Silers Bald as a day hike. We quickly popped up to the Clingman's Dome tower again to take in the views.

I was blown away by the fields of spring beauties (flowers) and trout lilies we hiked through for miles. It was magical. I think we planned the perfect weekend for this hike. Tons of flowers, and good weather. We were heading southbound, which meant we were going the opposite direction of thru hikers. We did see many today.

We got to Derrick Knob Shelter and were greeted by a friendly ridge runner who checked our permits. She asked if we were going to sleep in the shelter (normally section hikers have to, but due to covid, currently that requirement is suspended). None of us wanted to. We slept in our tents. There was a large tenting area, but there were a lot of thru hikers and section hikers out there. There really wasn't a way to get a private tenting area like I'm used to. I was just happy not to have to sleep in a shelter.

We had a windy evening, and we were kept awake a lot by the wind flapping our tents. Even though the nighttime temp was supposed to be 50 degrees, the wind made me cold at times in my 20-degree bag. I really wanted to boil water for a hot water bottle at 3 am but figured no one would appreciate that. We went to sleep early and woke up when we heard others starting to break down camp.