Clingmans to Davenport

The Smokies is always a great place to visit, and running the section of the AT from Clingmans Dome to Davenport Gap I have only done once before. The weather was warmer than last and I started in temperatures just under 80 degrees only to get warmer for the next few hours. This is very warm for the Smokies. I walked up the half mile paved path to the summit of Clingmans and headed Northeast on the AT. I started at 9:05am. With in a few minutes I ran into a group of volunteers working on the trail. This would happened a dozen more times as they were working on the entire section I was running. What a great way to give back to something you cherish.

I arrived into Newfound Gap in 1:45, and took a 10 min break to take care of some business. I was surprised to see that the bathrooms at Newfound Gap had been renovated. There are no longer sinks there, just toilets and hand sanitizers. So don’t rely on getting any water here unless you drop it.

As the day warmed up, the bugs were evident on the trail. I had to dodge some of them out of the way in order to avoid getting them in my eyes, nostrils, or swallow them. I was drinking more water than normal and I knew I would have to refuel sooner rather than later. I was carrying 4 liters with me at the start. This was completely self supported, so you had to carry everything you need for the entire 37 mile section. You can refill water from the spring along the way at the shelters.

I started this hike/run with 8 other people. 7 of which were attempting to hike 24 miles. 4 from Newfound gap to Cosby Campgrounds, 3 from Cosby Campgrounds to Newfound gap, 1 was attempting from Newfound gap to Davenport gap (31 miles), and I was going from Clingmans to Davenport gap (37 miles). The logistics were a little tricky, but with a few that volunteered to hike in the opposite direction, and with a car drop, we were on our way to a well planned adventure. The group of 7 hikers had started 1 to 2 hours before me from Newfound gap or from Cosby, and I was 7 miles away from where they were starting. I eventually reached them at Pecks Shelter which is where I needed to refuel and refill water (4:45pm).

For future reference, I don’t recommend filling up water from this shelter, it’s almost a mile off the trail round trip. Fill up at Tricorners which is much easier and faster to get to. I spent about 40 min eating my turkey sandwich I brought along, and filling up all 4 liters again, hiking up and down to the spring. I wanted to keep moving because I still had another 20 miles to go, I wasn’t even half way!

At this point I was hiking a healthy pace up the hills, and shuffling the flats, and running the downhill’s. The last climb of Mt. Cammerar was the longest. I finished in 10:37, a 21 min improvement from last time. I ate approximately 1,700 calories which included a bag of honey mustard pretzels, a turkey sandwich, 2 energy bars, 2 mango gu’s, and several ginger chew’s. I burned 7,775 calories, and drank all 8 liters of water, it was hot.