Day 16 – Wildflowers and Old Rocky Top

First full day in the Smokies! Another good night’s sleep last night, maybe I finally settled into my sleep setup on the road. Looking forward to today, we will ride 17.5 miles to Derek Knob Shelter. It will be a longer day, but with rain in the forecast for the next few days, it seemed like a good idea to put in more miles today and give ourselves more flexibility later in the week.

wild flowers

The trio of Queso, Becca and I took off shortly after 8:00 am this morning. The first few hours were pretty calm, with relatively gentle ups and downs, nothing too steep. As the morning progressed and the sun rose, small wildflowers began to open and bloom on both sides of the trail, creating quite an idyllic scene. They also provided a somewhat pleasant aroma, which briefly, partially masked the smell of my sweaty shirt that I’ve been wearing for the past 4 days. We took our first break at Mollies Ridge Shelter, where we filled up our water and had breakfast.

Wildflower weed (photos don’t do them justice)

We ended up breaking the day’s hike into three sections, the first 5.5 miles, to Mollies Ridge Shelter. The second, 6 miles to Spence Field Shelter. And the third and final leg, 6 miles to Derrick Knob Shelter. We then took a break at the Spence Field shelter. The second section of the day was similar to the first in that it was relatively easy with relatively gentle ups and downs. While we passed a variety of flora, fields of wildflowers continued to be a common theme, which was nice. It was also pretty quiet on the trail with only two hikers seen during the first two sections of today’s hike. They were both at the same tent site as us last night. And while all of that made for a pleasant hike, it was noticeably lacking in great views. But all that would change in our third section of the day.

Old Rocky Top

The third section of today’s hike is where the magic (and work) happened. It started with a solid climb up Rocky Top (yes, that one), and then up Thunderhead Mountain. Pretty good, unobstructed views from the top of Rocky Top, in almost every direction. At the top of Thunderhead Mountain it was a little more obstructed, but you could still see the surrounding mountains. After that, the descent wasn’t as fun, as it was very rocky, in many different formats. The most frustrating thing was the loose rock that slid around as you walked on them, which made keeping your butt off the ground a real challenge. Fear not, I did not succumb! Our pace slowed dramatically in the afternoon, but finally, shortly after 6:00 pm, we arrived at the Derrick Knob Shelter. Thirsty, tired and hungry, we set about getting ready for bed, collecting/filtering water and making dinner.

Friend Becca and SPAM

Statistics for the 16th:

17.5 miles

5,112′ ascent, 3,986′ descent

From Birch Spring Store to Derrick Knob Shelter

8 DSLC (Days since last cathole)…

Times the stove has been used: 1

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