[at-l] southern Appalachian temps this weekend

[Mara Factor]

Hi all,

The low temperatures in the Smoky Mountains are the reason I've been holed 
up at Waterfall and Sheltowee's place for the past week.  I had intended to 
get back on the trail after a short visit but when Nina brought me back to 
Clingman's Dome to resume my hike, the temperatures were well below freezing 
and it was late morning already.  The trees were coated with rime ice, the 
rocks coated with solid ice, and anything that was once wet was frozen and 
nothing was melting.  I quickly realized I would be miserable at best and 
likely put myself in danger were I to try to spend time out there with just 
my 20 degree bag and three season gear so I returned back to Maggie Valley 
with Waterfall.  As best I could figure, the highs on the ridge were in the 
20s during the last few days with lows in the dingle digits.

So, I've been cooling my heels - or rather keeping them warm - in Maggie 
Valley, at 3200' instead of the ridge at 5000'+.  Even here, it's been 
getting down to the low 20s at night.

So, I'm hoping to get back on the trail tomorrow after nearly a week off.  I 
figure I'll have one very cold night to "survive" possibly with some degree 
of discomfort before the temperatures head back to a normal range.

It'll be interesting to see how it is to resume my hike tomorrow.  I figure 
I've got the eight miles from Clingman's Dome to Newfound Gap to decide 
whether to go on to Icewater Spring shelter, or bail for one more town night 
into Gatlinburg.  I hope to stay on the trail.

Mara
Stitches, AT99

P.S.  Waterfall (aka Nina) says 'hi'.

P.P.S.  If anyone further up the trail wants a visit from a hiker, wants to 
show a hiker some local color or attractions, or wants to slackpack a hiker, 
let me know...  ;-}  On this hike, I'm trying to slow down and enjoy some of 
the stuff I didn't get to see on my first hike.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit my Travels and Trails web site at:

http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





>From: "The Weathercarrot" <weathercarrot at hotmail.com>
>To: at-l at mailman.backcountry.net, pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net
>Subject: [at-l] southern Appalachian temps this weekend
>Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:55:05 -0400
>
>On the highest peaks of the southern Appalachians, it's about as cold as it
>ever gets in April, although I remember several April cold snaps that were
>fairly close to this (early April of 1992 comes to mind). Here's a quote
>from averyweather.com:
>
><< Some of the colder temperatures in the region Saturday morning included 
>1
>degree above zero at Mount Leconte in the Smokies, 2 on Mount Mitchell and 
>6
>degrees at Beech Mountain (with a half-foot of snow reported).  >>
>
>and here's the smokies daily temp report from the NWS:
>
>http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=MRXRTPMRX&version=0&max=61
>
>from there you can access previous versions going back a few weeks.
>
>wc
>
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