Trail Update 06/03/07

I talked with Spencer and Ben this morning. They made it through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They are leaving from Davenport Gap today and will continue northward to the Walnut Mountain Shelter. The Smoky mountains are some of the tougher stretches on the trail and contain the highest elevations and some ridiculous climbs. The highest point on the trail is Clingman's Dome on the TN/NC border that tops out at 6643' which is only 41 feet shorter than the highest peak east of the Mississippi river, North Carolina's Mt. Mitchell. My hat goes off to them; they said they did 29 miles a few days ago in a constant rain, which was around a 12 hour day of hiking. They have almost caught back up with the original itinerary. We had intended on making it where they are this morning last night so we are only a night off of the original schedule.