Goodbye Great Smoky Mountains

Today we hiked out of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and good riddance. Whew!!! what an experience. We wanted to finish the 70 miles in 7 days and we were able to, but not without some difficulty. You want to know about it?
We hiked out of Fontana Dam (not Damn) although that might be a good name for the Smokies on Tuesday the 3rd. 11 miles, uphill and spent our first night in a shelter. At 1am the thunderstorm struck and rained and blew all night long. We moved on on the 4th for 11.7 miles and spent our second shelter night among the snorus chours. The noise would drive any bears away.
The third day we planned a 14 mile day, over Clingman Dome which is the highest place on the whole Appalachian Trail. (6643 ft.) After 10.1 miles we made the Dome we realized that it was going to be very late when we made the shelter so we hitched a ride from the Dome parking lot to Gatlinburg, TN. Jen is learning to hitch a pant leg up, stick out her thumb and get us a ride. A nice couple on vacation from Maryland gave us a ride. At Gatlinburg we had Pizza, spent the night at the Quality Inn, sharing a room with Kiwi, had pancakes for breakfast and were back at Clingmans Dome at 8:45.
The fourth day we hiked 10.9 miles, then holed up in Icewater Spring Shelter as it began to snow. We woke up on the fifth day to 17 degrees in the shelter, about 5 degrees outside the shelter, and 6 inches of snow and it was still snowing. After a few miles that morning we caught up with Grambo. She is a 65 year old retired nurse from South Carolina who is hiking the trail solo. She was struggling in the snow without treking poles and we were hiking the most trecherous terrain yet. Some steep cliffs and slopes so we spent the whole day helping her to the next shelter. We only made 7.4 miles.
On day six we woke up to 19 degrees in the shelter, rock hard boots, frozen water in all our bladders and bottles. Nothing to do but get up and hike so we hiked 12.9 miles. On day seven, today, we woke up to a toasty 28 degrees in the shelter and all began to sing Beach Boy tunes. We were able to thaw out our water. Some nice guys from Dayton Ohio built a big fire in the shelter and we got everything thawed out. We hiked 10 miles to Standing Bear Farm and that is where we are tonight. 7 days in the Smokies and are we ever glad to be out. Tomorrow night back to our tent and the snorus chorus will be left behind.
At somepoint I need to tell you about Standing Bear Farm. It is beyond Rustic to more like primative. But, we are clean, our clothes are clean, we have food for the three days to Hot Springs where Krista and Andrew will meet us.
Jen celebrated her 58th birthday with a hostess cupcake. Oh and Mark Russell, you will appreciate this. I went with some guys to "town" to have BBQ. Town turned out to be A BP gas station off the interstate with a BBQ counter in the back. So we had Barbeque Pork at BP.
The internet connection is dial up and no where to post pictures. Hopefully we can post pictures at Hot Springs.
Thanks for you prayers and good thoughts. The Journey continues. Hopefully warmer. Actually, cold weather is great for hiking. The snow actually pads the trail and covers many of the rocks. Sleeping is better because our bags are made for lower temps and sleep better at 20 degrees than 60. But it is miserable between hiking and sleeping and between sleeping and hiking.