I was very grateful to see our Smokies fare so well through the terrible storms that devestated our neighbors this week.  I hope that you and your loved ones are allright!  After the storm passed I enjoyed a beautiful week on the AT in the Smokies.  I hope your week turned out beautiful as well. 

NATIONAL TRAILS DAY is just around the corner so mark your calender.  I hope to see you there!

    The views and smells of Spring are all along the Appalachian Trail here in our Smokies.  We have had some pretty serious Spring storms but there has been more sunshine than rain.  The Spring flowers are blooming all along the Appalachian Trail here in the Smokies and it is beautiful. 

    The Trillium is a beautiful sight in the Smokies.  Every week we have seen more Thruhikers and more wild flowers.  I hope you can come out on a sunny day and enjoy the spring blooms.

    The volitile weather left snow and ice and some trees down in the trail last week.  But thanks to the SMHC and the Appalachian Trail Maintainers Commitee, Volunteers continue to come out and keep the AT clear through the Smokies.  It has been a busy Spring on the AT.  The Back Country Shelters have been full of Thruhikers.  It has been an awesome experience to interact with all the wonderful folks I have met on the AT this Spring.  If I havn't seen you yet on the AT in the Smokies I hope to soon.

    Despite the volatile weather on the AT this spring we have had some awesome days with fantastic views.  I hope to be able to share more clear skies with you this week in the Smokies.

    I am so glad that the Government didn't shut down! Everyone got to come into the park and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was a week that started with cool temperatures with ice covered trail and ended with warm sunshine. What beautiful week on the AT in the Smokies!

    It was a week that started with cold temperatures.  The trails were still covered with ice and snow.  The sunshine and beautiful weather quickly melted the ice and snow and began to dry the mud.  This was the best weather yet this year on the AT in the Smokies.  The wildflowers have started to bloom along the trail and the Hikers are enjoying our fantastic views.

    Sue G. posted a great question last week.  She wrote, "Doug, I'm a city gal who loves the Smokies and enjoys reading what you write about them. Can you tell me the difference between, hikers, backpackers and Thruhikers? I have never heard the term "Thruhikers" before."

    So here we go Sue.  Hikers are divided into many categories.  The most common in our Smokies are the "Day hikers".  A Day hiker is anyone who comes out to enjoy the trails just for the day.  A "Backpacker" is a hiker who comes out for one or more nights in the back country.  In our Smokies "Backpackers" must camp at designated camp sights or back country shelters and must reserve a spot (just call 865-436-1297).  Then we have the "Thruhiker".  Thruhikers are hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  With only 72.4 miles of the AT in the Smokies the entire trail covers  2179 miles.  1200 to 1500 Thruhikers will start the trail each spring in Georgia and less than 400 will make it all the way.  Thanks Sue!

    Here's a great joke I heard on the trail this week.  "What's the difference between a Backpacker and a Homeless person?    Goretex !!!"

    It was a patrol that started with cold, heavy rain, fog and high wind. We saw thunderstorms, ice, sleet snow, frozen boots, and high damaging winds. It ended on the most beautiful day of the year so far!   Spring is in the air and the Thruhikers are in the Smokies.  I started the week by parking my truck at the Ranger Station in Cades Cove.  I was shuttled to Clingmans Dome in dense fog and rain and cold wind.  I hiked up to the Lookout Tower and could hardly see one hundred feet away.  With the threat of more bad weather I hiked in to Double Springs Gap and hunkered down!  The Thruhikers really flowed in!  I think they are at their peak in the Smokies or perhaps a little past it.  There were 19 Thruhikers at the shelter that night.  They were all posting up to hike into Gatlinburg the next day for a hot shower and an assault on the nearest all you can eat buffet!  I am impressed at the overall preparedness of the Thruhikers.  I always learn plenty from them about the right gear and the right attitude for the trail!

    As I made my way toward Thunderhead Mountain I continued to experience harsh weather and freezing temperatures.  But as I hiked across Good Ole Rocky Top and down toward Spence Field the weather began to change for the better.  My Spirit lifted as I walked down into early Spring.  The sky was blue on Saturday but the wind still blew at about 40 or 50 miles per hour.  Sundays hike into Cades Cove actually erased the memory of the cold week.  What a blessing to walk down into the beauty of Spring in the Smokies.  I was reminded of why we love this fantastic place so much.  The quiet beauty of the trail in early Spring is certainly the work of a Higher Power!
    I hope to see you on the trail soon!  And remember, Easy Does It !

    I've missed you these last two weeks!  In my time off the mountain I have spent time with my family and friends, repaired a broken truck, fixed the pump in the spring house, overcome computer failures, the dog ate my homework............  To be honest I just didn't have time to blog the last time I came home!  But I have the bushes beat back and I'm here again!  My third and fourth Patrols on the AT were great and I'm getting geared up today to go back out tomorrow.  For the most part the weather has been fairly miserable! But I have had some nice days among the bad!  The Thruhikers  are thick on the trail and Spring will eventually reach the ridges up in the top of the Smokies where the AT runs.

    The Shelters have been full of Backpackers and Thruhikers.  The greatest people in the world enjoying the most beautiful place in the world.  When the shelter is full I set my tent up outside the shelter to give you a spot to stay.  Our shelters along the AT in the Smokies hold twelve.  I always move over to give you the spot that you reserved to stay in.  I must say that Pam Rodgers and her staff of volunteers in the Back Country Reservations Office DO AN EXCELLENT JOB!!!  If you want to come out and stay in one of our Shelters or Campsites in the Smokies give a call to (865)436-1297. 
    Speaking of an Excellent Job, the volunteers from the SMHC and the ATMC are out working on your Appalachian Trail.  After a long hard winter and heavy Spring snow and rain the trail really held up well.  But the volunteers are out cleaning up, clearing out, and giving back.  I have many, many thanks to pass on from all the Thruhikers and Backpackers that I have the opportunity to interact with daily.

    I love going to Mom's when She is making those Biscuits!  We celebrated my Dad's 39th birthday with Family, Friends and a Feast!  Mom made Squirrel Gravy and Biscuits and a dozen other things!  What a wonderful time! 
    It broke my heart that the Lady Vols lost in the tournament but at least I will have a little more time to get things done on my days off.  It's been a dramatic basketball season for us UT fans and my nerves are glad it's done. 

  Well, so far I've had more snow, ice, rain and clouds than calm, sunny skies!  But that's OK with me.  Spring is climbing up out of the hollers and God has blessed us with the opportunity to pass the time in the most beautiful place in the world, the Smo

    I'm back from my second Ridgerunner Patrol.  It wasn't as drama packed as the last patrol but it was still pretty exciting.  I'm not sure how much I am educating the hikers out there but I sure am learning a lot!  We are still battling the elements out there.  The snow and ice are still deep in the high elevations.  We are seeing lots of young folks on Spring Break.  And the early Thruhikers are making their way across the sometimes muddy, sometimes frozen Smokies.

    I started out Thursday morning from Newfound Gap in light rain and 33 degree temperatures.  I headed South again toward Mt. Collins Shelter.  I was able to clear some downed trees and document some larger trees for our fantastic Volunteers to come in and clear up in April.  Caleb and I had planned to do this on our way back out last week but we were side tracked by a rescue.  I quickly hiked into a couple inches of wet snow which made for some beautiful scenery.  I passed some AT Thruhikers and some hikers on spring break from college that were hiking out at Newfound Gap to spend the night in Gatlinburg.  At the Mt. Collins Shelter I was joined by 4 AT Thruhikers for the night.  After the sun set the temperatures dropped fast and it began to snow hard.  By 7 pm it was 20 degrees with 8 inches of new snow.  Overnight it dropped between 10 and 15 degrees and we had a foot of snow dumped on us.  All of our gear was frozen solid.  Hiking in the mud, rain, slush and snow left our gear wet now it was all frozen solid along with our water.  We all had enough dry spare clothing to stay safe so we got outfitted the best we could and decided that the safest choice would be to hike out, go to town and dry up.  The road was closed due to snow and ice.  Luckily the Park Service had the road cleared soon after we arrived at Newfound Gap.  After drying out my gear I was prepared to go back out Saturday morning.

    I hiked out to Icewater Springs Shelter on Saturday.  Finally I was able to spend time interacting with hikers and not just battling the elements.  The trail still held a lot of snow and ice but the sunshine brought out many hikers.  It was a joy have an interaction with so many hikers.  I met some new hikers that I was able to educate on a few topics.  And I met some veteran hikers that taught me a few things.  At Icewater Spring I ran into Andy who I had met on Mt.LeConte.  He had brought his friend Tim out for his first hike.  The conditions at the shelter weren't great that night but I hope that doesn't discourage Tim from continuing to bet out and backpack.
    It turned out to be a great patrol.  I enjoyed the hikers I met on the trail.  If you were out there I hope I was helpful.  I am gearing up to go back out tomorrow and I hope to see you on the trail!

    While heavy rains move through the valley and snow falls in the higher elevations I am preparing for my second patrol on the AT.  I plan to cover the same ground that Caleb and I covered last patrol and complete the projects that we couldn't because of the weather and the rescue that we were involved in.  I will leave Newfound Gap tomorrow and cover the trail out to Silers Bald and be back Sunday.  I plan to be flexible with that itenary because of the weather and cold temperatures.  I hope to document the location of some large blown down trees and clear some smaller blowdown off the trail.  Weather permitting I will be able to give the shelters a thorough clean up.

    A comment by Tom on my last post brought up a couple questions I would like to answer here.  Let me quote Tom.

    "Do you think you will eventually become callous or cynical, looking for something of a tax on ignorance?"

    "Will you have a "patrol zone" or cycle through the park? Do rangers drop supplies for you so you do not have to cycle through Gatlinburg? Are you typically on patrol with a partner or solo? Can your radio always reach civilization or are you sometimes dark?"

    Well, here we go!  I do not believe that I will become callous or cynical.  I think that if I were going to feel that way I would have already developed those negative feelings during my experiences on Mt. LeConte.  In my time interacting with people in the Smokies I have not encountered "Stupid".  It is extremely rare for me to encounter "Mean" or "Malicious" people in the Smokies.  On occasion I encounter hikers that are Uneducated or Unprepared.  The Uneducated or Unprepared hiker is and issue we can all address.  By educating and helping better prepare or friends on the trails we will improve their experience and ours.

    My patrol zone is basically the Appalachian Trail through the Smokies.  Right now we have Carl Goodman patrolling the south end from Fontana and Caleb Gray and I patrolling the rest of the trail.  Later in the season I will be the only Ridgerunner and will divide my time up over different sections of the trail.  I will normally go out for 5 days and come in for 2.  I will carry all the supplies I need with me.  I went on patrol with Caleb last weekend to learn from Caleb but we will generally be out solo so we can interact with more hikers and cover more ground.  I always have a radio that I can keep in touch with the Park Service with.  I also have cell phone service in a few select locations.

    I hope to see you on the trail!

    Our first two days of traing were on "Leave No Trace."  It was a great class lead by Pam Rodgers and Mike Brown.  They left us with excellent skills to share our knowledge of the Leave No Trace Ethics.  On the second day of the class we got to teach ourselves!
Plan Ahead And Prepare . Travel And Camp On Durable Surfaces . Dispose Of Waste Properly . Leave What You Find . Minimize Campfire Impacts . Respect Wildlife . Be Considerate Of Other Visitors

    Our next two days was filled with a very thorough Wilderness First Aid class.  The class was taught by Phil Hart of the Wilderness Medicine Institute Of NOLS.  Caleb and I got the opportunity to use some of our Wilderness first aid Training sooner than we thought.

    We hiked from Newfound Gap to the Mt. Collins shelter in high winds, cold temperatures and rain.  The trail was in good shape.  The next day we hiked to Double Springs Shelter.  We encountered some blowdown along the way that we cleared.  We had a couple trees that were too big for us so we will report them and let the sawyers come in to clear them up.  Saturday (our second day out) we had very heavy rains and high winds. 
    Saturday night we had four hikers come into the shelter in pretty bad shape.  They were unprepared for the unpredictable and often severe weather that we experience here in the Smokies.   It was about 35 degrees out.  The hikers were wearing jeans, cotton, tennis shoes, loafers etc.  They were plenty misrable.  The next moring we evaluated the situation and it wasn't good!
    At about 7 Sunday morning we ahd 4 inches of snow outside.  It was about 20 degrees and snowing hard.  One of our hikers was experiencing moderate to severe hypothermia.  He had been vomiting during the night and couldn't get warm.  All of the hikers were completly saturated and were experiencing mild to moderate hypothermia.  They were all dehydrated.  One of the hikers had injured his knee.  He was mobile.  Caleb and I distributed as much of our dry clothing as we could without jepordizing our own personal safety and did our best to get the hikers warm and dry.  We started getting them hydrated and got some carbohydrates in them.
    While I communicated with NPS dispatch Caleb fashioned gaiter/socks out of trash bags on the hikers feet to protect them from freezing.  As dispatch coordinated with Lawenforcement Rangers, Caleb and I got our hikers moving, warm, dry, hydrated and ready to hike out.  We got the go ahead to hike out to Clingmans Dome parking lot which was about 3 miles away.
    We headed out in about 8 inches of snow and high winds.  We stopped every 10 to 20 minutes to make our hikers drink, rest, eat a little and give us a chance to continue to evaluate them.  About half way our hiker with the injured knee weakened and Caleb carried his pack the rest of the way out.  We made it out to Clingmans Dome Parking Lot through 8 to 12 inches of snow, 2 to 3 foot drifts, high winds and 10 to 20 degree temperatures.  We were concerned about frostbite and hypothermia but on turning our hikers over to the National Park Service they all looked pretty good. 
    We were met at Clingmans Dome Parking lot by Rangers Curt Dimmick and J. Marsh.  We rode down to Newfound Gap in four wheel drive trucks behind two snow plows.  It was a good ending to a long, hard day.  I learned a lot on Patrol with Caleb Gray.  He made some good decisions and should be commended.  Our hikers learned more about hiking the Smokies in two days than most people will learn in a lifetime.  I believe that they will pass on what they learned and prevent many hikers from coming into the Smokies unprepared.

    We were glad to get our hikers out of the backcountry.  What an unexpected turn of events on their Spring Break.  I go out on patrol again on the AT this Thursday.  I hope to see you on the trail!  Lets hope this coming patrol is less eventful.  Be safe and Leave No Trace!

    I have been very blessed to enjoy a beautiful winter here in town.  My winter is quickly coming to a close.  I will start my new job as a Ridge Runner on the Appalachian Trail here in our beautiful Smokies in just a couple weeks.  I have spent a lot of time with family and friends this winter.  I have also spent a lot of time enjoying UT Basketball (which you know if you follow me on facebook).  On that note send me a friend request at dougmcfalls/facebook.com if you would like to.   But, I am really looking forward to working in our fantastic Smokies this year.

    I will start my new job on the 28th of February.  By March 4th I will start hiking the AT through the Smokies.  I should be on the trail for about 5 days and then home for a couple days through the end of October.  So plan to have a weekly Blog Post from me full of beautiful images from the Smokies and stories of my adventures as Ridgerunner.  You should see a post from me around the middle of each week.  I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy here in our beautiful smoky Mountains.  I will be on the AT in the park most days from March 4th through the end of October so come out and see me.  I am really looking forward to serving you (my hiking friends) and taking care of a small but beautiful part of the fantastic Appalachian Trail here in our wonderful Smoky Mountains.