5 May 2016, Thursday

No snow, but fairly steady showers through the night. We wake this
morning to clouds and damp, but no rain when we get out of the tent.
It does sprinkle as we eat our cardamom-cherry oatmeal. The forecast
for today is “partly cloudy” this morning with intermittent
showers this afternoon. This apparently means cloudy this morning
with a two minute break in the clouds and steady cold rain this
afternoon with about two 5 minute breaks during the downpour.

We resolve to hike despite the rain. It’s a good way to keep warm. We
head for the Little Cataloochee trail which winds up the valley and
over a ridge, passing ruins of cabins and mossy stone walls built by
the people who lived in this area before it was declared a national
park in the 1930’s. They must have been very self-sufficient people.
This valley is remote!

As we hike along the trail we photograph more wildflowers and flush a
couple of wild turkeys. By the time we return to the car my fingers are so cold and stiff I have trouble unbuckling my backpack. Both of
us are pretty soggy despite the rain covers on our packs and our rain
jackets. From the waist down, however, I am warm and dry. My new full
zip Marmot rain pants are working well, as are are my Gore-tex Salomon
boots.

Heading back to camp, we turn the heat way up in the car. My fingers thaw
enough to use my camera to photograph some of the Great Smoky
Mountain elk, including a bull with velvet on his antlers.

We arrive back at camp early enough to determine if we can comfortably
wash our hair in our wash basin on the picnic table with ambient
temperatures in the mid-forties. We discover it is indeed possible.
Two liters of cold water with 1 liter of boiling water seems the
perfect combination. We are both refreshed by the experiment.

Now, warmed with minestrone soup enhanced with barley, we
both enjoy a brownie for dessert. The temperature is 6.6
degrees C (in the low 40’s F.) It will be very nice to get under the
down quilt tonight!