Page 10 - SMH 2017 2nd edition

As most of you know I am a follower of Christ. I've not been shy or afraid to share that with people. And as I
hike I talk to God a lot. It's great one on one time with the one who made you and everything around you. But it
was on Hike-38 that I truly realized He was still listening to me. I was hiking Balsam Mt trail and Palmer
Creek trail but I had to go down Balsam Mt road to catch Spruce Mt trial. On the map it looked like it was 2 to 3
miles down the road. I met a park employee on a tractor at the Palmer Cr trailhead and asked him how far it was
to Spruce Mt. He told me 5 to 6 miles. I immediately felt a sense of panic. That was mileage I didn't plan for. So I
immediately began to run up the graveled road. After what seemed like forever I come around one last turn and I
asked God, "Please let the trailhead be here." And as I came around the turn there it was. I immediately began
crying tears of joy and thanking God. The trailhead was roughly about 2.5 to 3 miles from the Palmer Cr trail-
head. Right where I initially thought it was.

In the final 8 days I pulled my biggest mileage day at 35 miles. Honestly I wasn't sure
if I could do it but I did. It was Hike-40 and I was trying to beat the snow that was fore-
casted. Remember me saying earlier about the big snow I expected in March? This was
it....... or at least I thought it was. The next morning at the shelter I was surprised to see
on 4" of snow. That was good news for me. That meant I could still get some big miles in
that day. I was only expecting to get 10 to 15 due to the high snow fall forecasted. That's
why I pushed for the 35 miles the day before. But this also meant I would be pushing my
finish date up 1 day to the 18th instead of the 19th. As the days were winding down and
the amount of noise my hike was making in the HTS hiking community, I realized I
needed someone who could let the park service know what was about to happen so they
could prepare for the extra traffic. Plus they needed to organize the celebration at the fin-
ish. That's when I thought of my good friend Teri Samples. She told me not to worry and
that she would take care of it. And she did and then some. Not only did she notify the
park service but also all of our local TV channels and new papers. The celebration at the
finish was bigger than I had ever heard of or could've imagined. But more on that a little
later.

On March 18th 2017 I woke up ready to finish my 900-
Miler. It was hike (Hike-47). Nearly all of my closest friends
joined me. I could not have imagined finishing this
#fastestgsmnp900miler hike any other way. The trail was the
wettest I had ever hiked in, but we were not complaining. It was
good to be able to have my friends with me. We started out at
Trillium Gap trailhead that morning at 6:30. It had been raining
all night and was still raining. Grotto Falls was absolutely in-
credible. The water flow was more than it was the first time I'd
seen it. As we made our way up to the top of Trillium the water
and snow on the trail was unbelievable. So with completely wet
feet we were welcomed into the lodge by my friend Phillip
Clarkson to dry off and to have a cup of hot chocolate.

10 Smoky Mountain Hiker