Chapter 7 Summary

Four days after leaving Franklin, Bryson and Katz reach the Smoky Mountains National Park, a beautiful but rigorous hike across North Carolina and part of Tennessee. That first night they camp in a dirty and rodent-infested shelter with a chain-link fence across the front to keep out bears. After a night of defending their sleeping bags from mice, they set out in the morning in fog and drizzle and then hike nine miles in a driving rain. That night's camping shelter is crowded, and Bryson is pestered by a nosy man who wants to talk hiking equipment. The next four days they walk in steady rain, camping at night in more shelters crowded with Spring Breakers. On the third day they reach Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the AT. Normally it offers a spectacular view, but that day everything is shrouded in...