The Best Surprise Ever

4:45am my alarm starts going off. I reach around trying to find my phone to turn it off. I sit up and eat a couple granola bars before starting to pack up. It was a very slow pack up as it was cold and I wasn’t moving too fast. Around 5:40 we all started hiking. We had about 3 miles to get to Clingmans Dome.

About 15 minutes into the hike, I was sweating and knew it was time to ditch the beanie and puffy. I let the rest of the crew pass me so I could shed a layer before I kept going. The hike wasn’t too bad honestly. I had extra motivation knowing I was hitting 200 miles and the highest point on the trail within an hour. I figured I had to be getting close so I pulled out my phone and it said I was only a half mile from the top. A couple minutes later I came to a fork in the road. The first thing I read on the sign was I still had .6 miles to go. There was no way, but then I read the top that said Clingmans Dome Bypass. The actual trail was only .3 miles left.

As I came to the place where the trail meets the road, I was so excited. I had been here with my parents only 7 months earlier. I remember walking up that road knowing, only a few short months later, I would be hiking past this exact same spot. There was a group walking up the hill that was visiting the park on spring break. I talked with them during the last couple minutes of the walk.

As I was walking up the spiral walkway to the top of the observation tower, I was scanning the people looking for Burp, Salamander, Chloe, and Ringer. I was so confused because not I only did I not see them, but there was no way they didn’t beat me up here.

When I got to the top, there was a lawn chair facing away from me with a sign on the back that said, “Tap if you’re Miss Morgan aka the Sloth.” I was so confused. I knew it must be for me especially because my family calls me Syd the Sloth, but why was it there. I could tell a girl was sitting in the chair, but from what I could see I didn’t recognize her. I walked up and tapped the chair and the girl stood up and turned around. She went to give me a hug and she told me the hug was from Cheryl, who’s my mom. In my head I was thinking, “no way, this is the sweetest thing.” I put my poles down as I turned over my shoulder. Another girl said she had a hug to give me from Chelsea, my sister. My emotions got the best of me as tears welled up in my eyes. I was confused by how my family coordinated all this l but was overwhelmed by how thoughtfully planned out it was.

After I hugged the second girl, another girl told me that there was a guy that was supposed to give me a hug from my dad. Expecting there to be some random guy from their group, I turned around. All the sudden a guy standing on the other side of the observation deck turns around. Immediately I recognized the bucket hat and brown plaid shorts...it was my dad. I walked over to him and threw my arms around his neck and squeezed so tight. Tears of joy started to flow. I couldn’t believe he was here.

When I texted them last night about the sunrise hike, he hopped in the car and drove all the way here. Just about then, the rest of my group all got to the top. They had taken the bypass so I had gotten ahead of them. I introduced them all to Dad and he revealed his hiker treasure chest in the form of a cooler full of grapes, Oreos, and Snickers. It was a huge hit and he soon became known as Snicker Daddy. We all hung out for a while, laughing, taking pictures, and getting really excited when just a glimpse of sun tried to peer through the clouds.

I walked down to the parking lot to hang out for a couple hours while the rest of the group moved on to try and head into Gatlinburg to get some food. The hours flew by as I told stories about the last 3 weeks and we talked about everything happening back home. I was just still in shock that he was here.

Time flew by too quickly and we walked back to the top of the hill so I could head back on trail. Saying goodbye was hard, but the surprise was so worth the goodbye. I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked down the trail. Over and over I replayed walking up the ramp, seeing the chair, all the emotions that flooded through my mind, seeing him turn around, and the feeling of his hug.

A little into my hike I ran into Paul and Marie, a couple I had met about a week ago when I was in Franklin. I walked with them for the next hour or so chatting about life and the trail. We walked all the way to Newfound Gap where they were getting off for a day.

Newfound Gap was an experience. For a while I couldn’t tell if I felt like a celebrity or a zoo animal. I decided a zoo animal was more appropriate. You had people wanting to take your picture, throwing food at you, and like everyone staring at you as they walked by.

With my belly full and some extra snacks in hand, I finished out the last 3 or so miles to the shelter. I found the most perfect spot to put my tent and the view from the shelter was beautiful. Opening my tent in the morning to the sunrise would have been perfect if only it wasn’t supposed to rain tomorrow.

I made a quick dinner and then headed to my tent for the night. I kept replaying in my head how how perfect my day was. I’m just reminding myself that I’m going to think about today when it starts dumping rain on me in the morning.