“The mid-March weather forecast was snow in Gatlinburg. I wanted to see the Appalachian Trail in white. I had painted this trail in the Fall season and I wanted a winter trophy. I drove up from Atlanta and arrived at the parking lot late Friday evening. The roads were closed late that night to traffic. Awakened by snow plows, Saturday morning, I began hiking northward up the Appalachian Trail from Newfound Gap. It was 24º and snowing. When I arrived at the Ice Water Springs shelter, the temperature had dropped to -5º, with a 30 mile an hour wind. It was a great day to be alive.”  —Larry Smith