Day 22-4/1-Cosby Knob Shelter to Davenport Gap-8 miles

My knee felt fine in the morning so I got a decent start and was looking forward to making the Standing Bear Hostel in the evening; I thought it would be an easy 10 miles of mostly downhill. A couple miles in I hit the split for the Mt. Cammerer trail, which I was assured would lead me to a firetower worth the half mile of hiking not on the AT. This stone tower awaited me, apparently one of the last in the East. It was restored fairly recently, and was more elusive than firetowers previous. Most of the ones I have climbed so far have been tall steel structures, but this was a short masonry lookout which climbed not so far above the surrounding rocks. The views were impressive, despite the haze that limited visibility. They don't call it the Smokies for nothing. I spent about an hour lounging around in the sun, and took advantage of the elevation to text some April Fool's pranks, which were well received. Then it was off for what I had hoped would be another three hours free of knee pain. I was wrong.
The trail continued downhill for what seemed like an eternity. I have never prayed for an increase in elevation like I did then. The brief respites of level ground quickly gave way to more downhill and excruciating left knee pain. I was bummed about the pain, but more bummed that I would have to take more zero days ahead for some time to heal up. I get very anxious when I am not moving. I made it to Davenport Gap, with a few miles to go before reaching the hostel, but decided discretion was the better part of valor and called for a pickup. The owner met me within twenty minutes and took me the 15 minute drive down gravel backroads to the hostel. I grabbed a bunk at what was an empty house and checked out the accommodations. A bunkhouse with 20 beds, an old school outhouse, and even older school laundry with a washboard and rollers, and a resupply room all on the honor system. I am typing this on a desktop that might as well reside outdoors with a dial up connection at one dollar for every 15 minutes. The people are definitely relaxed and a creek runs right through the middle of the property. I even have the choice between indoor and outdoor showering.
It wasn't long until a beer run was discussed, involving an 10 minute one way trip up to the next exit and a gas station. They also sell fried chicken. My main reason for going was to get some ice for my knee, but the beer was an ancillary benefit. I gathered some cash from the others interested and we were off. After dodging a rock slide on I-40 we were quickly there, and my choices of beer had enthralled me. My driver, a temporary employee of the hostel, had struck up a conversation with a local he knew in the parking lot. Before I could decide on a brew that was both cheap and tasty the local, a middle aged woman with a wrinkly face and quick smile, had approached me in the store. She asked if I would buy her beer. I was stunned, not knowing if she was really asking charity for alcohol. After some questioning she handed me six dollars, the cost of the six-pack. This confused me even more, as she was clearly of drinking age. Assuring myself this wasn't an attempted straw purchase, my curiosity was piqued. She quickly explained herself by leaning in and whispering, "I need to get out of her; I have a possum on my head." At first I assured myself by assuming a diminished mental capacity, being very familiar with the issue given my previous profession. Then I actually looked at the top of her head.
I cannot make this stuff up, people. There was a possum on her head. It was small, and considering its eyes were closed I couldn't be sure if it was real, but it had blended in with her graying hair. After a brief movement that could only be attributed to either a living creature or animatronics, I admitted to myself that she might have been truthful in her previous statements. Either way I had her money so I couldn't see the downside on my end.
A few cases of beer and some fried chicken later, I had made it to the parking lot. My new friend quickly took her beer. She informed me that she was a mammal rehabilitator and that she would be over to the hostel shortly to hang out. I stopped asking questions and just went with it. Once returning to the hostel the beer helped settle my nerves and the chicken my stomach. The rest of the night could only be downhill from here.

Day 21-3/31-Tri-Corner Knob Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter-7.7 miles

After the knee problems of the day before I wanted to see if a short day would help. With the rains of the previous day and overnight, none of the clothes on our makeshift clotheslines inside the shelter had dried. I decided on the wet socks since my fresh pair would most likely just become soaked again from the inundated trails. Most everyone was out early as usual, but since my short day should have only entailed three hours of hiking at my usual pace, I decided to hang about in the morning and relax a bit. The sun fought the fog and mist all morning, but had not yet been victorious by 11:30 AM. I had reached my breaking point for sitting around, so I headed out.
After about thirty minutes the fog had receded and an easy day of hiking and some lovely views were ahead of me. Less than five miles in my knee was at it again, and any hopes of pushing farther for the day were shelved. Cosby Knob Shelter came early. I found Bogey and Hat, roommates from the night previous, there already, both having left much earlier than me. Dinner was early (mac and cheese) and then the waiting game for darkness and bedtime. Many more people came in during the evening, with a shelter designed for 12 soon holding 17. More girls than I have seen in a while had stopped there for the night, with almost half our numbers being female, definitely unusual for the average gender make-up of the thru hiking crowd. We had a fire going in the fireplace all evening, and all the socks were quickly dried with special attention paid to the prevention of unfortunate ancillary fires. With such a late start and early finish, I was stir crazy by the time nature turned the lights out.

Day 20-3/30-Newfound Gap to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter-15.6 miles

I packed and headed out to the outdoor store around 9:00 AM, knowing they had a shuttle leaving for the Gap at 11. I don't know many hikers who want to start the day at 11:30 AM, but I'm sure they have their reasons for the schedule. Reaching the outfitters I found all four spots on the shuttle reserved, so after a breakfast biscuit, chocolate milk, and root beer at the store across the street my next order of business involved finding a ride. I met another hiker, Bomber, who was also heading out, so we set up at a couple strategic locations hoping to hitch. Within 20 minutes I had a car stop, and convinced the driver to also pick up Bomber just up the street. It turns out the driver was a Ridge Runner, a paid position funded by the Appalachian Trail Conference who was on his way to work for the day. He is a previous thru-hiker, and had landed one of three spots in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park after working further north for the ATC over previous seasons. He stays in a house in Gatlinburg provided by the ATC for his position as well as the trail maintenance workers.
The half hour trip was spent swapping trail stories as is so often the case when other hikers are involved. I found out Bomber is a former EMT from New York who is joining the Air Force after his thru-hike is finished. I saw Loophole and Sleeping Beauty when we arrived at Newfound Gap and did some catching up with them. They had gone with some friends to Asheville, NC from the NOC when I had last seen them, and spent two zero days there. They were just now getting into the Gap and were about to get a ride into town for at least the night. Mission, and his buddies Dundee and Knuckles who had joined us at Hiawassee, were also going to be there. I then took off for 15 miles on what I hoped were fresher muscles and a healed knee.
Four miles into the trail I hit Charlie's Bunion. A great opportunity for pictures as you can see, it is in my opinion one of the highlights of the trail so far for natural views. As I mentioned earlier, some of the best views previously have been from firetowers, which don't really have the same spacious feel as being on top of an exposed rock. This section north of Newfound Gap would become highly recommended for anyone with only a few days of hiking available on the AT. Rain had been predicted for the day, and it didn't take a degree to see that it was indeed coming from the West. At about ten miles in the rain was reaching me and I was very near a shelter, but I wanted to put the five miles to the next shelter behind me before stopping for the night. It was a deliberate decision to get wet. It started slowly but built quickly and soon I was soaked. My knee was feeling the pain again and it was slightly chilly, but I made the shelter in about two hours as expected, and quickly changed into a dry top. Bomber set up a mouse trap for the night, which I was a fan of, and dinners were cooked. Everyone was in their sleeping bags early, which was fine with me. Maybe an hour and a half after we were all asleep I hear the sound of more hikers coming in. Unpacking bags and cooking dinner are a necessarily noisy affair, but the three hikers were making no attempt to keep it down. Bomber informed them of the fire which could use some more wood and the clotheslines which had extra space they were welcome to. Then I tried to get back to sleep. As some context I brought earplugs on this trip initially at the recommendation of others for shelter sleeping. Snoring and other noises were reportedly unbearable. I sent them home quickly thereafter realizing that my ability to sleep through anything at home conveniently carried over to the trail. These guys were loud enough that I couldn't sleep for an hour. Finally another in the shelter asked them to whisper, which I think got the message across.
In the morning, I was the last of the thru-hikers to leave. The three section hikers were still there, cooking breakfast and complaining about the previous night. They were in agreement that they had hiked ten miles yesterday too, and that they didn't know there were listed quiet hours for the shelter. They seemed to miss the point that no one was begrudging them cooking dinner or unpacking, but outside voices with seven people clearly asleep next to them was less than courteous.

Day 19-3/29-Gatlinburg, TN-Zero miles

Gatlinburg was entirely as touristy as I remembered and then some. The day consisted mostly of trying to find a legitimate local restaurant to ravage. Crawdaddies sounded the most appetizing for lunch, but surprising a list of about five different types of po' boys did not have a crawfish variety among them. I was informed that they did not stock peeled crawfish, and in fact the only item on their menu worthy of their name was broiled crawfish. A grouper po' boy, seafood gumbo, and lobster mac and cheese rounded out the ordering, and I was saddled with an overly friendly waitress for the entire length of the meal. After gathering enough information about me to write a small biography, I was able to chew enough to finish  my food. I went back to the hotel, did some laundry, and took a nap. The best I could manage for dinner was Johnny Rocket's, but the staff was entertaining enough to make the food bearable. I neglected to visit one of the 17 different variations of museums Ripley's has been kind enough to contribute to the local culture, and went to bed early. Don't go to Gatlinburg unless someone is paying you.

Day 18-3/28-Double Spring Gap Shelter to Newfound Gap-10.8 miles

The start of the day brought Clingman's Tower, a concrete ramp that takes many tourists up to an overlook. The ramp isn't on the AT, but a short hike off trail. The trail also reaches it's highest point as it crests Clingman's Dome. When I reached the top the views were minimal due to cloud cover and the wind was very strong and quite cold. No tourists had reached the top yet. I had noted that some of the best views that I had seen so far had all come from man-made structures. I hoped for something more natural, and I wouldn't have to wait long.

(Just in case you were wondering, no, I didn't take this picture.)

Obviously it's got to be downhill from here, and as I dropped down 1500' my knee began to hurt. It wasn't far until Newfound Gap, which is where hikers who need to resupply in Gatlinburg can hop off the trail and hitch a ride. I hadn't planned on stopping in Gatlinburg, having been there multiple times before, the first being enough. I decided to stop, though, because my fuel bottle had been leaking meaning I didn't have enough to cook for the next several days, and because I felt my knee could use the rest. The forest had a different feel through this section, being primarily evergreen and very enclosed compared to most other parts. Due to the recent rains the trail was quite wet, and it looked like a similar problem had caused many of the trees in this section to uproot at some point. You can see how small my pack is in the lower-left for scale. I also crossed some strange-looking grates near some of the only fences I had seen on the trail. Signage informed me that the grates kept the invasive wild hog out of a protected area. No hogs were seen.


When I hit Newfound Gap I caught several of the hikers that I had stayed with the night previous. They were going to continue hiking out of the Smokies, while I hitched a ride the 15 miles into town with a couple from Alabama. I called Squatch when I arrived to see if he was still in town. He was, and he already had a room for the evening so we agreed to split it. We caught the trolley out to the only grocery store around for a resupply and hit up dinner at the Brewery. Apparently it was a popular spot because the waitress let me know they were out of everything I attempting to order. Dollar beers after nine made up for it.

Day 17-3/27-Spence Field Shelter to Double Spring Gap Shelter-13.5 miles

The day started normal enough, but I quickly realized I had absolutely no energy. The day before had been a big one, and I'm convinced I simply didn't eat enough, even though I forced down two dinners before bed. I spent the entirety of the day attemting to catch up on food, eating bars much more often than usual and even stopping at Derrick Knob Shelter to cook lunch, something I have not done much. Mac and cheese with 800 calories plus a whole roll of summer sausage was on the menu, and I hoped that would get enough energy into my system to get me back up to speed. It didn't.
The six miles to that shelter had been harder than the entire previous day, and others that I talked to were feeling the same way. The day had no long ups or downs, but it was a series of many shorter ones. Dinner conversation turned to politics. I seemed to be alone in my stance that smaller government was better, with what seemed like a consensus developing that all social programs needed to be more effective was more funding. I enjoyed the debate for sure. Dan, you would have been all over that one, though I think I did a good job without you. 

Day 16-3/26-Fontana Dam to Spence Field Shelter-17.9 miles

The hike out of Fontana was long, starting at 1700' elevation and climbing all the way to 4800'. Initially you walk across the dam itself and then follow the road to reach the woods again. I felt pretty strong and did the entire climb without much of a break. There was a firetower about 6 miles in that I skipped, as it was not directly on the trail. I heard from others later that it was in disrepair and those that had climbed it were scared it would fall at any time. This is the day when you hit the TN/NC border. The trail will follow that border for quite sometime, with views to your left in TN and views to your right in NC. Coming off the zero day I decided to skip a couple of the shelters and push to Spence Field Shelter, making for a long day. I still reached the shelter with plenty of daylight, and met a couple section hikers. One was a teacher from Chicago. He said his students could not understand why he would spend his spring break in the woods.