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.