Date: 2015-03-18
From: Newfound Gap

To: Tri Corner Shelter
Miles today: 15.8

Princess asked the shuttle driver for the earliest possible time to drive us to the trailhead at Newfound Gap and it turned out to be 7:00 am. This corresponded to a 5:30 start for us since we had to pack everything up and clear out of the motel. Our 2 zero days went by quickly. We packed for 2 days on the trail with one overnight in a shelter. The second day of hiking should bring us into Standing Bear Hostel where we expect to stay 2 nights. The hostel has a well stocked store where we plan to buy what we need for 2 more days into Hot Springs. That's the schedule for the rest of the week. The trip out to the gap took about 30 min and the shuttle driver told us some of the high points of her 6 years of experience with taking hikers to and from the trail. One of her most interesting recollections was shuttling a deaf & mute hiker. He was doing a solo thru-hike and he carried a small modified chalkboard for communication. She said it was a little difficult to use the chalkboard and drive at the same time, but she managed. She was very pleasant and dropped us at the gap just a few minutes before sunrise. I took advantage of the public privy and then we headed up the hill. Today's hike was fairly simple. We climbed up a long hill for an hour or two and then we walked along a series of ridges for most of the rest of the day. The ridges connected a series of hills so we had a number of small ups and downs. We spent most of the day at elevations ranging from the mid 4,000's to over 6,000 feet. It was a picture-perfect day for hiking. Partly sunny, but cool so we didn't overheat. There were many spectacular long-range views of the surrounding Smokeys. The trail was dry and in excellent condition. But there were occasional patches of persistent ice. It's hard to believe since the day temps have been into the 60s and even 70s, but there are spots on the northern slopes that don't catch any sun. We saw a few new hikers along the way. Four of them were SoBo section hikers. A young, strong hiker from New Hampshire named Sam flashed by us and we didn't expect to see him again. But we found him a little further along munching on a sandwich at a view point. We leapfrogged several times and he eventually ended up in the shelter with us. We also passed another couple, Quattro and Harken, but never saw them again. And we passed Furball, and she also made it to our shelter tonight. When we rolled into the Tri Corner Shelter about 2:30, there were 3 section hikers taking a snack break and they eventually moved on. So we were the first thru-hikers to stop here. That's important because we've learned that the park service retains 4 slots in each shelter every day for thru-hikers and then puts the rest into the reservation system. And when we checked out the reservation system several weeks ago, no slots were available at any of the shelters where we've stayed. So we hurried to get here first. But it didn't matter since the shelter hasn't filled up and all but 2 are thru-hikers, and the only one who actually had a reservation decided to sleep in a tent. Princess and I climbed into our bags early, so I don't know how many hikers ended up here, probably about a dozen. We did meet Pa Bert, Bruin and Sid. Sid built a fire to cook his dinner, but it didn't last and no one kept it up. There's no cell service here. And now it's dark, the cold has driven everyone else into their bags, and the snoring has started. I'm going to call it a night too. Except that now I need a bio-break and I can't remember where I put my pee bottle. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. Over and out from Tri Corner Shelter.