Date: 2009-04-05
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Green Corner Road (Standing Bear Farm Hostel, TN)
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: few clouds

Cell some if you find the right spot OG notesWe've had some good days of hiking, the weather was clear and warm. The forecast for tomorrow calls for 4 to 8 inches of snow in higher elevations and, of course, we'll be in higher elevation. We're hoping the fair weather hikers will wait in town and we'll get ahead of the maddening crowd.We're in a hostel that consists of a bunch of old buildings made into a bunkhose, cottage, kitchen, storeroom and showerhouse. Oops, I forgot there is also an outside Privy too. The beds have matresses, pillows, sheets and quilts. We're in the bunkhouse tonight, there are 7 bunkbeds. One bed doesn't have a matress so only 13 people can sleep here.I stayed here in 2006 and ended up in the cottage loft as an overflow spot. I like where we are now better, the bed is more comfortable.The hike is just starting to really come together. We've been hiking more than three weeks and over 200 miles. We just completed our first major park which has some strict rules we had to follow. The fun is about to begin now as we move forward. We'll still be hiking the North Carolina / Tennessee state line for the next few weeks. We'll be in towns in one state or the other and back and forth. We'll make a comment when we finally leave NC.That's about it for now, goodnight. C6 notesWe are out of the GSMNP. YAY!! The last two days of hiking there were beautiful, however, because we finally had beautiful days. Sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Coming down out of the park was back to mountain hiking like all the first couple of weeks were. A beautiful day. We finished our 10.4 miles early this afternoon, so we took showers, washed some of our clothes (with an old fashioned bucket, washboard, and wringer...look for the pictures when we're able to upload them!), picked up our supply box, enjoyed a pizza and some candy, and enjoyed some relaxing time with friends we've been hiking with. A lovely afternoon.I don't think I mentioned that both OG and I lost one toenail each a while back. We each are having trouble with another toe and will each lose a second toenail soon. The funny thing is that the toe is bothersome for a couple days, then stops hurting and looks hideous, and then a few days later the toenail falls off. My second toenail trouble started the first day we were hiking in the GSMNP. It's been bothering me since then. I've wrapped it. I hope it stops hurting soon. I'm so happy to be back in familiar hiking mountains. The GSMNP is hard. A while back I wrote about switchbacks...there are very few of them in the Smokies. Most of the time you are either going steeply uphill or downhill, or walking along the very top ridge of the mountain. We walked on some mountain ridges before the GSMNP also, but for short periods of time. The Standing Bear Farm hostel is quite nice. Full house tonight - probably because there are predictions for snow in the mountains tomorrow so people probably pushed hard to get out of the park. Unfortunately, when we head out tomorrow, we immediately go steeply uphill, and will probably end up in snow anyway. We'll be in more familiar territory though because we're back in terrain similar to what we hiked before the park. One thing I did like about the park though was that all of the shelters in the park sleep 12, and many of them have been renovated over the past few years, so they are quite nice. Shelters outsde of the park are very inconsistent.A lot of friends are at this hostel tonight - Old Gear, Red Leg, Braid, Gangsta, Alias (she's changing to "Sport"), Angry Beaver, Prarie Dog, Racheopod and a whole bunch of people whom I haven't learned their trail names yet. The people still arriving now have to pitch their tents.Our bad weather days have now outnumbered our good weather days. I've only had one flash thought of wanting to be home since we started though...the day I didn't have my pack packed correctly and the pain in my shoulders was so bad I thought I was going to throw up. I've had pain in my shoulders since then, but if I shift my pack around and change how the straps are tightened, it usually goes away. There are moments I even forget there's a pack on my back...only short moments, but it's nice to have that happen.The bad weather is hard to deal with, but I have no desire to quit. Old Goat & Check Six