Date: 2016-05-03
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Roaring Fork Sheltet
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: light rain

Day 28: Woke up super early today. I forgot to mention Bojangles and his girl showed up at the shelter. I had not seen them since Fontana Dam. They were picking up their 2 dogs today Stella and Baxter. Gosh it made me miss Sandy Pup so bad. Had a cold breakfast of just a pop tart. The rain had stopped and it was just wet. I got on trail about 7:30 in the morning and started the hike down to the highway underpass. About 15 minutes into the hike it started to downpour. It poured for about 30 minutes. I came to the northern boundary and have left the Smokies. It was so amazing to be able to hike through the whole park. I got to the creek crossing which you cross the creek 5 times. The creek was in flood which made for an interesting crossing. It was kinda fun, it made me thankful for having boots on instead of trail runners. You had to submerge your entire foot to get across. I continued down and got to cross a river over a bridge, this being my first. I then got to the I-40 highway and was like what is that? Traffic?!!! Ha ha. It's so weird to see it after about a month. Luigi was stopping at Standing Bear Farm to get her package and I'm not sure if she was planning on staying. I hope we meet up again as I really enjoyed my two weeks hiking together. She really is a fantastic person. I then began the tough climb up snowbird mt. This climb was miserable. First to me the trail was poorly done. Between steep switchbacks and horrible side hilling then add mud and rivers running down it made for an unpleasant 4 mile trek straight up. When I got to the summit it was a bald in pea soup fog. So not much of a view. I trekked on descending down the other side. The sun finally broke through which made for a better day. I stopped at groundhog creek shelter for privy use and to have lunch. After lunch I had the next big climb up Max Patch. I counted and I had 15 assents and descents today. Made for tough going. The climb up Max Patch wasn't as miserable as Snowbird but it was very muddy and had 10 separate climbs which got you higher and higher in elevation. My legs were about ready to give up. Suddenly there was a sign that said .40 miles and you could see the grass. When I got to the official top it was pretty EPIC. An emotional moment which made the whole day of SUCK go away. Wow wow wow wow was said about 20 times. I then descended down max patch and met up with Feather. We hiked the rest of the way to the shelter. When I arrived at the shelter you could tell the pack is shrinking. There are only 8 people here tonight. 4 tenting and 4 in the shelter. I met Susan, Jc and Kate and Fryer Tuck. We all had a good time talking while making dinner. I feel pretty damn good considering I did 19.7 miles yesterday and 18.7 today. My hiker legs have arrived. Tomorrow I'm going into Hot Springs. It will be a long day of hiking before I get there but can't wait for a shower. Overall I'm doing ok. My feet are sore occasionally but not to bad. I have no blisters. My legs throb every now and then but no real issues with knees. The only real pain I experience is when I sleep my lower back sometimes is in pain. Especially if I end up on my back. Generally speaking though it only hurts at night. I forgot to mention that Davenport Shelter, the last in the Smokies still had the chain link fence in front of it with a door. It felt like we were a zoo for the wild life.