Date: 2011-04-10
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Off trail, 2 miles past Standing Bear Farm
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

So long, Smokies. The trail was mostly downhill on the way out. A little tough on the knees, but not terrible. Super fast. I stopped for lunch at Davenport Shelter. I¢d heard all the shelters used to have fences out front. This one still did. I¢d been picturing a fence around them, but they actually just run chain link across the opening and put a door in the middle. It looks miserable. Someone said it looked like sleeping in the drunk tank. After the trail left the park, it was low enough that there was a ton of green. It also followed a really nice and big stream. It was a very pretty stretch and warm enough that it was tempting to go for a swim. As it neared 40, the trail followed the road and crossed a big bridge over the Pigeon Forge river, which was about as big as the western Potomac. After that, we went under 40 along the underpass. The trail went up sharply after it got back into the woods and it was actually crazy hot. I kept dipping my hat in the streams, but it barely helped.I got to the road to Standing Bear at about 5:30 and went up. I wasn¢t sure about staying, but I had to get two days of food to get to Hot Springs.Standing Bear is someone¢s house with a creek in front and several rough buildings around that. There¢s a shed full of food and gear, bunkhouses, and a kitchen, all around the fire pit next to the spring. Vegan food was a little sparse, but I found a box of rotini and a can of sauce. Most everyone was there, so my plan was to hang out, cook my food, pack the leftover, then get up the trail a mile or two and camp. Wayland had got a ride to town for a couple cases of Bud and a ton of friend chicken. A few other people had done the same with fancier beer. While my food was cooking, Click and Long Time gave me a Fat Tire and Shadow gave me an IPA that was really good. Cotton got a fire going before dark, so we all sat around eating and drinking and listening to Wayland on the guitar. I also talked quite a bit to one of the guys who worked there, Jeff. He was totally nuts and really funny. Cotton and Natty were also planning on getting up the trail, but the later it got, the more we were all deciding to just pay to camp in the field there. Unfortunately, the owner came down and a really unpleasant scene played out a little before 10:00. I told Cotton and Natty I definitely wasn¢t staying there after that. They agreed, so Wayland and the three of us packed up and hit the trail a bit before 11:00. We hiked about two miles up the crazy steep climb, which was hard, but fun. Cotton is the lizard whisperer. We saw a toad as big as a baseball, several large salamanders, and a snake.We found a nice spot by a creek and got a fire going. We¢d carried up the last of the beer, so finished that along with some snacks and Wayland played some more. It¢s crazy late, but I¢m glad we left. Camping off trail with a nice fire was the perfect move for our first night out of the Smokies. I just burned up my permit. Getting up tomorrow will be tough, but it¢s also nice to have those first two miles of that bad climb under our belts. And look who did two 13 mile days in a row.