Date: 2009-03-06
From: Mt Collins shelter

To: Newfound Gap (Gatlinberg)
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 20 Boots on the Ground > progress to date 204.7 milesN35 36.669 W83 25.540An easy day, only 4.5 miles to the road. Sounds are interesting on the trail. It is so quiet that small sounds are distinct, the wind is very noisy through the trees, the woodpecker sounds like a drummer with a fine tuned instrument and can be heard over long distances. Especially at night, sounds are amplified. Like the mouse in the cartoon using a flashlight to make his shadow look menacing the gnawing these mice do on the shelters at night make you think a giant carnivore is devouring your home. The snow melting and dropping off trees it all has a sound but manmade sounds are very infrequent. Jets you hear often but only for a bout a minute. This is the time it takes them to cover the same distance it takes me all day to accomplish. But the best sound of all is the sound of a road when you have been three or four days away from one. Traffic, civilization, we are saved !!!As we walked down today we passed through a magnificent sight. Hundreds of very old and very large pines had been pushed over by the winds. I have been told that acid rain (which this area gets a lot of) weakened the trees, then the pine beetle infested the trees and finally the big winds at the tops of the mountains pushed the trees over. Now when a tree over 100 feet tall goes over the rootball that comes out of the ground is enormous. Some as large as 20 feet across, up out of the ground bringing boulders with them. When these trees fall over the surrounding younger trees go with them and the forest is more horizontal than vertical in places. I saw at least 100 of these trees up rooted out of the ground.We passed Indian Gap road which until the 30's was a dirt road only 5 feet wide over the mountains. It was a tollroad and the pictures at the parking lot showed people walking with horse drawn sleds to bring supplies over the mountains. Sleds, not for snow but because the road was so uneven and rock infested that wheels would not work as well. At this parking lot after 3 miles of carefully traversing the frozen downward slopes Gearfreak stepped on to the pavement and immediately went down on his pack.Black ice. At Newfound Gap there is a parking lot with a good view so many tourists stop there. This is where we needed to get a ride to Gatlinberg (15 miles down the mountain). We hitched with my sign for about an hour. I told GearFreak that I was too scruffy and old looking and he being a mediterraneon looking 38 year old with 3 days growth that most people would think he was a terrorist. Our chances of getting a ride were slim. I worked the traffic with my sign and he walked up to people in the parking lot asking for a ride. The answer was usually , oh my car is too full, (Think Forest Gump - THIS SEAT IS TAKEN).Finally a truck went by , turned around and picked us both up. The driver was a painting contractor who had hiked the area with his sons and also knew a thru hiker. The hiker community is so friendly. He was a gentleman, never once saying how bad we smelled but only opening his window every once in a while.Thanks for the ride!!!Once in Gatlinberg we stopped at the visitor center where Karen, an older American like myself, greeted us with "THRU HIKERS I have been waiting for you".Karen is what you call a trail angel going out of her way to help hikers and to provide them with unexpected meals on the trail etc.. Gatlinberg is great but it is also the antithesis of hiking in nature. Everything is manmade and chinzy as the main strip is cluttered with gift stores, Ripley's thrill houses, arcades, Hard Rock cafes etc... We opted for the Shoneys all you can eat for 10.99 buffet. This being friday it only was right that I had fried shrimp, fish, hushpuppies, mac & cheese and cole slaw like they were having at the church fish fry back home. And that was only the first course.When I come back to civilization I can't drink enough and have purchased multiple diet drinks, juices, teas etc. I guess that iodine flavored water I drink in the mountains leaves a little to be desired. Now that things are warmer I will start filtering my watter instead of adding iodine. I have been afraid the filter pump would freeze.Staying in a cheap hotel that caters to hikers and because it is cheap the washing machine doesn't work. I went to six other hotels before I found a laundry room for guests. I am getting pretty good at blending into any hotel so I can use their amenities such as internet , laundry. etc. I haven't tried the free breakfast's yet but the trip is young.O.M. River