Date: 2006-09-26
From: I-40 and gatlinburg

To: brown gap 
Miles today: 10.6

======2003====== Lord¢s Day, march 16, day 23 had our ¢sabbath¢ (rest) yesterday¢¦¢¦.can¢t say it was necessarily ¢holy¢, however¢¦¢¦gatlinburg made me sick¢¦.literally¢¦..(coughing¢¦.wheezing in the hotel room¢¦..diarrhea, too¢¦..restaurant food?.....carpets?....does my body already PREFER trail habitation?....what if, after 6 months, i¢m never able to ever live INSIDE again?!!)¢¦¢¦hmmmmm¢¦.in gatlinburg i found myself (unfortunately) among the ranks of all the other tourists indulging in EVERYTHING¢¦..here, we had the first real servings of cheese* in over a year ( bleu cheese dressing and parmesan over our spaghetti)¢¦..and then last night we stuffed down as much barbeque as we could into our shriveled hiker stomachs¢¦.GAG!.....(what ARE we doin¢?!!)¢¦..the ¢happy hiker¢ outfitters didn¢t make us all that happy (although charlie did get his new pack¢¦..$300!....yikes!...(that¢s why the ¢h. hiker¢ owner is happy!)¢¦..it was a ¢humbling¢ experience to shop there, though¢¦.they pretty much ignored us old folks¢¦.¢preening¢ for fancier, younger customers¢¦..one of the pitches i overheard declared that people with less expensive, 2 lb. packs (like me with my little ¢ghost¢)* MIGHT make it a couple of months, but CERTAINLY not all the way to katahdin!......(he looked straight at ME when he said this!)¢¦.and you know what?....they didn¢t even have any bungee cords!....i really need a small bungee cord!.....you can purchase anything you want in gatlinburg EXCEPT bungee cords!)¢¦¢¦am i sounding a little negative about gatlinburg?.....uhhhhhh¢¦..yes!....i¢ll be surprised if the chamber of commerce doesn¢t send a posse out after me to reel in my less-than-favorable advertising!)¢¦.i dunno¢¦¢¦just seems like that town has ¢demons¢ everywhere¢¦¢¦LITERALLY!...(you can even pay to go in just off the sidewalk to have them scare you to death!)¢¦¢¦but the ¢scariest¢ part of the day was standing in the foyer of an italian restaurant there looking at old photos of gatlinburg (cc 1890-1910) and then realizing as we walked back out onto the sidewalk that things had changed!...where did all the mountains go?!!...(all we could see were the roofs of souvenir shops!)...where was the river?...(even the sound of it had been absorbed into revving motorcycle and automobile engines!)¢¦..it was good to see the old photos, i guess, but i wondered¢¦..should they really ¢advertise¢ this tragic change?!!.....the ¢raping¢ of the mountains?....the onslaught of ¢progress¢ in an otherwise pristine place?....in one of those old photos i remember seeing an old white frame house that i could¢ve sworn lookin¢ down from the hotel window was still there ¢smothered¢ among the hot dog stands and other tourists attractions!......there are many LOVELY coves and ¢hollers¢ in these beautiful smoky mountains¢¦..alas¢¦this one got ¢filled in¢with commerce!...and you know what really wrenches me?....here we are, sucked right in there with everybody else!....me and paw¢¦¢¦we lined right on up with the other lemmings, strollin¢ the sidewalks steeped in exhaust and funnel cake fumes¢¦.listenin¢ to the hawkers and spring- breaking students and rumbling harleys and booming boxes!...yep!....there we were right where we said we would NOT be!.........ARRRRRRRGH!....GET ME BACK TO THE WOODS!!!..........okay¢¦..okay¢¦.enough belly-achin¢!.....gatlinburg turned out to be actually wonderful in one way¢¦..we were able to visit with tim and susan and the boys (which washed away the ¢horrors¢ of gatlinburg!) ¢¦.i think granddaddy had an especially good time ¢wrestling¢ with reed and his ¢grin-encapsulated¢ bottle!......AND¢¦..we did get to have showers and a nice bed!......looks like we¢ll have rain this week¢¦.we must try to remember the blessings of full springs and flowing water as we slog on up this wet ol¢ trail we¢ve come to love alreadywe walked up snowbird mtn after tim dropped us off¢¦.(met eric and christy as we went)¢¦about 5 12 miles (3 hrs)¢¦climbed 2800 ft¢¦.i¢m kinda tired today (i remember that diana reminded me there would be those ¢draggy¢ times once a month!)¢¦and my knee is hurtin¢ a little¢¦.perhaps because it¢s going to rain¢¦think we saw corydalis today for the first time¢¦(a little yellow flower on ¢dutchman¢s breeches-type¢foliage)¢¦¢¦saw a violet blooming, too¢¦..and pussy-toes¢¦and arbutus¢¦wood vetch¢¦.luzula¢¦and even a bud on a meadow rue!...so spring¢s comin¢¢¦..slowly!....we¢re at a very secluded (though near a road) spot at brown¢s gap¢¦.a campsite under hemlocks by a trickle of a stream¢¦.it¢s a full moon!*¢¦..didn¢t quite make our goal today¢¦.long day tomorrow, but get to see the balds!.....there may be thunderstorms coming¢¦an owl has called to us from beyond the rising of the moon¢¦¢¦.sleeeeeep!======2006======monday, march 6, day 23 (from deer park to ¢the pond¢ campsite 8.1 mi¢¦3 into hot springs¢¦.5 out)happy anniversary!.....started off drizzly¢¦cloudy¢¦..but turned off nice in hot springs¢¦.went to the library and sent an e-mail* to our ¢list¢¢¦.then went over to the outfitters to get our drop¢¦..elmer came in while we were there and we got to talk to him a few minutes¢¦our prayers are with this ¢hiker benefactor¢ who works so hard to provide rest, comfort and encouragement to those who are able to stay at his place¢¦..we thanked him for all his services to hikers (though we have never gotten to stay there)¢¦.at the post office we mailed my smelly old shoes back home and met yogi who hiked in ¢92¢¦he now owns the caf© across from the outfitters¢¦said he usually invites hikers over for a beer on the house, but he wasn¢t open until march 26th¢¦.i always wish that i might someday be able to do something like that¢¦a little restaurant or hostel or something along the trail¢¦.i wonder if God will ever use what we¢re learnin¢ out here on the trail to develop into something like that¢¦¢¦we got in early here to our ¢private pond¢¢¦¢¦and killeen built a fire! (an anniversary present!)¢¦.we¢ve never done that before, but it¢s been very nice to have had as we¢ve relaxed and enjoyed our supper¢¦.we¢ve even had time to do a little mending (my glove and rain pants)¢¦..and i love this special place here, high above the pond!....a perfect place to celebrate 11 years of marriage¢¦¢¦(uh oh!...i feel a mushy sentiment comin¢ on!...oh, what the heck!)¢¦i love Killeen more every day and am soooooo happy to be spending this time with him here again out on the ol¢ AT!....he just finished reading psalm 37 to me¢¦.we sang some songs together and now he¢s out like a light¢¦..snoring so contentedly!.....i think it might get cold here tonight¢¦.there were a few raindrops a little while ago¢¦.could turn into snow!.....so i look forward to snuggling down with my wonderful husband and resting before a big day tomorrow¢¦¢¦ Lord, you say to us, ¢fret not!¢¢¦¢¦..and so¢¦..here we are¢¦¢¦our lives are in your hands! *NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS ------*cheese¢¦.at home we tend toward a vegan diet which does not include dairy¢¦.. though our trail dinners were without meat or dairy, we usually indulged in any type of food in town¢¦.anything to cure our ravenous appetites and pump up the ¢caloric fuel¢!*ghost pack¢¦¢¦i love this little 2 12lb wonder by mountain hardwear!....and we met a few other folks on the trail who were using this pack, too¢¦..it has now delivered nearly 4000 miles for me and continues to perform well!....unfortunately i don¢t think they make them any more¢¦.don¢t know what i¢ll do when it does finally wear out!....*full moon¢¦..you¢ll never know how BRIGHT a full moon can be until you sleep under one!.....i remember on this particular occasion at brown gap finding it difficult to sleep with that ¢spotlight¢ overhead blaring down through the sil-nylon of our tarp!....a full moon can be beautiful, though, and would be perfect for night hiking (for those who favor it)* e-mail¢¦¢¦ ¢tech-ies¢ we are NOT!....but by 2006 we finally learned enough about this ¢new¢ way to communicate that we were able to keep in touch with a few of the folks at home¢¦¢¦we¢re still pretty slow on the computer, however, so i¢m glad we waited till we got home to do ¢trail journals¢¢¦¢¦computers have to be shared among the hiking community and there can sometimes be a line at the terminal¢¦.you must either make it very short or be speedy in your posting¢¦.i¢ve been reminded more than once that my time was up though i always tried to be conscious of time allotments and those other hikers who also needed their time at the terminal¢¦.for me, the best way was to journal on paper (as there are no computers in the woods!) and to actually write home on paper, too, encouraging the recipient to pass along your news