Date: 2008-03-08
From: Mount Collins Shelter NC

To: Grand Prix Hotel - Gatlinburg TN
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: light snow

Day 20 ¢ Saturday, March 8¢ Gatlinburg TN ¢ Miles Today: 4.5 Total Miles: 204.6This will probably be a day that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. Yesterday afternoon while we were napping in the shelter, a father and a 13-year-old son arrived; they were section hikers. We were feeling pretty ill by this time. Absolutely no energy. We pleaded our case and begged that we were sick, dehydrated and needed help filtering water and please sir, would you go out in the cold rain and filter our water? He did so without question. We were most appreciative to having a little bit of water to quench our thirsts! Our appetites have diminished even more.   For dinner we split a Promax bar. Not really enough to survive on given our energy requirements. Both Grasshopper and Brakeman are feeling the effects now of a flu bug. Brakeman says his food is backed up to his throat and can¢t get anything to go down.Throughout the night it was windy and we had more scattered rain. It was so windy that the tarp over the fence in front of the shelter was literally torn down. It also sounded like a limb fell on the roof sometime in the night. Glad we were in a shelter and not a tent!We were up around 6:00, hoping that our flu bug was over and that perhaps we could do our 15 miles today. Our backup plans were to do just 8 miles to the next shelter or perhaps even hitch out on US441. So around 7:00 we headed on out. It was snowing; we probably had about an inch on the ground. The terrain was relatively good, meaning easy; we made pretty good time. Grasshopper, though, was definitely feeling the flu bug. Her bug seems to be trailing Brakeman's by a day or two. By 9:20, we hit US441 and with the weakness in our legs and everything, we decided that we needed to hitch out to Gatlinburg and try to get well. We didn't see anybody at Newfound Gap area nor did we see any tracks in the snow on the road. It was Saturday at 9:20am. We feared that the road was closed. But with a hopeful, optimistic outlook, we hung by the road for a while. Drats, still no activity.   Grasshopper then went to the rest room to keep warm while Brakeman stood watch alongside the road. Soon he heard someone coming! He was able to flag them down. It was a North Carolina snowplow! As a result of doing this, he learned that the entire US441 road was closed and the Tennessee plows weren't running. He explained that we were ill and that we needed to get to Gatlinburg. The man said he would radio down and have somebody come up from the Tennessee side to get us. We figured this was so cool - we're going to get a ride in a snowplow! How many people get to ride in a snowplow! He told us to wait in the rest rooms and that they'll come get us when they get there. But being a bit anxious, we kept peeking out the rest room door to see if anyone was coming. About half an hour later, we headed out and sure enough here came our rescuers. DRATS, it was not a snowplow.   It was a park ranger SUV. Double drats. We are now officially two rescued hikers as far as the park rangers are concerned. We felt pretty silly.   Here¢s our conversation:Us: You mean you came up just for us?Rangers: YeahUs: You didn't come up here for any other reason?Rangers: No.Us: Oh, we thought the Tennessee snowplow people were going to come get us.Rangers: Not a problem. We needed to check out the road conditions and see how many cars were parked here that could be related to hikers and pick up some mail from the North Carolina side.Us: Well, we surely do appreciate your support. We give each year to the GSMNP. Sounds like we¢ll be doubling our contribution for this year! Thank you so much!Rangers: No problem, but I¢m not going to shake your hands since you all are sick!On the way down the mountain we noted that the outdoor temperature, as shown on the ranger¢s car thermometer, was 22 degrees. It was a bit colder than we realized. Hiking keeps us pretty warm. With the wind chill it would have been a bit colder as it was a pretty windy. Still a pretty day with the snow coming down and the evergreens that we got to walk through. Some of the trail, though, was really a mess. It was running with water. There were spots that were like quicksand. Our boots almost got sucked off our feet. But as we got lower on the mountain, it turned into just more of a snowy trail. Much easier to walk on.The rangers were real nice and didn't make us feel like too much of a sap. They dropped us off at the Outfitter in Gatlinburg, which is where our guidebook said to go to find out which motels were hiker-friendly. The outfitter recommended a motel just a couple blocks away called the Grand Prix Motel. We walked there, and while we were checking in we just happened to notice that they had glazed donuts and coffee for their guests! Oh yeah, life has gotten really good again. We¢re out of the snow and we have food! Grasshopper had 2 donuts, while Brakeman opted for one plus a coffee. So much for our sick stomachs. We thought we needed to get off the trail because we're sick but here we are eating glazed donuts. After getting settled in our room, we headed out in search of lunch. Oh yeah, we found great big huge hamburgers and French fries!   After lunch while walking back to the motel, we spotted a little grocery store where we bought chocolate milk, Oreos and candy bars. The young man who waited on us asked, ¢Needing a chocolate fix?¢   It¢s the foundation of the food pyramid, silly! Gotta have chocolate! We spent most of the afternoon resting in bed watching HGTV. However, by early evening the bug had hit Grasshopper full force and every time she ran for an emergency trip to the bathroom, Brakeman, gracious soul that he is, mentioned ¢How about an all you can eat pancake breakfast tomorrow?¢ To which Grasshopper responded, ¢If you even mention the word ¢food¢ one more time, you are dead meat.¢Our game plan is to hang out in the motel for two nights; hopefully shake this bug and then head on to Hot Springs, which will put us two days behind the original schedule, but that's no problem. That's what it's all about - laying out a game plan and winging it from there. So from two sick dogs in touristy Gatlinburg, it's 7:10, past hiker's midnight and time to sign off. Let's hope these two sick dogs are two well dogs soon, as we've got miles to cross and states to conquer. Good night.