Date: 2015-03-21
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up a lot in the night, partly because of all the snoring, and partly because of just being generally uncomfortable. After 7am, Deerdog came into the shelter and told us that we all have to go outside and check out the sunrise. This was excellent news, because it meant that first the fog had finally lifted and second that it was actually sunny.It remained sunny for the majority of the day, with some breezes. Another beautiful hiking day at last. There is still a surprising amount of ice around though, and I slipped on a big patch of it about 5 mins from the shelter. Today we had decided to walk 20 miles, so I knew I had to eat a lot to get through it. I started with instant oats, 2 poptarts and a banana. Later for snacks I had a Twinkie and trail mix. Then lunch was pepperoni with 2 tortillas, a hostess chocolate thing and choc chip cookies. Then my snacks were some salted peanuts and 2 granola bars. My dinner was a pasta side, then I had a second dinner which was dehydrated rice and beans (from Freshgrounds) combined with plain instant mash. Then hot chocolate. Hiking is expensive in terms of food bills if you want to do long mileage days. I walked behind Brightside for the first couple miles, and we finally saw the spectacular views that we had been missing the past few days. The Smokies really are beautiful. There were views of miles and miles of trees and mountains. On the other side of the mountains, we could see for what looked like hundreds of miles across America. We could see dips and hills and towns and lakes. It was just incredible.The trail itself also becomes more beautiful in the sunlight, and suddenly all the greenery is visible. The sunlight was streaming through the gaps in the pine trees, which provided shade but didn't make the trail too cold. I stopped quite a few times to take photos. After a few hours, I managed to get some new blisters. The ones that were causing me a problem before have healed mostly. But the new ones are even bigger and more painful. Both my heals are practically polished and just waiting to get blisters. The biggest problem by far today was the blisters. The 20 miles didnt put too much strain on my muscles. My hips, knees and shoulders all feel pretty decent. It's just my feet that are having the biggest problem adjusting. Blisters are the bane of my existence right now. Before lunchtime, Brightside and I met a Ridgerunner, who checked our Smokies passes and chatted with us a little. I think her name was Twinkletoes. Her job is to walk along the trail, about 6-7 miles a day, to clear the trail of any debris and saw branches where necessary, as well as direct visitors and try to keep everyone informed about the trail and park rules. On days like today, she has a wonderful job. Then, Brightside and I had lunch, whilst Laughtrack (who stayed with us last night) caught up with us. Brightside then walked the next 2 1/2 miles in her crocs to try to alleviate her blisters. I met Frodo (of the Rhode Island Express) at the next shelter, where he was relaxing in the sun. He walks very fast so he seems to take more time on breaks and pays a lot of attention to the nature around him. I tried to do a repair job to my blisters whilst there, but it had minimal effect for the 8 miles that were left to hike.We left camp at 8.30am and I arrived at the last shelter at 5pm. I didn't go at all fast after lunch since my blisters were being absolutely killer. I look forward to the day when I can walk that far without the constant painful reminder. There were many times throughout the day when I deliberately walked on the moss it mud because it was softer on my blisters than the rocky trail path. Less than hour before hitting camp, I bumped into Brightside who was having a random nose bleed. She's doing fine now, but I hope the blood on her things doesn't attract any wild animals. The shelter is quite a big one, but has a lot of section hikers in it. Fortunately, Brightside, Laughtrack and Bowie (spelling?) wanted to camp outside anyway. The section hikers were all in their sleeping bags by 7pm, whilst the thru hikers were still outside by the fire. I also finally managed to get my socks dry today (by the fire). I tried to dry them in my sleeping bag last night but only succeeded in making my sleeping bag smell like damp socks. Tomorrow we will be doing either 15 or 18 miles, but either way, we have to stop at a hostel to pick up Brightside's drop box. That's about mile 11. I burst my big blisters as soon as I got into camp today, so I'm desperately hoping they will have healed a bit in time for another long day tomorrow. Also hoping for another dry day. That would be great. We're nearly done with the Smokies already, so I'd like just one more day of spectacular views. The thru hiker permit allows us 8 days to get through the Smokies. It will have taken us 5, even with our stopover in Gatlinburg.The great news is that we're nearly at Hot Springs, where just about everyone plans to take a zero day. By then it will have been a week since I had reliable internet, so I'll be able to update my journal, email my family/friends and sort all the academic stuff. I hope my family hasn't been too worried about my radio silence, but it can't be helped out here on top of the mountains.