Date: 2019-04-20
To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 22.8

4/20: Unplanned Zero Day. The ParkRangers gave notice that the Park and all roads in it would remain closed all this day, and maybe the next which would be Easter Sunday. To start with, I had tried to clean the mud off my tent using thebathtub, and then hung it to dry overnight. This did not go well,and Boo Boo through the place looked like a crime scene. We cleanedit up as best we could, but because we were not planning on stayingmore than one night, we did not have a reservation for another night,and the Appy Lodge was booked up, so we had to move. Sidney JamesMountain Lodge welcomed us in for that Saturday night, and it wascloser to where we would need to be when the trail reopened. Boo Booinformed me that I was not going to hang my tent in this bathroom.Ended up, we had a room with a balcony, so we could dry everything weneeded to out on it.Story of the day. The bus picksus up in the middle of a puddle for safety. After we had checked intoAppy Lodge hotel, and gotten cleaned up, it was time to head intodowntown Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg has a nice bus system, and we foundit's loops worked very well for us. One of the bus stops was in ourhotel's parking lot. All we had to do was go outside and sit at thebus stop. A few minutes later, a bus pulled into the lot to pick usup. It had been raining all day, and right in front of the bus bench,there was a very large water puddle. I signal for the driver to stopshort of the puddle, but she would not. She stopped in the middle ofthe very large puddle. As we came around the bus, I asked the driverto pull forward a few feet to get out of the middle of this verylarge puddle, again, she said no. We had to board the bus with wetfeet due to where she stopped. As we got on the bus, I asked thedriver, what kind of customer service was it to ¢make¢ someonewalk through a water puddle to get on the bus. With a smile, she toldme that the bus system had reviewed the spot and decided that was thebest stop for the safety of the customers. The whole ride intodowntown, I sat there disbelieving she told me that with a smile. 4/21: Hiked 10.3 miles. Easter morningthe Park reopened about 10:30 AM, and our shuttle ran us back up toNewfound Gap. The ice and wind was very bad at the drop off point,and I was thinking that we needed to get back into the shuttle, andtry this another day. Boo Boo was very happy to get out ofGatlinburg, and back on the trail, so off we went. It ended up thatthe trail was on the east side of the mountain, so we were out of thewind the whole day. First up was a 1,000' climb up Mt Kephart. Dueto rain/melting ice and snow, we spent the night in the shelter atPecks Corner. This was the only time on this hike that I slept in ashelter. Boo Boo told me that every guy in the shelter was snoring.Story of the day: Gatlinburg - Acrime against humanity. This town is ONLY about tourists, as we werewalking around town, Boo Boo turned to me and asked if I noticed thatno one had any bags of things that they had bought.I told her she was right, and she answered back that the place wasjust like a carnival. You spend money, but don't leave with anything.The overall class of people we saw was low. For the rest of the hike,most hikers were referring to Gatlinburg as a crime against humanity. Iagree.