Date: 2010-04-28
From: Peck's Corner Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: clear sky

Woke up to about three inches of snow that had iced over. I made breakfast and mulled over my options. I'm not prepared to hike in snow, with yesterdays zero day there is no way I will be able to hike the 56miles to Hot Springs by the first. The sun is shining, but it is freezing. The mountain looks like a Christmas card. This is a good place to stop. I took my time packing up shaking the snow off of the tent and digging the spikes from the ground. I had to stop many times to warm my hands back up. I have a pair of knit gloves to put on after the wet work is done. The hike back to Newfound Gap was absolutely beautiful. I bumped into many hikers I knew, LowKey, All Right, Half Left, Wild Poodle, FalseStart and the ridge runner Flying Squirrel. I told them all about a freshly downed pair of trees across the trail just before Peck's Corner Shelter that I had to take my backpack off, scramble beneath the trees through the branches and pull the pack through. Flying Squirrel was going to see what he could clear with the little saw he had with him. Each of the hikers asked me why I was heading back and I explained my situation happily. I got to NewFound gap at 5pm, and had missed all of the shuttles. I looked around the public rest room to see if there was an outlet to plug the phone into but no luck. I didn't want to but it looked like I'd have to hitch a ride into town. I stood by the stop sign and stuck my thumb out. After about 10 minutes and a dozen or so drive by's a car honked, I didn't realize they had stopped for me. I hopped in the car with three wonderful ladies who had been out on a day hike exploring mountain plants. They were Chris, Jean and Jean. They had lots of questions about thru-hiking which I happily answered. I told them all about why I was leaving the trail at this time and my hopes to come back after the Robin Hood Festival to hike another section before going off to do Pennsic War. It turns out one of the ladies has a brother that is involved in the SCA as well. He owns a booth at Pennsic, I plan to stop in and say hello. The ladies dropped me off at the outfitters, I was hoping to pick up my camelback if someone had turned it in, if not oh well it would be great to think of it continuing the journey. Thank you Chris, Jean and Jean for helping me get back to Gatlinburg! At the outfitters I inquired about the camelback, one of the shuttle drivers mentioned seeing it and went out to the shuttle to check. It was still in the back of the car! Wicked cool since it had been there since noon an Monday and it was now 6pm on Wednesday. From there I walked up the hill to the Grand Prix hotel, the receptionist was suprised to see me. I told her what was up and asked about services to get me back home, she had some good suggestions. The internet was in use so I checked into a room and called G. Of course he was suprised to hear from me as well but happy that I'd be home soon. Once off of the phone I changed and headed out to get some Kentucky Fried Chicken! On the way by the internet area I noticed it was available and hopped online to check out flights home, all very expensive. Why is it so expensive to fly out of Knoxville? The flight from other surrounding airports was half the cost but the savings would have been spent on a way to get there so I guess that's why Knoxville has customers in the pickle. Then I checked out bus tickets, bus it would have to be. I ate dinner at KFC, went back to the room and packed for the morning.