Date: 2006-04-15
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night you could hear the wind howling through the trees all night, but you didn¢t feel it where we were. When I woke up I felt ready to get up and get going to Gatlinburg. I got my food bag and ate breakfast quickly and packed up my gear. Then I took off toward Newfound Gap. Coming to this gap was different then the other gaps. Instead of going down into it you hiked up to it/the road. When I got there I put up the old thumb and stood by the road. There were a ton of cars/vehicles that would go by or go into the parking lot. I stood there for almost an hour and a half until someone was willing to take me to town. I was getting very concerned because the post office was only going to be open from 10 ¢ 12 and it was a tad after 11:00 when they picked me up. But they were very nice and took me straight to the post office. Even better they said they would take me to the Happy Hiker because the post office is on the outside of the town not easy to get to. Although when we got into the main part of town the traffic was so bad that they told me it would be faster to walk. So they let me out and I thanked them a lot and said our goodbyes. So I headed down the road towards Happy Hiker. Gatlinburg is a very long town but not very wide. The town also has all kinds of stores and restaurants and other attractions. It was a lot of fun for me to walk down the crowded sidewalks with all my backpacking gear and look at everything. I did finally make it to Happy Hiker where I got my other mail and bought some body glide for chafing. They also took my picture and hung it up with the rest of the people who are thru-hiking this year. Happy Hiker is a pretty cool place to go to. The people are very nice and give thru hikers a discount. After I was done there I went to the Mountain Mert and bought a half gallon of chocolate ice cream and some Pringles. Then I found a shady place with benches near the side walk and ate the whole box of ice cream. It was really good and I almost could not eat it all. So once I was finished I packed all my food from the box from the post office which included Easter candy and a chocolate rabbit with a pack on it¢s back. After every thing was packed I went and called my dad and we talked but not for too long because I had to use a pay phone. Then I went back to the road to hitch a ride back to Newfound Gap. Happy Hiker gave me a piece of card board to make a sign to help get a ride back up to the Gap. Like the last time I was having no luck getting a ride. Then a guy came over to me who had been checking out his red Cherokee. Eventually he said he would take me there and the two other thru hikers I had just met and explained the opportunity to. So we started to leave the town when there we a massive amount of people on the side of the road. There was a black bear 300 yards off the road. I got a sight of it before we pulled away. So we headed up the mountains but had to pull off a couple of times because his carburetor was not working. But we eventually made it to the top. When we got there he let us out and thanked him and said goodbye. Well I got my pack on and started towards the shelter. On the way there I passed so many tourists it was unbelievable how many of them there actually were. And they almost treated thru hikers like part of the wildlife. So I finally got to the shelter and unpacked and just rested and socialized the rest of the evening. I didn¢t cook dinner because I was so full from eating all that ice cream earlier. Although I did eat the Pringles and they tasted really good. The evening was very nice as were the people in the shelter tonight. At night you can see Cherokee City all lit up snuggled at the bottom in between the mountains. Well guess it¢s time to be put to bed, night. P.L.A. aka Indiana