Date: 2019-03-05
From: Newport Tennessee 

To: Newport Tennessee 
Miles today: 0.0

AT day 17There¢s not much to do in Newport but the hotel rates are reasonable. I¢m staying at the Quality Inn and I recommend it.Today I¢m going to share my thoughts on shelters. I hate staying in shelters. Sure it¢s nice to have benches to sit on and a nice privy to poop in but those are the only advantages I can see for myself. In the Smokies you are required to stay in shelters. When the bears come out to play they have to put electric fences around the shelters to protect the bears from the hikers. Luckily In the Smokies, I only had to stay in 3 shelters. I was lucky enough to have Double Springs Shelter all to myself and only had  3 other people in Pecks Corner Shelter which can accommodate 12 hikers. Yuck imagine the stink from all those smelly shoes if the shelter was full.I only stayed in 2 shelters outside the Smokies. I¢ve camped near shelters and people are usually crammed into the shelters like sardines. Like airplanes and malls I see them as an easy way to catch some disease. Many hikers get into their sleeping bags before it¢s even dark. This would drive me crazy. It¢s not that I¢m antisocial, I enjoy talking with other hikers and learning about their adventures and lives. I also enjoy the freedom and privacy of a tent. The main reason I don¢t like shelters is that I don¢t want to disturb everyone. The problem is that I¢m very disorganized and I am constantly fiddling with my gear or looking for something like my headlamp or gloves that I just saw minutes earlier. So imagine trying to get yourself situated in a dark shelter without disturbing your shelter mates. I have a Black Diamond Revolt which is a nice rechargeable headlamp but its red light is so dim they shouldn¢t have bothered adding that function. This weak red light compounds my problems and makes everything even slower. I have stuff ¢organized¢ in ziplock bags which are louder than an inflatable mattress. I warn people that I¢m a fiddler (no I don¢t play violin) and just like some snorers do, I apologize in advance for my annoying behavior. In addition I usually have to go pee twice at night. This is also a noisy process with air mattress crinkling, sleeping bag rustling, and the thud of my head hitting the ceiling beam. When I get back from my pee I have to realign my sleeping bag liner and scoot back down into my sleeping which wakes up anyone that got back to sleep while I was outside tripping over roots and slipping on the mud because I can¢t see due to my red light. I don¢t have to worry about disturbing people in my tent unless someone sets up their tent too close to mine.  I had to sew up a rip in my Dirty Girl gaiters today. It took me at least 30 minutes and 3 YouTube videos just to get the needle threaded. I would have just thrown it away but I paid money to get my gaiters treated with permethrin by InsectSheild. They are a first line of defense against ticks. I go back to the trail tomorrow. I asked the hotel manager if he knew of anybody that wanted to make 20 bucks to give me a ride to the trailhead. He gave me a business card for the only local driver. I called the driver and left a message around 1 o¢clock. I also went through 2 hours of irrational anxiety waiting for the driver to call me back. I was freaking out because I didn¢t want to get stuck here. Finally after my 3rd attempt I got ahold of the driver. He¢s supposed to pick me up at 8 o¢clock in the morning. I won¢t relax until I get into his car tomorrow morning.