Date: 2017-10-02
From: Max Patch

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: broken clouds

I got up this morning at 6 a.m. It had been a windy night and I'd gotten up around 1 a.m. and reconfigured my tarp because the wind caused all of its sides to flap loudly. I lowered the apex of the front to the minimum height of my trekking poles, and brought the tarp down to the ground all around, also widening the ground surface area covered at the same time. On inside I stood my other trekking pole at its minimum height, around the point where the natural center of the 13 foot length of the tarp would be. This created room for me to sleep on my air mattress in my sleeping bag under the center line. After that it was much quieter and I slept fairly well.So when I got up around 6 a.m., the first thing I did was elevate the open end of the tarp to the normal height of my pole. This gave me room to sit, gather my things and start packing. Then when the sun began to lighten the sky, I took my air mattress and sleeping bag and joined the others like we had the night before, but this time to watch the sun come up.The sunrise was beautiful. It was cold, and the wind made it seem even colder. So the sleeping bags were necessary for us to be comfortable while sitting still. (Pictures)Afterwards, we finished packing up. Sauce, Rock Spider, Pickles, and Sniffles all said goodbye and thank you to Hoops and headed south on the trail. I realized I had left my hiking wallet in the small pack I had worn yesterday. I had placed it in a zipper pocket inside another pocket just to be sure I wouldn't lose it. However, now it was down the hill in a parking lot in Hoops' car. So, after we were all completely packed up, I helped Hoops carry the trash and leftovers from our dinner and breakfast down to her car and I retrieved my wallet. After saying goodbye and thank you to her, I returned to the trail and started making my way south to catch up with the others. They had left the top around 8:30 a.m., and I was been leaving around 9 a.m.I had been wearing all my warm clothing, including my goretex, while we were watching the sunrise, but less was needed now. Keeping the long sleeved blue shirt on, I switched to the light windbreaker. However, after I started hiking south about a half mile down the trail, even that was too much, so ended up in my short sleeved shirt.Around 11 a.m. I reached the side trail for the Groundhog Creek shelter. Rock Spider was taking a break there, & I saw a backpack I recognized as that belonging to Sauce just off to the side of the side trail. She had evidently gone down to the shelter. I talked to Rock Spider for a few minutes. He said that he was not feeling well, and might need to stop at the the upcoming Standing Bear hostel. After a few more minutes of conversation, I continued on and arrived at the Snowbird Peak around noon. Pickles and Sniffles were there taking a break. The clearing on the peak had some nice views of the Smoky Mountains to the southwest. This is a preview of where we would be hiking tomorrow after entering the park from the north this afternoon. (Pictures) I stopped for a break and soon Sauce and then Rock Spider showed up.  We all sat around and had a snack, and then continued hiking about 12:30 p.m. Shortly after word, we passed a strange looking building with a conical white object mounted on top of it. (Picture) The trail would be downhill 4.5 miles to the Standing Bear hostel. We had all indicated that we intended to stop there briefly before continuing to the Davenport Gap entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Davenport Gap shelter which would be our destination for the day.Rock Spider and I caught up with the others and arrived at the Standing Bear Hostel at around 2:30 p.m. We all stayed there long enough for resupply, a little rest and some battery charging. We left there about 4:30 p.m., enroute to Davenport Gap shelter, arriving at the crossing of Interstate 40 at about 4:45 p.m. (Picture)I hiked up the hill to Davenport Gap and into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, causing to deposit my permit at the entry kiosk. A little less than a mile later, around 6 p.m. I arrived at the Davenport Gap shelter. The others arrived shortly afterward. There was another section hiker already there: Tom from Washington DC, a Department of Labor employee. However, we didn't have any crowding problems as it is reportedly common to have in the Smokies. After setting up, I had dinner. Sauce told me about a Harry Potter Hiking analogy:ATC = ministry of magicTown people = MugglesDay Hikers = SquibsSection Hikers = Half BloodsNobo = GryffindorsSobo = SlytherinsFlip Floppers = RavenclawsAfter dinner, I updated my journal and then went to bed behind the bear cage. Picture.