Date: 2013-04-15
From: Mt. Cammerer Tower, stealth camp

To: Standing Bear Inn
Miles today: 7.9

Last night was wind-y. Wow. I thought the roof was going to blow off the tower, but luckily it didn't. I didn't sleep terribly well, but I didn't sleep badly either. At 5 a.m. I got up to pee, and when I stepped out of the tower I stopped in my tracks. I was in awe of all the twinkling lights. Thousands and thousands of twinkling candle lights. The houses and life below looked so far away. Some were bunched together, some were off by themselves. As I scanned the hills, the mountains of the Park stood silently dark; such a contrast. I went back to bed and snoozed another hour before we decided to get up and welcome the sun. And what a glorious sunrise it was! The kind of sunrise that made you want to sing. We took a few photos and congratulated ourselves on our decision to be naughty and stealth camp (at a pentenance for our infringement, we picked up the garbage that was scattered about the tower and packed it out). We had a leisurely had breakfast and then worked our way down the mountain and out of the park. There were 8 miles of downhill, but the slope was so gentle that the distance seemed to effortlessly melt away under our feet. We watched the flora grow ever greener and more plush. The forest floor thickened with flowers and fresh leaves. There were pink flowering trees and white flowering trees. At Davenport Gap Shelter, we ran into Scout. She's such a little spitfire, I love her! We were happy to be leaving the Smokies and what a glorious send-off they were giving us!Right as we were approaching I-40 (jarring reality check!) there was a beautiful stretch following adjacent to a river strewn with waterfalls. I debated whether to stop and soak my feet (the opportunity was perfect!), but I kept moving on. Around the next bend I saw So-way and some others. He had set up a little campsite and was cooking up egg sandwiches and handing them out as trail magic. How do you pass that up? So I got my foot-soak while I was waiting for my sandwich to cook. It was cooking hot when we reached the paved asphault and I-40. One sign pointed towards Asheville and the other towards Knoxville. It felt like the twilight zone. Big trucks were passing overhead. Ahhh!!! We walked under the freeway, passed the red bud trees and climbed the hill on the other side. The trail crossed a little creek. The AT sign pointed right, and there was a orange painted sign pointing left that said "Standing Bear Inn" 200 yards. Yes, I think I will.I was worried that they would be full, but luckily there were two beds left. It's best described at hill-billy rustic. I liked it immediately. I saw Chris & Robert (Clown Car had gotten off the trail ), Red Specks, Long Gone, Kaboose & Sassafras and a few others. I claimed a top bunk, and Rocketman gave me a tour of the place. They have an AWESOME set up. I grabbed a big jar of salsa and a large bag of chips and didn't stop until they were all gone. I finished it up with a Powerade and a cheese danish. I had an incredibly cold shower that seemed more like a sadistic version of the hokey-pokey. Put your left leg in, take your left leg out, put our left leg in and you shake it all about. Repeat with all body parts until you are clean. I was incredibly invigorated afterwards. I washed my socks and underwear and watched in awe as TONS of people filtered in and out restocking on food. It was a zoo for a bit. Pathfinder and I split a pizza and had an ice cold Yeungling. OMG. Heaven. Chris told us about the Boston marathon bombing . It made my guts twist.