Date: 2008-04-23
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm Hostel / Finish Line
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: scattered clouds

This was it ¢ the last day of my hike and I pushed hard to hit my goal. I was up at 6am, packed, ate a Snickers and was on the trail by 7 ¢ the first one out of a very crowded shelter. I had a couple of climbs today ¢ Guyot Spur and Mt. Cammerer ¢ but I¢m in pretty darn good shape now and I tackled them pretty easily, especially with that huge carrot dangling at the end of the day. I was covering miles quickly in the morning and felt strong early, but then I started to wear out a little since I had only eaten a Snickers before I left. I was at Cosby Knob Shelter (which was really nice and in a nice setting) by 9:45 and I knew that I needed to add some serious calories if I was going to maintain my pace all day. So I stopped and fixed my last Mountain House meal ¢ Spaghetti at 10am ¢ Hey, I¢m on vacation, right? I also drank my last two pouches of grape kool-aid with it so I was calorized and ready to go. That Mt. Cammerer climb was right past Cosby Knob, but once I was over that, the rest of the day was pretty much ALL down hill ¢ literally and figuratively. The only negative was that I was walking SO fast that I was REALLY pounding my knees and knew that I would pay for that for at least a week or so. I caught up to 12 ounce, Pinenut & Pogo and Pilgrim all at about the point where the park ended and they had all stayed at the Cosby Knob Shelter (which was about 7.7 miles past where I stayed last night) so that¢s a good indication of how fast I was going (they probably didn¢t start as early as I did, though). I stopped for a while as I crossed the Pigeon River and watched some rafters and kayakers go down the river. There was an area of pretty big rapids about a hundred yards down river from the bridge and one of the kayakers took a spill. That water had to be ICE cold and I don¢t think any of them were wearing wet suits or dry suits! It looked like they were having fun (at least the one¢s who stayed dry). I knew I was getting close and there was another climb up to Standing Bear Farm so I took the rest of the way fairly leisurely. When I got to the hostel, it was really cool ¢ the entire place is on an honor system. For everything from your lodging to everything in the camp store, you just total up what you owe on an envelope and leave your payment in a box when you leave. It was a great, very relaxed setting with lots of hikers hanging out ¢ many who I had never seen before so I had caught up to a whole new group by this point.When I tracked down Curtis, the owner at about 3:00 and asked him if he could (or if he could hook me up with someone who could) shuttle me into Gatlinburg. He said that he had been driving all day and really didn¢t want to do it, but he would get me there in the morning. I was really disappointed and put on my sad face and told him it was my birthday and I was ending my 237 mile section hike at that point and I REALLY wanted to get to a warm, comfortable bed tonight. I could tell he felt sorry for me but he REALLY DIDN¢T want to drive me. He said that he would make a call for me but couldn¢t make any promises. By that point, I had pretty much given up on the idea and figured, I would just have to stay at the hostel. Then about 10 minutes later, he came out and said, ¢OK, you need to be ready to go in 5 minutes.¢ It was a pleasant surprise and I was really excited. He had arranged for his stepson, Ian, to drive me in to Gatlinburg ¢ I would be his first shuttle ever. He was a great kid and I enjoyed talking to him on the way into town ¢ 4.0 genius high school soccer star ¢ he kind of reminded me of me (minus the 4.0 part). 12 ounce and Pilgrim had told me about the motel they stayed at in Gatlinburg and recommended it. The owner of the Smoky Pines had recently purchased the OLD motel just up the hill from traffic light #6 and was renovating it. They are doing a great job ¢ the shell might be old, but everything about looks brand new and really nice. They are catering to hikers with great rates and service. The guys said that they split a room with 4 of them for $39 (Thirty nine dollars for the entire room ¢ it was like $11 a piece including tax). I got my room for $29 and it was REALLY nice ¢ and that included use of their brand new washers and dryers (and their soap) that they use to clean all of the motel linens to wash your clothes. They were SUPER nice and accommodating. My family wasn¢t going to get into Gatlinburg until 7:00 the next night to meet me for the weekend and they let me stay in my room until they got there. $29 for a nice room convenient to the Gatlinburg strip and a 7 pm check out time for me ¢ It was awesome. The other nice thing was that the public library was just about a block away on the way down to the Gatlinburg strip with all of the restaurants, etc. The library had 9 or 10 computers with Internet access and I never had a problem getting one when I stopped in there. If you want to make a note of the Smoky Pines Motel - their phone # is 865-436-5327.