Date: 2009-05-01
From: Peck's Corner Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

Woke up to the downpour of rain and was on the trail by 8:00 am. Pilgrim and Ninja were flying ahead, but due to the sheer cold, wind, and monsoon-like conditions, I stayed behind for a little bit to see if it would pass over. Well, it didn¢t¢¦We were again hiking on a ridge at 6,000 ft. By the time I reached Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, the tips of my fingers and toes were absolutely frozen. Since my entire body was absolutely soaked, I stopped in for about 45 minutes to warm up. At one point over the one peak, gale force winds were blowing the clouds forcefully up and over the mountainside. The rain was coming down horizontally smacking me in my eyes and face. It must have been hovering around 32 degrees; no wonder why they said that the Smokies are so unpredictable! While at the shelter, I chatted with Ketchup and Pussyfoot about their night-op the night before. A little bit later on, Jason, a young guy from Nashville, TN rolled through. We both met as he was descending in to Fontana Dam and we were trying to catch a hitch into the village. He recently graduated from college and plans on hiking 1/3 of the trail, going about 740 miles. For resupplies, Jason has been raiding the hiker boxes at post offices and hostels, stacking up on all sorts of good delicacies that were thrown by the wayside. For this reason, I named him Scavenger, which has quickly caught on in the thru-hiking community. After getting a little bit warmer, I decided to trek onwards. As I pushed forward, I came across wreckage from a plane that had smashed into the side of the mountain, just 20 feet or so below the trail. I enjoy checking out such spectacles, so I climbed down the steep cliff and starting kicking around the scraps of metal that had blown up on impact. I¢m not sure if the pilot(s) survived the crash, but I¢ll have to check it out later on. I reached the Cosby Knob Shelter at 4:00 pm. Pilgrim and Ninja, being the fast-paced flyers that they are, decided to hike on again, as Pilgrim wanted to pick up his dog, Jack, on the other side of the Smokies. I decided to stay due to the ominous clouds and rolling thunder in the distance. At the shelter, I met up with Recom, Moonlight, Forest, Willow, Strider, TwoBob and Scavenger. Strider is a young guy from Ephrata, PA and is attending the University of Chicago. Other than RLB, he¢s the only other person that I have met from PA. I was so tired and hungry when I arrived that I quickly scarfed down my meal and headed off to sleep. Before I knew it, at 9:00 PM, a group of 8 hikers came into the shelter and asked for us to consolidate space in our 14-person shelter. The deal is that in the Smokies, regular hikers must have reservations and receive first dibs on shelter space, while AT thru-hikers MUST set-up tent and relinquish shelter space if someone with a reservation comes in late. Ridiculous rules, but I guess you have to abide by them. We didn¢t have a problem with sharing the space, we just had a problem with the group coming in at 9:00, nearly two hours after the sun had set over the horizon. Good night to all. I¢m off to Standing Bear Farm in Tennessee in the morning.