Date: 2013-04-04
From: Mount Collins Shelter

To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: snow

Anxious to catch that 11:00 AM shuttle to Gatlinburg, I began packing up at the Mount Collins Shelter at 6:15 AM on Thursday, April 4, 2013. It takes me longer than most, perhaps partly because I must empty the main compartment of the pack completely to insert the Achilles tendon ¢night splint.¢ About 7:15 AM I was distressed to learn that the shuttle was at 10:30 AM, not 11, and with 5 miles (including the 12 mile of side trail back to the AT) to go at my 7:35 AM departure time and my 45-minute-mile pace, it was going to be tight! Even if it were only 4.4 miles, 34 of 4.4 is 3.3 (3 hours 18 minutes), for an ETA of 10:53... my shelter-mates said ¢10:30 to 11-ish¢ but that was NO GOOD! I hoped the ¢spikes and generally descending trail would allow me to beat the 45 min/mile pace.        I moved along, in light rain, as well as I could, avoiding injury on the icy trail. (Still, I have never fallen on my AT hike!) Several younger hikers passed me, but I couldn¢t safely go any faster.        I was pleased to arrive at a large parking area, with several parked vehicles, in a heavy mist, at 10:20 AM. But no backpackers were visible, and I hadn¢t expected to reach Route 441 (Newfound Gap) that soon. In confusion, I decided the 441 crossing was farther along, and in my soaking wet clothes (How do I get soaked in that expensive Arc¢Teryx jacket?) headed north, up a sidewalk, out of the parking area. But I prudently stopped to check my guidebook pages and learned that 441 was, indeed, right at that parking area! I went back and wandered around, still confused as to where my fellow NOBOs were, and chilly in the cold rain. A young woman arrived, headed south on the AT, also looking for a ride to Gatlinburg ¢ she had a pleasant German accent and did not know about the shuttle; she¢d planned to hitchhike.        While we were chatting and deciding what to do, a white van arrived, with Nantahala Outdoor Center on the side! It pulled right up in front of us, and unloaded several ¢packers; its friendly silver-haired driver told us to jump right in for the free ride to Gatlinburg! It was a warm and pleasant 15 miles, chatting with the driver and the very nice young German woman. We were dropped off at the Gran Prix Motel, the hostel where most thru-hikers stayed and the German girl was headed. My planned lodging, the Red Roof Inn, was just next door. It was only about noon, or earlier, when I depacked in ground-floor room 114, a warm, pleasant room with refrigerator and microwave.        Prepared to stay a couple of days to care for my knee and plan the immediate future, I telephoned the first clinic I found in the Yellow Pages ¢ it turned out to be in Sevierville, about 30 miles away, which I hadn¢t realized until well after I was told a car would be sent to transport me! After lunch and a shower, my Smoky Mountain Urgentcare visit provided me with a fancy new knee brace (hinges on each side) and a Naproxen prescription. Back in my room by 5:30 PM, I caught the handy 50¢ trolley (virtually from my motel-room door) to a stop near the Walgreen¢s to which my prescription had been telephoned. I bought some nice new Foster Grant reading glasses, a soft ice pack, lithium AAAs (required in the SPOT), and some groceries. I wasn¢t sure how to catch the trolley back to the motel, so I walked it (slowly) without noticeable knee pain. Milk, doughnuts, cheese danish, chocolate milk... ah, I needed that!        Friday morning I added two more nights to my stay ¢ Saturday and Sunday. Monday I¢ll be either on the shuttle to Newfound Gap and Icewater Springs Shelter, or the Discount Taxi Service to the Knoxville Airport. The hope and current plan is the former!