Date: 2014-04-21
From: Mt. Collins Shelter, NC/TN

To: Newfound Gap, NC/TN
Miles today: 4.5

Solid night of sleep and pop tarts for breakfast in my hammock this morning. The hike out of the pine forest was pleasant. Earnhardt and Rambler had a head start on Bama and I, but we caught up to the 2 of them, Justin, Dragonfly, and Freckles about 2 miles out of camp. There were plenty of people at Newfound Gap. I had my thumb out for less than a minute and the first car to drive by pulled over. This woman had just dropped her son and husband off for a section hike and gave Justin, Rambler, & myself a ride into Gatlinburg.Gatlinburg - The Vegas of Tennessee, or something like that. The NOC has an outfitter store here too, right on the edge of town, so that's where I got dropped off. Lumberjack, his girlfriend, Mailman, Kevin, and Dustin were there. Lumberjack's girlfriend gave me a delicious homemade cinnamon bun and a glass of milk. Hit the spot. Earnhardt grabbed us a room across the street at the Days Inn, although we had a few hours until check in. We killed time at the NOC and then moved into our room. I started my chores and we started the shower rotation. We or a call from Rambler, after 3 hours trying to hitch out of town, he had given up and decided to stay the night. Earnhardt, Bama, and I set out to resupply and do laundry. The main strip through town is a crazy tourist trap. We did laundry, bought, food, stopped, and Walgreens and headed back to the hotel. Solid night of sleep and pop tart for breakfast in my hammock this morning. The hike out of the pine forest was pleasant. Earnhardt and Rambler had a head start on Bama and I, but we caught up to the 2 of them, Justin, Dragonfly, and Freckles about 2 miles out of camp. There were plenty of people at Newfound Gap. I had my thumb out for less than a minute and the first car to drive by pulled over. This woman had just dropped her son and husband off for a section hike and gave Justin, Rambler, & myself a ride into Gatlinburg.Gatlinburg - The Vegas of Tennessee, or something like that. The NOC has an outfitter store here too, right on the edge of town, so that's where I got dropped off. Lumberjack, his girlfriend, Mailman, Kevin, and Dustin were there. Lumberjack's girlfriend gave me a delicious homemade cinnamon bun and a glass of milk. Hit the spot. Earnhardt grabbed us a room across the street at the Days Inn, although we had a few hours until check in. We killed time at the NOC and then moved into our room. I started my chores and we started the shower rotation. We or a call from Rambler, after 3 hours trying to hitch out of town, he had given up and decided to stay the night. Earnhardt, Bama, and I set out to resupply and do laundry. The main strip through town is a crazy tourist trap. We did laundry, bought, food, stopped, and Walgreens and headed back to the hotel. Before dinner, I stopped in Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine, for a free tasting. You get free samples of 10 or so different moonshines. There was a bluegrass band jamming in front of a crowd of people seated in rocking chairs. Then we met up at the Smokey Mountain Brewery for dinner with Earnhardt, Bama, and Rambler. Mike and Fugi were there too. I had a flight of their beers and a burger. After dinner I set out in search of more live music. I caught a few more dogs from the bluegrass band, but Rey wrapped up at 10. Bama and I bounced to 2 more bars, looking for music, but settled for a pool table. We met a group of people on vacation from New Orleans/Texas. They were really interested in the hike and bought us drinks and talked to us for a few hours. We left the bar around 1am and headed back to the hotel. We decided to jump in the indoor pool and swam until 2 before turning in for the night.