Date: 2012-04-25
From: Gatlinburg Grand Prix

To: Peck's Corner Shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: broken clouds

I rolled out of bed pretty early this morning but nowhere near early enough to catch the 9:20 shuttle run by Cherokee Transit.  I got another shower (that's three days in a row if anyone is counting) and packed up my bag.  I mailed off my box from the motel further dropping my pack weight and must say, the Grand Prix has exactly what hikers want in a motel: cheap rates, a shower, laundry, and internet.  It's a shame they don't do a noon shuttle to Newfound Gap.  That would be incredible.  Houdini and I went breakfast at another pancake house and I loaded up on grapefruit juice, a huge Belgian strawberry waffle, a side of bacon, and two eggs over easy.  I like my eggs over medium but here in the south, that seems to mean cook 'em until they are dry inside.  My over easy eggs came out perfect and I devoured the meal in a matter of minutes.  I would've ordered more food but I was toting along half a pizza from the night before and planned to eat that in a few more hours prior to heading back out to the gap.  We cruised the gaudy strip looking for a park to hang out in but didn't see one.  I suggested the line of rocking chairs on the porch at the NOC and we headed there as the morning warmed up.  Big cumulus clouds dominated the skyline and the air held a lot of moisture but remained cool with promise of a nice afternoon.  I decided to go inside and took my camera, wallet, and phone inside to wander around.  There really isn't anything I want except for two items (pepper mill and insulated mug) and they have been absent for the duration of the trip.  At this point, they would only add weight and I already have functioning workarounds in place.  I drink tea out of my bowl and I grind my peppercorns using a rock.  I head back outside and call my parents.  We had a very nice conversation but I realize I am missing out on what is going on in their lives and I just talk about me the majority if the time.  I definitely miss them and they may even meet me somewhere up the trail in a few months.  We say our goodbyes and I am left to contemplate my existence while rocking the afternoon away.  I get cold and decide to head inside but have a conversation with a pair of strangers about the trail.  We talk about the views, the people, the gear.  I can tell that this guy likes his gear.  His wife seems to nit be as interested in the concept of living out of your backpack for five months.  His enthusiasm will probably be a point of contention with them for a long time.  I re-enter the store but this time I am wandering with a purpose: I am scoping the place out for AC power outlets.  Writing these journals takes a solid 20% of my battery life each and I do them at night so I can turn the backlight way down.  I plan to resupply in Davenport but probably won't get a charge until Hot Springs.  On my hunt, I find Houdini sitting by a roaring fire reading a book about hiking and watching a program about our National Parks.  I joined him and plugged in my phone to wait out the last hour for the shuttle.  I ended up buying a flower identification guide for $1 on my way out to eat my leftover pizza on the lawn and couldn't believe how warm it had gotten.  I took off my jacket and could have easily traded my long-sleeve shirt for my sunshirt.  Eating in the sun is quite enjoyable and I decided to walk across the street to buy a frosty root beer.  All of the cars seemed not to notice the fact that I was trying to use the crosswalk to legally cross the road.  I finally had to point at someone and force my right-of-way.  Twice.  Everybody was crawling through the road construction zone anyway so it seemed odd that nobody stopped.  Perhaps I don't have the right-of-way in Tennessee.  We waited until 2:45 for the 2:00 shuttle and it finally rolled it but told us that it had two more stops to make and would get us out to the gap after that.  It seemed ok but we hadn't a clue as to how long this would take.  The driver was aggressive, tail-gaited everybody, and made a bunch of comments about how fast he could take the turns.  He was showing off for one of the other passengers after talking about their personal experiences swapping engines in Dodge trucks.  We didn't get to the gap until 4pm.  It was way too warm for what I was wearing and changed into running shorts, tank top. And sun shirt.  It was very odd to be hiking again but enjoyable.  We had shelters spaced at three miles and another 7.4 miles but we were starting late and needed to get our hiking legs walking again.  We rolled into the first shelter at 5:30 and decided to move on.  There was just enough daylight to do it and the weather seemed to be holding.  The people at the shelter thought we were crazy.  But we headed off anyway and had fantastic views out off the ridgeline and a stunning 270-degree sweep of the valley to the west from Charlie's Bunion.  The mountain ranges stacked up in shades of green and blue corresponding to their distance while the clouds stole the blue sky away.  We received our first sprinkles here.  Another ten minutes down the ridge-top trail and we heard our first thunder.  We didn't see the bright flashes of lightning until another mile had passed and noted that it was still ten miles away.  That distance quickly got smaller and Houdini and I both started to get worried.  We were somewhere in the vicinity of 5500' and totally exposed on the ridge for five miles in either direction.  The slope below was easily 60-70 degrees but as the thunder got closer to the lightning we realized that was our best bet.  We took off and for some reason went east and stood in the pouring rain for twenty heart-pounding minutes nearest the smaller trees and listened.  It was getting so close.  Then, we both hit the deck simultaneously as this giant crack lit up the day so bright just behind us.  Had we gone west, we probably would have been struck.  We should have stayed in the shelter but were now stuck in no man's land between the two.  And it was serious.  We sat on the ground and waited it out.  We were probably 50' down from the ridge and didn't want to go any further.  Getting back up was already going to be difficult.  The lightning moved on and it continued to rain big cold drops on us.  Fifteen more minutes and we rationalized that it was time to move on.  Climbing back up the hill easily took ten minutes.  It was so steep and the soil was loose and slippery.  We made good time and cruised down the trail along the ridge while the storm faded out.  We had incredible views of the orange sunset to the west and a dark boding night to the east.  Eventually we were trapped in fog and it was raining again but we hiked on.  As it got too dark we switched over to headlamps and staggered into the shelter at 9pm.  That is generally considered to be hiker midnight in a shelter.  Sometimes it's jumping but usually things are quiet and dark.  We had the latter and based on the number of packs inside and the three tents outside, this shelter was full.  We went our separate ways looking for a good place to set up shelter.  It was only a drizzle at this point and I was looking for two trees the right distance apart but something about this place was different.  There was a lot of brush and small trees rather than open space between big trees.  I eventually found a good site but it was across a stream and that is particularly risky setup.  I got things right the first time, hung my food bag, and hit the hay.  I left my pack and raingear in the shelter to dry overnight.  One of my hammock support ropes had a little slip as I was getting in but I decided not to fix it and dropped off immediately.