Date: 2014-04-30
From: Gatlinburg,TN

To: Mount Collins Shelter
Miles today: 3.4

There are some days along the trail where you sacrifice miles for your mental well being and today was one of those days. We all woke up pretty early today, we didn't have a definite plan and in the end Delaware,Gadget and I took the shuttle from the motel for 5$ a person and Yogi took a different shuttle. His shuttle left earlier than ours so we but farewell, hugged it out and I hoped to see him down the trail, I got his number just in case I didn't. Our shuttle didn't leave until twelve and we played the waiting game at the motel. I downloaded some books and music and also some episodes of the a Howard Stern show to keep me entertained while hiking and at camp.   We finally left around twelve and took the shuttle up the mountain to Clingmans Dome, the can only had one row of seats in the back so most of us say on the floor in the back. It was me, Delaware,Gadget, Trucker,Atlas,Grizzly and Asa, all people I've seen on the trail. It was a quiet ride up, it felt like we were in a prison bus being led to our final destination. It's a weird cultural shock when you leave the woods and enter society again and vice versa, combined with the residuals of partying the night before and crappy weather, the day tends to take on a somber note.    We finally got to the top and it was cloudy and windy. Despite the weather, there were a lot of tourists at the dome and a guy came up to us and asked us some questions. Delaware, Gadget and myself were actually backtracking to where we left the trail yesterday because we skipped .3 miles of the trail to head directly to the parking lot. We didn't want to skip any of the trail, I guess we're purists at heart. So we backtracked and connected with the trail again and before we knew it we were at Clingmans Dome where there is this 1950's structure that has a winding ramp to the top where there is an observation tower to get a 360 degree view of the area. It looks like the saucers in Flushing Meadows Park when they had the World's Fair there. We went to the top and luckily got some great views, it was beautiful. We had some lunch up there and Gadget played some music for the tourists, no one seemed to notice though, maybe they were scared of the thru hikers.   There were two options for the day-hike 4 miles to a shelter or hike 10 miles and considering we weren't in the best moods, we opted for the short day. The weather is suppose to be nice for the rest of the week so we plan to make up the miles then. The hike to the shelter was beautiful, before you know it, you're hiking in old growth pine forest with mossy tree trunks scattered along the ground with the smell of pine in the air and fog laced across the trail, it felt prehistoric. When we got to the intersection of two trails and saw where the shelter was, we look down and see Yogi written in the dirt with an arrow pointed toward the shelter, so we were excited to see him there.   The shelter wasn't too packed, mostly familiar faces from the trail and there was a ridge runner there as well. We talked to him for a bit about the trail in the Smokies and some of the stuff he's seen while being out here, it was really interesting. The rain continued but we were lucky enough to have a fireplace in the shelter which helped keep it warm. This shelter didn't have the tarps covering the front of it, they were apparently taken down a few weeks before. The shelter is really nice, it's nestled among the pine trees in the middle of the forest, with a nice skylight on the roof. It's a double bunk shelter so I'm staying on the first floor this time, it's a little close to the ground, I should've chosen the top like last time. Good weather ahead and beautiful scenery all around us so I'm looking forward to the upcoming days.