Date: 2007-06-27
From: Newfound Gap, Smokys

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: scattered clouds

June, 27th, 2007: AT miles hiked 15.6 Six full hours of sleep and we are up and at em. Richard takes advantage of the free continental breakfast as Scott, Travis and I venture across the street to the Waffle House. We drive our cars to Hot Springs, NC and I park my car at the trail head. We then pile into Scott¢s SUV and head to Newfound Gap. We reach the Gap and it is almost 12:00 noon before we hit the trail. We pull our gear out of the SUV and begin to prepare ourselves to hike. It looks like a scene in a war movie as paratroopers prepare their gear for a jump. We take lots of pictures and field some questions from curious onlookers.I stop to marvel at the 60 LB (at least it looked that way) pack that my older cousin Richard is carrying. I figure he knows what he is doing because Richard is a seasoned and experienced back packer. He has hiked just about every part of the Smokys. He took my cousins on a trail in October known as a "Manway". It was a trail from the 1930¢s that no longer "exists" except for rock cairns that mark the way. It basically went straight up the mountain to Charles Bunion. Richard also has been at this a lot longer than I so who am I to question his abilities. What I did not know is that he had a problem in his footwear. He had tried to break in some new boots that did not work out so he settled on trail shoes instead. Like I, he had never had blisters until he got onto the AT. The cards were stacked against him. The climb out of Newfound was a long one. We had gotten a late start and kept up a, excuse the pun, blistering pace. We paused for lunch at Charles Bunion. WOW! You really feel like you are high in the mountains here. Richard showed me what looked like a water runoff that went straight down the mountain from the AT. It was the Manway they had traveled in the fall. No thanks. The AT has a saying that goes "Hike Your Own Hike". I plodded ahead of Travis and Scott so they could have some time alone to talk. Travis now lives in Atlanta and he and Scott have been friends for some time. I arrived at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter which was a large shelter with a Plastic Tarp across the front. At the shelter were a couple of brothers from North Carolina. The older one had graduated from Appalachian St. and his younger brother still attended there. They had started at Springer 3 days after I had started. They were in a bit of dire straights. They were out of fuel for their stove. Fortunately they used the same type as I and I had a brand new one that I couldn¢t possibly use up this week. They were very grateful for the use of the fuel that night and the next morning. They planned to get fuel tomorrow at Standing Bear Farm Hiker Hostel. Scott and Travis came in shortly after I did. Richard was not far behind them. The spring at Tri-Corner was top notch. It was 50 feet from the shelter. We all ate and prepared for bed. It was a long day and tomorrow would be tougher. I am pretty sure the Earth¢s axis shifted a little tonight. The brothers from NC were split in their loyalties. One was a North Carolina fan and the other pulled for Duke. I am a Kentucky fan and my cousins pull for Louisville. We all 4 slept on the same platform. Which answered the question that Rodney King once put to America¢¦ "Can¢t we all just get along". The answer Rodney is "Yes we can." Only one bad thing about the shelter. A frog did his best to keep us up all night.