Date: 2021-09-05
From: Standing Bear Farm Hostel

To: Tri Corner Shelter 
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Had a good night¢s sleep right on the creek at Standing Bear Hostel with no snuffling bears on which to report. Quiksilver made some coffee in the hiker kitchen which was passable and I downed a liter of water as well before we headed out. Standing Bear has a mixed reputation with mixed reviews, it¢s close to being a nice hostel but seems like it may stay ¢close¢ for a while. I¢m glad I was able to get a private room for $40 versus sleeping in the bunkhouse for $25. Lamb¢s Ear drove us the .2 miles to the trailhead (down with waking that doesn¢t count!) and dropped us off as she headed back for home. We¢ll be seeing her again in 18 days at Springer!  It was time for us to gird our loins for a long day of climbing up into the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, knowing this would be one of the biggest elevation gain days for us on the trail. Quiksilver and I were both motivated and geared up for it and we talked about subjects various and sundry as we went up.span class="Apple-converted-space"> Arriving at the lookout - a lookout is different from a watch tower in that a lookout is a building that sits in the ground while a watch tower is a structure on top of legs, thank you informational sign - we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the vista for 15 minutes. We then hiked on to the Cosby Knob shelter for a noon lunch break and were joined shortly by four section hikers. We got to talking and probably stayed a little longer than we planned, but it was a nice place to sit and relax. I lead out once we got back on trail 45 minutes later, but when I pulled over for a pit stop Quiksilver hiked on and the last I heard from him was the clanking of his coffee cup and then a sonic boom as he took off uphill. I remember way back in Vermont when Iceberg clued me in on ¢Quiksilver Mode¢.  It usually engages on a long, steady climb when he gets the Eye of the Tiger and just flies uphill. I possess no such Eye - with me it¢s more like the Foot of the Sloth. So I hiked the next two hours in my own plodding manner and took in some of the great ridge views as I went up to 6000 feet. At one point as I crossed a narrow spot there was sunshine on my left and misty clouds rolling up the mountain on my right. Very cool. In the National Park you are required to camp in designated sites only. No stealth camping or backwoods camping like you can do in the Shenandoah National Park. Covid has granted me one boon, though: up until this year AT hikers HAD to sleep inside the mouse infested shelters. The only exception allowed was if the shelter was at capacity. But they are allowing dispersed camping around the shelters during the pandemic. So it¢s hammock heaven for both Quiksilver and I. Now I just need the bears to stay away.  The shelters have bear cable systems and tonight in addition to my food bag and smellables bag, I¢ve also hung my backpack from the cables.  Hopefully there are no mice around here that have escaped from the circus and are eager to demonstrate their high-wire skills and chew into my gear. We may get some rain later tonight and in the morning, that¢ll realism to be seen. We plan on heading out at 7am for a 15.5 mile day to Newfound Gap where we have a shuttle arraigned for 1 pm to take us into Redneck Nirvana: Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Hope you¢re Labor Day weekend is going well!