Date: 2006-03-25
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: light rain

The snow just wouldn't stop! We woke up this morning to more snow and still more coming down from the sky. Frozen water, frozen socks...and my first real experience with forcing on frozen solid shoes.   They weren't just cold, they were sold ice from laces to soles. It took me ten minutes to just get my trail runners on and another five minutes failing to tie frozen laces together. Never would I have pictured myself fighting with frozen shoes...but it ws an awesome experience..Add 2 frozen blueberry pop tarts to the mix and I was happy!All we had to hike today was 7 something miles then walk and extra mile down a road to Mountain Mama's for big juicy hamburgers as the guide book states. Easy, piece of freakin' cake. But, we didn't add as much as a foot of snow into the mix. The snow was 100% beautiful, made it seem like a whole new trail, and it made hiking down hill very soft and cushy. But, uphill was like trying to walk straight up sand dunes with 40lbs on your back. Not fun.As we hiked lower however, the snow became less and turned into mud. It became like two different hikes on two different days. We went from a foot of snow, to absolutely none as we got closer and closer to finally leaving the Smokies. I'm sure we missed some gorgous views on the way. But cheesburgers wee callin and we saw nothing but white.On the walk down to Mountain Mama's, we saw our first real wildlife on the trail, other than birds. Llamas! At a Llama farm! We thought it was better than nothing. So, we are counting them in on the wildlife count. So lets see, so far, we have birds and llamas.   The list is getting better.Mountain Mama's was actually more exciting than the llamas. Her cheeseburgers were huge and so good. Swansons, Snake, Pebbles and I gorged ourselves as we watched the snow (we thought we had escaped when we left the Smokies) come down heavily.   And there we sat, full and still with 2.4 more miles of AT to walk to get to Standing Bear Farm which provides a hostel for thru hikers. We were trying to devise a plan to get back to the trail head to do said walk when a fellow thru hiker who was taking a zero with his parents appeared like magic and offered us a ride back. Ryan was his name, but we dubbed him "free ride". Magic happens all the time out here.So once again we were back on the trail, in the snow. Crossed a major highway and took pictures of a white blaze on an interstate sign. Then more trail magic when we reentered the woods. A cooler full of empty beer cans and mountain dew. But Swansons and I shared one and left the last for snake to find. Magic everywhere.. Thank you to whoever left that.The real treat of the day was Standing Bear Farm run by Curtis and his wifeand guarded by Spit, the wonderful old rottie who seems a tad bit antisocial. It was the perfect hostel for us frozen hikers. It has a little resupply room run on the honor system. A bathroom outside, a little outdoor indoor shower, a kitchen and free laundry! And a bunk house with a wood stove. Nothing better.We even all got carted out for beer and blog. I could have had 10 pulled pork sandwiches, but I held strong and had 1 and fries.After, we all sat around the wood stove waiting for laundry to finish and listening to Underground tell us crazy stories about his life, all of which he plans to capture in his book "The Adventures of Underground". I can't wait to buy it. The guy comes out with the strangest but funniest one liners I've every heard. You meet so many different people out here from such different walks of life. Even when I miss home or anything else, I still can't imagine giving up this adventure. We are supposed to get another 6 inches tonight and the four of us (Snake, Pebbles, Swansons and I) plan on a 14 mile day and a 20 mile on Monday so that we can cruise on in to Hot Springs Monday night. And take a zero day Tuesday!! Bring on the snow, I have burn holes in my gloves, and the wash ate one of my liners, but it will be fun!