Date: 2006-03-30
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Well I¢m starting to think that everything I write in my journal is negative. My experience on the trail is great; it¢s too bad the bad times seem so vivid to me.        I woke to find that my shoes were messed up from drying them on the fire. It happened to Nicole¢s as well. The heat cracked the material above the toe box and it now bends down. To hike in my shoe I have to curl my big toe in order to avoid the plastic piece. I tried to call Vasque to get a new pair under warranty, but they closed their lines early, meaning no phone call for help. Tonight I¢m trying to fix it by shoving a bottle into the shoe and placing it by the heater.        Wait a minute! Why do we have a heater when we were supposed to go back to the trail? Let me begin¢¦        The road intersection on the A.T. is called New Found Gap. It¢s a tourist trap for those who want a view of the smokey¢s but don¢t actually want to walk far to get a view. It took a long time to get a hitch into town. The full cars said they would if they had room, others were heading in the other direction and the empty cars waved and smiled like we were giving them the thumbs up. Eventually we all made it to town. After an hour of striking out, we all caught a ride within five minutes of each other.        After picking up replacement goods at The Happy Hiker, we went to lunch. It was a great restaurant. It was too bad I couldn¢t enjoy it. My hands were itching so badly that it hurt to sit still. I went to the bathroom three or four times just to run my hands under cold water. It was the most depressed I¢ve been in a long time. Everyone laughed and told stories. I wrapped my hands in my napkin to apply pressure without scratching.        After lunch we decided to stay at a hotel. It was late in the afternoon, we still had to go to the grocery store and post office, plus we needed to hitch to the trail. It was even more convening because we only planned for three miles for the afternoon.         We got a room at the Grand Prix hotel. The guy at the reception desk was a riot. Most hotels frown upon people piling into rooms. His response, ¢$#%& no. Pack as many in as you want. Have aches and pains? I¢ll get you anything you need! You say the word, I can get you anything, anytime!¢ It was hilarious.        Our trip to the post office was another event. We began walking at four. Gatlinburg is a crazy tourist town that operates trolleys all day long. We intended to catch one. We started to walk, figuring we¢d get one on its way by. It never came. We had maps so we knew how far away it was, or so we thought. While downtown the maps are drawn to scale. Once you get outside, the scale gets quite skewed. When we hadn¢t reached it by 4:45 I realized it might be closed before we reached it. I tore off down the road, running as fast as I could, considering I was wearing sandals. As I entered the door I explained, ¢There are two more hikers right behind me, they have packages too.¢ His response, ¢Better be here in two minutes or they¢re out of luck.¢ What compassion for running hikers huh?        After getting groceries across the street we met a trail angel named Carol. She told us the trolleys stopped at 6:00. It was 6:05, doah! She told us she¢d give us a ride back to our hotel if waited for her. She didn¢t have a truck or van. She made two trips back and forth to get us all back. Altruism. It warms the heart to see people show such generosity.         So tonight, back in a hotel, showered, and ready to hit the trail tomorrow with calamine lotioned hands, benodryl and hopefully high spirits. Now if only I can figure out my shoe problem.