Date: 2016-05-01
From: Grand Prix Motel

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: light rain

Day 26: We stayed overnight at the Grand Prix motel. The main reason for the stay was due to not being able to get our chocolate chip pancakes. We got up at 8 and went with the Royal couple to the Pancake Pantry. The Royal couple had bad news for us. Sarah (Scavengar) told us her grandad is very ill and is dying. She needs to get off trail and fly home back to the U.K. Simon (honey buns) is staying here and Sarah will meet back up with him later on.   They are staying again tonight in Gatlinburg and Sarah will get transport to Knoxville and will be flying from there to Chicago and then to London. I'm gonna miss them terribly as they are great people. I told Simon when he gets back on trail on Monday to try and catch us. Breakfast was good but very expensive. They seem to charge for everything separate. If you order specialty pancakes for 9.95 that's all you get, no hash browns, eggs etc. It was an expensive breakfast but good. The other odd thing is they only take cash, no credit or debit cards. Odd for this day and age but it didn't hurt their business. They still had a line down the street when we left. We walked back down the street and I stopped to get an iced coffee from Starbucks while Luigi stopped into Walgreens. We checked out of the motel and walked back towards the NOC. I ran in to buy a new spork as mine broke and I bought titanium this time and not plastic. We then said ok let's try and hitch back to New Found Gap. It was my first time doing it ever in my life. After only 10 minutes Bryce pulled over and gave us a lift and drove us the 15 miles to New Found Gap. We were most thankful and got on trail by noon. I have to say this section of the AT between New Found Gap sand Pecks Shelter is by far my favorite. The climb was steady up today. I should mention Luigi and I hike similar paces but most days we hike separate and meet up when the other stops. We occasionally hike together and talk but often it's our solo time to listen to music, podcasts or most recently for me I've meditated while hiking. I came to a view point and there were 2 day hikers a few minutes in front of me and they said when they got to the clearing there was a bear cub that had run into the woods. I moved on and stopped at Icewater Spring Shelter and signed the log book. I left a note to Mr Honey Buns (Simon) and said catch me if you can. I moved on and then got to the side trail for Charlie's Bunion. I dropped my pack and Smitty and took my hiking poles. I was gonna combat my fear of heights. It was spectacular and had a few moments of Woah!! I took many panoramas. Luigi showed up next and had checked out the views. Next thing I knew Chloe the ridge runner was there asking who had left their packs unattended. We were like they are ours. She scolded us saying you can't leave your bags unattended as there has been a heavy bear presence on this section of the trail and they will get your food. We were like ooooops sorry, sorry. She was nice but was doing what she is supposed to. We ran back to our packs and moved on. Now the next 6 miles of the trail was simply amazing. The trail followed a ridge line, sometimes along a cliff, sometimes almost knife edge like. There were vistas after vistas and I said WOW almost 50 times. The visibility wasn't perfect but it still was pretty spectacular. I took many pictures. I arrived at the shelter at about 5:15. I was able to get a spot and save one for Luigi. I filtered water, did my chores had dinner and hunkered down for bed by 7:30. Tomorrow we are planning on going 12.6 to Cosby Knob shelter and we will only be about 12 miles away from being out of the park.