Date: 2007-05-14
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: scattered clouds

5/14 7.1 miles, 4.5 hoursAmazingly I slept ok in the full shelter and had a few dreams - one that my sister was trying to find her way back home to Kansas (she lives in Ohio) and was driving us about 100 mph in a civilian Lincoln Continental. I layed in my bag waiting for people to clear out, but by 9am I had to get up to pee. I was out of there by 9:30. I went uphill for about an hour and a half and thanked God I hadn¢t attempted that yesterday! The rest was downhill, but one mile from the shelter I stopped for a boots-off break, the only break I took today. It ended up being a real long one, as I looked at all 192 photos I¢ve taken so far, trying to zoom in on how fat I was when I started. I have got to find a scale - the shirt that hugged my hips on day one is now like an apron on me! I got to the shelter around 2pm. It has a charming bear fence across the front and there is no privy. The water is close but down an extremely steep gravel ¢slide¢. On the plus side, most of the sleeping area is dusty - maybe I¢ll have it to myself tonight. One nosey hiker stopped by and asked me the requisite questions, plus ¢Do you always stop so early?¢ I told him I got done early because of all the downhill. I was one inane question away from telling him to hike his own F¢ing hike. Or letting a big fart. Later a nice couple stopped in; a hyperactive hiker followed and offered non-stop loud advice, prancing back and forth in the shelter to demonstrate hiking techniques. It drove me to finally unpack my hammock to retrieve my earplugs. I couldn¢t help being antisocial, I had to protect my sanity, and once I put the neon orange Precious plugs in it was SUCH a relief and I absolutely loved them. Maybe I wouldn¢t be so sick of shelter people if I had been using them all along through the Smokys.A nice thing happened today - I bumped into Curly! He had taken almost a week off in Gatlinburg after he got wet one day that it rained. I also found out that Potion stayed at NOC over a week for a Blues Festival. Maybe there¢s still hope of bumping into him again. I can¢t explain why I want to see the old bunch of hikers but despise meeting the new ones. I keep track of how far ahead Baldo is by reading the registers. The notorious E. made an entry at Cosby that she was going down to the campground to get into an ambulance: ¢probably a fracture¢¦I¢ll be back.¢Most people continue on from this shelter 4.3 miles to Standing Bear Hostel. I¢d rather go on a day they are not packed and arrive in the morning so I have all day to eat, do chores, and get a bottom bunk. It looks like it is a decent little climb when we leave the hostel - over 1000' gain in less than two miles. I am still telling people that I am going halfway to Harper¢s Ferry, however I have fantasies of last-minute cruise specials in July or catching a bus and showing up on the front doorstep on my birthday (also in July) to have some sort of vacation time with 2-N Glenn. I guess this is where the physical challenge subsides and the mental challenge rears its ugly head. The trail certainly looks much flatter until Mt. Rogers Park in Virginia.Thankful for: peace and quiet.