Date: 2008-03-16
From: Gatlinburg, TN

To: Ice Water Springs
Miles today: 3.0

We woke up this morning and happily walked down the streets of Gatlinburg to Shoney's for the AYCE breakfast buffet. We didn't get the waitress Kristy Wilde, I was told that she is very hiker friendly, but we ordered our drinks and then hit the bar. For their first plate, Greenblaze and Roses had a plate of fruit while Night Terror and I had eggs, hashbrowns, etc. When Roses came back with her second plate, she ate half of it and then stared at it for a while. At this point, Greenblaze looked at her and said, "I don't think you're taking this buffet seriously!" When we heard this, Night Terror and I began to laugh, and Roses began to sike herself up to take it more seriously!!!After eating, we were walking back to the Motel when Night Terror made a good suggestion...what if we all bought Dream Catcher Earrings? Sounding like a funny idea, we entered some stores and checked them out, but we decided against it when we saw the price! At the room, I called Kanati and he told me that his shin pains had gotten so bad, that he only made it to Derrick's Knob Shelter, decided to rest for a little bit, and woke up several hours later in pain. So, he hiked down to Elkmont the next day, flagged down a trucker and got a hitch into Townsend, TN where he met his wife. So, he's gonna take 1-2 weeks off to let his shin pains go away and then hit the trail again. Well, around noon, Greenblaze and Roses left for the trail and Night Terror and I left for McDonalds. After lunch, we decided to pack up and watched MEATBALLS 2. That movie is so random that it's hilarious...I've got to watch it when I get off the trail! It took us 35 minutes and a couple hundred cars to finally get a hitch back up to New Found Gap, but some guy from Knoxville was kind enough to take us in. As we rode up there, we could see hoar Frost all over the trees and it began to get cold quickly. We got dropped off and then began the "grueling" hike to the shelter. As we arrived, we were greeted by Willie Boy, who'd told us that Jake pushed on, a couple weekenders, Toddy Bear, and Privy Monster--I was a little surprised to see him because he was wearing jean shorts that were cut so short, the pockets were exposed and he slit the sides even more! While cooking dinner, more people kept arriving. One of the groups consisted of 5 Sigma Chi's from LSU on spring Break and there were two more Sigma Chi's from Murray State. I thought this was pretty neat and we had a picture made. What are the odds that there would be 8 Sigs from 3 different schools! It's starting to get late and everybody is begining to settle down for the night. The final head count for the shelter is 20...5 of which are Thru-Hikers!!! Because the temperature is low, there are a couple guys from NC trying to start a fire and they keep arguing as to who needs to build it. This bickering continued for some time and Willie Boy woke up, stood up and began swearing in a fashion which is unique only to him, and told the boys to stop arguing about WHO will build the fire and just do it. Then, he went back to bed...I thought that was hilarious. Alright, It's 8:30p and I'm tired...Night!