Date: 2003-04-06
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Tricorner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: broken clouds

sun 6apr 1153pm--at tricorner knob shelter(5920 ft)--starting location-icewater spring shelter. todays miles 12.6--total miles 219.4.ive completed just over 10% of the trail now. let me update you all since the last entry.i was at double spring gap shelter(193.0 miles). the next moring, me and spunky were up early enough to do some night/dark hiking and made it up to clingman's dome lookout tower just before the sun would have rose. WOULD have rose. it was completely foggy and very windy, so we didnt see much of anything. at least we tried. so we hiked the last 7 or so miles til we got to newfound gap, on the nc/tn border and started to hitch hike to gatlinburg around 230 pm. didnt take but 5 minutes to get a ride. so we got to gatlinburg (15 miles from the gap) and went to the outfitter called the happy hiker. i got a pair of the lightweight rubber clog shoes that everyone is getting out here, and a little thumb light there. and the guy took our picture with a polaroid and put our names on it and hung it on the 'thru hiker wall'. we looked for the other hikers who were there to see who we might run into in town. also we met dunkey in the store, another hiker we've been hiking with, and we de!cided to share a room. so we got a room. $15 a piece, so we dropped our pack there and went looking for a place to go to dinner. went to 'the best italian' restaurant because we all wanted PIZZA. boy, did we get that! mmmmm. then we headed back and hit a little grocery place and got some trail food. AND ice cream (: so we were back at the room eating ice cream and some bananas and chocolate milk, etc, all the bad stuff for you. enjoying it immensely. afterwards, i passed out from the overload of sugar and slept for 2 hours. woke around 10 or 11pm. we all stayed up til 230am watching about the war and spunkys favorite show the golden girls and other shows. BIG NEWS!!! the beer ive been carrying all this time, well, it has been consumed. i drank it at the hotel that nite. it lasted 203.8 miles.. and im glad im not lugging it around anymore. it wasvery good though! thanks mr von handorf! so the next day we all packedup and left the hotel. saw carrot walking around and talked with him. thenwe went to catch the trolley bus. its a transit vehicle that looks like a trolley and is 25 cents to get on and ride. but we didnt see one for awhile so we started walking to find dunkey a new hotel, since he was gonna zero day on sunday. well, some local guy in a pickup pulled over and started talking to us and he gave us a ride to the PO but it was closed. dunkey had some things to send home. across the street was a big grocery store, so we went there for trail food shopping. i found a box there too so i could send my heavy sandals home. we got food and bought some donuts too to eat outside. and it was a gorgeous day too. then i boxed up my stuff, addressed it, and left it with dunkey to send for me when monday rolled around. so he'll send it out. then we got the trolley bus back to town. wow, what a town gatlinburg is. a complete and honest to goodness tourist trap town.! amazing. like they just said,"hey, lets just build buildings here and start up a tourist trap town". a local guy said it was the number one wedding place in the US, and number 2 is las vegas. whoa.i also saw a TOBY TOURS bus! got a picture of it too. well, me and spunky wanted to get back on the trail, so as soon as we exited the city limits, we beganto hitch hike. in about 15 min, we got a ride from a guy in a pickup, a big guy with 2 big dogs in the front. we were just fine with sitting in the back. we got up to newfound gap around 445 and as we were about to get back to hiking, we met a family from michigan and their 2 friends. they were all very interested in talking about hiking with us and we were all too eager to answer their questions. the kids asked questions too. very nice people. we all exchanged email addresses..and will stay in contact that way. we hiked a ways together, and said our goodbyes on the trail. we got to icewater spring shelter (3.0 miles from newfound gap) at 635 pm (35*37.786'n/83*23.176'w) to find carrotslayer, noid, kneepad, librarian, and some section hikers there. noid is a girl who did the PCT (pacific crest trail) last year, from what ive heard. twofiddy came in later. later we changed our clocks ahead. and the sunrise the next morning was dramatic. the kind you imagine angels sounding trumpets. it was like that. then me and spunky did our daily pushups and stretches and got on the packs and started at 932am (new time) and got here to tricorner knob shelter at 516pm. a weather front passedthrough and it rained and even hailed on us as we were coming here. and the atmospheric pressure changed, because i REALLY felt it in my ankles. wow. got here, ate dineer and i crashed out immediately after. like at 6pm. its 1243am now. so i figured id update you all now. tomorrow id like to try and get to the last shelter in the park. we want to get to hot springs by friday or saturday for something called trailfest. it sounds "trail-ly" and itd probably be something good for hikers to be at. its at 270 miles.so about 50 more miles.well, things are really going good out here and i am really enjoying this experience. im not really piling on the miles yet, but that will occur when theres more hours of daylight. im doing prety good though. my body is getting used to hiking all day. its been 3 weeks ive been out here now. since the 15th of march and im at 219.4 miles. not too bad. no blisters, havent fell, not sick (knocking on wood). what more can you ask for?