Date: 2015-03-20
From: Double Spring Gap Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: light rain

Started off chilly today, but I was thankful for the quality of my rain gear because the majority of my clothing was dry. It was a little bit amusing to hear the groans of discomfort of everyone who had to put on cold, wet clothes. The only problem I had was with my shoes, which were cold and squelchy and instantly ruined my dry socks.Remarkably, last night was the first night (not in a private room) where I haven't heard any snoring at all. Tonight I can already hear 2 people snoring at 8.30pm.I had the maple syrup and brown sugar oats today but it tasted like nothing. However, whilst eating it, a deer walked past the shelter. It looked over at us quite a bit but didn't seem too scared. It was good to finally see some real wildlife that doesn't want to hurt me at all. We left camp about 8.15 and headed for Clingmans Dome. It was still foggy, so there was no view at all and it was really mostly just very cold and windy. Then we walked the next 4.5 miles to Newfound Gap, which is the state line between South Carolina and Tennessee.There was a wonderful woman there doing some excellent trail magic. Her name was Dragonfly, and she had a great spread of donuts, fruits, vegetables, boiled eggs and coke. But she also had 2 giant boxes filled with various snacks, oats, hot drinks, energy powders and even tuna for us to resupply with. All of it was for free! It was very amazing. Now I have far too much food but it was too good to pass up. From there, we managed to get a hitch from a woman who went by the name of Laughing River. She said we looked so miserable that she had to stop. She told us a bit about the area and her life, and was generally very nice. She dropped us off about a mile from Gatlinburg. Meanwhile, the Rhode Island Express was in the back of a pick up truck in front of us, and got out at the same place. From there, 3 college boys on spring break picked us two girls up. They didn't know the area either so we had a bit of a fun time trying to find the store that was on the map.The store turned out to be an extremely bad resupply spot, so the map symbol definitely lied. But I got some poptarts, mash and ziplocks. Then we went to get food at Shoneys and to sort our stuff. I ordered the bottomless pancakes, but couldn't eat many because I already had so much at the trail magic earlier. I also finally got to have a milkshake. It was a great meal. From there, we walked through Gatlinburg to the Walgreens. Gatlinburg is described in the guidebook as a tourist Mecca. It is pretty much just a long street crammed with commercial spaces full of tourist junk. There were loads of stores to buy neon tshirts with phrases like "Red Neck Romeo". There was a skyline, an aquarium, two Ripleys Believe it or Nots, candy shops, gun shops, ice cream shops, 5D cinemas, tattoo shops, and every possible kind of overpriced restaurant. It was really a marvel to behold, coming straight off the AT. It's pretty much the exact opposite, and we stood out like a sore thumb. At Walgreens, I finally picked up some camp shoes. They're similar to crocs but very light and tacky. Perfect. I couldn't find any tuna though, so my lunches for the next few days will mostly be snacks.From there we went to an outfitter to buy gas. Then, we tried to get a hitch back 15 miles out of town. We got one very fast from a group of people who were doing some kind of treasure hunt. They had to find and feed a thru hiker for their game. Their team was called "No Chance" and they were a kind and cheerful lot. They mentioned a couple spots that were apparently very beautiful, bit of course we didn't see any because it was still foggy.We got back to the gap about 6pm and did the fastest 3 miles uphill ever to the shelter, which was remarkably empty, by 7pm. I suspect most people stayed in Gatlinburg because of the bad weather the past couple days. Now in the shelter we are reunited with Deerdog and the Rhode Island Express. There is another girl, and two men. The men have managed to synchronise their snoring to be the most annoying possible. I doubt that anyone else is actually asleep. It is so loud!