Date: 2013-03-23
From: Gatlinburg Motel 6

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: overcast clouds

"This is what a Tennessean does to get ready for Denali - get out here in the snow and ice." - anonymous day hikerSluggish departure from GatlinburgWe are up and moving pretty early in order to try getting to breakfast at eight. Dumbledore and Grasshopper leave their stuff in the room, since they have to take care of some things before returning to the Trail. I pack up and bring my pack with me so I can ride back to the Trail with Heading Home. The restaurant those guys chose is on the opposite end of town, over 1.5 miles away. Walking through the empty tourist town early in the morning is a bit surreal, and reminds me a bit of winter forays to the New Jersey shore towns. Wandering down an empty boardwalk - empty road in this case - surrounded by tourist distractions is always an odd experience.We arrive a bit late but don't feel rushed. Heading Home greets us at the door. We are currently the only patrons here, and the owner has been chatting with Anna and Heading Home. The property has been in his family for generations - they wound up with it after thee creation of the park, when the government traded them land in town for their previous property in the mountains. Until recently this was lodging, but in the past few years they turned it into a restaurant. I get a fried steak, eggs, and biscuits to prepare me for the 15+ miles of walking ahead of me today.Here we receive some unfortunate news. Heading Home has to get off the Trail for this season. She had frostbite on her foot in December, and that is not supposed to be exposed to temperatures below freezing for 6-12 months. The very cold nights have been enough to cause concern and force her to get off the Trail for now. She wants to come back to it and with her ability I feel like she will do that. She tells us she will try doing Vermont's Long Trail this year instead, since she can bring her dog for the full length of that trail. It is a shame to see her leave the Trail, but it is a reality that not many of the people I have already met will make it to Katahdin. Though I have been doing well, I cannot even say if I will make it there until I get there.We say goodbye and head off in our respective directions. I had hoped to ride back to the Trail with Heading Home, but now that is not an option. I walk the 1.5 miles across town again, stopping at Walgreens for a few snacks before hitching back out. There are many places for cars to pull off the road but the cars are all full of tourists. I lose count of all the cars passing me on their way up to gawk at the pass. After walking a couple miles a Chevy Blazer from Indiana pulls over and gives me a ride. The occupants of the car are a couple out on their first anniversary. They were planning to go to Cherokee before learning the road was closed, but they drop me off at the trailhead anyways. Roosta, Chickadee, and Brad are getting into a pickup truck to go into town as I am arriving. They say they are planning to return to the Trail before the day is out.Back on the TrailI resume walking shortly after noon. It was originally forecast to rain all day, but that forecast changed to only rain before noon. There are more day hikers near this trailhead than ever before on this thru-hike. Strangely, I encountered none yesterday on the other side of the road. I am not particularly thrilled by most of the day hikers - they block the path, fail to observe right-of-way (downhill yields to uphill), and make plenty of noise. The only day hiker that seems alright is the one I think is a backpacker at first. He has a full pack, and I only find out he is on a day hike when I ask how far he is going. It turns out he is a mountain climbing enthusiast, and is out here when he can get poor weather to help him prepare for Denali.The Trail is very icy for the first part of today's walk, but I figure out a new way to deal with the ice when I have no way to avoid it. When I have nothing protruding from the ice to use as a foothold, I plant a trekking pole securely and use that ax my next anchor. It is rarely a featureless sheet of ice, but it is nice to have this strategy for the rare times I find myself without a viable path. I briefly pass 6000 feet on the side of Mt. Kephart but I opt to avoid the side trail. An extra 0.4 mile of walking is undesirable today, if I started after noon and really plan to reach the third shelter. Icewater Spring Shelter is shortly after this point, and I stop here to take off my pack for a moment and eat.I see some packs here and I hear sounds of work coming from nearby. Upon investigation I see a beautiful sight. A trail maintenance crew is building a brand new privy here! This will soon negate the need to use the 'toilet area', referred to by most hikers as the 'minefield'. I thank them for their work and hang around briefly to chat and shoot photos. One of them suggests I check out Mt. Cammerer and its lookout tower near the north end of the part. I like the suggestion, but it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow and I will have a very long day if I plan to reach Davenport Gap and the hostel there.North of this shelter, the Trail moves downhill and stays on the ridge. The ridge falls away sharply on either side of the Trail, offering no views as the scenery quickly fades to white. I pass Charlies Bunion and its side trail due to the complete lack of views promised in the current conditions. The area following is called the Sawteeth, and with no description in the guidebook I assume this refers to how steeply the mountains fall away on either side of the ridge. I pass a section-hiking family on the gradual climb toward an unnamed high point. I am surprised to see how much mud there is on the top of the ridge, but it beats walking on ice on the ridge.Robbie overtakes me shortly afterward. I am surprises to see him now, as I last saw him pass through while I was zeroing in Fontana. He had taken a zero in Gatlinburg, and fills me in on who else is nearby before inquiring on who I have been around. Robbie moves fast uphill and is tough to keep up with, but keeping up with him gets my mind off the distance. He mentions that the section hikers we had passed thought it was only a mile to the next shelter. I speculate that it is about three miles away, guessing that a certain area we have reached is a viewpoint mentioned in the Awol guide.I let Robbie move on as I stop to exploit the questionable views offered here. The Smokies are living up to their name today but sometimes visibility increases enough to let me get some views. That is the case here, and more so at the next view. The elevation given on a survey marker there lets me confirm my location. The side trail to Pecks Corner Shelter is just over a mile away. It is after 1700 now and I am torn between stopping at this shelter or pressing on. When I arrive at the side trail, I realize the shelter is a half mile off the Trail. If I stop at this shelter, it will be very difficult for me to make it out of the Smokies at a reasonable time on Monday - I plan to dance in Asheville on Monday night. It is almost 1800, but I decide to press on 5.2 miles to the next shelter.Long evening pushThe Trail climbs away from the side trail and reaches a viewpoint at Eagle Rocks. I am immediately glad I pushed on, as the weather gives me a great view of distant mountains and low-hanging clouds. There are two climbs after this, and neither are very large. I put on music and the miles go by quickly. The sun has gone down by the time I reach Tri-Corner Knob Shelter. I am surprised to see that it is very full. I am unfamiliar with some of the folks here, some of whom turn out to be a section-hiking family. I run into Blue Moon for the first time since Nantahala. Sweat and some other less-familiar faces are here as well.City Slicka is a new face for me, and he seems to be quite a character. He has been fortunate in inventing something profitable, retired young, and lately he completed a southbound thru-hike. He yo-yoed and is now returning to Katahdin. It seems like he is choosing to live a fairly low-key life on the income from whatever this invention is, and maybe from taking some jobs to pass the time. Having already completed a thru-hike, he commands some measure of respect from the aspiring thru-hikers here. I stay up until it is dark chatting with him and Tall Boy.The only obvious spot for me to set up here is on the bottom platform under the stairs. Though this seems like a bad spot at first, I find it advantageous. I can leave my glasses and camera right behind the ladder, out of the way but easily accessible. I am the last person to get situated for sleep, but am thrilled to finally change out of wet socks into my dry camp socks. Tomorrow is going to be an even bigger and wetter day.Peace,