Date: 2003-04-08
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: The 3.4 mile sign for Mt. Collins Shelter. 
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

The day started innocently enough with packing up and leaving in the rain. The 3rd day in a row of rain. The weather report the day before had said 100% chance of rain, and rain it did. I enjoy walking in the rain and I definitely enjoy the cool temps. It was a nice steady, light rain. I enjoyed the trail today through Sam's Gap, Buckeye Gap, a quick stop at Silers Bald Shelter, and then lunch at Double Spring Gap Shelter. Walking through a rain forest is exciting, comforting (because it's so lush and close) and a little scary too. I got what I think will be some good pictures.It was so cool and rainy that the spring beauties refused to open so there was no burst of color on the forest floor.At times we walked through puddles 4-6" deep and through mile after mile of mud. I sang Singin' In The Rain to myself and pictured Gene Kelly skipping down the trail.When Shocked and Awed and I reached the sign where the trail splits and goes to the Clingmans Dome parking lot, we discussed that it may make sense to get off the trail a day early, instead of waiting until Newfound Gap a day later. Neither of us had a cell phone, so if we took the side trail to the lot we would be counting on a pay phone to call for a shuttle, or hope that a tourist headed for Gatlinburg would take pity on 2 soaking wet, muddy hikers.We decided that on a Tuesday when the weather is as nasty as can be, there would be no tourists at all so we didn't take the chance and stayed on the AT headed for Mt. Collins Shelter where we would spend the night.When we got to the sign on the trail that tells you it's another 3.4 miles to the shelter we were joined by Romeo and Tough Cookie, a delightful young couple who had shared space next to me in the shelter last night and I had met at Birch Spring Gap campsite several nights before. As we stood and talked, numerous people appeared 50 feet from us through the woods. They were dressed in regular clothes, like they were out for a Sunday walk. Actually they were on a blacktop walkway that went up to Clingmans Dome. Yes! Tourists! We had a sudden change of plans and hit the blacktop headed for the rest rooms and parking lot.The skies opened on us and the rain poured down as we walked the half mile to the bottom. First stop-the rest rooms. Next stop-back out into the open to try to get a signal on Romeo or Tough Stuff's cell phones. No luck!We wandered through the parking lot looking for someone that could loan us their phone to call for a shuttle into Gatlinburg. It didn't appear that we were going to get any ride offers from anyone.A thru-hiker from years before stopped and offered us his phone. The Yackerks Dad was there waiting for his son, so he held an umbrella over me while I called The Happy Hiker Outfitter in Gatlinburg and got 2 names and numbers of shuttlers. I got lucky with the 1st call to A Walk in the Woods who said, "Hang in there honey, we'll be there in an hour".We said our thanks and headed to the only dry place within miles, the rest rooms. Tough Stuff put on dry clothes, my only dry article was my fleece which I quickly threw on. We sat on a sleeping bag pad, opened tamari almonds, cheddar cheese and crackers and proceeded to kill an hour while the guys killed time in the men's room.When an hour had passed, I put my wet rain gear on and returned to the parking lot to flag down the shuttler when he came by. Within 10 minutes we were settled in a warm, dry mini van and were on our way to a motel in Gatlinburg. While we checked in we were shivering and miserable. I think we made the right decision.