Date: 2007-03-30
From: Newfound Gap

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: broken clouds

6:00AM: I was wrong about there being no privies at any of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park shelters along the AT. According to the Thru-hiker Companion Book there are specific ones that have privies due to their heavy use but we have not been at any of them yet. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, probably because I had coffee when we went for ice cream. And this morning I woke up with a bellyache, probably because I had TWO hot fudge sundaes before going to bed. I told Toto not to let me do that again--at least not before going to bed!!Our first night at the shelter here in the Smokys an older woman was walking south from Newfound Gap and then she was going to be shuttled back to Newfound Gap to go north. She is hiking to Maine, also. Her name is Magellan and I hope we meet up with her again. She thru-hiked in 1999 and has done a few other trails--Florida and one other in the south in Alabama are ones she mentioned. When we told her we had started all over again to try to finish what we had not done she said, "So you are hiker trash, too." Well, I guess we are. It gets in your blood. Although, for me, I think that doing another long distance hike is not going to be something I'll want to do. Toto, however, would like to do the Pacific Crest Trail. Mountain Momma's, a hiker hostel and restaurant, down from Davenport Gap, is indefinitely closed, according to a printed notice we saw at Fontana Dam. They had great hamburgers but we were not planning on stopping there again. First, it is a hike down the mountain and back up if you don't get a ride. There didn't seem to be a lot of traffic on that road when we were there last time. Second, we decided to stay at Standing Bear Farm Hiker Hostel. We heard good things about it from people that were there in '05.8pm: After breakfast we checked out of the motel and went to the west end of town to The Happy Hiker outfitter. The companion says it opens at 9 but when we got there the sign said opening time is 10. So I sat with our packs while Toto went to a deli we had just walked by to pick up a couple of subs and more food to carry to the trail. While he was there he met another hiker, Flint, that knows my brother. What a small world! We ended up sharing a shuttle with him and 2 other hikers, Calamity Jane and Hobo, back to the trail. The driver of the van was a woman that acted like she had never been to the trailhead before and talked nonstop about the area. Before we got to the top her van started overheating. She got us to the trail, but just barely.So at 11:15 we are starting to hike. It is a bit foggy but not nearly as bad as yesterday. The trail was mostly ridge walking once we got up and we had some nice views, but mostly it was all clouds. The sun tried hard a number of times to burn through but it didn't make it most of the time. There was a lot of dense dark woods with water dripping from the branches. In one spot there was an area of several yards of at least a foot or so of solid ice on the trail where the sun must never reach into. That was a bit difficult to negotiate without falling but we made it. The shelter is a half mile off the trail and down the mountain. It is pretty full and there are a few tents set up as well. Names of some of the hikers here are Secret Lover and Bus Driver from Perry, OH, Moonwatcher from Tampa, FL, Sixty, Walking Cowboy from GA, Texas from Texas, Flint from WV, Hobo from New Orleans, Calamity Jane, and some others out for a few days that have no trail names. Oh, Magellan is here and is hiking north with us now. Everything is getting quiet now at 8:40. A fire was started in the fireplace in the shelter and is still burning well and is providing some warmth and light. Tomorrow will be a 13 mile day and then only 1 more day in the Smoky Mountains!   Life is Great!