Date: 2006-09-23
From: icewater spring shelter

To: tri-corner knob shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: overcast clouds

======2003======thursday, march13, day 20this day couldn¢t have been any more beautiful or scenic!...we started out with charlie¢s bunion (hope the pictures turn out!)*¢¦that place is a literal garden! (with all the plants there growing right out of the rock!)¢¦.leiophyllum (sand myrtle) is our favorite, but there is also rhododendron minus (carolinianum), diervilla, grasses, and mosses¢¦.all compact, neat, varied in color and texture¢¦and the rocks! oh!...the beautiful ¢bunion¢ rocks!...(and¢¦ oh,yes¢¦.speaking of rocks, i forgot to mentionthe huge quartz boulder we saw yesterday between the clingman¢s dome road and newfound gap¢¦never saw quartz that big before!.....anyway, we had a pretty easy day today¢¦..still, some of the trail had ice¢¦.we used our yak trax*, but once, when i had removed them i slipped and fell and skinned my knee!...shoulda just kept them on¢¦.there are no words to describe what our eyes took in today¢¦..the very, very steep mountain sides dipping into deep, deep hollows¢¦..some covered with fir trees¢¦.some with heath or grass¢¦..but some of these beautiful slopes are eroding¢¦..with the firs dying there just isn¢t much left to hold the soil¢¦..brambles, angelica and ferns seem to be the predominant ¢pioneer¢ species working hard to re-establish areas where the trees are fading away¢¦it¢s so sad to see them go¢¦..the corpses of old, dead trees stand like totems, their arms and eyes looking , reaching to the past?...to the future?....trying, perhaps to point us toward a better way?.....it¢s almost like walking through a graveyard¢¦¢¦.YET¢¦.there is HOPE¢¦..today at lunch as we sat with chris and megan (from maine), i looked across the path and there on a ¢nurse log¢ were half a dozen or so tiny, ¢stair step¢ firs, all in a row, awaiting their chance at majesty!...i hope they make it!...i hope philip and mckenna* will be able to see the fir forests again when they¢re older¢¦.we listened all day today to the finches¢¦.the¢giggle birds¢!....SO HAPPY (the finches AND us) to be living in these mountains!......we also enjoyed watching the juncos (¢snowbirds¢) along the trail and at camp¢¦.they are such handsome, elegant little birds in their ¢tuxedos¢¢¦¢¦their white faces are very bold (to match their personalities!...they aren¢t afraid of anything!)¢¦.well¢¦ ¢they¢ told us it would rain today and it did¢¦.about 15 minutes before we arrived at the shelter¢¦we¢re officially initiated!....it smells good in here because someone has scattered fir boughs on the very muddy floor¢¦..y¢ know¢¦ it¢s really strange bunkin¢in with another couple (or someone else) you do not know¢¦i thought as we passed double spring gap shelter the other morning early, that the campers still asleep side by side in their many colored sleeping bags looked very much like crayons in a deluxe crayola box!we¢ve enjoyed much good will along the trail so far¢¦.one guy asked at icewater spring last night what was the best advice we had to offer so far¢¦charlie mentioned getting the help of others¢¦.i agree¢¦ and topping that list, i think, is, most importantly, the help of the Lord ¢¦.i¢m pretty tired makin¢ my way through the smokies¢¦.i can¢t seem to concentrate on what i read in my bible at night¢¦..but I¢m tryin¢ to meditate on a portion of the gospel of john in which jesus is said to have shouted out in the temple one day, ¢if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me!¢¢¦..well¢¦ it¢s time to zonk¢¦17 miles will be difficult tomorrow¢¦.i¢ll have to admit, i hope this good weather continues and it doesn¢t rain!*¢¦..there¢s a huge warning about bears here at tri-corner knob¢¦(YIKES!)¢¦we will meet timothy again on Saturday and then it¢s ¢out of the shire¢ for real!.....i really smell BAD!...(even though i had a shower tonight!======2006====== friday, march 3, day 20 (tri-corner knob to standing bear farm hostel 18.5 mi.)the Lord was really with us today! (well¢¦He¢s ALWAYS with us as He promised¢¦.but let¢s just say today we especially FELT His help!)¢¦.really¢¦all in all it turned out to be a great day, but it started off as a challenge¢¦¢¦since we got pretty damp the day before and it turned off so cold last night, our shoes FROZE solid !....it was really difficult getting out from under the covers (after eating DRY cereal there) and putting on icy, damp clothes¢¦.but we managed¢¦..we put on our yak trax before leaving the shelter and headed on out anxious for our hiking to begin to thaw us out!.....it was then i realized that, as usual, our Creator knows what He¢s doing because the FROZEN snow was much easier to walk on! (no sinking down up to your knees!)¢¦.i don¢t know WHY i ever worry about ANYTHING!...our day turned out fine and we were able to hike a lot faster than previously¢¦.the mountaintops and trees were all frozen with fog and we enjoyed the scenery in that way (though there were no far-reaching views)¢¦.but being able to skim the surface of the snow in our trax helped us get our miles quickly and make it on in here to standing bear farm¢¦..this is an interesting place¢¦..really cute!...and curtis is great!...he did everything he could to accommodate us (said he¢s only had 3 hikers so far this year)¢¦..he apologized up and down for not havin¢ things ¢ready¢¢¦..but we think it¢s more than ready and we¢re so happy to be here!.....makes me wanna have a hostel some day¢¦.(curtis says mountain mama¢s is for sale!)¢¦.we will see tim in the mornin¢¢¦..but, for now, we¢re clean (thanks to curtis allowing us to use his shower and laundry facilities!) and it¢s time to go to sleep to the hum of this propane heater he let us use¢¦..we are under about 5 quilts in a rustic ¢4- poster¢ bed that curtis himself constructed!* *NOTES/ OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS-----*pictures¢¦..in ¢03 we had disposable cameras sent to us in every mail drop¢¦we were amazed at the good quality of pics we got (we later had them transferred to a power point presentation and folks really couldn¢t believe they came from disposables!)¢¦in ¢06 however, we sprung for a digital camera which i wore around my neck most of the time¢¦.it was nice to have this technology to capture as many scenes from the trail as I wanted¢¦.we had a little snafu in shipping of memory cards, though, towards the end of this year¢s journey so we were without photography from falls village ct¢¦¢¦ *yak trax ¢¦. these are little stretch ¢crampon thing-ys¢ that we purchased from campmor in ¢03 and used again in ¢06¢¦.i was especially pleased with yak trax¢¦(paw-ee wore his less)¢¦.they¢re no help in snow (we always just wore running shoes), but they¢re unbeatable on ice! you can really ¢book¢ with yak trax when conditions are icy!.....paw added an extra ¢tie¢ on ours, though, to help keep them on as they can tend to slip off¢¦(we would sometimes find a single yak trax in a shelter or along the trail)¢¦seemed as if a few folks were having trouble with their durability, however, in ¢06¢¦.(hope the product quality hasn¢t diminished since ¢03)*philip and mckenna¢¦..grandkids!....i sometimes worry that they won¢t be able to experience the beauty of the mountains/earth as we, of our generation, have¢¦.with the spread of exotic invasive species and pollution and other types of environmental destruction (such as mountaintop removal) our planet is becoming a vulnerable victim of greed!.....unfortunately we forget WE are part of the planet!......(and so are our grandkids!)*bunking in with strangers¢¦..paw-ee and i are pretty much introverts and can barely imagine spending the night even with very close friends¢¦.eventually, though, you get used to this sort of ¢trail intimacy¢,realizing the ¢bond¢ with other hikers is almost automatic (even if you¢ve only just met)¢¦¢¦we weren¢t sure in ¢03 how we¢d get along in the shelters¢¦.but it turned out to be an enjoyable way to get to know an amazing number of folks with whom you have similar interest¢¦..and though we really did often enjoy the privacy of our own little tarp, we wouldn¢t take anything for the ¢communal¢ experience of shelter dwelling!....thanks fellow hikers for helping ¢draw out¢ two shy ol¢ hillbillies so that we could enjoy the company of some of the greatest people in the world!*hope it doesn¢t rain¢¦¢¦we both tried to keep good attitudes about the excessive amount of rain we endured in ¢03 (i was especially proud of paw-ee who¢s much more in favor of sunny days!)¢¦..but i really kind of like rainy weather, USUALLY¢¦..it¢s just that after days and days of rain, or when you¢re hiking through a particularly scenic section , you really tend to pray for sunshine ¢¦.even gray sky lovers like me!*curtis and maria at standing bear farm¢¦¢¦..yahoo for folks like these!....stay there if you can¢¦.it has a quaint mountain charm that can¢t be matched anywhere and hospitality abounds!....we unfortunately didn¢t get to meet maria who was at work¢¦but their 2 little girls are adorable! (and add their own version of charm in CHALK to many of the structure walls)¢¦.curtis seems to have all the gifts necessary to make a hiker comfortable, wielding skills of carpentry, engineering, food management, chauffeuring, artistry and more, all accomplished with plenty of cheer and good will¢¦.we highly recommend standing bear farm!