Date: 2013-05-07
From: Gatlinburg

To: Icewater Shelter
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: moderate rain

Day 9: Gatlinburg to Icewater Spring Shelter "Anyway, my Mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way we expect." (Luna Lovegood through J.K. Rowling) I was up late last night, don¢t know why really but in the end I think I got about 5 hours of sleep. Packed up, went down for breakfast which was excellent (ham, cheese and pepper omelet on a bagel and some fruit), Rider had a cute little Teddy bear waffle?. I was still bummed out about leaving my Crocs and Rider just repeated: ¢Someone will have picked them up.¢ He sent a note to Alana asking if anyone had picked them up. We had a planned pick-up for about 9:15 to return to the Clingmans Dome parking lot but about 20 minutes ahead of that Alana texted that she was in Gatlinburg at a hiker hotel and she HAD my Crocs! Yippee! So she had carried my Crocs 18 miles from Derrick Knob to Newfound Gap, hitched a ride into G-burg and brought them to within 2 blocks of where I was staying! I was so grateful! Needless to say, we changed our taxi pick-up time and headed over to the Grand Prix where a number of hikers were staying. THANK YOU SO MUCH ALANA!!! I know it seems maybe a small thing, but really I wasn¢t looking forward to wearing boots all the time. And maybe Alana bringing my Crocs was the reason I couldn¢t find any to buy in Gatlinburg. The universe works in mysterious ways!!!Finally got up back on the Mountain around 11:15, the ride between G-burg and Clingmans Dome is about 45-60 minutes. Unlike yesterday, today was mild (I even broke a sweat walking up the road) and the skies were actually pretty clear. We got some great views today even though neither of us felt like re-climbing the tower at the top of the dome. The trail was also mild, some ups and downs but nothing significant. The flowers were out in force, so many Bluets, Trillium, and Spring Beauties; it almost looked like confetti had been thrown all over the ground. The weather, the skies, the flowers and the mental break that was G-burg all contributed to a more laid back approach to the day. We took our time and I snapped lots of photos. There were a number of people out hiking today and we talked with a couple of ladies about the trail north of our location, it didn¢t sound bad at all. All the photos and conversations along the way lead to an arrival at Newfound Gap around 4 PM. We stopped there and took a good break, just sitting against the rock retaining wall and soaking up the warmth from the cement we were sitting on. After 20-30 minutes of snacking and relaxing, we got up to make the last 3 miles of our day. As we headed to a set of stairs, we saw Fire Hydrant, Alana and some other hikers standing next to a shuttle van. We waved and headed into the woods. We saw them about an hour into our hike and played around with the roots of an overturned tree which had some large gaps that looked like those silly cut-out boards you see in tourist traps (you know where there¢s a board with a bikini-clad woman and muscular man and the heads are holes through which you place your head). Day 9- Photos We had a 900¢ climb over the 3 miles between the gap and the shelter, but the grade was easy enough to make it not bad at all. There were rocky sections but also a good amount of soft earth on the trail, everything was so green in the forest. We arrived at the shelter at 6 PM and found that it had plenty of room. This shelter is pretty high in altitude 5,920¢ so it is cold and quite misty but not intolerable at all. We watched a large deer feed on grass around a few tents and saw the sunset slide below the horizon. It was not a hard day for 11 miles, I got to speak with Matt this evening, and I got my Crocs back (yeah!), and some hiker has strung up Christmas lights in the shelter, it¢s been a great day on the trail. Day 9- Views from the trailGoodnight from ALMOST a mile high in the Great Smoky Mtn National Park!More photos for day 9 of the trip can be seen at: 2000Miler_Day9