Date: 2023-04-22
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Pigeon River Bridge
Miles today: 9.4

When we left Cosby Knob, it was slightly raining. So, of course, we had to pack up our tent and it¢s soaked. We prefer it to rain while we sleep, but we hate having to pack up a wet tent. We try to dry it out before setting it up again, but that doesn¢t always work. Last night it thunderstorms and Nicholas woke up to someone yelling, ¢Shit!¢ Apparently, Mighty Q had a snake chasing a mouse inside his tent!! He caught the mouse with his Jet Boil and scooted the snake out of his tent in the middle of the night. The past three nights, Nicholas has had to wake up 3-4 times to refill his mat. It has a hole in the seam, so we reached out the the manufacturer and they are sending out a replacement!! Thank goodness! It¢ll arrive when we make it to Hot Springs. We are so thankful for that! When I woke up, I noticed that my bear canister was inside our tent vestibule. Apparently, Comfort got our bear canister and put it inside the vestibule in the morning when he got our food! That was so kind of him, because it was still raining when we tore down our tent. However, it did make me think that if a bear were to mess with our tent, I would never know. I¢d sleep right through it!! I typically sleep with an eye mask and ear plugs. So if a bear did attack, I would die in blissful ignorance! I¢m okay with that! Worth it for a great night¢s sleep. But that may also be why we are the last ones out of camp every morning,¢¦ I never know when the sun is up and I typically say, ¢30 more minutes.¢ HA! Typical. I love sleeping. The rain quickly subsided into our hike, which was nice!! We pumped out a quick 9 miles, and as we got to our destination there was trail magic!!! I had a cheeseburger, hot dog, two bags of chips, gushers, Oreos, two sodas, homemade cookies, cheese-its, etc. I was ravenous!! Also, they were giving out freeze dried meals!! This is so generous!! Freeze dried meals are luxury! Mostly because they are expensive. They gave us three bags! We were so grateful and absolutely blessed! A couple there even gave us their contact information, so they could pick us up for free to take us to trail days in May. Trail days is a festival where a ton of people on trail shuttle back for to see other hikers, outfitters, etc. The First Baptist Church with the shuttle from Gatlinburg will be there doing hiker¢s laundry and offering showers by bringing portable showers. We were so happy to have this offer of a free trip to trail days!!I talked a lot to Captain and her two sisters. Her and her family are such a breath of fresh air!! They love the Lord, and you can see Him shine through them! We are blessed to have become friends with them!Josh Allen picked us up in his Diesel pickup, and took us into town. Nicholas and Josh went to Bushcraft school together in Maine. They both made their own oars and both purchased a beaver pelt while in Maine. Ours is now a stuffed pillow. HA! In town we got Chick-Fil-A, went to an outfitter (I needed new shorts), and went to Publix. We resupplied at Publix for our trip to Hot Springs, even though we will be taking a zero day tomorrow. A zero is when you do not hike any miles. We definitely need this!!When we got back to Josh¢s house, we helped him prep for a surprise birthday party for his wife. This was a lot of fun! Josh filleted some fish and cooked if fresh for everyone! And of course, we had cake for dessert. Josh¢s neighbor, Jake, loves backpacking as well. He actually offered us freeze-dried meals, because he has extra! He¢s super kind!The spare bedroom bed is gloriously soft, AND they have a heated toilet seat. It¢s pure bliss here. Nicholas and I feel incredibly blessed.