So now I have twice erased today's entry so let's back up and start gain. Woke up at the Grand Prix hotel in a shared suite with Wesley he's sort of a youngish tennesssean who usually works in a gas station he has a knife you could chop firewood with and a folding camp chair with a hole cut I the canvas for those emergent times when he couldn't make the privey. We got a ride up to newfound gap from the housekeeper her mother and three kids. Oh, but before the ride I went for breakfast at old dads. The Americans in this country store type place well as country store as you can get in gatlinburge apologies tables to make sure I didn't have to sit with any of them. So over walks this fellow and says bon appetito. His name was Gunter and he was German. He wondered how he was going to get on AT. He had a car but he wasn't sure he wanted to drive up to the north boundary of the smokies ( it being closed and all) We decided that I would get my ride back to newfound gap. Find out if they are letting people on the trail and as soon as I know I'll call Gunters cell phone oops he doesn't have. Cell phone I'll have to call his hotel and the nice Indian lady will pass the message. Ok so now Wesley And I get a ride 15 miles up to newfound gap. Wesley's trail name is white crane, hmmmm. All the way up the three kids are all over the back seat and of course we are not sure what we are going to do if the federalis stop us. All the way up this winding road all the pull outs have. Even orange cones blocking their use until we got up high for the really spectacular views and then all the tour busses had just run over them or the driver had moved them out of the way. When we get to newfound gap sure enought there's a ranger there shooing people away from the parking lot. He says the park is closed and I ask even the AT? And he scratches his head and says I guess not so he lets Wesley and me by. I scamper into the woods before he has a chance to change his mind and call Gunter. I actually call the nice Indian lady behind the front desk of his hotel and ask her to pass the word. No parking but the AT is open. In fact I notice that two other gents are hiking too. They have no permits but are recreating a trip one of them made 50 years ago hiking up to Charlie's Bunyon so off we go. White crane loosing ground behind me but doggedly I meet up with him at the next two shelters.
We share the next shelter pecks corner shelter with two SOBO's and a little man who appears to be an expert on all long distance trails apparantly there's dozens in North America and he has hiked them all. He sort of reminded me of ratigas from The Lord of the rings. The wizard that gets pulled around by bunnies. Interesting to note that he has decided he needn't carry a stove so for all the meals I saw him eat he would rifle around in a big garbage bag that had a bunch of other bags in it and pull out hands full of stuff , I know not what, and throw them in his mouth. He claimed to be able to put together a much more nutritious meal than any of the processed food people were carrying these days. He expressed a particular dislike for those mountain house type meals- gee, there are a couple of those that I like. The beef stew in particular and I have been meaning to try the neopolitan ice cream! In the morning he was up and out before the sun came up. It only took him a couple minutes of rummaging around in the garbage bag and he was good to go. All kidding aside if I can do my supplies from home that does sound great. How do you make do when you are resupplying at some little store?
So the SOBO's were really excited to hear that the park was closed. They were going to try to spend the night on Clingmans dome. Definitely a nono but if no one is around to throw them out they might just get to see the sunrise from the highest point on the AT. They seemed to be encouraged when they heard that I had started from springer. And actually their discussion was one of slowing down and taking their time to finish. What's one or two weeks more or less? I didn't get their names but they had been hiking together since ny. That we're having fun trying to decide of they needed to go into Gatlingburg AND get back on the trail with all the federalis prowling around. They were in agreement however that they would take a 5 (miles) day just to stay on clingman. When I left in the morning they were lolling about reading taking it slow. Wesley wasn't out of hi hammock yet. Hammocks are quite the rage. I showed white crane how to tie a bowline and make a timber hitch. Seems like there should be a system sold with a hammock for setting those babies up and stretching em tight.
I have this really nice blow up mattress. It's small but I seem to be getting the hang of going from my back to a side position and staying centered. The problem is that the pad is NOISY. It's so loud it wakes me up and the other people in the shelter, the ones without earplugs, complain bitterly on the morning. I have begun apologizing to all around bedtime. It's dark by 8 pm and everyone is in bed before 9. In general everyone is up by 0600 to 0700 and generally on the road by 0800. I'm writing this on 10/4 after a 17.6 mile day. I guess what I learned today is that ther is no wall at 3 or 4 pm and that there really is time for 5 or 6 more miles before 8 pm bedtime.
-83.3086°, 35.6512°
We share the next shelter pecks corner shelter with two SOBO's and a little man who appears to be an expert on all long distance trails apparantly there's dozens in North America and he has hiked them all. He sort of reminded me of ratigas from The Lord of the rings. The wizard that gets pulled around by bunnies. Interesting to note that he has decided he needn't carry a stove so for all the meals I saw him eat he would rifle around in a big garbage bag that had a bunch of other bags in it and pull out hands full of stuff , I know not what, and throw them in his mouth. He claimed to be able to put together a much more nutritious meal than any of the processed food people were carrying these days. He expressed a particular dislike for those mountain house type meals- gee, there are a couple of those that I like. The beef stew in particular and I have been meaning to try the neopolitan ice cream! In the morning he was up and out before the sun came up. It only took him a couple minutes of rummaging around in the garbage bag and he was good to go. All kidding aside if I can do my supplies from home that does sound great. How do you make do when you are resupplying at some little store?
So the SOBO's were really excited to hear that the park was closed. They were going to try to spend the night on Clingmans dome. Definitely a nono but if no one is around to throw them out they might just get to see the sunrise from the highest point on the AT. They seemed to be encouraged when they heard that I had started from springer. And actually their discussion was one of slowing down and taking their time to finish. What's one or two weeks more or less? I didn't get their names but they had been hiking together since ny. That we're having fun trying to decide of they needed to go into Gatlingburg AND get back on the trail with all the federalis prowling around. They were in agreement however that they would take a 5 (miles) day just to stay on clingman. When I left in the morning they were lolling about reading taking it slow. Wesley wasn't out of hi hammock yet. Hammocks are quite the rage. I showed white crane how to tie a bowline and make a timber hitch. Seems like there should be a system sold with a hammock for setting those babies up and stretching em tight.
I have this really nice blow up mattress. It's small but I seem to be getting the hang of going from my back to a side position and staying centered. The problem is that the pad is NOISY. It's so loud it wakes me up and the other people in the shelter, the ones without earplugs, complain bitterly on the morning. I have begun apologizing to all around bedtime. It's dark by 8 pm and everyone is in bed before 9. In general everyone is up by 0600 to 0700 and generally on the road by 0800. I'm writing this on 10/4 after a 17.6 mile day. I guess what I learned today is that ther is no wall at 3 or 4 pm and that there really is time for 5 or 6 more miles before 8 pm bedtime.
-83.3086°, 35.6512°
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