Day 22

So long Gatlinburg!  It’s a fun place and I wish I could stay another day to see a little more.

As luck would have it we scored a free shuttle back to Clingmans Dome to continue our travel from the first Baptist Church people.  The same group who gave us a free breakfast in Franklin.  They picked us up at the local outfitters store where we resupplied.  About 10 hikers got a ride most of whom we have seen along the trail.  We are waiting in the picture for the ride in the van in the back. I got a new air mattress at the outfitters there as my other one started leaking again.😡.

 

It was another good weather day.  The Smokys have given us good weather so far and we are almost halfway through.  Stopped at  Newfound Gap for lunch.  It’s  a favorite spot where locals can day hike from.  US 441 crosses here.  It connects Gatlinburg TN with Cherokee NC.  So people drive up here to see the sights and hike or travel between the states.  The Appalachian Trail straddles the Tennessee and North Carolina line so we go in and out of these states quite a bit for a while.”

Hiked 10.8 miles to Ice Water Spring Shelter and because it was threatening rain and very windy we decided to stay in the shelter.  It’s the first shelter we have actually stayed in as we usually camp outside. The shelter is also at about 5,900 feet elevation so we are pretty high up in the mountains  No one noticed any mice that night.  It did rain but only a little overnight but we got there, claimed a spot and made dinner before any rain.

Tomorrow we plan to hike 12.8 miles to Tri Corner Knob Shelter.  There is a big storm coming tomorrow night so we want to get to the shelter before it hits.  It’s supposed to be a pretty good storm so we plan to get out early ahead of it.

Time to sleep. Zzz