April 5 and 6 - 20.3, 12.7 / 228.0 and 240.7

Watch out...I am over a 10th of the way done and have hiked further than Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods author). If he can have a book, then I can too. Mine will have more stories.

So I was too tired to blog yesterday since we hiked all day and didn't make it to the shelter until a little after 8. That gave us enough time to rest, claim a spot in the shelter, and get settled before hiker midnight (9 pm). We got off to a late start compared to earlier days in the trip. It was after 9 before we got going. I woke up at a fairly decent time and enjoyed one of the most amazing sunrises ever. I have seen many sunrises, but they always seem to stun me. I am speechless when it comes to God's wonders and how beautiful He can make things.

Yesterday's breakfast was sandwich thins and peanut butter. I'm already on my third breakfast type after already trying oatmeal and pop tarts (and power bars but those don't count). We were about to head out when DM started to worry about missing a part of the trail. The day before two guys were talking about how each of them had come to the shelter on different trails. I tried convincing her that we came in on a white blaze (the AT) and there was another white blaze leading away from the shelter. Also the book I have, which gives distances, shelter and water locations, what is in a town, etc. also noted the shelter was right on the trail (as compared to a side trail) and mentioned the water source was 50 yds north on the AT. However, DM was still convinced she skipped a section. In order to verify that she hadn't, SB and I waited for her to retrace her steps. Soon enough, we were on our way and had caught up to three guys who had also stayed at the shelter. I am going to refer to them as the Three Wise Men. This is only because one brings with him a "gift." He wears these very small very tight shorts which makes his package noticeable. Let's just say, if I had kids, I would not want them to see this guy. I know the reference of Three Wise Men is not the best choice, bit they hike together and that is what keeps popping up in my mind.

I used my lunch time to call River Sports, an outfitter in Knoxville. It took multiple calls, but I was eventually able to get through to them in order to have some compression socks overnighted to the next hostel. I have heard quite a few people talk about these things and how they do wonders when it comes to shin splits.

We continued to hike on and came across some spectacular vistas/views during the day. Charlies Bunion, Bradley's View, and Mt. Chapman are a few of the named ones. We arrived at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter and that put us at 13.4 for the day. Knowing we wanted a shorter day today to relax at the next hostel, feeling good after the miles we had already put in, and hearing there was no more snow north of the shelter, we decided to hike the next 7.7 miles to Cosby Knob Shelter. Before rolling out, we all decided to go ahead and cook dinner to give us energy to finish the day. Shortly after, the TWM arrived at the shelter. It wasn't long until the guy mentioned above changed and started to bathe in the creek. This isn't something normally looked up upon if it is close to drinking water. I'll give him a pass since he was at least downstream. Either way, it was not a sight I wanted to see.

We finished up dinner and headed on. It wasn't 100 yards down the trail that I came across a guy and two little kids. He asked if I knew about the snow. I told him that I had heard it was clear north of the shelter. He laughed and told me he just spent the last 40 plus minutes trying to get his kids through it. We had dealt with snow all day already so I grunted and headed on. To the guy that told us no snow, I know you probably didn't mean any harm, but at least make sure you say the correct thing especially to hikers who already endured going over Clingman's Dome in multiple feet of snow. We conquered the snow and the miles of downhill. At some points along the trail, I didn't think my shins were going to hold up anymore. Going downhill is the hardest thing on them, and going downhill for miles is no fun.

We made it with little daylight to spare. There was enough room in the shelter so none of us had to put up our tent. This day also awarded us our longest day yet at 20.3 and our official first 20 miler.

This morning every was woken up by a phone alarm going off at 5. That was everyone except for the guy who had the phone in his pack. Eventually, a lady in the shelter grabbed his pack and went and threw it in the woods after no one claimed the pack. The alarm could be faintly heard for the next 30 minutes. As we were all getting up, the last guy out of his bag was the alarm guy. He asked where his pack was and we told him somewhere in the woods. He didn't believe us when we told him about the alarm.

We spent the rest of the morning making our way to Standing Bear Farm Hiking Hostel in Hartford, Tn. It is located just north of I-40. We say all the signs still saying the interstate was closed due to the rock slide which happened some time back. Rumor has it, it is going to be months before they can open 40 back up. As we were approaching the hostel, I come around the corner and SB is just standing there. He looks at me and says "bear." We waited for DM to catch up. All of us proceeded together but no second sighting. He said it was a cub which means momma is somewhere near by. We stopped by the hostel for some time. It is just on this country road, but the guy has a pretty good set up. He has a bunkhouse, tent sites, laundry, internet, and food resupply. He even has frozen pizzas and a pizza oven. The three of us split that and pringles for dinner. We resupplied with two days worth of food to get us to Hot Springs.

If Dark Star's parents are reading this, try to get a hold of me so we know what the cabin situation is.

We spent a few hours sitting outside talking to other hikers. My socks arrived via FedEx. They seem to work so far, but time will tell. We moved on to a camp site about 3 miles past the hostel. When we first got to the site, we only saw "package" man. He said there was no room so we hiked on. A few yards down we came across some more sites. I'm cool with that since that guy scares me. Here we met Eric and Nicole. Nicole (trail name Persistent) thru hiked in 07. They are just out enjoying a few days of hiking.

18 miles tomorrow and 12 the following. We are trying to beat out a T-storm coming in on Thursday.

Night, blog followers. I will soon have yall brain washed.