April 18 in the Smokies

April 18, 2005 | Day 22 | Miles: 14.8 | Total Miles: 234
End: Davenport Gap Shelter
Danielle:
Sunny and a bit hazy
Another beautiful day in the Smokies! This was the first day we saw a bit of the haze the park is known for, but still we can't complain. We booked through the miles today. The first 7.7m out of the shelter were great, nice and mellow. Plus we had both had a great massage/chiropractic care at the shelter. There was a section hiker who came in, Potholer, and he was a masseuse/chiropractor, and he literally worked on everyone's back,and there were 14 of us! Wow. It was great, and he was super psyched to be helping us all out. He said my back was really tight-oh well, guess that's why it feels that way at the end of the day. I don't know what you can really do about it, there's 30 extra pounds putting pressure on your back. Oh well. He worked on Ryan for a bit too, and taught us all some stretches which seem like they'll be a great help.
In any event, after lunch, which was quite meager (We were almost out of food. It's just amazing that we're so hungry out here. We just can't carry enough to keep up with what we're burning. Someone tell me, how much does a 120lb. woman carrying a 30 lb. pack, hiking 12 to 15 miles a day, burn? I'm curious.), as we were close to out of food, we thought, hmmm, if we make it to the shelter on time, we can drop our stuff, hike down to the road, and get in to Mountain Momma's and eat at the grill before it closes at 5pm. Yup, let's do it! So 7m and 2:20 later, we got to the road and hoofed it the 1.3m to the store. It's a total hole in the wall, in the middle of nowhere, and inside it's full of cigarettes, snuff (who does snuff these days?), Dolly Parton memorabelia, model cars, a meager grocery section, and the grill. We both had sandwiches and fries, grabbed a few goodies for tomorrow before we get to Standing Bear, and chatted with the 7 other thru-hikers who had booked it in to get one of the grill's "huge" cheeseburgers. We were all psyched with the extra mileage to get food. Was it decadent, gluttonous or stupid to hike an extra 3 miles today for food? To the "normal" mind, maybe, but not to us. We're full and happy :-) A good day.



Ryan, April 18
sunny, warm
first off, a great story from yesterday. at about 12:30, we had just finished our lunch, and drumstick comes bounding up the trail with his shirt off all excited. "hey guys, how far have we gone?" "about 8 miles." "what time is it?" "about 12:30." "sweet! i started at 10:30. ok, i gotta catch 6-piece...he started an hour and a half before me." and he takes off, basically running. we put on our packs and head off. about half an hour later, we come across drumstick laid out spread eagle on his stomach at the side of the trail. "drumstick, what happened?" "i had to stop...my crotch is on fire. since i was running, i got too sweaty and i'm totally chafed." he eventually hiked carefully to the shelter. thankfully, he already has a trailname. last night at the shelter was awesome. the shelter itself was sweet...clean, new, benches, fireplace, and a tarp to lower over the opening. the people were great. drumstick was working the guitar. we had the fire going. then, potholer arrives. he's just section hiking, but it turns out he's a massage therapist/licensed chiropractor/back god. he worked on everyone's back. i feel like a new man. he showed me stretches, and my back/shoulder thing feels much better. he also helped daniele out, too. so, we're feeling pretty good. the hiking today was sweet...a little rolly, but pretty mellow. we had mountain moma's on our mind, so we rocked out the last 7 miles of the day in about 2:20. we dropped our stuff at the shelter, and headed for the road. mountain moma's is a little store in the middle of nowhere, but it's only one mile down the trail, and then 1 mile down a road. to a thruhiker, that walk is a small price to pay for something fresh off a grill. mountain moma's is an interesting place, complete with a shrine to dolly parton. really, it's indescribable...you have to experience it to understand. needless to say, we got fed, got a shuttle back up to the trail and we're full. oh yeah, even though we feasted on chicken sandwiches, french fries and various candy items at around 4:00, we still had a "regular" dinner at the shelter at around 6:30...there's nothing better than second dinner. all in all, it's been a fantastic 24 hours. we've truly enjoyed our time in the smokies...despite the horse poop. tomorrow, we're taking a short day to a hostel, standing bear farm...tonight, we're battling the mice at this shelter. so far...the mice are winning.