April 18 Tuesday
Miles today 10.5
Total miles
Gatlinburg TN to pecks corner
Today we had planned to leave the hotel and catch the 8:30 shuttle to the trailhead at newfound gap but when we woke up at 6ish and realized that we could catch the 11 o'clock shuttle and still make decent time, we decided to catch a little more sleep. We headed over to the NOC just in time to see the shuttle pull up and a bunch of kids walking up get right on in front of all the people who had already been waiting >:-( Trail etiquette and polite niceness says you really shouldn't do that. Anyhow, we missed the free church shuttle and he said he wasn't coming back, but this guy in a truck pulled up and said he could give us a lift for $5 a person; not great, but we had just been looking at uber and lyft for basically the same price so we took it with a couple other folks.
It was already raining when we left the hotel but was going between rain and misting. It started to let up some while we were on the way up the mountain, but the entire mountain was in a cloud; no views to be had today. We were thankful for the ride even though it was a little nerve wracking with the speed, turns, and white out but we finally made it to the parking area and began our day. We saw the first sign today for the remaining mileage to katahdin Maine (1,972). While still very far away, it was a new excitement to see that we were under the 2,000 mile mark and that it's there in our future!
Today wasn't too hard other than we had taken the zero and were missing the dry sheltered hotel room, electricity and amenities of town life haha. Elevation wasn't awful, or maybe we're getting trail legs; we made it to pecks shelter around 6 which was 1/2 mile off the trail and slam packed when we arrived. This shelter has a privy which is always nice but the tent camping surrounding the shelter was awful and slim pickings. I would avoid unless you don't have another choice or you can arrive early and get a good spot. We made dinner and had to hang our own bear lines away from the campsite since all the cables were super full.
It rained most of the morning and afternoon but started to lighten up and stop by the time we got to the campsite. I had planned to stay in the shelter if it was still raining but for today I'm glad we were able to set up the tent because of how full the shelter was; I'm not sure how the sleep would have been with that many other people! Folks really have different ways on the trail as well, I think many of the younger hikers just aren't that aware of their things being everywhere haha. There is usually a couple benches and planks of wood for a table but because of the rain, people sort of had things strung out all over the place, and drying? I did get to have some peppermint hot chocolate though which was delicious. Anyways, off to bed for now, hopefully we can warm up and dry out a few things before tomorrow, happy trails!
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