I woke up, having slid to one end of my tent, the side further from the trail. I packed up my tent and sleeping bag, leaving my sleeping pad out.
I took down my bear bag, sat on my sleeping mat, and made oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. I changed into my other pair of shorts, packed up my pack, and then started hiking. After about a mile, I passed the sign for the Pecks Corner shelter.
I hiked and hiked, running into Purple Lotus again, and telling her how I pitched my tent at the side of the trail when I couldn’t find the shelter. I kept hiking further, and hiked into Tricorner shelter around 6. A group of hikers, including Purple Lotus, was already there in the shelter, cooking dinner on their stoves at the small table built into the edge of the shelter. They introduced themselves by trail names, Patches, Marathon, Critter, and asked what my trail name was. I explained that I didn’t have a trail name, but told them my real name. I got out my fuel canister, stove, and Ramen to make dinner, and Patches shared some of her spice mix for me to add to my ramen. People commented that my fuel canister was huge. It was, in comparison to the fuel canisters everyone else had.
We all talked about our hikes – a bunch of them were a group, who had all met on the trail next year. They were section hiking the Smokies. I talked to the thru hikers too, about how long they had been going, the mileage they were doing each day. I met a couple who had hiked from Newfound Gap to Tricorner shelter in one day – hiking what had taken me two days in just one.
We were all planning to hike to the Davenport Gap shelter the next day, because Cosby Knob was closed due to bear activity. Cosby Knob would have been easier – it was only 7.7 miles away, where Davenport Gap was 14.6 miles. We didn’t have a choice, though, so everyone was planning to get up early tomorrow morning to start hiking early – talking about setting alarms for 5:00, 5:30 a.m.
I hung my food bag at the bear cables, and someone told me to leave the zipped pockets on my pack open in case mice got to my pack, so they wouldn’t chew through the pockets. Someone else told me to sleep with my battery pack and devices, saying that the cold would drain the batteries overnight, so I tried it, putting them at the bottom of my sleeping bag by my feet. I fell asleep early, on the bottom bunk of the shelter.
