5/29/00
Day 68
Icewater Spring shelter
796.2 miles

I did decide to try to make it to the Davenport Gap shelter.  The day was warm and incredibly humid.  I was sweating buckets even when going downhill.  I was coming down from Snowbird Mountain when who did I see sitting by the trail but RICK DEMENT!  My shock and surprise was total, but at least I recognized him.  He had done some pretty slick detective work to figure out where I would be on the trail.  He was wearing a t-shirt that had "Where is Trudge?" written on it, and he had already run into 2 people hiking ahead of me who knew me from Hot Springs.

Rick had come out to surprise me and join me on the Trail.  We hiked down to Davenport Gap and Rick's car.  Since I didn't think Rick could reserve a space at the shelter, I talked him into finding a motel for the both of us.  I guess I was excited about having a car at my disposal.  We went out to Shoneys and I decimated the All-You-Can-Eat seafood buffet.  I realized, however, that Rick was seeking a taste of the AT, so the next day he reserved a shelter space at Cosby Knob (only necessary because it's within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park) and we hiked in.  Along the way we took a side trail to a lookout tower on Mt. Cammerer that had great views.  The shelter only ended up being half full despite it being Memorial Day weekend, but we had a good time joking around with the other four guys there.  The next morning Rick shit in the woods, dosed himself with Advil, and hiked out in the fog, so I feel that Rick had an authentic AT experience.

Today I put in 20 miles to make it to this shelter.  The fog stuck around all day until about 5pm when I reached a rock outcropping called Charlie's Bunion.  Its not exactly like the mists parted and golden shafts of sunlight streamed down from the heavens to the sounds of angel's trumpets, but it was close enough for me after a whole day of seeing nothing.