The Standing Bear Farm

So that snow that was gonna happen this evening? Yeah, it didn't wait. Last night was incredibly warm, one of the most comfortable nights I've had on the trail. So of course woke up unto several inches of snow covering the ground. Looked really pretty from the shelter.  So I want to relate a story from last night. Funsize has a device that allows her to pee standing up, I have no idea what it's called. But at night, she keeps it in one of her boots. Twice last night, however, she started to replace it into Survivorman's boot. Finally, Survivorman says "I'm just gonna move these." 

I pretty much rushed to get my stuff packed, because I wanted to be the first one walking on the pristine snow covered trail. Before I left, Kilogram gave me a piece of brownie that she made. Awesome. She'd added some ground up espresso beans to it, and it was amazingly good. Pretzel gave me directions to a little trail magic he'd left up ahead. After the little switchbacks, by the waterfall, little stone arrow, and you can hear I-40. Roger, got it. 

The trail was rather gorgeous today. I kept taking pictures of the pristine trail, and Fun-size caught up to me pretty quickly. We walked a couple miles together, at a rather sedate pace since I still kept taking pictures, until we came to the Mt. Camerer side trail. Then I had to make the decision, do I make the attempt at seeing the greatest view in TN? Or chalk it up as a bust because of the weather, especially since I intend to come back and hike this section again sometime in the future? Well, I gave it a shot. Funsize pushed on. I lost the gamble. Pure white fog as far as the eye could see. It was obvious that the views would have been great, so maybe next time. 

By the time I got back to the trail, it was a trampled mess. Still beautiful though. Just a little more slushy. Still took a lot of pictures. Once I started descending, I could tell I was leaving the Smokies because the lower I went the less snow there was and the more mud. And finally, there it was. The Davenport shelter. I checked its register, and there was a note from Down Low asking me where I was. I'll catch up someday. Maybe. 

I was so happy to leave the Smokies. I know it's a lot of people's favorite place, but really not my best experiences. Of course, as soon as I left the Smokies, I walked into a blizzard. Well, it was snowing hard anyway. The next couple of miles went by really slow, because I kept looking for Pretzel's trail magic. Well there are some switchbacks, with a waterfall, and I can hear I-40... Nope. I was pretty excited about this. It was like buried treasure. And... found it. Mountain Dew and orange juice. Thanks Pretzel! Also, if you're reading this, I made a cairn and a bigger arrow. Apparently everyone else missed it. 

Moseyed on down to Standing Bear Farm, where I am currently staying in a bunk next to a wood burning stove. It is snowing hard now. Very hard. Talking with all the other hikers, and very glad I'm inside a building right now. Also, finally found out UK won. 

A few minutes ago, Funsize was looking for something around her bunk and someone asked her what she was looking for, to which she replied "um, it kind of looks like a funnel..." So we laughed and I asked her if she'd checked Survivorman's boots. Then I taught the two Germans (Dinosaur and Gingko) and Quickstep how to play Diamonds, and we played a while and drank green tea. 

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, if you want to get a pretty good visualization of where I am, Bill has a map of the AT posted over at Pine Mountain Outfitters. He sent me a picture of it, and I thought it was awesome, but that was because he only sent me a section of it. When I saw the whole map, I was a bit demoralized. Long way to go. But I had fun today. Good day. 

Cosby Knob shelter this morning. 

Me on the trail. Smokies are crazy. 

Bless you Pretzel. I needed the OJ to fight off scurvy.