After spending the night in the shelter, I must say it’s an experience. I enjoyed the camaraderie, the roaring fire but I’m not a convert. There is something magical about my four walls of nylon, my private little cocoon that I look forward to at the end of a day. Packing up was a challenge as others are still trying to sleep. I felt a bit off today as I walked and came to the conclusion that even though I slept, the deep quality rest was missing. It’s just hard to sleep with 20 other perfect strangers. Both Blue and I decided it was “one and done.” Back to our tents.

The morning was stunning, blue skies and mist burning off the trees. We hit the trail at 8am and had incredible rays of light shining through the trees. The views we missed yesterday showed up today. Well at least for the first part of the morning. The weather in the Smokey’s has been, let’s just say challenging. We have one, maybe two days of sunshine then it turns 180 degrees. More about that later. My friend Randy that I met yesterday, caught up with us and asked what we typically do on Sundays while we are hiking the trail? That was a great question. I acknowledge the fact that I can’t do Sabbath always on Sundays as the mileage and towns are not typically aligned with Holy Days. But I do enjoy Sabbath weekly. And I pray often. He asked if it would be okay for him to sing some hymns as we walked. By all means and he serenaded us for close to an hour. How delightful it was to hear old hymns in the middle of the forest. And what a voice! Ends up that Randy has his Doctorate in Music, and we were blessed with his God-given talent.

We stopped at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter which was midway, ate some food and filled our water bottles. Some of the Shelter hikers had beat us and were drying out their things from the past days storm. There was a couple I had talked with and asked them how long they had been in the shelter? They appeared so cozy, almost as if they had moved in. They both laughed and said they’d been there since the storm started, three days ago! Oh, I was a bit surprised but not. The biggest issue is when you stay in a shelter, waiting out the weather, you still eat. So they must have carried in an enormous amounts of rations to carry them through the storm. They did state that they were leaving today and going to put some miles in. No judgement here. I have taken a Zero on the trail before, but not three!

Blue and I carried on. Yesterday, Blue missed a crucial turn in the trail but I was on her heels and redirected her without too much time lost. Today as we left the shelter, she said that when we get to the trail junction she would turn right. Yep, that would be north. I’m not behind her and what does she do? Blue goes south. Hey, wanna go to Maine? She turns around and looks at me and starts laughing. I did it again! She turns herself around and off we go. Ends up my Engineer Friends, Justin and David missed the same turn Blue missed yesterday. The only difference was that they walked three miles before they realized their error. Arg, that was six extra credit bonus miles in the rain. No bueno.

Early afternoon the clouds came back, and out came our umbrellas. We walked the rest of the way to camp with a light rain, mixed with an occasional big rain drop here and there. As we were headed towards camp near Cosby, we met a day hiker. I talked to him for a bit and told me that Cosby was known for Moonshiners, legal and illegal, back in the day. He mentioned that we might see evidence as there are still 50 gallon drums in the forest from bootleggers making their product. Sure enough, a half mile down the trail, I ended up seeing an old drum. Unfortunately there was no moonshine in the keg, as we could’ve used a little nightcap!

I had mentioned to Blue that we may want to keep our eyes peeled for a tenting site that’s a bit off trail. We are mandated to stay near or in the shelters. However, there is some flexibility if the shelters are packed and you are a thru-hiker. Sure enough, .1 mile prior to the designated shelter we found our private utopia in the woods. It had a small stream with a few relatively flat tent sites. Yeah, we had arrived.

We set up camp, fetched water and promptly started dinner. We both were hungry as with the weather, we didn’t stop for our typical afternoon snack break. Also being we were in a shelter last night, we also missed our daily wipe down. Another reason I love my tent. It’s amazing what you can do to freshen up with a few wet wipes and Oil of Olay towelettes.

Today was a tough day. Being Mothers Day, I am missing my children, grandchildren and especially my Mom. I had a good cry today as I was sharing my Mom’s incredible life with another hiker. She was such an influence on me, and helped to shape who I am. Mom was a class act, true adventurer herself and loved well. She was the life of the party, had countless friends and never minced words. You knew what was on her mind! . She always told me to make sure you have many friends of all ages. They will enrich your life more than you’ll ever know. Mom was right. Love, Friendships and families are truly our lifeblood. Once you add Jesus to that equation, you are richer than any. Thanks Mom for teaching me to focus on what’s important, to love well and to follow my dreams! I sure do miss you but know we will be together again. What a promise that is.

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:1-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬