(Newfound Gap (mile 207.7) - Tricorner Knob Shelter (mile 223.4))

I woke up this morning at 7am feeling well rested in my king size bed. I got up to find that most of my companions were still fast asleep. As I was packing, Steve and Delta woke up and started getting their gear ready. Delta explained that it had been a late night and that Justin, Tracy, and Cloudkicker were likely taking an unplanned zero day to recover.

As I waited for Delta and Steve to finish packing, I wrote a bunch of my haikus in the lodge log book. I hesitated while considering how to sign my entry. Lately, there has been a group of people calling me "Frog Man" and a group of people calling me "Haiku." I liked both names, so in that moment I decided to combine them by signing: "Haiku the Frog Man." I thus made my trail name official.

Conducter Red came downstairs and asked if we were ready to leave. We told her we were but first she asked if we would participate in her "Backpack of Randomness" game. She explained that she has a tiny backpack filled with questions like: "What's your craziest poop story on trail?" and "What's your favorite piece of gear?" She records hikers answers and posts them on the Lodge of Legends Instagram (@lodgeoflegends). If you want to see my response, it was posted on March 28th 😁

We left at 8:30am and Conductor Red swung us by Food Land to grab some supplemental resupply items before taking us back to trail. We reached the Newfound Gap trailhead around 9:45am and we thanked Conductor Red for her incredible hospitality. We all agreed it was hard to imagine a better hostel experience. Steve, Delta, and I then spent time packing our food and stretching. I started hiking at about 10:15am with the goal of pushing 16 miles to Tricorner Knob Shelter.

After about 3 miles, I stopped at Icewater Spring Shelter where I hoped to take advantage of the facilities. I approached the shelter and found a group of older gentlemen huddled inside. One man was hunched over the fireplace attempting to stuff a far-too-large log on top of a struggling flame. I asked where I could find the privy and the men stared at me like I was an imbecile. After far too long a pause, the fireplace man paused his activities, grunted, and gestured past the shelter. Desperately wanting the interaction to end, I thanked him and headed off in the general direction of his gesture. Fortunately, I found the privy.

I then hiked another mile to Charlie's Bunion, a large rock outcropping with terrific views where I stopped to take photos and eat a late breakfast.

While I was eating, I watched some ominous storm clouds rolling in and decided to expedite my meal. I started hiking again and after about 15 minutes it started hailing. Hard. There was nowhere to take cover so my only option was to keep hiking. The hail seemed to cold shock the moss, kind of like blanching vegetables, turning it an extra vibrant green.

The hail did not last long and the weather transitioned to heavy rain for a bit. With the rain came a dense fog that settled on the ridge and eliminated visibility past a dozen yards or so.

After a while, the rain lightened and I stopped at an overlook to admire the fog. As I was stopped, the fog began to lift and soon I was treated to a spectacular view of the Smokies in an extra "smoky" state.

After hiking for another 2 miles, I stopped for a late lunch at Eagle Rocks. While I was eating, it started sprinkling again. I pushed the next 4 miles to Tricorner Knob Shelter and found Tolkien and a ridge runner named "Yahel" eating dinner under the shelter awning. It was raining pretty heavily at this point and I hesitantly got my tent out to set it up. At this point Yahel advised me that the weather was forecasted to be extremely rough tonight and into the morning. She recommended that I spend the night in the shelter since there were only three other hikers registered to spend the night in the 12 person shelter. I have been avoiding sleeping in shelters as a COVID precaution and have also found that I prefer the privacy of my tent. However, Yahel made a convincing case, and with the blessing of an ATC employee I decided to sleep in the shelter.

Later that evening, a crew of three lady weekenders pulled in to the shelter. They made dinner and offered me and Tolkien there leftover taco bowls and a bunch of extra food and snacks. We happily accepted additional calories and thanked the ladies for their generosity.

I crawled into my sleeping bag with a full belly and fell asleep warm and dry while listening to the rhythm of the rain on the shelter roof.

Buffeted by hail,
blown by wind, and soaked by rain -
the trail can be rough