We were well rested after our wonderful day off when we headed out to the road at 7:30 to catch a ride back to Newfound Gap. It was overcast, but a great temperature for hiking, which made the long climb out of the gap back to the ridge much more pleasant. Compared to the miserable trail conditions in the southern half of the Smokies, this was a delight. We stopped at Icewater Springs Shelter, just long enough to get water and see if it looked like we remembered it from '77. We experienced a memorable sunrise here before, but as expected, the area in front of the shelter has long since grown up, so there would be no views now (even if it wasn't totally socked in with fog).

We didn't even bother with side trail over the rocks at Charlie's Bunion, because of the fog, but we were still enjoying the novelty of good trail, so didn't mind as much. The sun burned through the fog by late morning, and we were treated to some spectacular vistas from both sides of the knife edge ridge called the Sawteeth (or Laurel Top, I'm not sure which), that continued on for several miles in the afternoon. Our only disappointment on this beautiful afternoon was that the camera battery died, so we weren't able to capture any of these views on film, only in our memories.

Just before lunch, we had a near-bear experience. Brandon was in the lead, when he stopped short. He'd heard a loud rustling just off the trail, then looked down to see large fresh bear tracks in the mud on the trail. As we stopped, we could see bushes moving, and hear something large crashing off through the underbrush. We never actually saw a bear, but for the sake of argument, and story telling, we agreed that it must have been a bear. Ronald and Brandon teased me about looking over my shoulder as we sat nearby eating lunch. I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to confronting something way bigger than me with sharp claws and teeth, and I'm thankful that bears are generally reclusive.

In the afternoon we passed the side trail to Peck's Corner Shelter, then Copper Gap, then our two afternoon climbs over Mt. Sequoyah and Mt. Chapman. Being on a narrow ridge most of the day, there was little opportunity for water, so we were running on empty by 4:30 when we rolled into Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, but otherwise, going great after 15+ miles. Already at the shelter was AT caretaker, Helen Hamilton, and the Blankleys: Bob with pre-med student son Michael, and Bob's brother Randy with wife Georgene. The Blankleys were out to hike Davenport Gap to Newfound Gap, after doing the southern half last year. The brothers (and maybe Georgene) want to thru-hike the AT in 2002, so have been doing a lot of reading, and are following many of the trail journals this season. Ronald spent quite a while talking with them about their plans, and comparing notes on some of the trail journals.

About 6:00, as we were all starting to fix our dinners, we heard hollering from the trail above. A couple minutes later, a near dead young man came dragging in, with a Jansport day pack slung over one shoulder, and carrying his unrolled sleeping bag over his arm. He flopped down on the dirt bank beside the shelter, too exhausted to say more than hi. After regaining some strength, he popped the flip top on a can of Beanie Weenie, and gobbled it down like he hadn't eaten in a week. Then he introduced himself at Seth, and said his two friends, Greg and J.D. were right behind him. Sure enough, in a few minutes, they stumbled up, and collapsed in two exhausted heaps on the ground. The scene was so comical, none of us could keep from laughing out loud. Later, when they recovered enough to speak, they managed to provide us with more than enough entertainment for the entire evening. They were college students "born and bored" in Starkville, Mississippi (their description), and they had just decided to take off for the long weekend and drive to the Smokies and hike. They had only hiked nine miles from Cosby Campground all day, but by their own admission, they didn't know what they were getting in for. The reason they had all been carrying their sleeping bags, is they were so tired they had stopped beside the trail to take a nap, not realizing they were only 100 yards from the sign to the shelter. That discovery had prompted all the hollering we'd heard earlier. Between them, they didn't have enough decent equipment to outfit one hiker, much less three. No tent, no pads, no stove, no filter, tennis shoes or cheap boots, and all the food they had with them was a variety of canned goods, and some hamburger buns. Now that I think about it, that sounds like many early hikers, even Grandma Gatewood, but I think those early hikers knew more of what to expect.

In the true spirit of AT community, we all took pity on their plight, and tried to help them salvage the rest of their day. We gave them Snickers, which they wolfed down gratefully, and the Blankleys gave them clean water (they said they'd been drinking from puddles), and offered the use of their stove (they were trying unsuccessfully to start a fire to cook). They proceeded to try to heat up Beef-a-roni while still in the can, after attacking the lid with huge hunting knives (about the only tool each of them had). The result was inevitable – the label burned, and the contents erupted like Mt. Vesuvius, all over the stove. Had they not been so tired and hungry after their ordeal, they would have been really embarrassed. After cleaning up the mess, they borrowed a big pot, mixed all their food together, and finally got to eat dinner.

By the end of the evening, they had given themselves the collective trail name of The Lost Boys, a truly appropriate moniker, and kept us all in stitches with the details of their admittedly ill-planned adventure. They also decided they'd had enough, and were hiking back to their car tomorrow and heading home, or anywhere they could drive in a car, rather than walk. As usual, we all headed for our sleeping bags as soon as darkness fell. Tomorrow is our last day in the Smokies.

It takes a lot of different factors falling into place to make the perfect day hiking. Bad weather, hard terrain, no views, miserable trail, feeling bad and a host of other things can turn a great day in to just another day. That's probably why on a long hike there are so few perfect days. For us, today was a perfect day. Everything clicked together from morning to bedtime.

We were back on our way to the trail twenty minutes after leaving our hotel. When arrived at the gap the weather was cool. A thunderstorm last night was followed by a cold front. Leaving us perfect hiking conditions. Trail conditions south of the gap made us wonder about the possibility of covering thirty miles in the next two days. We know we need to be able to cover that distance consistently if we are to successfully hike the North. As we hiked today, the trail just kept getting better. The climbs were long but gradual. We had a hard time believing we had reached the top of our first climb.

Morning clouds eventually burned off leaving us magnificent views in all directions. Much of the trail followed a very narrow ridge top. Often it was only a few feet wide. On each side of the ridge the slope would drop rapidly for several hundred feet. This is clearly the best day of views we've had so far.

It didn't take us long out of the gap to feel the strength pour through our legs. We few up over the first mountain, stopping briefly at Icewater Spring Shelter. It was the first shelter in a long while that matched my memory. By the time we reached Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, we were tired but still feeling strong.

We are sharing the shelter tonight with a couple brothers, the Blankleys, who are on their yearly outing as they prepare for their thru-hike in 2001. They are accompanied by one brothers wife and the others son. It looks like they are well on their way to a successful hike.

The real entertainment of the evening was provided by a troop of novice hikers. The first lad came stumbling into camp carrying a big old sleeping bag and wearing a small daypack. He quickly dissolved into a heap to await the arrival of his companions. A few minutes later, the other two arrived looking dazed and confused. It didn't take long for us realize they were in over their heads.

After a bit of rest, one attempted unsuccessfully to start a fire to warm their cans of food. One didn't even try, he just downed a can of cold Beanie Weenies. One of the Blankleys offered the use of their propane stove. First they unsuccessfully attempted to open their cans with a big hunting knife. Our can opener worked much better. Then when the can was placed on the stove it almost immediately erupted. Sending a good portion of it's contents flying all over the place.

Out came a pot contain the remnants of the Blankleys lentil soup. In when the remainder of the Chef Boyardee and a can of Pork & Beans. They said it was good, but I expect that hunger was the chief motivator. After that, we all took them under our wings. Candy bars and other excess foodstuffs were offered and accepted. One young man was lamenting the fact that they had taken twenty minutes to pack, drove seven hours, hiked all day and arrived in camp with little food and a carton of cigarettes. All of us could look back into our past and see some of our own misadventures reflected in that group.

Today we got up, ate breakfast and hitched a ride back to the trailhead at Newfound Gap. We put on our packs and headed up the trail. The climb was easy and we got to Icewater Springs before too long. We had some water at the spring then headed on. We stopped for lunch in a few hours. Just before we stopped, we heard crashing off to the side of the trail. I saw bear paw prints on the trail. We headed on after lunch and came upon some great viewpoints. We stopped at one viewpoint for a snack. We could see the valley below and the mountains in front for miles and miles. We hiked on wanting to get to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter. We got here around 4:30 and got settled in. We boiled some water to start re-hydrating the Chili-Mac. It would take a about an hour to re-hydrate. Around 6:00 we heard someone yell. We did not have a clue what they said and we started laughing. The person that yelled came in camp, walked over to the embankment, sat down, opened his pack and got out a can of Beanie Weenies. After he had polished that off, he introduced himself and told us there were two more coming. Sure enough two more came dragging in five minutes later. They to collapsed into a heap on the ground. When they finally got the energy to stand up, they opened one can of Beef-a-roni and a can of Pork and Beans. They ate their dinner and we ate ours. We all got to talking (there was another family of four) ant the three boys were hysterical. We laughed all night about "Their Day in Hell". They had only come nine miles but weren't ready for it. They made up a name for themselves "The Lost Boys".