13 May 2016, Friday
Ahhhh, Friday the 13th. It rained practically all night long, the
murmur of the Greenbrier Creek increasing to a roar during the night.
Fortunately, the rising waters did not reach our tent. We sleep in
until about 7 am because that’s when the rain finally seems to stop,
the irregular platting of drops on the fly coming more from the trees
overhead. Our first debate – whether to put on the wet socks, the
damp socks, or the precious dry socks. For me, the damp socks win
out. O’s damp socks had gotten positively sodden overnight. They
slipped from his sit-upon, which had been tucked under the vestibule of the tent, out
into the rain and mud.
I keep my last dry shirt on, my sleeping shirt, in an effort to stay warm
for breakfast. We take a good deal of time over our spinach mushroom
frittata and coffee in hopes that the day will brighten and the water
at the ford next to our camp will decease in volume. We try our best
to wipe the moisture and splattered mud from the tent and fly. Our
efforts help a bit. The tent is much less muddy when we finally pack it up.
By the time we are ready to depart our campsite, the creek is only knee
deep, but still very cold. It is 11:30. We keep our water shoes on
and carry our boots as there are three more stream crossings ahead.
It turns out only one of these requires water shoes. Soon our damp
boots are back on, drying a bit as we walk. The sky changes from gray
to clear blue. It’s a beautiful day. We pass many snails along the way, a change from yesterday when salamanders scattered ahead of us on the soggy trails. Pretty soon our rain suits are dry and tucked back into our backpacks.
Our lunch destination is Hen Wallow Falls where Wallow Creek takes a 50
foot plunge over rocky ledges. We work our way across the stream
below the falls to find some shade for lunch and a better perspective
for our waterfall photo. My left foot slips off a rock and my nearly
dry boot is wet once more.
After lunch we complete the last 2.1 miles of our hike back to Cosby
Campground. Wet gear loaded in Jazz, we head for our lodging at
Gatlinburg Town Square Exploria Resorts. We are not sure what to
expect as the price for two nights is so low. The facility is huge,
with at least half still under construction. Check in is up the
street. We are given our room keys and a map to find our way.
We wend our way through the parking garage and up to the fourth floor along a
maze of external balconies. Our room is small, but crammed with every
convenience a traveller could want. There is a comfortable queen
sized bed, a gas fireplace, a pull-out sofa bed, TV, kitchenette with
microwave, refrigerator, sink, toaster, coffee pot, utensils, dishes,
really nice shower and…tucked in the corner of the room, a jacuzzi
which we use as a drying station for our wet ponchos and slightly
damp sleeping system. There is even free laundry here which we are
putting to excellent use. While we wait for the dryer to finish, O works on understanding how our little GPS device works and I research “best breakfasts in Gatlinburg.”
