Mile 240.6
Elevation 1,788
Miles Hiked 10.7
Got my tent packed away and I was on my way from Cosby Knob Shelter by 7:30. I made fair time hiking and at 12 noon I exited The Great Smokey Mountains National Park – hurray! All the horror stories about getting evicted from shelters by reservation holding hikers never happened, so it worked out well.
I continued to Standing Bear Farm, a total of 10.7 miles hiked, to pickup provisions I sent in, buy more from them, and to get a bed for the night. When I arrived, I met up with a number of other hikers who had been in the same “bubble” of hikers as I was. I hadn’t seen most in awhile so it was sort of a reunion.
As for Standing Bear Farm, let me say that this place is a real dive. I thought one other hostel in Georgia was bad, but this beat it hands down. No indoor restroom (outhouse) and the laundry was a do it yourself wash basin with a wringer that didn’t work. I had to wipe the dirt off the mattress and there were no sheets that fit. What sheets there were had dead mosquitoes in them. Can you say “bed bugs?” I’m definitely leaving for a good old wood floor shelter in the morning.
So I did a little shopping at the hostel store. They had a pretty good selection of food; although a lot of it had expired “good until” dates. You have to be careful what you choose to buy. They operate on the honor system. You write down your purchases on an envelope and pay before you leave.
Next, I tried to do some wash. That was a complete failure. Washing my clothes in the sink and then sending them through the ringer rendered the clothes worse than before I washed them. I’ll have to find a washing machine at another hostel further down the trail.
I had one look at the bunk house and decided to pay for a semi-private cabin. As mentioned above, it wasn’t too good, but it was better than the bunkhouse. I had company that night. Another hiker named Tortoise (trail name) was in one of the other two beds. The third bed was unoccupied. Tortoise didn’t snore, so I got a good night’s sleep.
