Standing Bear Gymnastic Facility and Rehabilitation Clinic

Cyclone preparing DiGiorno in the Standing Bear Kitchen


Standing Bear Gymnastic Facility and Rehabilitation Clinic
Davenport Gap Shelter, Standing Bear Farm, then to Groundhog Creek Shelter 10 miles

No bears came during the night and it stayed warm. I had a rough time sleeping on the hard wood floor of the shelter but at least I wasn't cold. A bunch of people showed up and it was no surprise that everyone stayed in the shelter. I had hung up my tent to dry in the night so it wouldn’t be so heavy. Everything is basically wet.

We got out on the trail a little late ‘cause me and Cyclone were sufferin' from the 20 the day before. The GPS said we did 24. We gave the GPS a trail name. His name is now "George." A few miles later, we finally got out of the Smokies. We passed under the I-40 after a few miles and passed over a river and back into the woods. At about 4 miles we saw a funny fluorescent bear paw on the rocks. Somewhere in the dark recesses of our memories we recalled someone talking about the Standing Bear Farm; so, we decided to take a little trip up there (it said 200 yards) and we knew they had some Internet and other stuff (like toilet paper, cokes and DiGiorno).

Standing Bear Farm is kind of like a rustic hostel with minimal amenities; but it’s clean and neat and they do have resupply food, laundry and internet so I guess it’s not that limited. Standing Bear was started a couple of years ago by this cat, Curtis Owen who is also a Former Marine. We got along great after I heard that. We spent an eternity there and figured we wouldn't have a chance at making the 17 miles to shelter. We would have to stop at Groundhog Creek Shelter. We ran into Daniel and his sister Brittany at Standing Bear and a few others came by like HaHa. We ate DiGiorno and frozen microwave barbecue sandwiches, blogged and I bought new Croc knock-offs. I guess you could call them Croc-offs.

We got back on the trail and Cyclone decided to turbo up the hill, passing even the hearty Daniel. I don’t know what got in to Cyclone but he went faster than I have ever seen anyone hike up a hill like that. The trip was fairly uneventful except for the fact that I sweat about two gallons going up this bastard of a hill. Cyclone got in to the shelter about an hour and a half before me and Rolex; but my calf was all messed up and my kneecap was still acting funny.

I set up my hammock and we got some Internet service so I'm updating blogs. The sun is totally down and I can’t see the keyboard. I'm sitting at this picnic table as Cyclone tends the fire and Dixie Dawg is playin my guitar. Kansas brought marshmallows and we're roastin’ some s’mores and playing songs with Daniel, Brittany, Rolex, Cyclone, Me, Dixie Dawg, Kansas, a former Marine, his buddy, and two cats that just rolled in who will probably sleep on the floor. I have a headache from staring at this screen and I'm signing off...

David AKA "Jukebox"

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