April 10, 2016 - Day 23

Jill called yesterday the "worst day".  The worst day continued today and she woke up in the middle of the night and was...SICK.  She was very worried when she continued to shiver and had to keep returning to the woods to...you know.  She phoned me about 1pm and said she had left the guys very early and had hiked as fast as she could to Clingman's Dome (the highest point of the A.T.) with the hope of getting a shuttle into Gatlinburg at the visitor's center.  She was told there weren't any services to help her there and she would need to wait 2 hours for a shuttle.  She went down to the parking lot and found...a shuttle!  She got into Gatlinburg and tried to find a room at the Grand Prix.  The office was closed on Sunday so the owner could go to church and spend the day with family.  She went to the Motel 6 next door, but they wouldn't have a room until late afternoon.  The gal there told her she knew the maid at the Grand Prix who would give her a room and she could pay at the office on Monday.  She grabbed the opportunity and got a room at the Grand Prix.  She wasn't able to get ahold of Southpaw or Ken or Limey, so she called me and asked me to relay the info if I heard from Ken first.  She said she was feeling much better and thinks it was just a 24 hour bug.

The Norovirus lasts about 24-72 hours and she had many of the symptoms, so she is not sure what it was.  Let's just hope that the guys don't get it!

The guys hiked and made it to Clingman's Dome in time to catch the later shuttle  the Newfound Gap.  There they caught a shuttle into Gatlinburg.  They had hiked past the spot where Jill caught her shuttle back at Clingman's Dome to the next road crossing.   They caught up with Jill at the Grand Prix.  They got a separate room...just in case she was still contagious.  They were taking no chances!  Ken found it ironic that, for the first time, they couldn't catch up with Jill on the trail.  I told him a woman with intestinal problems and no bathroom has super human resolve and it didn't surprise me at all!

View from Clingman's Dome

They are now entering the part of the A.T. where the hikers like to say they hike with their left foot in Tennessee and their right root in North Carolina, since the trail follows the state line and they go back and forth.

 

Mile 199.4  207.1

Elevation 5,045