Day 23

Day 23- Tri-Corner Knob shelter to campsite past Davenport Gap (+ Mt. Cammerer fire tower) - 17.9 miles (237 total)

It was a very cold morning again with frost covering the tent, and the thermometer read 22* at 6:45am. We packed up, mike spilled the water he was boiling for coffee 2 times, and we hung out and waited until everyone else left the shelter- it's always nice to have it all to ourselves. Laura was surprised by a brazen shelter mouse who was looking for a snack (who mike tried to scare away) which made for a good laugh while we ate and read the shelter log. The temperature was near freezing (31*) as we finally headed out and it was looking lime it was going to be a nice clear day with good views after the 'rain' yesterday. We started our climb down out of the Smoky Mts. from 6400ft to 1400ft at the Pigeon River which is 1.5 miles past the eastern boarder of the park (Davenport Gap). We took a blue-blaze to the Mt. Cammerer fire tower. There we met Eugene and his son Duncan, who were out for the day from Asheville visiting local fire towers. He took our picture, since we didn't have a working camera, and offered to email it to us. They left us alone with the amazing view from the stone tower. Next stop was the Davenport Gap shelter for water, then out of the park. As we crossed the road at Davenport Gap we were surprised to find no sign marking the park's boundry. We headed toward the river only to find a cache of Gatorade by a tree! We eached chugged a bottle, ate a snack, then found an old forest service road to camp on away from the trail. We ate well and called it an early night. Tomorrow is Mike's birthday and we hoping to hit the nearby hostel in the morning for some snacks/birthday beer.