We see a flashing sign, Road Closed ahead, we press on anyway to check it out, got nothing else to do. Damn, the road is closed, they haven't cleared the ice yet, Tom assured us they were quick to do that.
There's a another car stopped in front of us, and a snow plow at the barrier, so someone from the other car gets out to chat and I follow. The driver says the road maybe open by noon, that will put us seriously behind schedule, and we don't know if Tom can get into the park from Gatlinburg, or if we can get in touch.
Another car has pulled up as well, and Matilda is chatting with the guy, as I approach he says "Malcolm", it's Tom, he drives up from this side, so at least we can discuss options.
Tom suggests we do the hike in reverse, drive over to Davenport Gap, leave the car there, then shuttle back to Newfound Gap, where we planned to finish, and start Northbound on the AT. That assumes the road will be open by the time we get back.
I can't think of a better plan, so off we go, we try to think of other options and it occurs to me that we could just leave the car at Davenport Gap and start from there, and have Tom pick us up from the Newfound Gap on Saturday. It's an extra expense but will keep us on schedule.
We discuss with Tom once we get off I-40 at the Pigeon River exit, and he can do it Saturday, but the side road up to Davenport Gap is icy and Tom doesn't wanna risk it, he's a local so knows how to drive on these roads. The plan was to park at the Rangers Station just down the road from Davenport Gap, since there have been a lotta breakins at the gap itself.
We can't park under I-40 as well, it doesn't look safe, and then we notice an old Ford Bronco parked nearby with outa State plates, the back window is smashed, we look inside to see if it's been trashed or is wet, it doesn't look too bad so probably hasn't been there for too long, but definitely not a good place to park. More on the Bronco later.
Tom suggests the Walmart at Newport just up the road, our plan was to come back to Newport anyway on Saturday to eat at the American-Russian diner (Grill 73), so that sounds good, Walmarts are open 24 hours with lotsa coming and going, so no one will notice the Rav parked there.
We're ready to go at 10:15, very close to schedule, gotta do an extra mile and a half or so on the trail to get to Davenport Gap but no worries, it's a beautiful sunny morning, cold but windless, Tom snaps a cupla pix as we hike off into the woods.
Davenport Gap doesn't seem too far, we stop there for a bit because it's where the AT clock 
By now I can feel a little heat in my left heal, and then the right one kicks in too, so decide to stop at Davenport Gap shelter to put some moleskin on them, not a good sign so early in.
I'm still a bit cold, my hands particularly are usually the last thing to warm up, so try to do it quickly, also don't want cold feet, the moleskin goes on without the usual covering of Leukotape, not a good idea. The moleskin is going on damp feet and doesn't last long, my heels will rub and hurt for the whole three days.
We stop at the Mt Cammerer 
The tower is enclosed and has windows, so nice and warm from the radiant heat, there are 3 backpackers inside chillin, one looks a bit tired and is lightly dressed, I ask if he a thru-hiker cause he kinda looks like one, young, a bit grubby with a long beard, he says yes but their story doesn't make sense, they seem to be going North, when I ask what direction they're going they say East, turns out they're just doing a short 2 day trip.
They look settled for the night, too tired to go anyway else, it's not an "official" camping spot but will do, no rangers around this far into the woods. It's a bit hard to leave 'cause it's nice and cosy with the strong Southern sun streaming through the windows and warming things up, but we drag ourselves away
eventually after snapping some pix of the views, 
Since I don't have a pack on, I try to run a little on the trail, it's snowy but runnable for the most part, not too steep up and down, get back to the AT early enough for a pit stop before Matilda arrives.
Only 2.8 to the shelter now, and it appears to be downhill all the way, nice after lunch, uphills are a problem in the afternoon. We take a brief stop just shy of Low Gap to put hat and gloves on, it's getting a bit later and even the Southern sun is getting low in the sky and losing some intensity.
Something catches my eye, I turn back up the trail and see another backpacker coming down, it's a South bound (SOBO) thru-hiker headed to the same shelter, nice to have company for the night, and he wants to get a fire going.
The AT companion has tricked us again, there's an uphill to the shelter, it's not too long but feels hard with chewed up heels at the end of the day. 
Alas not much wood around, we search and search and come up empty, climb up a steep embankment behind the shelter winching in pain from sore heels and it looks like the effort was wasted, but finally find a rhodie with a lotta dead branches to break off, they're nice a dry and snap right off. It's not much but there are some logs in the fireplace and couple outside, we might make something of them.
The fire is going, it's only small though and we pile on some of the big logs to see if they'll light, they do somewhat and help to give off more heat, Afternoon Delight puts his soaking wet Gore Tex shoes near the heat to dry a little. There's a nice bench close by to sit on and keep warm, even a little heat helps to keep hands and body comfy.
My first task once the fire is going is to look at heels, they're indeed chewed up, something about walking the snow, it pushes the heels back and grinds them into the back of the boots, I used the same shoes last year without a problem, you just never know.
The moleskin is completely gone, eaten by the socks, so more needed, plus a lotta leukotape to hold it all in place. I do a pretty good job on both feet, particularly the right, and it holds to the end, tape wrapped around and around to hold. It doesn't lessen the pain much though.
I put on my dry pair of socks and something new, a pair of booties, they're very light and comfy and am hoping warm enough in the evening to keep feet happy. I forgot about getting water though, the spring is close by but ya gotta walk through it basically to get water, not good in these shoes.
They turn out to be OK to walk in the snow, they don't get wet easily and y ou just crunch around in them to go to the privy etc, nice. I put my wet socks on a warm rock by the fire to dry and get my shoes within heat range too, nice to have dry boots in the cold morning.
Matilda has new shoes and they're a wonder, Lowa Gore Tex, totally dry feet, I can never get there because of sweat, she's in wonderland though, a very happy camper.
This will be our holiday dinner, Backpackers Pantry Red Beans and Rice spruced up with some fresh Turkey. We even have desert, Pecan tarts, that will be really yummy. We have a new cooking pot/stove combo, a Primus with a built in heat exchanger, these babies heat water fast 'cause the heat is contained by the exchanger, and it has a windshield to further contain the heat. There's no wind in this shelter, it has a tarp over the front to help keep it out so the place doesn't get too too cold.
Food always tastes so good on the trail, and it warms you up. It seems impossible to get warm in the evening without a fire, no matter how many layers you put on, without enough coal in your body to keep it warm.
The tarts go in the cooking pot by the fire to warm them up, I keep turning them around make sure they're heated through and it works nicely, great desert.
We chat a bit with Afternoon Delight and start talking about a thru-hiker we met who baked muffins on the trail and suddenly his face lights up and he says "arrggh Baker". It's indeed a small world on the trail after all, they met when Afternoon Delight was doing his flip-flop by hiking NOBO and hiked together for a cupla weeks.
We're fast running outa wood, I manage to re-arrange the big logs to keep some heat going and get closer to the fire, it's fading fast and the others crawl into their sleeping bags, it's still very early and once I get in I read on my Kindle app for a while but the battery seems to die fast in the cold and I gotta turn it off.
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