Near  Erwin, TN

In town again here in Erwin, Tennessee. I pushed a couple of boxes forward to the post office here, so today will actually be my first zero day. Should be able to hit the trail early on Monday once I hit the P.O. Here’s what has been going on since Hot Springs.

That town was a trip–super small, something like 400 people, and about a half-mile long main street. So most everyone you see walking around is a fellow hiker. It was like being back in my home town, saying hi to all the folks I meet on the street. The hikers in town more or less took over this bar that night and had a great time. I hit that diner again in the morning and did a short day (11 miles) to get to Spring Mountain Shelter. The climb out of Hot Springs was huge, but there was a great view of the town and French Broad River from the cliff once you made it up. Set up my tent that night for the first time in a couple weeks.

Spring Mountain Shelter

On the 22nd, I did a long day–21.3 miles from Spring Mountain to Flint Mountain Shelter. There were some very gnarly mountains in between. On top of one, there was a “bad weather” blue-blazed trail, because the A.T. was totally exposed on top. Very rocky, a lot like the hiking will be up in the Whites. That day we crossed the 300 mile mark! A day behind my three weeks on the trail, but I am more or less at the 100 miles a week that I’m trying to maintain to finish in 5 months.

For the last few miles of Thursday and the last two days I’ve been hiking with Long Shanks, a guy from NH/Montana in his late twenties. It’s been a nice change to hike with someone during the day, not only to have someone to talk to, but also to be able to set my pace to someone a little faster than me and get out some big miles. Friday we did 19.6 to Bald Mountain Shelter, with a HUGE up at the end of the day to get on top of the bald. Beautiful view, although the bald itself wasn’t as pretty as Max Patch. First 5,000 footer since the Smokies, though! Right before that climb we caught some trail magic at a road crossing. I don’t even like Pepsi, but when these guys offered that up it tasted amazing. At the shelter that night, I caught up with Long John, who I hadn’t seen since the Smokies.

On Saturday Long Shanks and I did 17 miles of (mostly) downhill to get down into Erwin. The town is a bit removed from the trail, but the Holiday Inn Express we’re staying at was only a mile of road walking. We got in around 3, booked a room for two and crammed in six (us plus Ponytail Dave, Inferno and Fastlane, and Maple), had some beers, went to a pizza buffet, and watched Ratatouille on TV.

The breakfast here is great. Warm sticky buns, eggs, sausage, biscuits, cereal, etc. Today is my first zero, so I’m looking forward to maybe seeing a movie, doing a resupply at the grocery store, and figuring out a plan for the next couple of weeks.

Should be checking in again from Damascus on May 2nd or 3rd. Happy Trails!