Date: 2003-04-01
From: Deep Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I guess I have some catching up to do. For the past three nights I haven¢t written anything for one reason or another, so I¢ll try to do a quick synopsis of the past four days. Though it¢s hard enough to remember everything that happened in one day. Many times everyday I have a thought or something happens where I think to myself that ¢I should write this down tonight,¢ but my guess is that I actually only remember half of them when I¢m writing.Anyways, the first day from when I left off (Saturday I think), Dean, Tennessee, and I hiked the eleven-ish miles from Spivey Gap to the Nolichucky River. The second half of the hike we were rained on, but the terrain was pretty easy so I didn¢t mind too much. Once we got to the river we started to try and hitchhike down the road to Erwin. There wasn¢t a whole lot of traffic on the road, but we were picked up after about 20 minutes and made into town on the back of a pick-up truck. When we were dropped off the driver got out and introduced himself to us as the mayor of Erwin. We talked with him for a few minutes, and he seemed really nice, though I felt the whole time he was about to say ¢vote for me!¢ I guess that¢s just how politicians talk. Afterwards we signed in at Miss Janet¢s and spent the rest of the day eating, taking showers, doing laundry, etc. In the morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground, with more coming down. By noon it seemed that every hiker within a twenty-mile radius on the trail had hitched in from some road crossing and came to Miss Janet¢s to get inside. Most everyone I knew, but there were a few new faces. It was great to see everybody, but I was feeling claustrophobic with everyone packed into the house. In the afternoon several of us got a ride into Johnson City to see a movie. The movie wasn¢t particularly good, but just to have the experience after being on the trail made it fantastic. When we got back Baltimore Jack (a man who I could write about all night, and who was going to start his 8th (I think) thru-hike today) had cooked a huge lasagna dinner. After dinner a lot of the folks cleared out because they had to go some place else to find a bed, so the crowd was a little more manageable for me. Yesterday morning I got up, had a huge breakfast at Miss Janet¢s, got a ride back to the river, and started hiking through the snow. Most everyone else had decided to stay in town one more day to let the snow melt and the temperatures rise. I had the gear to get through it, and I had a blast in the snow yesterday. At higher elevations in places there was probably about 10 inches with some knee-high snowdrifts. I hiked with Flick most of the day, and we ended up doing about 12 miles to Deep Gap and camping. It got down at least into the teens last night, but I was able to stay warm and slept like a baby. The temperatures were quite a bit higher today, which turned the snow to a very soft and slippery slush, making the hiking very difficult. It took a whole lot of energy just to keep from slipping and falling. Today was probably among the hardest 13 miles I¢ve hiked so far. Hopefully the snow will have melted enough to make the hiking a bit easier. Tomorrow marks my one-month anniversary on the trail. Hard to believe. That¢s a lot of hiking. 363.9 miles according to Wingfoot.