Date: 2014-04-25
From: Uncle Johnnys Nolichucky Hostel, Erwin, Tennessee

To: Hampton, Tennessee
Miles today: 137.7

Hey everyone, Hope the first month of spring has been treating you all well. The seasons are changing rather slowly up here in Appalachia. Its always seemed to me that, at sea level, spring always explodes forth in one abundant flush of buds, shoots, blossoms, and smells. In the mountains spring arrives in much more subtle fashion. It is not a rushed affair and when one type of plant decides it is time to blossom, the others in that area are usually willing to let it have the stage to itself. In this way, instead of being splashed everywhere with multitudes of color, the forest landscape is dominated by new shades of green and florals every few days. In the real world I think sea level springs suit me just fine. I am typically so busy that experiencing all of spring's magic in one fail swoop is plenty satisfying. Out here time is on a different scale, and my only business is putting one foot in front of the other and observing my surroundings, with breaks only for food and rest. With this much time on my hands I'm glad nature slows down the show and introduces us hikers to the cast of characters that make up her spring ensemble one by one. I have considered that perhaps there is another motive for slowing down the procession of spring in the mountains. Unlike many of us hikers, mother nature was surely aware of and not caught off guard by the late arrival of some ugly winter weather. While some hikers were prematurely sending home their winter gear, I suspect nature has been saving some of her finer and more radical displays of spring flora for when it is much more certain that they will not be spoiled by a late freeze or snow storm, a few of which have suprised us in the past couple of weeks. The fauna seem much less patient than the flora to get their spring started. I imagine I would be too after a few months of not eating or stretching the legs (or belly scales). After not seeing much more than squirrels and birds in Georgia, I have started to encounter a larger variety of wildlife in North Carolina and Tennessee. In addition to the squirrels and songs birds that have been common sightings along the trail I have now also encountered chipmunks, rabbits, hogs, deer, snakes, lizards, salamanders, and turkeys. Unfortunately I got through the Smokies without glimpsing any of the reintroduced elk or wolf populations. At night I frequently hear but do not see owls and coyotes and all kinds of unidentified bumps and rustlings around camp. My most prized animal sighting yet was unfortunately a little bittersweet. I had my first bear sighting three days ago, a very exciting experience for any hiker. To top it off it was a little cub, one of the cutest things you could hope to encounter on the trail. While cute, cub encounters are decidedly more dangerous than running into lone adults because cubs tend to have over-protective mothers in tow. Unfortunately, though I waited and watched the cub for quite some time from a good distance, a mother bear never appeared. Eventually I had to scare the bear off since it was blocking my path. When I got its attention by banging my hiking sticks together it took one look at me and was gone like a flash, hopefully back to a mom that was waiting just out of sight. Well that is what has been going on with my natural surroundings since my last post. I realize that the blog entries have been few and far between as of yet and am going to try to post shorter entries more frequently. If anybody has suggestions or requests as far as what they would like to hear about please feel free to let me know via the Trail Journal guestbook or email (jdb2011at@gmail.com) or Facebook.Happy Trails!!Johnathan (Lostboy)PS. I can not figure out how to accuraetly adjust my miles. I am currently at mile 341.5 for the trip.