Date: 2016-03-17
From: Erwin TN

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: clear sky

As will all pleasant off trail stops leaving always seems to be on the difficult side. I have come up with a few mathematical formulas for the trail... The first is the number of ways to hike the trail which = n+1. There is always one more way to do it...   The second - I guess is not really a formula - but a relationship and that being that the difficulty in leaving a place on the trail is directly related to the level of comfort. Then nicer the stay the more difficult to get going again. That being said - I checked out of the Super 8 around 10 am and within a few minutes the shuttle to Uncle Johnny's arrived. We got back to Uncle Johnny's within a few minutes and I met Rabbit there along with a number of other hikers. Most of them were discussing the up coming poor weather, a shuttle into town to resupply or get lunch and other various trail stories.It was a warm and sunny day and I had failed during my 0 day to really come up with a good plan to get to Damascus. That indecision left me there at Uncle Johnny's soaking in the sun trying to figure out what to do next. While sitting on the table on the porch a hiker came down the trail and stopped by for a few minutes before heading right back out on the trail. I was a little impressed someone would keep hiking on and skip Erwin all together. Rabbit commented the guy was young and strong and had a small pack and was racking up the miles. I just thought - everyone hikes there own hike and good for him.Around 11:00 am I just bit the bullet - said good bye to Rabbit and the others there and headed out. My initial goal had been to get to Cherry Gap shelter some 17 miles out of town but in getting such a late start I was kicking my self for being such a slow poke in getting out of town. I had to get to Cherry Gap and I figured at my pace of averaging about 1.4 to 1.5 miles per hour - I would be hiking for about 10 to 11 hours putting me at the shelter somewhere between 9 and 10 pm. It wasn't the end of the world but I could have gotten out earlier and not had to hike in the dark. My hiking was going well and before the first shelter about 4 miles out I was able to catch up to the guy who had passed up Erwin as a stop. His name was "Who Dat" (I hope I'm spelling it right???) I was a little surprised I had caught him based on the talk of the other hikers who had hiked with him. I followed him to the first shelter and we took a break to eat. I finished first as I typically don't take breaks and just had a quick snack. I headed out and about 20 minutes later Who Dat caught up to me and to my surprise when I asked him if he wanted to go by commented I had a good pace going up the hill and he was fine. I kept pushing on. At a water break he said I was really moving. I didn't feel I was but then again... we both admitted to being slow hikers but able to hike longer into the day. Along the way Who dat said he had already hiked about 4 miles before Erwin and was planning on stopping early at a camping area with good water. I kept pressing on and was surprised when I made it to the Cherry Gap Shelter before sunset. I was actually a little shocked. The hike had a good amount of up hills which usually slow my pace. I thought back to my slack pack day between Unicoi Gap and Winding stair gap and how it had ended up increasing my pace afterwards even with my pack on. I figured the slack pack 11 miles into Erwin may have helped out the same way... either that of the 342 previous miles are getting me in better shape!