Date: 2008-04-18
From: Whistling Gap

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: broken clouds

What a fantastic day! I guess the Buddhist thought that it's expectations that make us unhappy has some truth to it. I went into today very uncertain about how my hike would go (doing back-to-back 13 mile days), where I would stay when I got to Erwin, if/when/how I'd get my maildrop. So I decided to suspend judgment and just let the day unfold. I got up at 5:45am and was hiking by 7am. It was a beautiful morning! The birds were singing, the sun was out but not hot yet - great hiking weather. I got to a shelter a little before noon. Bus Driver, Bilge Rat, and Pyro were there. Bus Driver was telling me he had a great night hike last night. I was like "Was that you last night?" I had been sleeping very lightly, and the woods were so quiet every noise was amplified. (Let's put it this way: a caterpillar was crawling on the outside of my tent and I could hear it!) Anyway, around 2am I heard this ruckus coming down the trail! It was either a nighthiker, or a rhinoceros! It was indeed Bus Driver. I was asking him what he liked about night hiking, as I've never done it. He said, "Well it's nice and cool at night without the sun beating down on you." He paused a few beats, then added, "Plus you can hike naked." He waited a few more beats and amended that with "But you've got to keep your pants nearby, just in case you run into another nighthiker." So there you have it - a crash course in night hiking! I'd like to try it some time, and Leaping Turtle had a good suggestion about how to dabble in it to see if I like it: start hiking an hour before sunrise. If I hate it, I can just park myself on a log until the sun comes up!My afternoon hike went well, and my pace was a notch faster than usual (motivated by the great lure of town!), so I got to Erwin about 3. Uncle Tommy's hostel is about 10 steps away from the AT, so I popped in there and they had an empty bunk that I grabbed. It was Bilge Rat, Pyro, Rambo, and myself in the room, a nice crew. The hostel has bikes they lend out, so I got a bike and biked over to the post office! I really was impressed with this town. The traffic was very courteous to me, even when I was on roads without much shoulder room. The houses are all these nice Victorian-style homes, with beautiful dogwood trees flowering in the yards. I kept expecting to see Jimmy Stewart walking down the street - I felt like I was on a movie set! I got to the post office and picked up my packages, and as usual I'm touched by everyone's generosity! THANK YOU Nina, Marion, Big, Ground Control, Pops, Boris & Natasha, and Helen!!I was in the lobby of the post office, opening my boxes and carefully putting all the contents into my (empty) pack, when a woman approached me and asked if I needed a ride back to the trail! I thanked her and explained I was on a bicycle so I was all set. A few minutes later another woman came up to me and told me in a very caring way that it looks like I've been getting some sun, I should be sure to use more sunblock!Then biking back to the hostel, I took the Erwin Linear bike path which runs along the river. Very scenic! I got to the end of it and knew the hostel wasn't too far away, but I wasn't exactly sure how to get there. An older gentleman was out cruising around on his bicycle, so I looked up at him and said, "I'm lost!" and he pulled over to help me. Then we biked in the same direction for a while, and he said he's hiked sections of the AT!A bunch of us from the hostel went into town for dinner that evening. I had some delicious Mexican food. I cleaned my whole plate! Then walked over to Pizza Hut, and got a pizza to go, and ate the whole thing. Oh, the appetite of a thru-hiker!