Date: 2006-04-01
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Nolichucky River (Miss Janet's House, Erwin, TN)
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: light rain

Day 29Congratulations Kerri and Rodrigo! We hope you had a great wedding day! Sorry we missed it!Wow, what a night last night! Just decided to hang our food bags on the mice ropes right on the edge of the shelter, and boy was that the wrong thing to do! We woke up in the middle of the night to some grumbling and the smell of wet dog. Opened my eyes, and Swiftcreek was up in his sleeping bag pointing out towards the woods. Right there in front of us was a huge black bear! It was so focused on our food that it never looked at me, just pawed at the bags until he got them off the rope. He tore into them like it was nothing and spilled the food everywhere, even on the feet of our sleeping bags. We were too scared to move so we just layed there hoping the bear would lose interest in the food and leave. It actually came over and started clawing at our sleeping bags! It ripped some holes and spread our down feathers everywhere. Then it took the food it wanted and went away. After we calmed our nerves and cleaned up a little bit, we decided to buy new sleeping bags in Erwin, TN along with a food bag. We were going to do this except for the fact that this is an APRIL FOOL'S JOKE! Ha! You probably didn't believe a word of that from the beginning, but I wanted to try anyway! !Actually, we had a very uneventful night last night. It rained on and off, but we were in bed by 7:30 pm so it didn't bother us. Slept okay, but not great. Woke up at 5:30 am when Cedar Moe got up to get ready to leave. Once he left around 6, we got up and out by 6:50 after a quick breakfast. We walked the 6.3 miles to the Nolichucky River in 2 hours, and that it is not bad! We had breakfast on the mind. Since we got to the river so early, our ride at 11 was no good. We called Miss Janet's house, and they were in the middle of breakfast, so we decided to hitch into town only 4 miles away. We walked not even .1 miles with our thumbs out and a red Saturn pulled over and offered us a ride. He had hiked some and knew how great it felt to get a ride, so Noah, Yoohoo, Swiftcreek, and I piled into this small Saturn with the packs in our laps. Nice guy with a Saturn. Packed in - 3 boys in the back with packs and me up front with my pack - and rode the few miles into Erwin. Got to Miss Janet's, a fairly famous (at least to hikers) hostel while the group ahead of us was eating breakfast. We were invited to have a "bonus breakfast" (read: free) so we ate all the leftovers! Around the table were tons of hikers - Ramble On, Treefingers, Eagle Eye, Compass, Don Johnson, Brian, Jaywalker, Beef, and on and on.... Quite a popular place! Have just been hanging around out here the rest of the day.For lunch, we headed to Wendy's and Swiftcreek ate more today than I have ever seen him eat. He ate a #7 with two Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers with fries, and he ate everything! It was something I never thought I would see, but that is what the trail does! We resupplied at the Dollar General and White's Supermarket, and when we got back I read part of a book. Also got to talk to mom, dad, Dane-O, Grama, Aunt T, and Mama Phyllis! What a great day! We'll be up and out tomorrow though. Have plans to be in Damascus a week from today. Can't believe how time flies! Oh! And I had a half a box of Fruity Pebbles today - will finish them with Swiftcreek for breakfast. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Hopefully we'll get to upload our pictures on the journal in Damascus. We've got some good ones! Love to family and friends!