Date: 2018-04-09
From: Uncle Johnny's Hostel Erwin, TN

To: Curley Maple Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I can't seem to sleep in at all regardless of my location. I have seriously adjusted my internal clock to the rising and setting of the sun. It's good and bad! I'm always in bed so early!As I woke up, a cat from the hostel jumped on my bed and joined me in my sleeping bag. It was pretty awesome. I layed there for a bit before getting up. I had bought 7 doughnuts at the store yesterday and we all ate some. Some also had bagels and peanut butter, leftover pizza and tons of different varieties of food. We relaxed in the hostel for a while as we heard the rain was supposed to stop around noon. If we could, we were going to try and avoid it! We had 3500 feet of elevation gain out of Erwin and nobody was in any real rush to do that! The temperature was cool but perfect for hiking so I planned on leaving around 10 and hiking to a shelter 12 miles from the hostel. Then the next few days we could do big miles in nice weather! Well... That's what I thought at least. I had done the math wrong by starting at the wrong mileage. I calculated the distance as 12 instead of 17. The others were all planning on doing the same hike as me today and nobody seemed to realize my mistake!We hiked along a river for the first few miles then hiked up and up in elevation. As I rose up, I began entering a cloud. The fog took over and eventually I was getting soaked. I put on my poncho and pushed through. At a small gap about 9 miles in I ran into some trail magic! A man from Catholic Charities had pulled his pickup off the road and was offering banana bread, brownies, hot coffee and conversation. I chatted with him and a few other hikers for a couple of minutes until I started getting cold. I really wish I could stay longer more often but weather rules all!Immediately after that gap I saw a sign saying 8.7 miles to the next shelter. There was no way I had only hiked 4 miles of my "12" mile day. I pulled off the trail, scoured my map for answers and realized my mistake. I had messed up. Fortunately for myself, I only had 8 more miles and I was feeling amazing. However, I felt horrible for telling everyone else the wrong number. I pushed on knowing I'd see them at some point. I hiked through the fog and a dense spruce forest around 5000 feet. The climates and forests we go through are all so unique!I arrived at camp at 3:15. 5.5 hours for 17 miles with 3500 feet in elevation gain and I was feeling great! I set up my tent, warmed up then filtered water and hung a bear bag for later. By the time I finished quick chores, Wu Tang and Soothe had arrived. I immediately apologized and they were really just grateful that it was in fact 17 miles and that their paces weren't crazy slow! We all prepared our sites then started cooking dinner. I had a HUGE food bag so my goal was to eat a good amount. I treated myself to a sweet pork Mt house, hot chocolate, Oreos, a Hershey bar, beef jerky and dried apples! I was eating well. I then cleaned up, brushed my teeth and hung my bear bag with soothe. Then I hunkered down in my sleeping bag and hung out until sunset and the hopes of warmer weather in the next few days!