Date: 2003-05-08
From: Erwin, TN

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: broken clouds

Can't believe I still had hard time sleeping last night. A motel room all to myself and I just tossed and turned. Since I couldn't sleep, I got up and packed my gear. Last night I washed my dirtiest clothes in the sink. I think it is time for new socks. I dried everything on the heater while I tried to sleep. I headed off to Miss Janet's hostel. I wanted to sleep here last night, but it was full. Twigs and Nuts were there, and man, it was great to see them. I didn't want to leave their side; we had some catching up to do. I had to get groceries and so did they, so we went after breakfast. Miss Janet is an extraordinary woman. She totally caters to hikers. Everyone helps cook, clean, and do odd chores. You can tell she loves every group that comes through. I often don't feel welcome at many of the places I've stayed. Miss Janet made me feel welcome and I wasn't even staying there. She insisted I join them for breakfast, which was really good, and prepared by none other than Baltimore Jack himself. After breakfast, everybody went around and said their real name, something interesting about themselves, and something they were embarrassed that they packed. Okay, that was pretty corny, but still interesting. Finally, breakfast was done and we cleaned up. I was finally able to go grocery shopping and to the post office. I mailed home my rain pants and my lifeless watch. At the store, I got Peanut bars, Snickers, peanut brittle, fudge rounds, 2 apples, an orange, carrots, sliced pepperoni, hot pepper cheese, and bagels. I also got batteries, band-aids, a Mickey Mouse watch, and some fake gruesome teethe. Immediately afterwards, I hitched the 5 miles back to the trail. It took me about 5 minutes to get a ride. There is something called slack-packing, which is when someone drives you to the trail then picks you up at the end of the day. That way you don't need your gear and can make serious miles. Now, this is not considered cheating because you hike the trail, however, people go up to the summit of a mountain and hike south because it is downhill. Then the next day they go to the very same summit and hike north downhill. Personally this doesn't seem the same as hiking over the mountain all in one direction. It is a personal choice whether this is wrong or not, but to me it is taking the easy way out. I also have seen people miss sections and just not worry about it. If you want to make this easy, drive your car. The entire point is this is challenging and making it easy just seems pointless. So I don't slack-pack, at least yet. Once you start cutting corners, it gets more tempting the next time. If I say I hiked the entire trail it means I did every inch from beginning to end. Most people slack-pack through this area. I instead put in big miles and don't stay long in town. I got back on the trail by 1pm. Not bad, but I could have done much better. I am really tired when I hike. I hope it is from the lack of sleep. I couldn't wait to hang my hammock and just crash. I don't know how long or far to Trail Days¢¦ I'll figure it out tomorrow. Goodnight.      Peace,Dutch