Date: 2019-04-15
From: Laurel Hostel at Rector Laurel Rd

To: Whistling Gap
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: broken clouds

The bunkhouse at Laurel Hostel is unheated, so I can see my breath in the morning. It's lightly snowing outside. Diesel needs a ride to Erwin to get to his vehicle and end his hike early due to illness in the family. Grasshopper and I piggyback on the shuttle to get breakfast in town. Tim's son Paul drives us to Clarence's Drive-In, which despite the name is a normal diner, where I load up on biscuits and brown gravy, eggs, and a chocolate chip pancake. I have reliable service for the first time in two weeks and reach Sara at home. I love hearing what she and the kids have been up to. I love being out hiking but I miss them all so much. I'll be home later this week. Erwin/Unicoi is spread out along I-26 for several miles. Not at all like Hot Springs. I see a McDonald's for maybe the first time since Springer. I have to try their Bojangles when I hike into town tomorrow.Back at the hostel Sandman has come by. Grasshopper and I are dismayed to learn our hosts want $20 each for the town trip. Most hostels shuttle to town for free or a nominal charge regardless of group size. Diesel already paid what an independent shuttler would charge for this short trip, so this surprise charge feels like gouging. Just another reason I wouldn't recommend this place beyond a stop for a soda.I hike out at 10:30, knowing I'm already behind my friends who stayed at the shelter three miles back. It's cold and very windy but also mostly sunny, so depending on which side of the mountain the trail takes me I alternate between comfortable and frozen. Food Truck is at the first shelter I reach drying out his tent and sleeping bag. He stayed with Clammy et al last night and put a trash bag over the end of his sleeping bag to keep out the rain and sleet. But it just created condensation inside and wet the bag anyway. He says I missed the guys by 20-30 minutes, and they'll probably go past the next shelter because it's at too high an elevation and it's going to be a cold night.So off I go on their trail again. Down into Sam's Gap, crossing my second interstate on this trip (I-26 here, I-40 at Davenport Gap). On the other side there's the remains of trail magic on a fence: empty plastic bags with a note saying "PB&J - take one!" Someone certainly did.Not many hikers in this section. I meet a guy named Tee (like T-shirt) who is all bundled up against the wind and laughs too hard at my jokes. Also a section hiker just starting and heading fifty miles to Iron Mountain Gap. And two women thruhikers - Strider and a friend from Wisconsin who enjoys Nordic skiing. I later learn they had arrived at my friends' shelter last night after all six occupants were in their sleeping bags, and the Wisconsin woman impatiently demanded shelter space. Then in the morning she reprimanded them for not moving quickly enough. UNICEF was well-behaved and held his tongue but it was tough.The wind continues relentlessly all day. I go over a ridgeline to Big Bald over 5000 feet and I can barely feel my hands despite the sun and nominal mid-40s temperature.The trees about 4500 feet have iced over from last night's sleet. When the wind gusts through it shakes off pieces of ice and rains them down on me. At first this is kind of cool, then I realize they are sharp and I turn my head each time to protect my eyes. Not a hazard I expected on the trail.Big Bald is exactly that - an expansive open meadow at 5500 feet. I can see the Smokies in the distance, and to the north an imposing snow-capped mountain which is probably Unaka. I'll climb that north of Erwin. The wind is whipping frenetically. Were it not for blue skies it would feel like a tropical storm. I yell into the wind and throw out my arms and embrace the chill. My phone shuts down several times while taking a picture due to the harsh wind.It would be smart to stop and throw on hat, gloves, and rain/windjacket, but the violence and cold of the wind makes me feel alive. My body feels chilled but my mind is alert and loving it. I hike down to Bald Mountain shelter and learn from Doc and Chappy (Chaplain), two white-bearded retirees with big grins, that Fast Lane, UNICEF, and Clammy left not 20 minutes ago and think that I am much further behind. They're joking about hiking straight through to town, still 17 miles off. Doc and Chappy are fun to talk to, but it's almost 5 so I hike on to find my tramily. More biting wind, and three miles of downhill later, I reach Whistling Gap and find my friends along with several other tents. While we're now below 4000 feet, the wind is still blowing strongly and everyone just wants to crawl into their tents and cocoon. So I cook up some rice, borrowing back the fuel I lent Clammy last night, hang the bear bag and crawl into my sleeping bag listening to the wind roar.