Date: 2018-04-13
From: Erwin

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 8.4

DAY 38Kind of a luxury today to sleep in, get up and shower, go down to the hotel breakfast for waffles, cereal, juice, tea, and bagels. Back at the room after breakfast we packed up all of our gear and got ready for check out. Got word from April and Phil that they would be here at 11:20. Check out is at 11:00, so we worked on our journal entries as we chatted with several other hikers who were facing the same dilemma as us regarding the upcoming weather and terrain. Soon April + Phil arrived and we checked out and headed for the Food Lion for resupply. Great lunch with April & Phil at the Azteca restaurant which also came highly recommended by "Hemlock" and "Jack Rabbit" back at the Super 8. Mary and I both had the Quesadilla Grande lunch specials which we devoured along with our fair share of salsa and chips. We both also enjoyed a large, unsweetened ice tea. There was a Dollar General next door to the restaurant where I was able to pick up my Spam singles, which the Food Lion was out of. People like to make fun of Spam, but it packs quite a few calories into a compact package and is really quite good tasting to me, at least for now. (One hiker joked that 37 different species of animals gave their lives for Spam). After lunch we made our way back to the trail. I picked up a few last minute things at Uncle Johnny's. April & Phil drove our packs over the bridge and we met them on the other side. Phil walked Brody and let him cool off in the river while April helped us field strip our resupply. April & Phil gave us a couple snacks for the trail, most notably a Milky Way dark for Mary and an almond Snickers for me. We said our good byes and we were back in the woods. It was nice to have a visit with family, our second visit on the trail. Very hot today and we suffered as we headed uphill with our food laden packs. We got so much food that Mary has a food bag, and mine was so full that it didn't all fit in my pack so I have some strapped to the outside of my pack in a Dollar General bag. Of course we realized later that the heat made our snickers just about liquid and the Oreo cookies and Little Debbie Fudge Rounds and Oatmeal Creams kind of became blobs. They will re-harden later, you just have to be careful not to poke at them too much when they are in their softened state. We didn't leave town until nearly 2:00, so after a long climb out of town in the heat we arrived at Curly Maple Gap Shelter around 5:00. We decided to push on another 4 miles to Indian Grave Gap to get a good day in after a late start. By the time we arrived we were ready to be done for the day as we were tired of carrying our way too heavy packs. Found a nice, leafy spot and quickly set up our tent and ate, making sure we selected some of the heaviest items for dinner tonight. It's a novelty to be in camp and not be freezing as we eat and get ready for bed. Hung our bear bag and headed to bed. Only one other camper here with us tonight ("Fraggle"), he is set up just down the hill a little and is enjoying a campfire. Note from Mary: April and Phil were enjoying a trip south so that April could finish her "Fifty States by Fifty". They spent April's birthday in Louisiana, and also enjoyed a night in Chattanooga, TN in a Chattanooga Choo Choo train car.Another Note from Mary: Alan didn't mention in the above journal that before reaching Curly Gap Shelter he had to get some water from the stream so I could cool down as I sat beside the trail. I soaked one of our small towels in the water and put it on my face and neck to cool down. The heat really got to me as we are not used to hot weather on the trail. It went from winter cold to summer hot with no simply warm spring temperatures.