Date: 2015-03-29
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: clear sky

Last night was awful. It was in the teens. My face was the only thing sticking out of my sleeping bag so it was cold. Many times I would actually put it in the sleeping bag. I was up and moving around all night. I really didn't sleep that much.I woke up to frost from condensation on the inside of my tent. I didn't want to get up but I knew I wanted to make it to Erwin, TN today. I got up, started packing up my gear and had a quick breakfast so I could get on the trail. When I was ready to go, I only had one thing left: Put on my shoes. Unfortunately...they were completely frozen from the water and snow yesterday. It took a couple minutes and surely a few tries to finally get into them. It took 15 minutes of hiking for my now frozen feet to warm up. The trees at elevation had plenty of ice on them. As I descended the snow on the ground was thinner and I could hear the ice breaking and falling off branches. It sounded like broken glass. The hike had a lot of descents but it were the ascents that were challenging. I was hiking really quickly though. The thought of Pizza Hut was my driving force for getting down the trail and into town sooner than later. The first 8 miles I caught up to Hermit who left a bit earlier than me. We made it to the No Business Knob Shelter where I had lunch and made a phone call to find out about the shuttle into town. I just needed to make one more phone call once I arrived at the road and the shuttle driver would be down shortly.I made it into Erwin, TN and called for the shuttle. Hermit and I decided to split a room once we got to the Super 8. Stretch, Axon and Shrugs are staying the night as well. Once in the room we dropped our packs and made the quick decision as to what we are ordering from Pizza Hut. While the stuffed-crust pepperoni pizza was being made, I hit the much needed shower. You always feel like a new person when you hit the shower after a few days on the trail.We had to do laundry but there are no laundry machines at the hotel. We gathered up our clothes and put on our rain gear to walk to the Laundromat. Just as we started walking out of the hotel and hit the road, a woman pulled up and asked if we needed a ride. We cheerfully accepted the invitation! She even offered to give us a ride back when were done. It was a good thing she stopped. It would have been a 20 minute walk each way.We did our laundry and our grocery shopping too. The grocery store was just down the road. I called the woman to bring us back and she was back at the laundromat in just a few. On the ride back, Hermit remarked about Bojangles and that he never had it before. I hadn't either. She couldn't believe it and made the split second decision to drive us there immediately. Whether we wanted to our not, we were going to Bojangles for some fried chicken. I have to say it was really good and the hype was well worth it. I'd go there if we had them back home in Connecticut.Overall the day was really busy with hiking, resupplying, laundry, Bojangles, etc. Tomorrow will be shorter since we aren't leaving town until 11:00am or so. It sounds like the weather may be a bit rainy in the morning too. Let's see what happens!