Date: 2015-03-30
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 14.6

It did rain all night long, as the weather reports predicted, but it was still warmer than the past few nights. The shelter leaked a bit, but it was still about 300% drier than my tent would have been. I haven't even used my tent since Locust Cove, about 2 weeks ago. I know I will have to use it eventually, especially when more bugs come, but I'm dreading it a bit. No one else with the same tent seems to have any problems with it. The solution may mean doing the seam seals again, but it takes more than 24 hours to dry- so it would need to be on a dry zero day, where I have space to put up my tent. ~After a slow start where I woke up early but didn't move from my sleeping bag for nearly an hour, I had the last of the food left in my bag- a single packet of oats with the rest of the semi solid Nutella. The Nutella has proven to be a solid food choice, but has gotten burnt and stuck on the bottom of my pot.We walked 6 miles quickly into Erwin. The morning was miserable and drizzly, but as we got into town it lightened up. We arrived at Uncle Johnny's hostel to find the whole place empty and closed. After about 10 mins, a bunch of cars turned up- shuttles with the owner and a load of other hikers (including Axom and Shrug). We did a little shop at the outfitters there, I got another canister of gas, toothpaste and 2 of the 40 cent snickers bars. Brightside wasn't able to get her cook set yet, and had to chase down Chicago to find it later on. We took a shuttle into the KFC in Erwin. The KFC is pretty special here because it has an all you can eat buffet. We went there with the Rhode Island Express and stuffed ourselves on the buffet. We also made very liberal use of the bathrooms to try to clean up, as well as taking advantage of the free wifi and outlets. It was very hard to leave, especially after learning that Chicago was taking a zero at the Super8 motel. The lure of civilisation is very strong, especially after the past few miserable days. After filling ourselves up, we went to the Dollar General and did a resupply. My pack is now heavier than it has ever been- 38lbs. I stocked up on snacks, as well as double the amount of instant oats since I'm now eating double the amount of breakfast every day. I also learned that iced honey buns have 680 calories each, which is an incredible amount. Another food that only hikers should eat. From there, Brightside and I quickly got a hitch to go pick up her package and then back to Uncle Johnny's to sort our stuff and go back to the trailhead. One of the great things about Brightside getting packages is that she always has extra food, so I usually get the extras from that. I also picked up a couple protein bars from the hiker box. Someone had left a kilo of Nutella there too! But I don't think anyone would ever carry that. From there, we headed back onto the trail about 3pm. The hike was a bit of a gentle uphill to start, but the heat was strong, and my pack was very heavy. We knew that Fresh Ground was 8 miles up, so we were aiming for that. It took what felt like forever. The trail was incredibly steep at times, and had loads of roots and rocks, so it took me a long time. The trail followed a ledge around the mountain for miles and there were a couple beautiful spots where there were great views of Erwin and the mountains we hiked yesterday. I finally got to Fresh Grounds Leap Frog Cafe about 6.30pm and it was a wonderful sight. Brightside, Laughtrack, Frodo and Dopey were already there. There was pizza, fruit, wine and even some tea made for me. It was a really wonderful evening, and actually the first time I've stayed up late enough to see the stars and the moon. We played a game of frisbee and chatted around the fire. It was one of those very special evenings that I will always remember, because they rarely happen on the trail. We're all camped beside the cafe, and now I'm using my tent. It's a dry evening, luckily. But the best part will be waking up and getting to see Fresh Grounds again in the morning. The hard part will be doing a massive uphill climb and do 18 miles with a super heavy pack. Really not looking forward to that part. I also heard today that GreyWolf has had to leave the trail due to a family emergency. I don't know the details, so I hope that it is just a rumour, but I am very sorry to hear that he is not on the trail any more. I haven't see him since Hot Springs, but I expected to see him again soon. It makes me very unhappy to know that I won't see him on the trail. It must have been a hard choice for him to leave, especially knowing how difficult it is to get here from abroad. Although I've always said how transient the trail is, it's made me unexpectedly sad to lose someone who we spent so much time with. I really hope he can come back in the future and finish the trail.