Date: 2006-04-17
From: Big Bald Shelter

To: Erwin, TN-Ms. Janet's House
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: light rain

BALD MTN SHELTER TO MS. JANET'S HOUSE. 16.9 MILES. 20 PIECES OF TRASH.My goal today was simply to get to Ms. Janet's house in Erwin as soon as possible so I could simply relax and enjoy the time at the hostel. The reputation of Janet and her hostel was great among the trail and I was excited about finding out for myself. And this would be my first hostel experience along the AT so far.Woke up at 5am with the wind blowing like mad in the darkness. Thought about going back to sleep (would have been so much easier) and waiting out whatever was to come, but then decided to try to beat it and forced myself up.Trying not to wake anybody up, I packed up as quietly as possible and left at 6:01--my earliest start yet. I started hiking with my headlamp on but had turned it off after 20 minutes. The wind had died down yet it was still overcast. Went as fast as I could and made basically 2.5 miles an hour.Wanted to take the trail up to "High Rocks" but at this point it was still so overcast that I didn't bother.The day began to clear up as I entered into Pisgah National Forest, and a little while later I found myself reading through the register at the No Business Knob Shelter. All the hikers had already cleared out and were probably on their way to JanetsAt Spivey Gap I came across a tupperware container with the words: "FOR AT THRU-HIKERS" written on the top in black sharpie marker. Smiling, I opened up the lid, with difficulty (being out in the woods for so long, we humans tend to lose some of our easiest everyday motor skills like the unlocking of plastic containers), to find a bunch of Power Bars and two presweetened Kool-Aid containers. I took a banana bar and the Kool-Aid stating: "Secret Flavor! Secret Color! Watch color change when it touches water!"--or something along those lines. Whatever it read, I was all over it and poured a bunch into my recently inherited water-bottle.After shaking the bottle up and giving it a trial taste, I suddenly found myself gulping away at the mysterious liquid, feeling like Roland of Gilead as I greedily drained the contents down my throat("By the gods--such sweetness!")The day began to clear up as I entered into Pisgah National Forest and a little over an hour later I reached the No Business Knob Shelter. All the hikers from the previous evening had already cleared out--probably on their way to Janet's. Saw a pink plastic Easter egg on the way into Erwin. Thinking it was just leftover trash, I snatched it from the top of a bush and was about to plop it inside my Zip-loc baggy when I heard the distinctive rattle of what could only be candy inside. Hmmmm. I opened it and discovered a singles Werther's Original inside the gold-foiled wrapper. Hmmmm.Suck, suck, crack, crack, GULP!I never saw another hiker on the trail the entire day and got to Erwin at 12:30 (just about 17 miles in 6 and 1/2 hours--not too shabby). Went into Uncle Johnny's hostel to buy a cold quart of Gatorade and Johnny introduced himself and informed me that there was plenty of room if I wanted to stay. I politely thanked him but explained that I had a package arriving at Janet's house and felt obligated to stay with her, which was entirely the truth. Johnny said that he understood but that if I stayed with him, he could shuttle me over to Janet's to pick up my package. Again I politely refused and asked him if he had a map for me to look at. He may have been a bit pushy, but I found Johnny generally helpful--he did show me a map, pointed out Janet's house, and told me where to hitch from.As I walked outside I found that the sky had grown incredibly dark again. On my way to the intersection Johnny told me to hitch from, I flashed my thumb at one, two, three, four cars but they all passed me by. Then suddenly on my left I noticed a big white truck stopped, and the driver looking over at me. I hadn't even heard it approaching.I opened up the door and asked him if he knew how to get to Janet's, and he told me to hop in. "Gettin' dark outside. You won't want to be walkin' out here in a few minutes." After throwing my pack in the back beneath his topper I jumped up in the front seat next to him. Although I never caught his name, he seemed a nice enough fellow. I saw a couple fires up in the mountains to the left of the town which I assumed were the same ones I had seen the day before from the top of Big Bald Mountain. "Some crazy old peckerwood's been lighting fires up in the mountains," he told me."Some teenager?" I asked, either misunderstanding him or just thinking of the most logical explanation. "No--he's 70 years old!""70?" It was hard for me to believe there was a 70 year old arsenist roaming around the hills in Tennessee. "Well, did they catch the guy?"He nodded. "Somebody recognized his truck and turned him in.""Why'd he do it?"The man shrugged.Just then, all the water in the sky seemed to empty itself all at once as a machine-gun fire of pelting rain came down on the truck's windshield."Man, I got here just in time." He nodded.The man pulled into Janet's driveway and parked beneath the branches of a large oak, trying to save me from getting completely drenched. I shook his hand, thanked him, and grabbed my gear out of the back.There were a couple of hiker's sitting in cushioned wicker chairs on the porch, staring out into the rain."Is Janet here?" I asked."Naw--she's out on a shuttle run. She'll be back soon. You can throw your pack inside, on the floor by the others. Grab yourself a bunk."Inside I found 3 or 4 more hikers hanging out on the couch, watching the end of Batman Begins. One of them I recognized as Squirrel, a guy I had met back in the Smokies. It reminded me of a conversation I'd had with 42 a couple of days earlier. Apparently there were two "Squirrels" hiking the AT--both from Georgia. One of them spelled his name with the correct spelling, while the other spelled it: S-Q-U-A-R-L, because he hadn't known how to spell it. "Hey, what's up Squirrel?" "Hey man, how's it going?" he asked. I could tell he recognized my face but not my name. "Sanford," I reminded him. "So, are you Squirrel, or Squarl?""Man--I'm Squirrel--I'm the real-deal, the only squirrel."I signed my name on a markerboard and found a bedroom containing a small sofa and four sets of bunkbeds. I chose the bottom bunk by the window and leaned my pack up against it. Eventually I met a hiker named Baltimore Jack who gave me the rundown of the place. There were clean towels and clothes to change into while I did laundry. Soap and shampoo in the bathroom.After I'd freshened up Balt. Jack handed me a plate with half of a tuna-melt sandwich, some pasta salad, and a bowl of tomato soup. I took it into the living room and sat down on one of the couches. "The Usual Suspects" had just started and a guy with longish blonde hair introduced himself as Natty-Boh. The guy immediately to my right said he was Sleepy the Arab."May the force be with you," I said, remembering his register entry from the Flint Mountain Shelter. He smiled and I joked about the entry. There were also I'm-still-Adam and Leprechaun. I'm-still-Adam was in the process of packing his gear saying: "Ok, I have an important decision to make--should I bring a pound of peanut-butter or a pound of cake?""Cake," Leprechaun answered without hesitation. "Yeah, that's what I was thinkin...I've had tons of peanut-butter on the trail, but cake's a rarity. And the cake costs 5 dollars versus 2 for the peanut-butter." I'm-still-Adam was not about to allow his $5 cake get crushed inside of his food bag, and with the precision of a surgeon, I watched as he strapped the styrofoam to-go box containing the cake onto the back of his pack. And as I stuffed my face with a delicious tuna sandwich given to me by a man named Baltimore Jack, I couldn't help but grin at all of the marvels I had stumbled onto. Random Register Entry: "I like my women like I like my coffee                                                      --from McDonalds."