Date: 2014-05-06
From: Erwin, TN

To: Iron Mountain Gap
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: few clouds

AT day 31 TuesdayToday was the best day ever! We woke up in a bed and were able to take showers, which is always a nice thing! Then Kent Wilson took us to breakfast at Hardee's! As if he didn't already do enough, he bought us breakfast too! The cinnamon raisin biscuits were amazing, by the way! Then we drove out to where we got off the trail, Kent took our packs (in his car) up to the next gap and we started to hike pack free! As we walked over to the trail where it goes back into the woods, we ran into Bamboo and Kansas! They were about to start their day too. So we all walked together for the first five miles! I felt great because I was actually keeping up with them. Of course, they had packs so it wasn't quite fair! A little while in, Kansas found a bag hanging from a tree that we thought was trash. When he went to grab it, it broke and a bunch of food fell out! It was trail magic! There were cliff bars, ramen, trail mix and peanut butter! A nice treat! Of course we had just gotten our re-supply so we just took a snack to eat then and left lots for the hikers behind us. Kent Wilson had started walking towards us from where he left the car so he met us about four and a half miles in. The four of us walked back to the car together having nice conversation and enjoying having company and no packs! Kent is a wealth of information and we thoroughly loved hiking with him. When we got to the road where the car was about eight miles up, there was a man named BT doing trail magic! Three times in one day, how lucky could we be!?!? What a great day! He even had sweet tea and some homemade baked goods. We took a long break there with some hikers we hadn't met and Bamboo and Kansas, of course. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day, so it felt good to relax in the sun while sitting in chairs!We finally had to say goodbye to Kent Wilson and take our packs back. When we headed back onto the trail we felt very lucky for having such a great day! Bamboo and Kansas caught back up to us quickly so we all walked together for a while. I love having other people to hike with as the time goes by quickly. It helps keep my mind off the overall pain I feel most days too. Today my legs were burning and my feet are still pretty cut up so it was extra nice to have chit chat going on! Plus, I tripped and luckily caught myself before falling directly on my face, but in doing so tweaked something in my quad. Badly. I wasn't sure if I pinched a nerve or pulled something. Part of me thought maybe I should have just taken the fall! It hurt for the rest of the day. Ugh as if it's not already painful enough walking uphill with a heavy pack every day for a month! We had a few big climbs where we had to dig in with our tip toes to get purchase on the hill. I always try to figure out if my face is closer to the ground than my butt at that point. It's probably pretty funny to watch. We have to really hunch over to make it up sometimes. And many times I feel like if I stood up straight on those hills, my backpack would pull me back and I'd tumble right down! We finally made it to mile seventeen and a half, and we discussed staying at a shelter or continuing on with Bamboo to the next road where the van was. I wasn't sure I could make it another three miles (or three feet for that matter). I was hurting so much! My legs literally feel like I'm dragging bricks behind them. But we knew if we did more today there would be less to do on Thursday as we walked into town. Walking more won out. As we set off for the last three miles, Jon noticed there was a diner four miles from where we were going to stop for the night. RH told Bamboo that if his group would give us a ride, he'd buy them dinner! The hope of more food (if you can believe it) motivated us to walk faster, which was difficult at that point (for me because of feet and legs and for Bamboo who was chaffed raw). But we made good time and were excited to see the van when we got to the road. The girls driving today said they'd bring us to the restaurant so we all piled in and made our way into town.   The directions in the guidebook just said there was a restaurant four miles east, so we pulled over in front of a small store to ask where the place was located. The lady we asked told us there was nowhere to eat in the town. What??!?!? We didn't believe her and drive on. We found the restaurant literally a half a mile down the road. It was really small but had a great menu including milkshakes in every flavor you could imagine! The workers were very friendly even wit us pulling in twenty minutes before they closed. They had really reasonable prices too! We were glad we found it!It was great getting to hang out and eat with the YWAM group. If we don't get to hike with them, we only see them in passing so it was nice getting some quality time in! Plus Jon found a hose on the outside of the building so he and bamboo used it to wash off! We are very opportunistic in that way. The bathroom had soap and hot water, so I was able to washy hands! That's a luxury out here!After dinner we went back to the place we got off trail and everyone camped out right by the road. When we arrived a few other hikers were there too and had already started a fire! Our day just kept getting better and better! We got to hang out by the fire and visit some more. Jon, myself, Shakina, Birdy, and Liberty all cowboy camped under the stars (my first time on this hike) which was super nice. The night was warm and there was no chance of rain! What a perfect ending to a fabulous day!