Date: 2013-05-18
From: Erwin, TN

To: Hampton, TN
Miles today: 0.0

Saturday, May 18, 20135/18/13 Erwin, TN to Hampton, TNWhew. This past week and a half or so have definitely been the hardest for me so far. We left out of Erwin and hiked out about 8 miles or so to Beauty Spot Gap. There were lots of rocks and tons of water on the trail. It was basically a small creek, and in my trailrunners it just meant that I automatically had wet feet and socks. We actually passed a southbounder that day who had started in Maine in September! We got trail magic this day from a guy named rob bird, he had sodas and smacks for us in his van, so we were out of the rain. We pushed another 3 miles or so to the campsite, we were all soaked but there was a nice big fire going already. That was the most ppl I'd seen at a campsite since early on on the trail, they were all great people although, we did have a very loud couple from Maine that were a bit odd (odd doesn't quite do them justice.) We woke up the next morning and left camp late after drying out things at the fire. I burnt a hole on my socks from the rock they were on being too hot. We were going to try and make it to the greasy creek hostel that was .6 off the trail about 13 miles north. It was a pretty nice day, but then we started to near the trail to the hostel it was a torrential downpour. Suddenly the couple from Maine round the corner and start yelling asking which direction it is. Well, we just had arrived so were trying to figure it out while they were yelling. We are at this point almost running to the hostel down a rocky road that becomes a creek all the while listening to her yell "Dennnnnis!!! Dennnnnis follow me!!!!" for half of the way. We arrived at the hostel soaked and it was full so we ended up camping. Then we got up the next morning and had to walk back to the trail, I was not a happy camper. Later though, I hid a small American flag on Irwin's pack when he wasn't looking, so that really brightened my day. I started out this day in a foul mood, but it ended up being one of my favorite days. I started the 4 mile ascent to Roan Mt, and ended up cranking it out all the way to the top without stopping! I felt great and the view up top was awesome! We camped next to the field up top in the spruce trees and has great views. The next day however, was horrible. We got poured on all day (plus hail) and got stuck on this huge bald in a lightning storm. It was super muddy and I was down one pair of socks. Then I had to climb on these effin rocks, my ankles hurt so badly I threw my hiking pole when we finally got through with them. We finally made it to the town of Roan Mt, and crashed for the night, went to Dollar General (I will never shop at a normal grocery store again,) and got back on the trail. It rained again that day, but we managed to make it a short ten miles down the trail to a great campsite where it took me over an hour to hang a bear bag. We actually pulled down the tree branch. It was karma for making fun of the guys and their hilarious bear bag attempts. We hiked 18 miles into Hampton the next day with some great scenery and waterfalls. The last few miles were laurel falls and we got to walk on rock ledges next to the river. The river/waterfall looked awesome with all the water in it! Crying Tiger and I turned back at one point and didn't see the other two. Meanwhile, some a-hole left a perfect trail of cheezits on the ground for a mile. Almost ate one but Crying Tiger stopped me. When we got to the blue blaze they still hadn't caught up so we decided to listen to three songs then if they hadn't shown, go back for them. In the meantime we divvied up their possessions. They showed up during the 3rd song and we walked into Hampton. Ended up camping on the blue blaze trail that night, then got picked up by the black bear hostel owners and had a great day there! We ended up zeroing so we wouldn't get to trail days super early since we were planning on doing a 36 mile day into Damascus, VA!