Date: 2003-04-29
From: Hot Springs, NC - Erwin, TN

To: Hot Springs, NC - Erwin, TN
Miles today: 67.9
Weather: light rain

Hot Springs, NC - Nolichucky River67.9 miles (338.8 total miles)It was a strange zero day in Hot Springs. The water in town had been shut off, so many of the restaurants in town had to close. No one in town could even use a bathroom! We got a room at Elmer's, but couldn't enjoy his famous gourmet vegetarian dinner because there was no water. Elmer was out of town, so I didn't even get to meet him. The house was 140 years old, and had a lot of history to it. I didn't find out until breakfast that I had slept in the haunted room. I had my best night's sleep since I hit the trail.It was hard leaving Hot Springs on day 25. It was cold and dreary. The trail followed the river briefly, then headed up. I was dragging for a couple miles, until I stopped at a water source. Something changed with me in drinking that water, and I was energized. I took off and cruised for the rest of the day. We found a nice little pond full of fish, and met a great couple of section hikers named Spur and Ready. I hit the shelter, and for some reason crashed again. I felt bad because Ma and Pa had started a fire. Everyone sat around the fire, but I fell asleep immediately.Day 26 was another cold, uneventful day of hiking. Just as I was waking up, it rained for a good 20 minutes. We did about 14 miles on the day, with a long uphill divided by our lunch shelter. I was looking forward to my excellent chicken tortillas for dinner. I ate outside in the sunshine, but as soon as I finished the rain started again. We have had excellent luck in getting shelter space in bad weather. Once again, we watched the cold, wet stragglers come in, hoping for a place to spend the night.We woke up to a beautiful morning on day 27. For the first time in a week, I couldn't see a cloud. It was going to be a great day. We started with a fun climb over Big Butt Mountain. There were cool rock formations full of jungle-like plants. The trail was hard to follow, but full of surprises. Coming down from Big Butt, the road widened and followed an old jeep trail. Someone arranged some rocks to form the number 300. I had just crossed the 300 mile mark. How cool!After an early lunch, we passed some volunteers who told us to help ourselves to some treats in the back of the white pickup at the next road crossing. We ran down to the road crossing to find a cooler full of Pepsis and bags of cookies. There are certain times when trail magic is exaclty what you need at exactly the right time.   This was one of those times. We sat on the side of the road drinking our sodas, feeling great. We left a thank you note on their windshield, and trudged uphill. About an hour later, we got another great surprise. We came across a beautiful cascading waterfall. We soaked our heads, and waded in the ankle-deep icy cold water. It was a wonderful refreshing treat, but we reluctantly moved on. It was a hot climb to the shelter, but we were rewarded by having it all to ourselves.Day 28 was another great day. It was a short 3 miles to US23, which was a crazy road. There was road construction with lanes everywhere, on-ramps, parking lots, and weigh stations. It was scary for a slow hiker with 40 pounds on his back. I waited until thing were quiet, and made a run for it. It was another long, hard hike to the top of Big Bald. There was a beautiful orchard until the trees went away. Then it was a long, open field to the top. I was expecting great things, but was slighty disappointed to find some tourists in an SUV at the top. We met a group of thru-hikers who were slackpacking at the top. We had barely introduced ourselves, when Chafe Master J (great trail name!) gave Willow and I each a ham and cheese sandwich. Imagine, another thru-hiker giving us such great food! We enjoyed the view, and tried to pick out Mount Mitchell. Eventually the SUV left, and we saw another car pull up. It was a BMW. A lady jumped out, popped open a can of soda, and complained about the wind. We couldn't take it any more, and left.We stopped briefly at a shelter, and kept hiking down, down, down. We found a nice campsite by a stream with a firepit, and stopped for the night. Slaughter and I convinced everyone to "cowboy camp" without a tent. I love to fall asleep staring up at the stars.We did an easy 11 miles on day 29 to get to the Nolichucky River. We called around until we found a hotel room in Erwin, TN. Erwin is a hiker-friendly town, but not very convenient. We walked a couple miles around town just to get a few basic chores done. Much of the town doesn't even have sidewalks! We stopped at Erwin Burrito and had a excellent meal! But there is too much to do in a town this spread out. We decided we need to take a zero day to finish up. We booked our next night at Miss Janet's, a famous hiker hostel known for Miss Janet's hospitality. We have already seen her several time in town, helping out hikers.My next stop is in Damascus, VA. I have to get my mail drop tomorrow. I plan on splitting up the contents, and mailing half to a hostel 60 miles away. 120 miles worth of food is too much to carry! We are looking forward to an AYCE pizza buffet tomorrow, and we may even try to catch a movie. The weather says rain tomorrow, so we are in no hurry to leave town.