Date: 2003-04-03
From: 2 mi past bald mtn shelter

To: erwin ,TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

interesting day. i felt so good today. slickrock and oopu didn't feel up to par though. we got to spivy gap and were all ok. ate a snickers. then we started a crazy hard, unexpected climb. kinda cool though. we went along a stream, crossed the stream a couple times over nice little bridges. me, speck, and oopu got a little ahead of the others and to our surprise slickrock had fallen in the stream. apparently got all wet. and since she was already tired from being sick she just kinda got frustrated. anyways...we slowly headed towards erwin. the terrain from there was fairly easy. just a couple climbs. got to no business shelter, some 6 mi from erwin and break for some food. peanut butter and honey tortillas. exceptionally very good! oh, don't forget the snickers! i am getting a litlle tired of those. but they do what they're supposed to do: settle the hunger pains and give you that extra kick of energy. so, me and frigid air decided to hang back with slickrock cause she was tired and hurting and we wanted to make sure she was encouraged enough to make it. but she seemed to to be fine. i man she was bookin it for being completely drained. anyways...we head for erwin. the last 6 mi were pretty much downhill, except for this one climb which was totally unneccessary. 1000 ft back up only so we could go straight back down into the city. its like the trail wants to give you an extra butt whippin so you'll be sure to stay in town at one of the hostels or hotels. a big business scam if you ask me. just kidding really. i'm gonna quit trying to understand the a.t. so we made it to erwin. we booked it to the post office. they close at 5, and it was like 4:45. so we got a ride from uncle johnny's wife. thats the guy that runs the nolichucky hostel. but, the package wasn't even there. we ordered the tent poles from north face, since oopu accidentally dropped the one pole in the snow the other day while we were hiking. we found out that they are in the next city over. johnson city i think. so we're gonna try to get a ride there tomorrow morning. but i think we're gonna take it easy in the morning since theres a couple that aren't feeling the greatest. anyways...we get back to the hotel that we stayed in the other day, the best southern motel. early riser and denmark were waiting for us. they have both decided to leave the trail. early riser actually go on a bus tonight to go back home. its kinda weird how you can become good friends in such a short time. i mean they hiked with us for only about a week, but it was feeling like they were part of 5 alive. only it would have to be the magnificant 7 or something like that. i don't know. anyways...we're planning on keeping in touch with both of them. it'll be cool. so denmark is gonna hike with us for about a week. it'll be a very fun, very interesting week. she's a lot of fun! bu we're just chillin in the hotel room now. we did some laundry. got some burritos from the famous erwin burrito. so good. sleepless in seatle is on tv so we're watchin it now. turner and hooch comes on next! its gonna be an exciting night! kinda tired though. i don't think i've stayed up this late (10:00) for a long time. need some sleep! zzzzzz....