Date: 2016-04-28
From: No Business Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning was a delightful morning. Even though the rain soaked everything, I stayed dry under my tarp in my hammock. Kangapard and I had decided on a late start, as we had only 6.2 miles to hike into Erwin. The wetness didn't deter the younger hikers and they were up and out of camp by 8 am. Things quieted down and the birds began to sing. Soon the sun came out and began to dry things out. I set my tarp up "porch" style and sat on a ground cloth and cooked breakfast right there. Now this is the kind of morning I like! But a hot shower was waiting at the hostel in Erwin, so we packed up and off we went.The trail was another downhill roll into Erwin. It was one of those days where you can see the town and river from the top and keep seeing it all the way down. It always seems so close, but it is still 6 plus miles away. I was leading, and it again was hot and humid from the rain. I had taken my glasses off because they kept fogging up. Humming along, I was making good time, when suddenly something stick like moved on the trail. I screeched to a halt, popped my glasses on and took a closer look. Oh! It was a brown snake, about 3 feet long. Ok, no big deal. I stopped, it stopped and Kangapard came up and said "what's wrong?" I replied there is a snake in the way and it won't move. (The last one we saw was black and it moved off immediately as Kangapard approached. No problem, says she, let's just throw a rock at it to scare it off. So she did, and it didn't move, it just looked mad. I clacked my poles together to scare it, but that didn't work either. Well, this snake was beginning to look really irritated, so we backed up a bit and assessed how we could go around it. There just wasn't much room. Kangapard tells me to go first and she will watch and holler if it moves. Ha! So, sucker that I am, I carefully maneuvered through a rhododendron bush and got safely around. Then she came the same way. Moving on, we both heaved a sigh of relief and wondered what the heck kind of snake that was. Continuing on downward I came around a switchback and there on the trail was a broken egg. I stopped, wondering who in the heck carries an egg on the trail? I heard a rustle up ahead and looked up, to see a big turkey trotting down the trail! It was a hen, and I must have scared it coming around the corner, it laid an egg, which broke, and then ran down the trail! As I moved slowly forward the turkey did as well. She would stop and look back at me, and then run down a few more feet, stop and look back. This continued on for about 100 feet before she took to flight. I'll take a turkey over a snake any day!We got down to Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel and what a zoo. The place was packed and I was stricken to find out that there was to be a big Shindig Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Nooooo, please, not more of this insanity. We had reserved two nights and had hopes of getting some rest and getting reorganized. Needing lunch, we got a ride into town to the Pizza joint. There we ran into Snake Charmer and Waterfall. I described the brown snake to Snake Charmer and Kangapard showed him the picture she took. His comment was that it was one pissed off copperhead! YIKES!!!! Well, no harm done, and now we know what a copperhead looks like up close and personal!Lots of our hiking friends are here at Uncle Johnny's and we all went out to dinner together. It was fun to meet and catch up again. As we returned to the hostel, we learned it was packed full and there were 30 tents and hammocks set up in the communal yard. Showers taken, and gear was hung out to dry as we headed to bed for a good night's sleep. It was not to be. Someone cranked some music, others brought in beer and the picnic tables outside filled with hikers ready to party well into the night. I have just got to get some sleep, I can't take this adolescent partying on the AT anymore. My age is really showing.