Date: 2004-04-15
From: Erwin, TN

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

Soo I'm in Erwin now, yup... that's right I left Hot Springs Monday morning and here I am on Thursday morning typing up an entry at the Erwin library. Well it was tough to leave Hot Springs and the great hospitality of Sundance's parents in the cabin they had rented for the weekend with the champagne in the jacuzzi and everything, but we pulled ourselves away and hit the trail again Monday morning. I think each of us over the course of 48 hours ate our body weight in food. Soo Monday it rained all day and when we hit the shelter 11 miles out of Hot Springs we decided we'd call it quits for the day... Well Quiet Guy with his new cell phone decided to call his Pops who lives in Unicoi just 5 miles outside of Erwin and finds out that he'll be leaving on Friday morning for a fishing trip in Georgia. So the three of us decide well it's only 4 soo let's put in a few more miles and we can push it to Erwin by Thursday night so QG can see his Pops. Soo we hike on down to Allen Gap, another 3.7 miles, set up camp and decide it's still early, so Sundance is like let's see if we can find ourselves someplace to eat. Now back in Georgia Seiko told me that 90% of the time head left and you'll hit civilization when you come to a road. Soo we head left and run in to a woman working in her garden: "You know if there's anyplace 'round here that delivers pizza?" Not around these parts but there's a place to eat about a mile up next to the BAR. When she said bar you should have seen the look Sundance got on his face, that same silly little grin a kid gets in a candy store. So we decide to walk down there, we go the mile, nothing.. by this point we figure we can walk a mile back or keep going a mile and get someone to give us a lift back from the place to eat. So we keep going almost another mile when the bright neon Busch sign catches our eye at the "Mountain Top Tavern" We head on in and this place looks right out of Deliverence, a total hole in the wall, it was like a trailer that just happened to have beer; but the real treat was the frozen deep dish pizza's with the microwave. Wow did they hit the spot. Now we're thinking how could our day get any better, but QG and Sundance notice they've got beer to go, soo what do we do but get a 12 pack of High Life to head back to camp with to enjoy with the Hot Dogs we packed out from Hot Springs. The skies had completely cleared by the time we left the tavern to make our way back down to Allen Gap to cook up our dogs. The dogs were excellent, much better than our dehydrated alternative of Liptons or something, and I only drank a beer with supper and one at the bar. I was the first to head off to bed as I was beat from the long weekend in Hot Springs and the extra 4 miles of road walking. That night it poured, and poured and just kept raining all morning, and all of us were completely void of energy that morning. But we had a few beers left over so I went and put a few up by the trail marker, knowing it would make someone's day. Tuesday was an off day for all of us, we only managed the 5 miles by 1 that afternoon and thought after a hot meal and a nap that we would press on. The weather took a turn for the worse and we just stayed huddled in our bags as we listened to the storm roll in. Much to our surprise Beast, and the Nurses whom we had met back at Standing Bear showed up along with this really annoying older guy named Adventure who felt compelled in his heavy heavy southern drawl to say out loud everything that he was doing or thought. Not only that but he spent a solid two hours sitting on the picnic table in the rain talking on his cell phone, I just wanted to sit up and start screaming YES WE'RE IN THE WOODS CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!Ok enough of that rant but I would have to say the 4 hours I spent listening to Adventure ramble on about nothing were perhaps the most wretched 4 hours of the whole trail. I'd rather do the whole Clingman's Dome 3 foot snow drifts thing than spend another night in a shelter with Adventure. It's amazing how some people can just annoy you so... but then again, it wouldn't be as fun if you liked everyone you met on the trail. Well that night was an experience as we managed like sardines to squeeze 12 people into a shelter built for 6, it was tight but warm, we knew it was to get cold that night but the surprise we woke to the following morning was totally unexpected; it was the return of SNOW! This crushed the three of us, All our stuff was already soaking wet from two straight days of rain, but now all our stuff was frozen and the trail was covered in snow... My hour of computer time is up... there's more to follow, perhaps later today or tomorrow. Last night was spent with QG's father in Unicoi and I've got a bottle of homemade peach wine courtesy of QG's father that will be making it's way home for you to enjoy mom and dad.