Date: 2017-04-29
From: Big Bald

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I was hopeful that the wind would calm down during the night after the sun has stopped dumping energy into the atmosphere, but the winds kept up all night. I woke up pretty frequently to a particularly loud gust or two, even with earplugs in. I got up once at 4am for a bit and briefly took in the stars... without light pollution even the milky way was visible in the sky and the valleys below also had little stars dotted throughout them. Unfortunately it was too cold and windy to enjoy them for long, so I retreated back to my tent for a bit more sleep.Both Lookout and I were up at first light and started breaking down camp as the sky brightened. We watched as the sun rose from the opposite direction as it set, the earth having completed half a rotation while we slumbered (obvious, but kinda cool to think about). Lookout hit the trail at about 650 and I elected to wait a few more minutes at the summit for the remainder of the sunrise. The trail followed the field which continued down and across a lower peak, so I watched as Lookout (and a couple deer) traversed the field. I followed soon after and after leaving the field re-entered the sparse forest, carpeted by think green grass and brush, which surrounded the mountain-top field. I ran into a couple more deers here and watched them bound away, gliding through the low flora with obscene grace. It was here, I would later find out, that Lookout had run into a bear that promptly scampered off into the forest when he hit his poles together. I, less than 5min behind him, didn't see anything... oh well, early hiker gets the bear.I continued to move along, descending and passing through a gap with a deserted road, and ascending up a notch containing a stream. The stream generated a cool breeze and the fact that the sun hadn't yet reached this part of the trail was a nice relief from the sun. I ran into an ATC volunteer picking mustard weed, an invasive plant in the area, and chatted with him for a few minutes before continuing on.I also suspect that it's somewhere near butterfly mating time because there are a lot of very colorful butterflies (males?) dancing with rather drab looking moths (females?) along the trail.The last 6 miles to town was dry, so I grabbed some water at the last shelter and tackled the home stretch into town. With about 1.5mi to town I finished the liter I had grabbed as the heat of the day really started to takes its toll. The trail wound down a series of switchback along a ridge which sloped into the river, so each trip out to the tip of the ridge rewarded me with a tantilizing view of Erwin and the river slightly closer, but still out of reach. That water looked so nice while hiking through the hot sun. Did I mention it was hot? Because that's likely to become a theme for the summer. The sun and I are not necessarily best friends. I'm fine with cold because I can just work harder to generate heat and stay warm, but there's not much that can be done about a warm day (at least not on the trail).I finally reached the road at the bottom and immediately headed for the river, stopping to soak my feet in the blissfully cool water for a few minutes. On the way to the river I had passed a sign for a free hiker cookout put on by a local church, so I headed over to that and got a couple burgers, hot dogs, roast beef, and the sides. Lookout arrived shortly after and ate his fill before we headed to Uncle Johnny's hostel, and checked in. The bunks and cabins were full which only left tent space so we elected to tent down by the river which will hopefully be a little cooler tonight. We took a shower, did laundry, and grabbed the shuttle to Walmart where we had 25min to shop before the shuttle headed back to the hostel (and would leave you behind). I resupplied and grabbed some strawberries, bananas, and chocolate milk to snack on as well as some beer to enjoy tonight. We headed back to the hostel and stuffed ourselves with the loaded baked potatoes that an independent gear salesman had cooked to contribute to the festivities. After dinner came apple, blueberry, peach, strawberry, and cherry pies with ice cream... At this point it kinda hurt to eat more but it was sooooo good. As dinner wrapped up I lounged in the hammock hanging on the deck while a hiker grabbed a guitar and another grabbed a 5gal water cooler bottle (to use as a set of conga drums) and jammed for a while.The hostel put on a (not very popular) talent show and then the gear rep raffled off a bunch of gear. I won a Granite Gear hiker wallet, which I unfortunately already have, so I donated my prize to the hiker box and someone who actually needs it.It's pretty warm tonight, so I'm going to try to sleep in only my sleeping bag liner and hope that I don't get too hot. I've got the rainfly on my tent open, so hopefully that let's some sure through. A taste of what's to come this summer.