Date: 2005-04-29
From: Greasy Creek Gap

To: Greasy Creek Gap
Miles today: 12.6

Greasy Creek Gap12.6 miles (363.4 total miles)We got pretty soaked last night. We had a good night, staying dry inside the tent. But I found out that my pack cover is completely useless. I think all it did was provide a pool of water to leak through onto my pack. Everything that wasn't in my tent got soaked. We packed up the tent this morning when the rain had turned to drizzle. Soon everything I owned was very wet.We started up immediately over Unaka Mountain. The trail was pretty much a fast flowing stream to the top. Most of our water sources don't flow as well as the AT did this morning. We tip-toed through the Appalachian Stream as we went up. It was kind of fun that I could tell how close to the top we were as the water level dropped on the stream/trail. The top of Unaka was a cool dark forest. With the thick trees and overcast skies, it was slightly hard to see. Then the trail picked up water again as it headed back down the mountain.After Unaka, we hit a shelter where we stopped for a break. I was too cold to stop, and had to move on (which is strange, as I am usually warmer than JoAnne). The trail followed many PUDs, which warmed me up but wore away at my muscles. It was cold. I had on my shirt, fleece, and rain coat, and still felt cold hiking up the steep climbs. The rain was constant.We eventually came down to a valley, where we heard a very strange noise. We couldn't tell if it was a bird or a baby crying. But as we rounded the corner, we found a southbound hiker singing, "Bop Bop Waaaa Waaaa!" He had a huge smile on his face. I laughed at him. His name was Tapeworm. "Hey, you guys want some trail magic? I hope you like cheeseburgers". He was hiking from the road back into Erwin, and he brought cheeseburgers to give to the hikers. They were still warm. It was a great lunch, especially when it was too cold to stop for anything we had in our packs.Our lunch propelled us the last 4 cold miles to Greasy Creek Gap. From there we followed an old jeep road down about a half mile to a new hostel. We walked in and found our hosts, Packrat and CeeCee. They had a little bunkhouse, but let hikers lounge around their house. They let us use their shower, bathroom and fire place. They had a cooler full of good stuff we could buy for dinner.Many of the locals in this are do not like hiker walking throug "their woods". Our hostel owners are very friendly. However, their neighbors are not. As we walked in, two dogs chased us from behind the fence (we later heard that he trains his dogs to "go git that hiker trash!"). He has a large fence facing the hostel where we has painted "Low life trashy *** ** * *****". And he tries quite hard to be as much of a nuisance as possible. He bangs drums and runs loud machinery at an early hour. And as I write this, I can hear him yelling and howling like a dog.It was very nice to take a shower and put my clothes next to the fireplace. We warmed up a frozen pizza for dinner, and just enjoyed being dry. There is an 80% chance of rain tomorrow (compared to the 30% that soaked us today). If we are feeling ambitious, we may hike to the next shelter, just 2 miles away. After that, we are supposed to get some sunshine. I think I am done hiking in the rain.