Date: 2004-04-05
From: Erwin, TN

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: clear sky

I finally got to escape from that black hole called Erwin. It was a difficult escape but I finally made it at sun down. I had to say it was rather fun. The plan was to leave mid day and hike to the next shelter. Wicket was going to drive us out to the trail after dropping off Mull, Rodada, Crash & Burn south of Erwin. I was going to take the ride with them to help navigate the way to the trail. Yeah me as a navigater might have been our first mistake. After we took the Long way around we finally dropped off Mull & Rodada in Devil Fork Gap. Now all we had left was Crash & Burn. So their story is this... Crash Test Dummy is heading south bound from Canada. He has been out on the trail since July 4th. Burn is heading North bound. They both got along so well that Burn decided to hike south to Hot Springs with Crash. It all goes along with my idea with people's trail names fitting together. Crash & Burn is a perfect match and a lot of fun to be around.Our plan was to hit the trail but fate had other plans for all of us that day. We seemed to head the car right towards Hot Springs instead Of Sam's Gap where Crash & Burn were starting at. I started to stress at this point. I had Eats, Mouse Trap & Dharma waiting for me at Miss Janet's to start hiking. And I'm on my way to Hot Springs this couldn't be good. Then someone mentioned a Pub! Yup that was it! So I finally got to call back to the hostel and tell everyone to leave without me. I would night hike and catch up before morning. Yeah night hike by myself after Yuengling. YES they did have Yuengling on tap! Eats stayed behind so he could night hike with me. He knows how much I do not like walking in the dark alone. Isn't that sweet of him. I finally got back to the hostel and just about sunset we started our hike. Eats couldn't find his headlamp so we went by only the moonlight. It was pretty cool since only the snow on the trail melted. We had a prefect path to follow. When the moon finally rose over the mountains it was like the daylight without the glare. We were able to move at 2mph even with our breaks. It wasn't cold and the trail was easy, everything was perfect. We made it to the shelter just at 11:00. It was full and everyone was asleep. We just threw down a tarp and slept in the snow under the stars. It was GREAT! We woke up to everyone taking our picture. I was just happy it didn't rain or snow during the night. We waited until everyone left the shelter and then we got back into our bags and made breakfast. Eats didn't feel well so he went back to sleep. I finally pushed on the Over Mountain Shelter about 12:30. The climb of Roan was fun in the slush and snow. But once I was over that I had to cross the balds. The snow was still deep in sections. My feet quickly got soaked with the river of melted snow running down the trail. I loved it there was blue skies and warmer weather. It was a great day to walk ontop of a bald mountain top. I think I got a good sunburn during my walk. I got into camp around 6:00. A lot of people took the wrong trail that afternoon and got into camp just before me. It was cool to have so many people at this shelter. Over Mountain shelter is a huge barn in a beautiful valley. The view is amazing just don't sleep up stairs if it's windy. You'll feel that barn sway in the wind all night. Eats never did make it into camp that night. I found out later that he got up late in the day and hike up Roan Mtn. to stay at the highest shelter on the A.T. I also found out that he hiked up the mountain as he would say "bucked Naked". That must have been cold. Another crazy day on the trail.