Date: 2005-10-13
From: Erwin, TN (Carver's Gap, TN on the trail)

To: Unaka Mountain, TN
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: broken clouds

19.4 miles todayUnaka Mountain, Tn. I slept well again last night and woke up at 6am feeling rested and ready to walk. I packed up my stuff, then went out to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. I took a shower and sent in my journal entry, then went back out to the kitchen and sat down and drank some coffee while I waited on Miss Janet to get up. When she did get up, she came out and sat at the table too. We had been there talking for about half an hour when we heard someone at the door. She went and checked. I heard her talking to someone, but couldn't hear the voices real well. When they came into the kitchen, I was surprised to see Phat Chap. He takes care of the hostel in Glancliff, NH during hiker season, but I guess there aren't many hikers left that far north. He was heading for Florida for the winter, but stopped to see about fixing Miss Janet's computers. It's always great to see Phat Chap. He got busy on the computers and Miss Janet and I headed for Carver's Gap. That's where I got off the trail to go to The Gathering a little over a week ago. We had to stop for breakfast first though. :-))) After breakfast we headed on up the mountain. When we got to Carver's Gap, I got out and was getting my backpack out when Hikerhead came up and said he needed a ride to Dennis Cove Rd. We talked a short while, then I walked over to the spring. The water was flowing good. Miss Janet took Hikerhead to Kincora Hostel. I started walking at 11am...finally. It seems like it's been so long ago since I walked anywhere. My first climb was up Roan Mountain. I walked right by the shelter without stopping. It was a nice day...partly cloudy and probably about 70 degrees and leaves falling from the trees. I got to the summit of Roan High Bluff at 6150 feet high. Going down was a bit steeper. I just took it slow and kept a check on how my body was feeling. Everything was fine, but I could tell it had been too long since the last time I walked. I got to Ash Gap, then climbed up to Beartown Mountain before heading the rest of the way down to Hughs Gap. I had about a 400 foot climb from there up to Clyde Smith Shelter. I saw someone walking towards the shelter just ahead of me. When I got there, I knew the guy looked familiar. His name was Lonesome Dove. We had worked on a trail crew together early this spring. He maintains the section of trail from Hughs Gap to Greasy Creek Gap. I sat there and talked to him for about half an hour, then I signed the register and hiked on. I saw a couple deer about 2 miles after the shelter. It's good to be back out in the woods with them again. I walked by Greasy Creek Gap and saw another doe near there. I passed by Iron Mountain Gap, then climbed 700 feet up a short, but steep bump called Little Bald Knob. I walked back down to Cherry Gap and on to Cherry Gap Shelter where I decided to eat dinner. I went down to the spring first and filled up with water from a very nice piped spring. Chief had bought me a 19 ounce can of chicken noodle soup last week and I decided to carry it today for dinner. Hey Chief, thanks for not buying the 32 ounce size. :-))) Any of you that read my journal when I only had gone only a few hundred miles on this hike might remember that nobo that told me when I got 1800 miles under my belt like he had that I would start carrying more stuff. How did he know that I'd carry a whole can of chicken noodle soup with me when I had walked 1800 miles?? Hummm..... I heated up the soup and really did enjoy it. I never carry anything that heavy out here on the trail, but I had wanted chicken noodle soup for so long that I made an exception...especially since Chief dug deep in his pocket to buy it for me. I signed the register and checked to see who passed by me while I was in NH. The only 2 so far that I've seen sign in was Blaze and Trek. I packed up again and hiked on down to Low Gap. I had thought about staying there because the sun was getting pretty low, but I told Miss Janet that I'd meet her at Indian Grave Gap at 9am tomorrow morning and walk Fabian, her dog the rest of the way into Erwin, so I started climbing Unaka Mountain. I didn't plan on climbing the whole 1300 feet, but I just kept going until I got to the summit and found a very soft flat spot to set my tent on. I started getting ready to set up my tent and I heard something fall when I unrolled it. I got my light and looked and there was a pair of womens black bikini underwear...ooops. Nah, they didn't have anything to do with me. I was just around Dewdrop (LWOP) again up in NH and he must have got into my pack when I wasn't looking and stuck them in the tent stuff sack. I don't know what it is with that guy, but everytime I get around him, I end up with womens black underwear. At least this pair wasn't stretched out like the pair he wore for his summit photo on Katahdin. :-))) This is just a warning to any girls that might hike around Dewdrop....wear any color underwear except black. There are at least 2 girls that are hiking without their underwear now. :-))) It feels so good to be back in my tent and stealth tenting again and it feels good to feel like I walked some today. One more thing...I've been feeling really bad for not having mentioned Jan Liteshoe for a long time. Her and I have a friendly competition going on over who gets the most clicks on their journal. I'm feeling extra nice right now, so I'm going to mention her website just to help the poor girl out even though I'm still behind in the number of hits. So if you would go to www.trailjournals.com/liteshoe and click on her site a few times, I know she would really appreciate it. I'll worry about catching up another time. I think I'm going to go up to the library right now and click on her site a bunch of times because that's just the kind of guy I am. ;-)))