Date: 2018-09-20
From: Elk River campsite

To: Roan Mt, TN
Miles today: 6.1

Well, I officially have an end date (or ¢summit day¢) for my hike: Oct 26th. Nothing really went as planned today, but not in a bad way, if anything for the better! Started my day with a 6 mile hike down trail into Roan Mt, TN. I got into town around 10:30am. The road leading into town was like a busy highway, so I stood there for awhile waiting to get picked up but cars were going really fast. Eventually, this old guy going the opposite direction (red flag) stops on the other side of the highway and hollers at me. I couldn¢t hear what he asked saying, so I ran across the road. He was trying to tell me that he¢d give me a ride into town if I bought him a gas. So I¢m thinking, it¢s like a 3 mile drive. How much gas are we talking?? He said 2-3 dollars, so I was like fine - whatever. But then I get in the car with him and he starts yapping about being a broke, disabled vet and then says 4-5$ in gas would be nice. And then he asks me if I know my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I¢m like ya, I¢ve heard of the guy. To which he responds, ¢You know what the Bible says about tattoos? Your body is supposed to be God¢s temple and should be treated as such.¢ I just about opened the car door and took a mouth full of pavement because that would have been less painful than listening to this guy talk. All I wanted was a quick an easy 3 mile ride into town, but I got suckered by this guy for my money AND preached to the whole way there. I put $5 of gas in his car and then had him drop me at the post office. He told me that he¢d give me a ride out of town later if he saw me walking along the road. I told him no thanks. Lol Apparently, this guy has a reputation for leaching off of hikers all summer long. He drives back and forth on the highway near the trailhead, waiting for hikers to pop out of the woods. Then, he hits them up for money during the ride. It¢s a whole freaking system and I got GOT. Damn it.. LolEventually, I walked down the street to the nearest restaurant for an early lunch. It¢s a Mexican food place and I convinced them to make me veggie fajitas without the cheese. Yay. While I was eating, I called my dad to try and work out the logistics for the end of my hike. My dad bought a super fancy RV not too long ago, and so it¢s kinda always been planned that he¢d road trip up to Georgia from Texas and pick me up at the Southern Terminus. However, because of a family reunion and other things happening mid-October, he either has to pick me up on Oct 14th or Oct 26th. And lately, it kinda looked like I¢d be finishing on the 18th. Lol So I had to decide if I was gonna speed up or slow down, and well I decided to slowwwww down. So, Oct 26th it is! It feels really crazy having an end date for all this now. But with the extra time, I¢ll really be in no rush to the finish line. I did the math and I can either take like an extra 10 zero days or keep an 11 mile a day average. So all that aggressive momentum I¢ve been riding on for the past week just went straight out the window. Lol Nothing bad about having more time, but it¢ll likely mean I¢ll be spending more money. Lol Most people get more frugal towards then end of their hike and lately I¢ve been doing quite the opposite. I¢m not really at risk of running out of funds or anything though, so I guess it is what it is. But I¢d like to take this time to tell people that even though I have lived a very privileged life, I worked two jobs really hard for a little over a year so that I could save up enough funds to do something like this. At the time I didn¢t really know it¢d be the AT, but I knew it¢d be big and expensive. So yes, I paid for all my gear and have been living off my personal savings this entire trip. I take a lot of pride in financial independence and the fact that I can willingly support myself without a job for half a year is a big deal to me. There¢s not many things in my life that I can say I earned and completed all on my own. College education is definitely not one, but this is and I think that¢s pretty rad. So the original plan after eating lunch in town was to head back to the trail, but after the phone conversation with my dad and setting the finish date I wasn¢t in much of a hurry. While leaving the restaurant, I was spotted by this guy named David who owns The Station hostel in town. We started chatting and well, before I knew it I was headed back to the hostel for the day. I cant say I needed much convincing. I was an easy sell and his timing was opportunistic. LolI could tell though why he was out and about hunting for hikers because when I got there I was his only guest. It¢s definitely slow season for hostels in the south right now. The Station is pretty cool though. It¢s barely a year old. It¢s motto is ¢built by hikers for hikers.¢ Lol And it really was. David got a lot of NoBos involved in the construction process last year, having them do work-for-stays and such. It¢s a two-story building. The bottom floor is a bar/brewery and music hall, which is pretty sweet. And the top floor is the bunkhouse with a kitchen and lots of bunks. There¢s sharpies on the coffee table when you walk in, so you can graffiti the walls and beams on the bed. There¢s even donated bottles of Bath & Body Works lotions and perfumes in the women¢s restroom. I feel like such a lady right now. Lol With the open bar downstairs, I can only imagine what this place is like when the NoBo bubble comes through. The top two things that bring hikers into town is food and beer and David has it all.There¢s two other ¢hikers¢ staying here tonight, but they¢re not really paying guests. Older guy named Crazy Wolf was hiking the AT last year, but then he stopped at this place during his trip and soon became a paid employee. So he stayed and has been living that trail life ever since. He drove me to a BBQ place in town that serves the ¢Impossible Burger¢, which is this super legit veggie burger patty that¢s pretty new on the market and super good. So I was excited. Crazy Wolf was a crazy, interesting dude. He used to work for the government doing espionage work as a bar tender in South America. Then, he worked in the medical field doing trauma care. Then, he became a super involved anti-nuclear activist doing hunger strikes outside the Whitehouse and occasionally under investigation by the FBI. And now, he just works at a hostel on the AT. This guy could just be full of shit, but listening to him talk was cool nonetheless. LolThe other guy here is named Poncho. He¢s 37 and has been staying here a couple nights doing WFS. Poncho is an interesting one. He¢s one of those people who decides they¢re gonna go hike on the AT and then just walks out their front door onto the trail with zero knowledge of what they¢re doing, where they¢re going, or what they¢ll need. On day one he was hiking in blue jeans and cowboy boots, carrying two trash bags full of stuff down the trail. Lol He¢s doing what¢s called a slingshot. He started in Hampton, TN at mile 420 (I know, classy). Then he hiked south to Springer Mt in Georgia, turned around, hiked back up to Roan Mt, and plans to keep going north all the way to Katadhin. Ya, crazy. And he lives on trail, obviously. Lol People out here are the best entertainment.