Date: 2006-04-19
From: Erwin, TN-Ms. Janet's House

To: Beauty Spot
Miles today: 10.6

NOLICHUCKY RIVER TO CURLY MAPLE GAP SHELTER, AND THEN ON TO BEAUTY SPOT.10.6 Miles. 9 Pieces Trash.Woke up to rainy morning which seemed to never end, and it wasn't until 4:30 that Slick B, 42, T. Snake and I got dropped off by Janet at the Nolichucky River. After saying our goodbyes to Janet, the four of us ran over inside Uncle Johnny's Hostel courtyard for a moment. T. Snake wanted to check on Cool Hand and Tecumseh and see if they were going to be staying another night. Tecumseh had come down with a nasty stomach flu which had suddenly found itself weaving its way in and out of hikers. The flu had also taken hold of Catch-up, Bud, Mule, Super-Size, and a few others I hadn't met yet. While waiting on T. Snake, the three of us met 10-Speed, Ork & Bean, and Mountain-Dooer, and were immediately offered cans of Budweiser which we accepted. We drank and talked for a few minutes and when it was time to leave, 10-Speed handed us all another one for the road...which we accepted.Having just spent nearly two full days lazing it up at Janet's we all found it tough to get motivated (the beer probably didn't help either), and by the time I felt I was starting to find a rhythm again, we were stopping for the night at Curly Maple Gap Shelter, only 4.2 miles in.I really wanted to continue on but it was getting late in the day and the next shelter was about 12 miles away, so the plan was to get a lot of mileage done on the following day.At the shelter we were joined by Groovy, a previous thru-hiker who was now working on a section-hike, Dylan and Becca, Andy Dufresne (got his name from the Shawshank Redemption), another section-hiker named Kurt, and the four of us. I read a short story during dinner and it wasn't long before everybody started winding down. Hiker midnight was coming on early. Kurt, a man in his upper 40s, had just had his first day hiking since the previous year and was passed out in a number of minutes. And moments after that the snores began."Oh man," I heard myself saying."That's exactly why I sleep in my tent," T. Snake joked. Snoring Kurt, Andy Dufresne, 42, and I were the only people staying in the shelter that evening. Everyone else had smartly pitched tents. "I need to get some ear-plugs," I replied."I always send myself extra," 42 informed me. "If we're still hiking together when we get to Damascus, I'll give you some.""Cool."Eventually everybody else ventured off to sleep and it was just 42 and I sitting in front of the fire with what sounded like a chainsaw ripping apart steel behind us. Dufresne had somehow managed to fall asleep already."I don't know about this..." I said, shaking my head. "I'm not even tired.""Night-hike?" 42 suggested."Yeah--let's do it."Within 15 minutes Slick B. had taken down his tent and the three of us were hiking off into the darkness, wearing headlamps, examining salamanders, and trying to remember and make up as many song lyrics as we could. After all, the night was still young.Thru-Hiker's version of "Cheers" themesong:"Makin' your way on the trail today Takes everything you've got,Thru-hikin' all the way to MaineSure could hurt a lot.Wouldn't you like to get away?Sometimes you wanna goWhere everybody has trail-names, (bum bum bum)And the trail-town's glad you came.You wanna go where blisters grow,And meals are all the same.You wanna go Where everybody has trail name (da da da duh duh)"                        --alternative lyrics by 42 and Sanford