Date: 2013-05-20
From: Spivey Gap

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 10.7

I'm back on the trail again. Very mixed feelings, very mixed type of day. We did drive back to Erwin last night and stayed at the same motel. Mike and I, I mean, Nightingale did not come back to the trail. I don't know what her plans are for resuming her hike, but I wish her well in whatever she decides. Meanwhile, I'm hiking alone, which is ok. I actually slackpacked today, which was nice. Mike and I came to the hostel here in Erwin this morning, Uncle Johnny's, and left the bulk of my pack here. Then he drove me to Spivey Gap, which is where I left the trail last week, and I hiked the 10 miles back here to the hostel. Four days in town have left me fat and lazy, so slacking was a good option for me today. It wasn't a hard stretch of trail, no huge ups or downs. The plan now is for me to walk to Carver Gap by Friday afternoon, which is a road crossing near Banner Elk, and Mike can pick me up there on the way to the herb festival. It is about 40 miles so it shouldn't be a problem for me to be there in time. I like having a plan, an agenda. Not a strict one, just some general idea of where I'm going and when I should plan on getting there. I didn't feel much like hiking when I started this morning. I just wasn't into it, I couldn't get my trail legs under me, my stride seemed wrong. But the trail was just lovely at the start. The air was cool, the setting was just beautiful--lots of rhododendrons and a sparkling little stream that followed the trail, and occasionally broke out into little waterfalls. Even the trail was soft, like walking on gym mats. The ground was covered in a thick layer of leaves that were just slightly damp. It seemed like all of---nature? the trail?--was trying to make it easy for me to get back in the rhythm of hiking. I slowed my already normally slow pace to a crawl. I just strolled. I stopped to look at everything that interested me. No hurries. It was so quiet--I didn't see any other thru-hikers all day, and only a couple of sobo section-hikers. I had the whole day with just my thoughts. I think I needed it. Everytime I thought about the accident, which I did frequently but not obsessively, I was overcome with such fatigue, I felt like I couldn't walk one more step. My feet suddenly weighed 30 lbs. each and it was too hard to lift them. I can't explain it. The actual news is good, everyone is listed as stable now, no one is considered critical anymore. But I walked and walked, in the quiet and the peace and the beauty of nature. Eventually the trail seemed to feel it had babied me long enough, and once again became hard, rocky, rooty, and steep. But it wasn't a bad walk, and now I am here at the hostel. I've had a hot shower and my clothes are in the washer. Oh, I should mention the weather. It wasn't all that hot today, but man was it humid! So muggy. This adds a whole different level of difficulty to hiking. I sweated profusely all day long, which means I had to drink a lot of water, which means I had to keep stopping at streams to get more water and filter it. The last 6 miles of the trail today were dry, but fortunately I knew in advance about it and carried extra with me. I try not to say negative things in this journal, but I do have to say, that this hostel is dirty even by hiker hostel standards. It even has a smell. I didn't want to stay here because it's kind of ground zero for the dreaded norovirus that has made so many hikers sick, but that seems to be dying out now. I will wash my hands carefully while I am here and leave early in the morning, and hope I don't get sick!Tomorrow's hike doesn't look too bad either, but the next day I will be going up and over Unaka Mountain, 5,180 feet. I had thought I was done with all the 5,000 foot mountains, but evidently I was wrong. Sigh.