Date: 2013-05-28
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Camp Near Beauty Spot
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: moderate rain

Day 25 - Camp Site After Beauty PointToday was FULL of trail magic! I still can't quite figure out why people are so awesome to thru-hikers, but it really is a cool phenomenon that I haven't see anywhere other than on the trail. We all (The Voice, Rabbit, Dunt and I (as a group we are now calling ourselves The Four Horsemen)) got up and left around seven, with the plan in mind of hiking 6 miles into Erwin and spending some quality time in town before heading back out.   There were some cool views of the Nolichucky (spelling?) River and of Erwin, and it was mostly downhill, so we felt great when we got to Uncle Johnny's Outfitter and Hostel at the bottom of the mountain. The first thing we did was get showered up, which is always fantastic. Then we inquired about a shuttle into town, but unfortunately it costs $10/person, and we deemed that a bit pricey. However, for $2 it's possible to rent some sweet cruiser bikes (the single speed kind with the massive handlebars which curve toward the back of the bike and the huge seat with springs) to ride into town (which is approximately 4-5 miles from downtown Erwin). Of course we elected to rent them. Our first trail magic of the day came when the guys let us take the bikes for free so we could ride into town - nice! So The Four Horsemen, looking pretty fly, cruised ourselves right into town to do some laundry an resupply before going to Huddle House for lunch. When we were eating, a woman came over and asked us if we were on some sort of adventure. We told her what we were up to and she seemed to think that was a neat thing to do. Later, when we asked for our ticket so we could pay, the waitress said the lady had already paid for it - can you believe it?? It must have been $50!   She was already gone so we couldn't thank her, but that's kind of how trail magic works most of the time.   We were super grateful, that's for sure.After lunch we went to pick up out laundry from the laundromat with the intention of putting it all into Rabbit's fairly small pack. When we weren't able to fit the laundry in the bag, and weren't sure what to do, a girl at the the place offered to drop it off at Uncle Johnny's for us - score! After getting ice cream from the store for dessert (it's become a sort of tradition) we cruised our bikes back to Uncle Johnny's so we could hit the trail.   There was a guy there who was hanging out with the actual Uncle Johnny, and who had thru-hiked in '96. He offered us a bunch of watermelon and corn on the cob, which we gladly accepted.   Then, when he learned that I lost a sock (or, at the time THOUGHT I had) while doing laundry and would have to buy a new pair, he just gave me a pair of his that he had just washed and happened to have with him! I didn't have to spend money on new socks! When we finally hit the trail, we felt like a million bucks and hammered out the rest of the hike at a really good pace. Toward the end of the hike, we crossed a big bald (called the Beauty Spot), and you could see for miles. After dinner, we went back out to the bald to be under the stars. Our evening concluded with a lesson in astronomy from The Voice, who works part time in a planetarium back in Germany. This day was great!