Apr 10 - Tennessee/N. Carolina

DAY #31
START LOCATION: Devils Fork Gap/Erwin, TN
FINISH LOCATION: Hog Back Ridge Shelter
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 6.0
TRIP MILEAGE: 312.9
MILES TO GO: 1,866.2

Alarm went off at 5:30AM. Yes... My alarm. I've never used it on the
hike. Its so against everything an AT thru hiker stands for. But, by
taking the 7AM shuttle back to Devils Fork Gap, I saved myself 10
bucks... Because it was a shared shuttle. What I hadn't counted on
after 85 temps on Wednesday... Frost on my tent. It was 31 degrees at
6AM... Coldest since the smokies.

James is my favorite trail shuttler by far. Perfect example why.... On
Thursday it was pouring rain. A dozen of us were sitting under the
canopy of the hostel's wood deck listening to the rain fall. The
canopy is right next to the hostel office, which is a converted house
with a small tin-roofed porch. Well, James strolled out onto the
office porch, leaned against a post and watched the rain streams fall
off the roof. The group was bored and silent. So I decided to break
the monotony and bait James into saying something goofy... His
specialty. So I say to him... "Hey James, is all this rainfall
included in the price of the hostel, or do we have to pay extra for
it?" Without missing a beat, and not taking his eyes off me, he points
upwards to the roof and says... "Its on the house!" Holy crap, we
nearly died laughing. I didn't even think of that punchline, but damn
was it perfect... Especially when he smiled and flashed the two front
teeth that weren't there.

Anyway, he scraped the frost off the windshield with a cribbage board
and dropped me off at Devils Fork Gap around 7:30AM. I walked a ways
to my first spring about a mile in and made breakfast. Gorgeous day...
Low 50s, brilliant blue sky and sunshine.

This trip didn't really break my ankle in much, but it felt ok up to
it. A hiker from Jerry Cabin Shelter caught me and I hiked with him up
the 1,800 foot ascent. His name was Bread from Martha's Vineyard. He
owns a food distributor on the island. Pretty cool. Well, chatting it
up with him took my mind off the hike and my ankle. I arrived at Hog
Back at 10:45AM and my god, my ankle had barely any discomfort. It
felt slightly stiff, but other than that, perfect. I'm so happy,
there's no words to describe.

I was tempted to move on, but decided to stick with my 6 mile
shakedown hike. So, I set up camp. Some hikers passed through for
lunch and move on but the really great visitors arrived around 1PM.
Two trail maintainers, a shelter maintainer and four trail angels
arrived. So the place got cleaned up and I had a turkey sub, an
orange, two beers, chocolate chip cookies and a root beer with my
hiker dinner. Phenomenal. They were all such great people, and great
company for what could have been a very lonely and quiet afternoon.

Reunited with Bama at The Hog. Also met some really nice hikers...
Tennessee Tom, Devo, his dog Loki an a guy from New Jersey (Brushfire
I think?) that just had to wave goodbye to his hiking partner and
recent wife as she left the trail. She was miserable out here. He was
pretty bummed out but I think we did a good job of keeping his spirits
up. Beers in the stream helped too.

Tenting tonight and have my radio playing softly. It's so relaxing..
Haven't played my AM/FM radio much. I'm listening to a classic rock/
80's/country station... It really good actually. They are having a
Beatles special weekend... The fab four broke up 40 years ago this
weekend. But right now it's Phil Collins, Sussudio. All I can think of
is American Psycho. Diggin' the tunes as I hit the hay.

Going to try 10 miles on the ankle tomorrow. Apparently I'm going to
have a brilliant view on Big Bald tomorrow.. Way up at 5,200'.
Excited for it and for my ankle to behave!

-natedog