One month complete! 341.5 miles, 15.6%. 26 hiking days, 4 zero days. Of course, it was a wet and rainy day just like day one was a month ago. It started raining around midnight but stopped for most of the night. When I woke up and popped my head out of the tent around 6:45 Sir Stooge and Rusty were already gone. I tried to take advantage of the current lack of rain, packed quickly, ate quickly, and started off. Strider seemed to still be asleep.
I had been thinking about how I kind of missed Georgia, at least the weather – cooler temperatures, with more clouds and fog. Today provided all of that and it was pretty refreshing. The rain started about halfway through the 14 mile descent into Erwin. It started slowly and gradually picked up, eventually becoming an all out downpour just as I reached town. I was completely soaked, it was too warm for a rain jacket, but it felt amazing after days of hot, humid hiking. I came across two turtles along the wet trails, black with orange lines in their shells and good sized – about the size of two clinched fists. There was a spot on the way into town with good views of the river, valley, and town below; low clouds lingered in the mountains.
As usual I had pretty bad luck in town. The one hostel that’s actually on the trail only had space in the bunkhouse again, cabins were full; and it’s Sunday so most of the things in town are closed. They did provide us a shuttle to a nearby Wal-Mart with neighboring Mexican restaurant. Talked about it yesterday, and it turned out to be the only option tonight. Sir Stooge, Jupiter, Strider and I all at there and got a few things at Wal-Mart including a pint of Ben and Jerry’s each for dessert and some Krispy Kremes for breakfast.
I got my first maildrop from home here at Uncle Johny’s Hostel – lots of awesome jerky, chex mix, smaller & lighter sleeping bag, etc. I have three pairs of shoes here to tonight, and after trying out the ones I ordered from REI, I was instantly in love. Feels like walking on pillows after the boots and each foot is about a pound and a half lighter. I had started getting another new blister low on the outside of my left heel, it was making it hard to step heel first again in the boots. In the new shoes I could stand with my full weight on that heel alone and felt fine. Hopefully after a month I’m finally set on shoes, especially looking at the next few days. The plan is to do 17 miles tomorrow and 15.6 the next, both with over 5000 feet of climbing. May be the toughest two day combo yet but after that the trail levels off significantly.