April 21-22 wandering between NC/TN

April 21, 2005 | Day 25 | Miles 18.8 | Total Miles: 270.7
End: Alpine Motel, Hot Springs, NC
Danielle:
Sunny, hot
Well, you know how yesterday I said we were going to take our time and get into town on Friday? Well, being flexible is the name of the game out here and tahdah! here we are in town today. Our biggest day yet. How did it happen? We got out around 8:30am, and hiked steadily all day. We had heard it was supposed to rain, so we both had on our pack covers all day and they worked out great as anti-rain devices. No rain all day! Yeah. We got to the shelter 3m before town at 3:00pm. The shelter was really tiny, so we sat eating a snack and discussing our options. Pitch the tent, stay in the tiny, old shelter, or book down 3 more miles to town and hopefully outhike the rain and stay dry, plus get a bed, shower and a beer with dinner. We looked at the maps, and it didn't seem like a bad 3m so we motivated and off we went. Then right after the shelter, up we went. And up. What is this? We're supposed to be going DOWN! Many bad words were being spoken to the hills and trail designers. Ugh. But finally, the trail turned in the right direction and down we went. Into town by 4:15pm. Over 18m in a little less than 8 hours. Pretty good, right? I think so! And we got a shower, bed and good dinner with a beer. What more can you ask for after a long hike? We're happy :-)
Flora and fauna update from today: Saw a bunny, squirrel, big owl scared out of his tree as we hiked by, two little lizards, plus a HUGE 2 ft. black snake in the trail-scary! Flora-wise, irises, maroon, white and off-white trillium, yellow, white, purple and purple & white violets, wood sorrel, ferns, buttercups, yellow paintbrushes, bluets, dogwood trees, rue anemone, trout lilies and many more we can't name. The woods are blanketed with bright green plants and gorgeous flowers. Wonderful!

Ryan:
sunny, warm
well, we finally did more than 15 miles. more importantly, we each ate a pint of ben & jerry's after dinner. how else can you get 1000 calories so quickly? our plan didn't call for that many miles today, but the rumbles of thunder that started at 1:30 and the draw of town helped us through the last 3 miles. of course, the map and the guidebook said that from the shelter 3 miles out it was all downhill. but as soon as we left the shelter, we started to climb. needless to say, we were pretty grouchy and we spent the next mile or so cursing the trail, the trailmakers, the guidebook, the map, and everything else we could think of. more than a few f-bombs were dropped by our happy little band. we're looking forward to a day off tomorrow, and then back on the trail on saturday...unless the draw of hikerfest is too strong. so far, all we know about hikerfest is that it involves beer...lots of beer...


April 22, 2005 | Day 26 | Miles: 0 | Total Miles: 270.7
End: Cody House Hostel, Hot Springs, NC
Danielle:
Muggy and rainy
Ahh, a zero day. Sounds relaxing right? Ha! We split a room last night with Patch, and good god! Boy, he was a chainsaw. Ryan was literally poking him with his hiking pole in an attempt to shut him up repeatedly throughout the night. Patch was lucky I was there, or Ryan would have thrown him out at 3am. Ugh. Not much sleep for us. Oh well. Then I was up at 8am to get our stuff into the laundry (it was closed last night), went to the PO to send a box of food stuffs and such forward to Erwin, TN, our next stop (as you can tell, we really do keep switching between NC and TN for a while here), packed up our packs and headed to Elmer's, which is an old inn we had called from Standing Bear Farm for a room on Friday night. But when we got there they didn't seem to have our names down, although they said they could squeeze us into the greenhouse. Hmmmm... Literally an old greenhouse with all sorts of junk and a double bed. We figured it would be OK, but then it started to pour and hail, and the greenhouse leaked and it was super musty. I could barely breathe. My allergies are really kicking in down here. Ryan was kind of pissed that they didn't have a regular room for us when we had called in advance, and then the roof was leaking, so we decided this was not for us. So off we went. We finally ended up at this house, which has been converted into a hostel type place. But when we put down our stuff, then there was a miscommunication, as the owners through others were staying, but we were there first, etc, etc. It finally worked out and here we are. Very clean and cheap. We also went to the outfitter, and got a few odds and ends plus fuel for the stove and food to supplement our mail drop box, plus checked our email. Ah, everything accomplished. 3pm. We can finally relax for the day. We're headed to the ayce spaghetti dinner tonight which is part of the hiker fest this weekend. There are other festivities going on throughout the weekend, but we've decided that one day off is enough, so we'll be taking off tomorrow after a big breakfast at the diner. Back to the woods and "reality" for us :-)

Ryan:
cloudy, heavy rain, hail
well, we picked a good day to take a day off. it was planned, and the weather is pretty bad. plus, we're pretty tired...not a lot of sleep last night. we each ate a pint of ben & jerry's, so i think the chocolate ice cream kept us awake. finally, at about 11:30 we decided to try to sleep, but without a lot of success. because of the trailfest that's going on in town, there are a ton of hikers in town, so rooms are scarce. so, we decided to share a room with patch. patch was out a little later than us, and finally got back to the room at about 12:30, after a couple more beers than we had had. (keep in mind, that we like patch a lot.) he tried not to wake us up, but the room was littered with gear, and he tripped. he hit his mouth on something, and started bleeding. so, he had to spend a few moments in the bathroom to fix that. when he emerged, he apologized for waking us up, babbled a little, we chatted, and he nodded off. the last thing he said was "don't worry, i don't snore." within about 15 minutes it began...not just snoring, but a loud rumbling. danielle was closer, so she was able to kick his bed and get him to stop. but, everytime she kicked, the louder it got. so, we grabbed our earplugs...they couldn't stop it. then after fits and starts of sleep at about 2:15, we heard patch tossing and turning, then a crash. we're pretty sure he fell out of bed. he stumbled around for awhile trying to right himself, then he crashed into the tv and knocked over the direct tv box. after that situation was resolved, he climbed back into bed, and no more than 2 seconds later he was snoring again. more kicking...it wouldn't stop. although, he did start talking...about zippy. who's zippy? finally, at about 3:15, i grabbed my hiking pole, and beat him with it. i wanted to drag him outside and throw his tent at him, but danielle wouldn't let me. so, i laid on my back with my pole across my chest. everytime he snored, i reached across danielle and whacked him. at some point it stopped, but we're still on trail time so we were up before 8:00. as i groaned and climbed out of bed, patch asked, "what's your problem? you didn't drink that much last night."