Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 31, Saturday, 4/16 – It was a slow morning starting from the hostel. It was raining when we woke up, and we only intended to do 13 miles today, so there was no need to hurry. A 13 mile day today would make tomorrow an 11 mile hike into Erwin where we would all resupply food and do our laundry.

Willow’s friends were still in town, so they slack packed a bunch of hikers. They drove 13 miles up trail and set up camp so the hiker’s items would be there at the end of their hike. I chose not to slack pack. My pack is fairly light and I like having my items on me.

We started hiking a bit after 10:00am. There wasn’t any rain today when we started hiking, but there were a lot of stormy looking clouds. We were hiking over 2 balds today, Big Bald and Little Bald. A bald is a mountain without any trees, so they typically offer a great panoramic view. So with the clouds, there wasn’t much hope for a good view. But, it turned out to be a really neat experience.

We hiked Big Bald first. Big Bald was high enough in elevation that it should have been in the clouds, but the weird thing was, the clouds avoided the bald. The clouds approached the bald, then went around it. It was very windy, maybe that had something to do with the bizarre cloud activity. We also ended up getting a great view after the clouds passed.

After descending Big Bald, I met Warren and Lauren between Big bald and Little Bald. They had fresh strawberries and whipped cream, fancy cheese, and Gatorades. This was such a treat. Strawberries must be in season, because they were perfectly ripe.

I hiked 13 miles to Spivey Gap, which is at mile 333. For the last mile and a half, I was just done. The hike was physically difficult so I was tired, my lower back and feet were hurting, it was an emotional day for me, and it was 7:00pm by the time I rolled into camp so I was hungry. I was still in good spirits, but for the first time on the AT, I was not excited about hiking.

I made it to camp to find that Willows friend, Slingshot, had brought pizza for all of us hikers. That really boosted my morale. I set up camp, ate 4 slices of pizza and some breadsticks, then cooked cheesy pasta noodles and dumped in a few packages of salmon. I felt a whole lot better after dinner. I was too tired to hang a bear bag or brush my teeth, so I went straight to sleep.