Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 32, Sunday, 4/17 – Willow, Willow’s friends (Liz and Slingshot) Sprite, Sunflower, Fabian, Eeyore, BS, Suspenders, Droplet and I all camped last night at Spivey Gap. I woke up this morning and was eating breakfast when Willow found an apple on the ground. We figured someone camping there before us had left it behind. She didn’t want it, so I ate it. Not exactly what I’d call trail magic, but I’ll take it.

I hiked 11 miles into Erwin this morning. I hiked alone for part of the day, and I hiked with Data, Blue, Sunni, Sprite, and Natural for the other part of the day. I had a great conversation with Blue. She is from France originally and was telling me all about life in Europe. There were great views of Erwin as we hiked into town. All in all we hiked 11 miles to Uncle Johnny’s which is at mile 344.

Uncle Johnny’s is a hiker hostel directly off trail in Erwin. I ran back into Genie, Splitzy, and Birthday Sandwich! They hiked ahead and stayed at Uncle Johnny’s last night. I was glad to see them. We discussed logistics; sounds like we are all planning on arriving at the same hostel in Roan on Thursday. Parkour and Jetpack are back on trail after their wedding and will still be playing some catch-up.

A few days ago, Sprite and I booked a bunkhouse for the night. When we were checking in, we found out it was double booked, so we got upgraded to a cabin with a kitchen, bathroom and living room. Not bad for $65 total. We saw Ranger Randy and Mule setting up their tents because all the interior space was taken up. Ranger Randy was not excited about camping in the rain overnight, so we invited him and Mule into the cabin. I’m glad we were able to offer them a dry place to sleep.

I found some loaner clothes, took a shower, and waited for the shuttle to take us all into town. The hostel shuttled all the hikers to the grocery store at 5:00pm. Before resupplying food, we all got dinner at Pal’s which shared the same parking lot. Pal’s is a fast food joint that didn’t have inside seating, so we all ordered at the drive through window. The food was great, it’s a step up from any of the typical fast food joints. The burger tasted the way you’d hope a fast food burger is going to taste.

Here’s Suspenders and Droplet getting their food! We all sat in the grass just next to the drive through. There were a bunch of us. We definitely got some looks from the other drivers.

I attempted to resupply food for 3.5 days, but definitely over bought again. They say you pack your fears. Running out of food must be my fear.

Before going to bed, I was complaining about my back. I described it as having the feeling that it needed to crack, but I couldn’t get it to crack. Julia offered a back massage. She walked on my back and used the rafters to support herself. This deserves a visual, here’s a photo of another hiker getting a massage.

I finished my laundry, and inflated my air mattress. Spite got the bed, Mule got the couch, and Ranger Randy and myself are sleeping on the floor.