Trail Math

Saturday, April 27, 2013
Destination: Erwin  TN, Holiday Inn Starting
Location: Stealth camp on Rich Mountain
Today's Miles: 2.00 Trip Miles: 281.42

When does "eight = two"?  When counting miles on the AT!  Woke up early after a rough night sleep. Had lite rain/sprinkles last night, off and on.  I was warm and dry but the weather and hiking has had an effect on my cold.  I discovered that I had lost my voice when I started talking to myself!

I had 50 miles to go to get to Erwin so I started.  Two mile on, I stopped, made a command decision, turned 180 degrees, and started hiking south back down the mountain.  There was no way I was going to make it fifty miles the way I was feeling.  Five miles  down the mountain that I had just climbed to the hostel that I had missed yesterday to get a shuttle to Erwin in case I need medical attention again.

I had to wait several hours for the shuttle driver to get back but that gave me time to get a sandwich for lunch and get some rest. I the mean time three other hikers arrived, two of them I knew, looking to shuttle to Erwin and now I only had to pay $22 instead of the full cost of $66 for the run.  Nema, who I have not seen since Neel Gap, came in a little later.  She had been delayed in Hiawassee with a cold that she most likely caught  from me.

We made it Uncle Johnny's Hostel but there was only tent space available and I was not interested in tenting in the rain with this reoccurring cold.  So Alaska, Ducky, and I walked a mile down the road to Holiday Inn Express and share a suite with one bed, a sofa sleeper, and a roll in. I got the roll in, sat on it and thought I was going to hit the floor, but, it was warm an dry.


 "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost" -J.R.R. Tolkien