5/3 345.5

What a stellar town day. We hiked about 7 miles to Uncle Johnny’s hostel, then got a ride into Erwin. After resupplying at Food City (where they were nice enough to give thru hikers the member discount just because) we hitchhiked to a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. Fantastic food, and thanks to Tyler, the former owner of the outfitter in town, for the ride! A chimichanga and horchata was exactly the right thing for the moment.

Hitching once more, we were immediately picked up by Lucas, a fantastic guy whom we got to know over the course of the afternoon. He came to the Steel Rail coffeeshop with us where we had a lovely conversation about life and the trail, and also encountered a table full of our trail friends. Lucas insisted on buying our coffee, and then drove us back by Food City for a couple more items (more on those later), then back to Uncle Johnny’s. Such a kind person, thank you again! This trail really introduces you to a lot of fundamentally good people.

Upon our return to Uncle Johnny’s, we took turns showering while Queen and Zeppelin played in the background, then hopped back on trail. The additional supplies we picked up on the second food city trip were part of a plan with Medic T and Teabag, and we met them (and a couple new friends, Tripwire and Lilo) at a campsite a couple miles down the trail from town and had our own little trail cookout, complete with brats and beer. Gwen had also picked up some brie and wine and enjoyed his first taste of home in a while. We shared that before the cookout, and it was absolutely lovely. Wine and cheese on trail, the luxury! After dinner, Teabag (who is English, and prides himself on the quality of his tea) made us some lovely mint tea. Someone pointed out that we shared an element of each of our home countries that night, which I thought was nice.

All in all, a perfect town day where we got some miles in and our town chores done, met some fantastic folks, and ended the day with a lovely gathering with friends in the woods.

5/4 361.4

Back on trail and cranking out the miles through some big ups and downs. Lovely warm and sunny day, which was a nice change from the chilly wind we’ve had a lot of recently. Breakfast was, alongside my usual grits and coffee, pain lait au chocolat, courtesy of Gwen and some extra buns from the night before (bread and chocolate is a common French snack, I learned). The hiking was good, and we got some nice Trail Magic a couple miles before Beauty Spot, which lived up to its name. We ate lunch there, still working on leftover hotdogs and chips from the cookout the night before.

In the afternoon we got into some lovely pine forest that was reminiscent of the Smokies!

To cap off a beautiful day of hiking, Gwen had in town yesterday made a plan to make the trail version of one of his favorite things to cook at home, pasta with goat cheese and pesto. He cooked that for both of us for dinner. It was truly excellent, and such a thoughtful thing of him to do. Definitely one of my favorite trail meals so far.

After dinner, we joined Jumanji, Medic T, Teabag, and Tuna Experience around the fire for a bit. Good fire and lovely conversation as always.

5/5 Mile 379

This morning Teabag joined Gwen and I, and it was great! Lots of conversation about music and concert experiences, cities, and life in general. Another warm and pleasant one. We started hearing rumors of excellent taco-based trail magic about 5 miles out, and they did not disappoint! News travels fast on trail. Along the way there, Aaron joined us. Something we had a little laugh over: in this group we had someone from England, France, the US, and Canada. We had all the original WWII Allies!

We stopped at the trail magic, organized by some 2022 thru hikers, and had tacos, brownies, chips, soda, and fruit to our hearts’ content. This was some of the best trail magic I’ve ever seen.

Eventually, we did finish up at the trail magic with a coffee each, and move on. We split up for a bit of solo hiking, although I ran back into Aaron eventually and we hiked together a while, talking about Canada and history and other things. The terrain once more became this amazing high spruce forest, one of my favorite biomes on trail, and one that is apparently heavily endangered in the Southern Appalachians. We eventually got to the shelter, which is actually the highest in elevation on the whole trail! I don’t typically stay in shelters, but the four of us decided we all wanted to stay in this one, partially cause it’s a cool one with a full upstairs and partially for the bragging rights. That’s actually where I am as I type this, upstairs in the highest shelter on the AT.

5/6 Mile 395.3

Did about 16 miles before 3 PM today. Two big uphills with gorgeous views most of the way; there were points where you could see a mile+ of the trail as it stretched up these huge balds, it was so impressive. I love the Roan Highlands. Gwen and I hiked with Teabag again this morning, it was lovely. He’s another person with whom the hiking conversation flows very easily, and we have shockingly similar tastes in things like movies and music. Aaron joined us for lunch among a nice rock formation just past the day’s big summit.

Again, perfect hiking weather. After the massive downhill to the road crossing and a lovely chance encounter with Rolodex’s family, we got picked up to go to the Station at 19E. What a cool hostel! We stayed upstairs, and downstairs is a bar and music hall. We showered and did our laundry, got some excellent wood fired pizza at Smokey Mountain Bakers, then came back to the Station to catch the Preston Benfield Band show. They were really, really good. I was thrilled when the guitarist brought out a vintage Gibson steel guitar for a couple amazing solos. While we were all enjoying the music, I had a big reunion with someone I haven’t seen since Georgia, Fork Man! We hiked together a lot in those first days, and like I’ve said before, it’s amazing how emotional reunions like that are out here. This trail can make you feel like you’ve known someone for years after just a few days together.