Yes, we hiked 22 miles for a soda pop...

  Jorge Munoz 300 Miles Photo! Loon Phone Lasso-ing Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James Crazy Ridgeline Hike

(Pictures updated at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010)

Hey everyone!  We are alive and well and in Erwin, TN enjoying a day off to rest our tired feet.  We arrived in town very late the other night, hiking a few miles in the dark to get down the mountain and into our hotel.  I think my favorite part was walking down the road to the hotel for a mile while calling pizza place after pizza place to find one that would deliver to us.  When they asked what room we were in I said I had no idea because I was walking down the road... but that we would be there when they got there!  Yes, we were driven by a cool, refreshing soda pop that day, and boy did it taste good.
 
Its been several days since we've last blogged.  Our telephone service has been terrible and there has been no internet access for the last seven days of hiking.  To catch you up:
 
We finally kicked ourselves out of Hot Springs at noontime and still managed to make it to Hemlock Hollow Farm 17 miles up the trail.  Along the way we stopped at a pond and met a trail maintainer, the weed-wacker carrying Jorge Munoz, who had "adopted" a cemetery on the mountain.  He said he was hiking and stumbled upon it one day, so now it is his honor to maintain it when he could.  Hiking this day was sweaty, hot and bug-filled.  It was by far the most bug-infested day of the entire trip, which makes sense because I had accidentally mailed off Matt's super-bug spray in our bounce box.  Nice.  I fell down at LEAST 5 times too, which was a little ridiculous.  One time my trekking pole got stuck in a rock and when it jerked me back I almost fell off of the mountain!  Good thing I hike slow and Jeff was right behind me -- he grabbed my pack and pulled me back from certain death.  Who knows what would have happened!?!  Yikes!  Hemlock Hollow was a pretty nice place with a cute little cabin by a creek.  The weather reports were predicting wild storms, so we decided to do our first "slackpack" for 18 miles from Devils Fork Gap back to Hemlock Hollow for the night.  Slackpacking is the act of hiking with minimal gear, and it is awesome.  I carried no pack at all (which makes me just a slacker), and Jeff carried one with food and water for the day.  We hiked SOUTH, so we passed many of our new friends who were continuing north past us.  Snowman & Escargot cursed us for slackpacking, while Loon & East Wind said it was great.  They told us Madness & Mayhem had gotten off the trail due to a knee injury for Madness -- hope he gets better soon.  East Wind also mentioned that another hiker, Country Gold, was held up at the next shelter exhausted after running out of food.  Jeff & I made it our mission to make it to the shelter and give Country Gold a couple Snickers bars that we had planned to eat during our slack.  He was really thankful, which felt great!  When we reached Big Butt Mountain, our 300 MILE MARK, we met local hikers Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James.  One of the men asked Melissa if she had her cell phone and as she pulled it out of her pocket, she dropped it, and it bounced directly down a 5 foot deep crevasse in the rocks we were sitting on.  Good thing our slackpack contained the magical ingredient... hot pink duct tape.  With the help of a trekking pole and a duct tap "lasso," Jeff managed to fish it out and Melissa was thrilled!  We were too!  After that, we practically flew over the rest of the mountains and actually jogged the last 3.5 miles down the hill in approximately 48 minutes.  The best part about jogging in the wrong direction past people who KNOW you are thru-hiking is the confused look on their faces when they see you doing it.  :0) 
 
The next day Mr. Kinsey (owner of Hemlock Hollow) drove us back up to Devils Fork Gap and we started back up the trail.  Mr. Kinsey was in the Army in the 1960s over in Germany.  He was stationed outside of Munich as a welder and used to get his acetylene from a place right next to Dachau.  He said he lucked out going to Germany though because the barracks next to his got sent to Vietnam.  Crazy.  Deets, Powerpack & Slow-Go passed us on the trail right away, and we leapfrogged with them for the next few days.  We all ended up camping at Low Gap and it rained alllllllll night.
 
The next morning we woke up fairly early, but the rain was still coming down so we waited it out.  Around 10am we made a break for it and surprisingly it didn't rain on us the rest of the day!  Like normal, everyone we had camped with was already gone when we finally emerged... starting to see a trend here.  We crossed Big Bald Mountain, known for great 360-degree views, first thing that morning.  It was foggy and visibility was very low... reminds me of the time Mom, James, Jani & I visited the Cliffs of Moher and all we saw was FOG!  We hiked hard all day, reaching No Business Knob Shelter at 7pm.  Now, the problem with shelters like this one is that they are so close to town.  We always PLAN to hike to shelters like those, stay there, and then have a short hike into town the next day.  A short hiking day is called a "near-o," but I guess Jeff & I just like our "zero" days more.  Knowing No Business Knob shelter was just 6 miles from town, and a nice cold soda pop, we headed into town and didn't look back. 
 
We are glad to be at the hotel and have enjoyed doing laundry, relaxing while watching "Billy the Exterminator" (???), and soaking in the A/C.  Back to work tomorrow!!!  Last night we had a nice chat with Loon, one of four people slackpacking to Maine with van support by Bayou.  Turns out Loon has hiked the AT 5 or 6 times, the PCT 2 times, the CDT and many other trails.  He organized this van-supported slackpack and calls it a "Geezer Hike."  LOL.  He says he's 70 and we found out that he is a Dr. of Natural Resources and was a Professor in the past.  If you want to learn more about him, check out www.ratherbhiking.com/hikes/geezers/  I think Jeff & I both want to join their Geezer Hike... he and East Wind have great personalities, great stories, know a ton about the trail, and we love to chat with them.  We just hope we can catch up to them again on the trail!!!
 
Well, I think that's it for now.  We hope we have better cell service this next stretch of trail.  Hope to be in Damascus, VIRGINIA, by next Friday!!! 
 
~Styx & Bones~
 
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