Day 28 - Erwin, TN - Mile 340

Trevor and Finn made it to Erwin, Tennessee this afternoon.  I haven't actually talked to Trevor, but his latest Trail Angels, Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy, are picking him from Erwin around 5pm today and taking he and Finn back to their house in Johnson City for the night. 

Bob and Judy are feeding them famous Ridgewood BBQ and I know Trevor will be super excited!  This restaurant has the best BBQ I've ever tasted and their BBQ Beans are something else!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG7zPxt2DL0

Judy plans to make her killer chocolate chip cookies for dessert!  YUMMO!  Bob and Judy are the best so I know Trevor and Finn are in good hands and are having a wonderful time!

I had a chance to talk with Trevor and these are the events that happened on the trail between Hot Springs and Erwin:

On Thursday morning Trevor and Finn left Hot Springs, NC and made it about 11 miles before stopping for the night at Spring Mountain Shelter.  Trevor said the hike was mostly uphill and it was very cold and rainy that day.  In fact, Trevor said most of his hike through the Smoky’s has been wet and cold!  About halfway through the hike Trevor said the rain really started dumping which made their hike miserable.  With his rain gear on he was sweating when he was moving, but the sweat would start to freeze when he’d stop to rest; therefore, they just kept moving!  When they arrived at the shelter late that afternoon it was already full so they had to pitch their tents which Trevor said was really hard to do since he was wet and cold.  He was too cold to even cook dinner and instead ate snacks while lying in his warm, dry sleeping bag.

The next morning (Friday) Trevor awoke around 7:30 am and said he thought it looked too dark to really be that time.  When he looked outside his tent there was 1 inch of snow over everything, including his tent.  Given that the next shelter was a 15 mile hike, he and Finn figured everyone would hike to that point causing the shelter to again be overcrowded, forcing them to tent sleep again in the rain and snow.  Instead they devised a strategy to hike 21 miles to the Flint Mountain Shelter, which is 6 miles beyond where they anticipated the crowd would hike.  They arrived there around 6:30 pm and were able to make a fire and dry out their clothes for the next day.  They ended up having the entire shelter to themselves!

On Saturday they hiked 15 miles and Trevor said it was cold and extremely windy.  Around mile 12 they passed a parking lot at Sams Gap where they came upon some Trail Angels who offered them chairs, grilled hotdogs, chips and drinks!  Trevor enjoyed meeting these angels and learned that one of them had thru hiked the trail a few years back and another had done some section hiking.  It’s from this parking lot that Trevor called his Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy to let them know that he and Finn would be in Erwin the next day and asked if they would pick them up for the night.  After saying goodbye to the angels, Trevor and Finn hiked another four miles and set up their tents at a site in Low Gap.  Trevor said the campsite was perfect and was next to a stream where they could refill their water bottles.

Sunday morning it was cold (again), but by the time he hiked 4 miles to Big Bald he said it was the best trail weather thus far.  The temperatures were in the mid 70’s with only a light breeze and he was able to hike in shorts and a tee-shirt.  He and Finn hiked 21 miles that day and Trevor said it seemed so easy, mainly due to the beautiful weather conditions.  They arrived in Erwin about 5pm where Bobby picked Finn and him up and drove them about 15 miles to his house in Johnson City.

Although not initially scheduled to do so, they have decided to zero at Bob and Judy’s on Monday and resume their hike on Tuesday.  Weather forecasters are calling for severe weather late Monday afternoon which will only make the shelters overcrowded so they’d likely be forced to tent camp in the rain.  They figure they can probably get just a far with starting fresh (and dry) on Tuesday morning. 

Trevor said Mountaineer has made it home safely to West Virginia and his feet are starting to heal.  He’s not sure when Mountaineer may re-start the trail, but Trevor thinks he made the right decision to get off the trail for now.  As for Trevor, he said he’s feeling strong and has no physical complaints.  He weighed himself at Bob and Judy’s and has lost about 12 lbs since beginning his hike less than a month ago.