Appalachian Trail - Day 023 - Whistling Gap to Erwin

Day: 023

Date: Wednesday, 17 May 2023

Start:  Approaching Whistling Gap (AT Mile 329.6)

Finish:  Erwin (AT Mile 344.3)

Daily Kilometres:  24.4

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  582.9

Weather:  Lots of rain overnight then fog and drizzle early, then overcast, then sunny and warm in the afternoon

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Eggs, hash browns & beef mince.

  Lunch:  Pop tarts

  Dinner:  

Aches:  Dave - nothing serious; Julie - feet restored to good order.

Highlight:  After we had been walking for a couple of hours on a very damp and dreary morning, we were getting ready for our breakfast break when we crossed a minor road and were hailed by people at a van and gazebo just up the road asking whether we would like some breakfast.  Trail angels!  A couple of ex-thru-hikers had set themselves up to provide a treat to thru-hikers coming by.  They had camped in the same location and provided food to a couple of other thru-hikers camped nearby last night as well.  We readily accepted the offer of breakfast (and a Diet Coke) and sat in the gazebo eating it and chatting to a couple of other thru-hikers and to the trail angels.  A very welcome surprise!

Lowlight:  Waking at 5:30am to hear it still raining after it had seemed to rain all night and, when it wasn’t raining, was dripping from the trees overhead.  We resolved to pack up as much as we could inside the tent and then hastily left the tent and took it down as fast as we could and stowed it all away.  Inevitably, the tent inner got wet during the process and the flysheet and ground sheet were sopping.  We are lucky we are staying in a motel tonight and have a room big enough to dry things out.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 5:30am after a rainy night and packed up in the wet (see above).  When we started hiking soon after 6:30am, it was hard to know whether it was still raining or just water dripping from the trees.  It was misty, dark and eerie as we moved through the woods with Julie a ghostly figure weaving between the trees on the trail up ahead of Dave.

It remained like this for the first couple of hours and was time for our breakfast break when we happened on our first “trail magic” during our hike (see above).  While eating our “magic” breakfast, we chatted to other thru-hikers there, a father and daughter (about 11yo) whose trail names were “Bacon” and “Eggs”, and “Flash” around 30yo.  Bacon and Eggs were obviously assessing whether they should continue on the AT,  Bacon was finding it hard and having already done 300 miles of tough hiking, was wondering whether he could face nearly 2,000 more.  He wondered whether he would miss out on something by not finishing, but doubted his ability and mental strength.  It reminded me of Bill Bryson’s realisation that he could not complete the AT when he looked at a four-foot long map of the trail at a store on his day off in Gatlinburg and realised he had only completed the bottom two inches and it had taken so much effort.  I think every thru-hiker has doubts early on whether they can make it, and even completing 300 miles of the trail is a tremendous feat.

Flash, the other thru-hiker was also finding it tough.  The “trail angels” offered to take all of our packs to Erwin, 11 miles away, so that we could “slackpack” (hike without packs) to Erwin and we discussed whether this was “cheating”.  We know that many thru-hikers do this to save effort and perhaps Dave was a little too quick to say it was cheating.  Later, just before we reached Erwin, Flash caught us up.  He wasn’t carrying his pack.

After breakfast the trail climbed again, but not for too long and much of the remainder of the day was on undulating trail, often following the contour lines on steep sided valleys through tunnels of rhododendron.  The weather slowly improved and by our lunch stop at a deserted shelter it was sunny, though on the trail we always seemed to be in the shade, which made for cooler hiking.

There was a long final descent into Erwin accompanied by growing noise from the freeway below, but also some fine views over Erwin and along the Nolichucky River.

We reached the outskirts of Erwin around 3:30pm and began the process of trying to organise a ride to our motel five miles away through Uber or Lyft.  While doing this, “Miss Janet”, an ex-thru-hiker, appeared in her shuttle van adorned with all kinds of Appalachian Trail messages and offered us a lift to our motel along with another hiker she already had in the van.  We accepted and had a good chat on the drive to our motel.  Miss Janet, like, it seems, most of the of the thru-hikers we have met in the last few days, are heading to the “Trail Days Festival” at Damascus in Virginia, 125 miles further along the trail, this coming weekend.  Many thousands will be in attendance, but not us, and Miss Janet is shuttling a number of hikers there.

When we did get to our motel, we met “Kermit” a young thru-hiker we had met back early in the Smokeys about ten days ago and seen a couple of times since.  We were pretty sure he was behind us, so were surprised to see him here.  He explained that one of his friends was ill and they had arranged to be picked up back on the trail and driven to Erwin.  They are now getting a ride onto Damascus for Trail Days.  I suspect he will not be returning to the point where he left the AT, but will probably resume his hike from Damascus.

These stories - of Bacon & Eggs, Flash and Kermit - give a good sampling of the thru-hikers on the trail.  The saying goes that everybody does their own hike and thru-hikers should avoid being judgmental.  For Julie and Dave, “our” hike is walking every step of the way and it seems it will be quiet on the trali for the next four or five days while everybody else is in Damascus.

Since checking in at our motel we have erected the tent and had the fan going full blast in attempt to dry all of our wet gear.  It is working and everything will be dry by the time we leave on Friday after our “zero” (day off) tomorrow.  We have done our laundry and walked to a nearby fast food joint for dinner and supermarket for some snacks and drinks.  Looking forward to resting up tomorrow.