Beauty Spot to Erwin, Southbound

May 19, 2013
10.6 miles
7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Raining again.  We stuffed our wet stuff into our backpacks and left the campsite by 7:00 a.m.  It was very foggy as we crossed over another knob that could very easily have been Beauty Spot.  We never were sure exactly where Beauty Spot was, several places in this area could have been labeled that. 

We met a young man on the trail who was visibly upset and was crying about something.  He muttered something about Damascus and I said yes, we were headed to Damascus.  He told us that there had been a tragic event at Field Days in Damascus.  An elderly man in an old Cadillac plowed into the parade and struck several people. He knew some of the people and he had to keep going, and with that he hurried on down the trail. ( http://bigstory.ap.org/article/witnesses-car-strikes-crowd-va-parade) We had not heard any news out here on the trail, so we didn’t know anything about this incident. 

We came to Curley Maple Shelter and had trouble determining where the trail went from there.  There were several paths leading away from the shelter, as usual.  One usually went to water, one to the privy, or in this case - there being no privy – to the toilet area.  We went on down one of the trails and finally found a white blaze.

Curley Maple Shelter

Sitting beside the beautiful creek.

From here there was about 4 miles of leisurely walking beside a creek.  Aw – nice!  We met a couple of men coming to meet us going north who said we would coast into Erwin the rest of the way.  Well - it didn’t quite turn out that way because there was the dreaded one last UP before we got to the railroad tracks.  We also met Harry for the first time coming out of Erwin going north.  He spoke in broken English and asked us how far to the shelter.  We told him but I’m not sure he understood.  More about Harry later; we saw him many times on the trail after today. 

Lots of bridges like this in this area.

On the final descent, Wait-up took his boot off to check why his feet were hurting so bad.  Look at the picture and you can see why.   The wet boots, socks, and feet for the last couple of days lead to some blisters for both of us.  The first time we have had this problem. 

Oops, blisters!

After the final climb up and down, we crossed the railroad tracks and then the bridge going over the Nolichucky River and this time approached Uncle Johnny’s hostel from the north. Got there at 1:00 – always a welcome event to finish early in the day and have time to rest up.  Plus, it gives us time to move on up the highway and find a place to stay and leave our car.  This time we drove up to Roan Mountain Road where we had a semi-private room in the hostel of Mountain Harbour.  Good thing we called ahead, space was at a premium every night there.

Crossing the railroad tracks before coming back into Erwn.

The trail crosses the Nolichucky River bridge.

The Nolichucky River.

Spivey Gap to Erwin, northbound

May 17, 2013
11.2 miles
7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The benefit of camping in the woods vs. staying at a hostel is the early start in the morning.  We were on the trail by 7:00 a.m. and had a mostly downhill walk.  I say “mostly downhill” because I have learned never to say “downhill all the way.”  There is no way it can happen in the mountains.  But today was relatively easy and mostly downhill back to the Nolichucky River in Erwin where we had parked our car. 

No Business Knob Shelter

 

We passed No Business Knob Shelter and saw our first Mountain Laurels in bloom. 

We heard the train in Erwin long before we got there.  The view of the river below us and the train track running across it was a beautiful sight, so I took lots of pictures of it.  It’s funny that you can see what is below you a LONG time before you get there.

A look at the Erwin train track going over the river.

The weather got warmer the lower we descended until we were sweating pretty good by the time we got there.  A nice cold Pepsi from the machine was a welcome treat.

There was a train on the track, it seems to run quite often.

We went to the Holiday Inn Express and checked in for the night before heading out to eat at The Farmer’s Daughter restaurant south of Erwin.  Aww – the most food we have eaten in a long time, family style service.  Awesome! 

The sign where the trail crosses the highway at the Nolichucky River.



Zero Day in Knoxville and Erwin

May 15, 2013
Knoxville and Erwin, TN
0 miles

We woke up in a regular bed and boy did it feel good to get a good night’s sleep.  We rested most of the day and in the afternoon prepared to leave to go on up to Erwin for our next section.  We booked a private cabin at Uncle Johnny’s Hostel in Erwin.  It looked good on the internet and seemed to be popular with other hikers from what we had read.  We arrived in Erwin around 4:00 and found River Road and Uncle Johnny’s.  Obviously, from the number of hikers there, it is as popular as it appeared to be.  However, we were somewhat disappointed in the cabin we were in.  The sheets on the bed were paper-thin and the bed was pretty rickety.  We put our sleeping bags on the bed to sleep on and stuffed the pillows in our sleeping bag sack.  There were a lot of spider webs in the room too. We were beginning to wish that we had pitched our tent instead.  Uncle Johnny was really nice though and they did provide us with good shuttle service for the next several days. 

Uncle Johnny's hostel in Erwn, TN

The AT crosses over this bridge in Erwin, right in front of Uncle Johnny's

Our cabin at Uncle Johnny's, not our tent.

The bathhouse at Uncle Johnny's

The bed in our cabin.

The lawn and picnic table in front of our cabin.

Uncle Johnny inside his store.