Miles Hiked: 5.8
Miles Left: 1843.8
Ending Location: River road, Erwin TN. Cantarroso Farms Hostel

This had to have been the earliest start we’ve had yet since once people began to stir you had no choice but to get out of bed. The hike today was mostly downhill and we were treated to a couple of scenic views of Erwin on the way there. The major industry in Erwin is that they process all the nuclear fuel for the Navy here so we had a good time trying to figure out which weird building was the breeder reactor. Oh the places you’ll see on the AT!

Uncle Johnny’s hostel was directly off the trail so we stopped there to pick up Mountain House meals for the next leg of our journey. We were staying at Cantarosso farms again but Mike was out of town and said to just walk the mile there as the cabin was unlocked. We were hesitant to do that, any town miles are wasted miles, so we joined a Young Beard and Sunshine in tying to convince the local Pizza Hut to deliver to the hostel. Luckily we were successful so each of us ordered a large pizza for lunch.

Uncle Johnny’s was an interesting place. If we hadn’t reserved a spot at the farms I would have been really temped to stay there vs walking the extra mile. At one point they received a dump truck worth of gravel and then offered work for stay to two of the hikers to shovel it and lay it out all over the walkways. It looked like a tough job and once again I was happy I had enough savings to avoid having to do things like that. While enjoying our pizza we also gossiped about one of the other hikers who had a girl, (or in the case of Erwin two girls), in every town. It’s certainly a diverse and interesting group of people who decided to hike the AT.

After procrastinating as much as possible, Owl and I eventually sucked it up and made the walk over to our cabin at the farms. Once I took a shower I laid down in my bed and was out like a light. I did wake up around 5 to grab BBQ, (Woho, a Ribs Night!), but after that I was still dragging. I actually found myself wishing for rain the next day as I badly needed more rest. Not only was my cold still hanging on, but all sorts of new muscles in my legs were sore from walking in the snow. I dislike zero days as I want to make further progress north, but they do serve a purpose.