Tornado a-blowing
Wind blowing on top of Big Bald
It was a crazy day where I was determined to do big miles to get to Erwin and get out. The elevation profile indicated that the day would be mostly downhill, so after a stormy an and super windy (I almost got blown over) exciting travel over Big Bald, I rushed onwards. I was in and out of Uncle Johnny’s—package (which they couldn’t find until I looked at their list myself and found my name…oh, Uncle Johnny’s!), showered, ate a ton, repacked all in 2 hours 15 minute. The weather looked horrendous and everyone was talking tornadoes.
Blooming Apple orchard sunrise
I pushed on, and when I got to Curly Maple shelter, met Jesus and Satan who told me that the trail does nothing but go up, a tornado is coming on, and if I kept moving, I’d die. If a tornado came, I knew I’d be just as unsafe at a shelter as in my hammock, so pushed on.
Appalachian Spring
It was super windy and rainy that night, but I was chatting on the phone (since I got reception on the hills outside of Erwin, but not actually in town…grrr) way past hiker midnight. Suddenly, the totally devastating process of having to get out of the warmth of my sleeping bag to readjust my tarp in the rain and wind felt more like a minor inconvenience than a trip-ending disaster. Fixing my bathtub-turned hammock was more like letting the cat out than fixing a life ending disaster. Funny how talking to people who aren’t hiking can sometimes make the hard parts of hiking easier.
Union soldiers from Confederate states
