day 24, Erwin, TN (Uncle Johnny's)

Start:  No Business Knob Shelter
End:  Erwin, TN (Uncle Johnny's)
Miles:  6.3 today, 338.7 total

A nice easy six miles into Erwin today. Came down off the mountain and stopped at Uncle Johnny's, a pretty neat hostel. Got here around 10:00am, an hour after Ganj (Jason) got in. So we took it easy today. A lot of people showed up, met a lot, too. Big Toe and Q-tip were out slackpacking all day, doing 30 miles from Carvers Gap south to Uncle Johnny's. So I met them when they got in (which was close to dark), but didn't talk to them much. I met Mission Man and D-Con. Mission Man reminds me of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith without the huge lips. D-Con is so named because he tries to rid all shelters of mice (at least the ones he sleeps in). Apparently he had a bad incident at the Blue Mountain Shelter back in GA, where mice were crawling all over him, sniffing his ears, etc. So he flipped and has been on a killing spree since then.

Laura and Robin also showed up later in the day. Laura came by car because she hurt her knee back near Sam's Gap I think. It seems like she hitches rides more than she hikes. Robin hiked 27 miles to Uncle Johnny's, pack and all. Laura says it was to see Jason again. And now, it looks like it worked because Jason and Robin are doing the snuggle thing. Oh boy.