We woke up this morning to more rain, so we took it slow and waited to pack up camp until it stopped. After that, we hiked down towards Uncle Johnny’s Nolichucky Hostel about 10 or 11 miles to get our mail drop. It started raining on us again pretty heavily around lunch, so it made the decision to stop here for the day pretty easy.

Nolichucky river. This cliff was really sheer.

Erwin from above

We were surprised to find we had 4 boxes waiting for us…we expected 2. Lo and behold, we got many surprise bonus goodies from my Auntie Linda and our good pals Dayna and Jeff, along with the expected (but highly appreciated) boxes from the Heiser and Hnatow parents. What an awesome treat. THANK YOU!! Other hikers quickly started hovering around to see what extra goodies we might bestow upon them.

This place we are at (Uncle Johnny’s) is definitely a bit strange (we heard some bad stories about it earlier), but it’s dry and mildly clean, so whatever. We have an extremely tiny cabin for the night.  We hopped on the town shuttle and destroyed a very large amount of Italian food. Then we got to experience a total Tennessee Walmart adventure – amazing. Tomorrow it’s back to the trail. The weather looks better. We have the Roan Mountains coming up in the next few days, the last 6000+ ft. elevation we will encounter until Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Should be awesome.

Vital stats :
Mood – dry and relaxed
Physical state – good
Smell – like a shared bar of soap at a hostel
Song stuck in my head – Theme song from Deliverance