Oct 13, 2013

The mornings have been cold and misty. Sometimes it bunns off by noon but not for long. Imams the dash for Uncle Johnny's hostel just off the trail in Erwin. There's a fairly complete resupply store, they did not have dental floss, a dozen or so bunk house and a few scattered cabins around a central bAth house. It was rumored that during the "season" March, April, May, a nasty virus came out of here. It was sod of clean… I asked for a sheet and the fellow looked at me like I just fell off the moon and a plained to me that it was a hostel… So I slept in my stinky sleeping bag on a nasty mattress. Oh well. And he place must be 10 miles from anything that looked like a town. And although the sign said free shuttle to town apparently that's only during the "season" . I was just about to have a pizza delivered when Sargent Sunrise entered. She had been hiking with a couple of fellows who were content to sit at that last shelter about 5 miles back up the trail for the night. I had waved to them when I stormed through around 2:00 intent on getting to the hostel. SS's intent was much the same as she was not going to sit around the shelter for hours twiddling her thumbs. She pushed on to the hostel and left the gentlemen to their shelter. Fortunately for me she had a car. She took me into the coin laundry, waited around, took me to the food lion for my resupply ( I was thinking I didn't needed to spend any more money at UJ's than I had to) anyway she stepped me all over town and we told stories of our families and hikes. After I finally picked up my laundry we went to the Mexican joint she had been trying to get to for supper all along. I didn't have to order pizza! And her moniker Sargent Sunrise comes from the fact that she is a little bossy and likes to get up early. Next morning about 6 am I opened the bunkhouse door and there was a note that I could go find her if I wanted to go into Huddles for breakfast. You bet!
Pisgah National Forest, Burnsville, NC, United States

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