Day 25 April 20

This morning was an especially hard morning. I woke to find all of my gear frozen solid. Unmotivated to make a warm breakfast I ate two protein bars and slid back down into the warmth of my sleeping bag contemplating the previous day. Yesterday we woke to very dark skies. Around 10am the heavens opened and all hell broke loose. The rain was cold and it came down with a furry. After ~12miles I called it quits and sought refuge in the bald mountain shelter. Upon my arrival I was happy to find puddin and patty cakes also riding out the storm. Votes were polled and the decision was made to stay at the shelter for the night. Shortly after my arrival nova and sleeping beauty arrived. We were also joined by five others including: night rider, quaker, mr rogers, and miami. This was my first night in a shelter and I think it will be my last. My tent is so much warmer! This brings me back to this morning. Unable to get my feet into my shoes as a result of them being frozen solid I was left walking around as if I had high heels on. After much effort, numb toes and the passage of some time I was able to force my feet into my shoes. To avoid breaking into tears I headed out on the trail as soon as my bag was packed and my shoes were on. It took another 30min of hiking to thaw out my shoes so that i was able to tie them. As the day progressed and the sun, combined with the effort of hiking, warmed my body I found my self zipping along the trail and enjoying the scenery. Puddin and Patty Cakes caught up to me and they hurried along, motivated by the thoughts of all you can eat pizza in Erwin, TN and eased with packs empty of food. I took my time and arrived at uncle Johnny's hostel (located right on the trail about 3mi outside of Erwin, TN) by 1:30pm. Here I ran into funnybone (I have been hiking off and on with him since the start of my hike). He spent two days here. There has been a virus going around and sadly he caught it and became very familiar with the washroom facilities over the past two days. Patty cakes, puddin and Nova all needed to resupply so we decided to pitch our tents at the hostel and call it a day. As I didn't need to resupply I was able to enjoy a leisurely afternoon lazing about in the sun and reading my book. Man it was nice to soak up the sun after yesterday and this morning. I was also able to warranty my thermarest as it has had a slow leak since I started the hike and I have been unable to find the hole. I am excited to sleep an entire night without having to blow my thermarest back up in the middle of the night. Hopefully this will help with my inability to get a good nights sleep.