Spring Arrives
Location: Clyde Smith Shelter (368.3 miles)

I finally slept well last night, and the morning was just cool enough for me to not want to get out of my sleeping bag. What finally did it was Beast having words with the guy who set the fire last night. All I really heard was Beast saying, "You just don't give a shit," but the conversation apparently started with fire guy asking Beast if he "pooped on the trail". (Seriously? What kind of person would even ask that?!)

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Nolichucky River
Location: Deep Gap (354.4 miles)

As mentioned yesterday, we had one of the hostel's cats sleep in our cabin last night. This went as well as could be expected. The cat, Ghost, took turns sleeping next to us (at least, according to Beast; I didn't notice the cat on my upper bunk for very long). Ghost was ultimately evicted around 4 am when he got bored and started walking over Beast's neck and curled around his arm and nibbled at it.

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View of Erwin, TN
Location: Erwin, TN / Uncle Johnny's Hostel (342.2 miles)

I didn't sleep well at all last night; I'm not entirely sure why. The shelter was a little tight, but nothing we hadn't seen before. It did pour around 3 am, which was quite loud on the shelter's roof.

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Walking Trail
Location: No Business Knob Shelter (335.9 miles)

Today was our longest day yet, at 20.7 miles. Beast and I got an early start, around 8 am, hoping to make it to our optimistic destination today, No Business Knob Shelter, before possible rains began.

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300 Miles
Location: Hogback Ridge Shelter (315.2 miles)

Today got started early. Most of the shelter was awake before sunrise, and Beast and I were gone by 7:45, 45 minutes earlier than we usually manage to leave camp. Today featured long uphills that, on account of my cold, still sapped my energy, but I still managed to make it the 15.1 miles to Hogback Ridge Shelter, 5 miles short of our optimistic goal, but still in line with our original plan.

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