day 21 - 3/31

i woke up at 7:00 this morning to soft drizzle and the remaining droplets of the previous night's rain falling from the trees on my hammock fly. i slept with my food last night instead of doing a bear bag simply because the rain helped to mute any food smell and i never opened the bag at the site cuz i wasn't very hungry anyway. so, i got to eat breakfast right there in my hammock as i waited for the drizzle to cease. the terrain was fairly easy so i was speed hiking and made it to the next shelter by 10:07, took a little break, and then hiked the next 6mi to erwin, tn in under 2 hrs, which is crazy cuz it means i was doing over 3mph even up some steep inclines. i got to call my mum when i got into erwin, which was awesome cuz it always feels great to talk to one's mum! i did a quick resupply in erwin, had tons of pizza at an all-you-can-eat pizza place, a pint of ice cream when i got my food, and was back on the trail by 15:30. i met a section hiker on the way up to the next shelter and we enjoyed each other's company so much we ended up hiking another 4mi to a campsite up the trail. as a solo female and in her first day back on the trail for this section i think she appreciated not being alone and i appreciated the company and stories, so it was great. settled in at indian grave gap for the night. today was supposed to be a nearo, but i ended up doing nearly 20mi anyway. oh well. 19.5mi from a stream just before spivey gap to indian grave gap. 348.2 total.