April 26

The black hole

Seriously lacking motivation to get up today.  Fueled up on breakfast, but after looking at the weather report, we debated on taking a zero day in Erwin.  I flipped a coin.  It took 5 out of 9 to get the right result, haha, zero it is.  Good thing too.  Thunderstorms and lightning all day.  The sun came out for about an hour early in the afternoon, so we started to regret not getting back out there.  But the black clouds rolled back in quickly, and as drenched hikers came in all afternoon, we were happy with our decision.  Miss Janet took us to a Chinese restaurant in town.  My fortune said that I "..will travel to exotic places".  How appropriate.  After my 3 egg rolls and sesame chicken, I picked up a pint of Ben&Jerrys at the grocery store for dessert.  I was able to split a room four ways again with KB, Bonk, and CV.  The weather is looking good for the weekend.  By good, I mean only 20%-30% chances for rain.  Last time the forecast said 20%, I got hail and snow.  Looking to head out tomorrow and escape Erwin.  Just learned about a bluegrass festival that will be here in town on Saturday.  There's also Merlefest going on in Boone, Friday through Sunday.  Very tempting to try to go to either of those.  Miss Janet highly recommends the festival in Boone, and AT hikers can do a work for stay there to help out the volunteers and enjoy the music throughout the weekend.  I may never leave Erwin......

Signpost at Uncle Johnny's Hostel in Erwin, TN.

April 25

1 month

Woke up this morning to a misty drizzle of rain.  My backpack had a bit of snow on it as well.  Pretty excited about today.  After doing the Approach Trail, I started the AT officially on March 25.  I've been living in the woods for a month now!  Pretty awesome.  Time is flying by.  I've covered over 300 miles.  The memories of the Georgia mountains, crossing into NC, and entering the Smokies are all still fresh in my mind.  Only 1800 miles or so to go.  Hiking today was pretty easy going.  Stopped for a break at High Rocks, with nice views.  Sat in pool chair someone had left up there.  Haha.  Came to a road crossing at Spivey Gap, and saw in the book that we had a steep climb coming up.  It wasn't too bad though.  There was a beautiful creek that was cascading through the entire area there going up the mountain.  The sun came out for a good while as well.  Stopped at No Business Knob shelter for a late lunch.  No privy there.  I guess the name is quite appropriate.  Eventually the Nolichuky River, and the town of Erwin, began to come into view from the ridge.  Nicely graded trail, on several switchbacks, led us down off the mountain to the edge of town.  Did 16 and change today.  Stopped in for a second at Uncle Johnnys hostel across the street from the trail, but it was all booked up.  Walked the mile down the highway back to the Holiday Inn again, and Miss Janet was in the parking lot, dropping off Pops and Bonk, so we were able to split another room four ways.  Score!  Looking forward to another free, hot, breakfast at the hotel tomorrow morning.  Showers and laundry again too.  Ended up getting dinner at a different Mexican restaurant in town, with Miss Janet again.  Ate a ton.  Margaritas on special.  Got some sopapillas for dessert, and another taco!

View of the Nolichucky River approaching Erwin, TN.

April 24

What a view

Check out is at noon.  That's dangerous.  Motivation is lacking to leave town.  Janet's morning shuttle left early, but KB and I headed out on the late morning trip.  Somehow, we ended up riding around with Miss Janet for a while, and going to lunch with her at a Mexican restaurant in town.  Didn't get dropped off back at Sams Gap, where we left off yesterday, until about 230pm.  Late start, but it was definitely fun.  The weather report said the precipitation should hold off until night.  As soon as her car pulled away, it started snowing again.  Great.  Should have stayed in town.  Oh well.  There was a lot of climbing to start.  And hiking immediately after Mexican is a terrible idea.  The first six miles were pretty miserable.  Once I got on Bald Mountain though,  my feelings changed.  The bald is massive!  Some snow flurries.  The sun would peak out from behind the storm clouds briefly.  Even though it was mostly overcast, I still had amazing 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains.  Kinda made up for missing the views on Max Patch.  The wind was blowing pretty hard, and it was tough to stand up straight.  Spirits lifted, I let out a yell and jogged down from the summit.  Slid in some places as the trail was really muddy from the melting snow.  As a bonus I got a spot on the bottom level of the double decker shelter.  As the sun went down the temperatures dropped.  Tonight I'm breaking out the sleeping bag liner.

Still a little bit of snow left on Big Bald.

April 23

Walking in a winter wonderland

Clothes dried out pretty good last night.  Water is frozen.  Shoelaces are frozen stiff, sticking straight out.  Pretty much just a dusting of snow on the ground at our elevation.  Choice for today is hike another 10 miles up and over the 5500 foot Bald Mountain to the next shelter, with more snow in the forecast, or get off the mountain and head into town.  The next shelter will most likely be full anyway.  Easy choice.  Got a ride into Erwin, and checked into Holiday Inn with KB, Slims, and YsGuy.  Great deal when you split the cost.  Walked to an AYCE lunch at a pizza place.  Crushed it.  For dinner, we called trail angel extraordinaire, Miss Janet, and got a ride into town at a diner.  Got to have dinner with Miss Janet.  Awesome!  Only hiked 2.4 snowy miles today, but I'm glad we made the decision to get off the trail.  Throughout the day, cold, wet, hungry hikers poured into town.  Janet had a busy day to say the least.

Dinner with KB, Slims, Y's Guy, and Miss Janet.

April 22

Wintry mix

We slept in late.  Like 830.  Didn't leave the shelter until 10 or so.  Putting on wet, cold clothes again.  Awesome.  As soon as you get up and hiking again though, you warm up.  There's a shelter a few miles out, but I'm hoping I can tent tonight and that the worst of the weather has blown over.  This was not the case however.  Rain started up again.  Jacket on, pack cover on.  The trail was pretty easy going though.  Just a lot of little ups and downs.  Then a big climb up to Lick Rock.  The climbing kept me plenty warm, but zapped my breakfast energy, so I sat down on a wet log for an early lunch.  As we headed back down the trail, we kept hearing motors buzzing all around.  Pretty soon we had to get off the trail to make way for a dirt bike, and 5 ATVs!  They aren't supposed to be on the AT.  There were tons of side trails that criss-crossed these mountains, where it would be fine to use motor vehicles.  The trail was already saturated, and they tore it up pretty bad.  Sad to see.  We pulled into Hogback Ridge shelter around 4pm, and debated pushing on.  The next shelter was another 10 miles, so that put us in around 9pm.  But it also would mean climbing over 1000 feet higher in elevation up to Bald Mountain.  There was no guarantee the shelter would have spots, and no guarantee the rain would let up.  Smartly decided to call it a day, even though I'd only covered 8.8 miles.  Started to boil some water for dinner, and ran out of fuel.  So, instead I used the luke warm water to add to my beverage, and ate a cold 'snack' meal.  Then the temperature dropped and the rain turned to sleet, then to snow.  Slims was with us in the shelter, and this was his first snow experience.  They don't get much snow in Barbados, haha.  My clothes were just damp at this point, so I threw my socks, underwear, shirt, and shorts into the bottom of my sleeping bag.  Overnight my body heat will dry them out.  That's the plan at least.  All seven of us in the six person shelter were asleep at sundown, as the snow continued to fall.

Snow at Hogback Ridge.

April 21

Talkin' smack

KB had arrived at the shelter last night too, and we headed out in the morning.  No real agenda today.  Just get up and walk, and see where the day takes us.  The day started off great with a bunch of ups and downs, and we got to a shelter for lunch, after about 8 miles.  KB headed out a few minutes before me, and said he'd meet me up at the top of the huge climb ahead, where there was a lookout tower.  There were already 5 people in this 6 person shelter, due to the weather forecast of rain and cold.  No sooner had I left the shelter, the sky opened up and started pelting me with cold, wet rain.  It then started to turn to hail.  Again.  Hooray.  I missed the side trail for the tower, and as I rounded a corner, the structure came into view, but I wasn't going back.  I thought about it though.  Maybe I could sleep up there.  But what if it didn't have a roof?  Oh well.  I caught up to KB and we slogged up to an intersection with the AT white blazes going up to the right, and a blue blazed "bad weather trail" going off to the left.  Of course we took the white blazes.  I can't miss a single one, right?  Haha.  So we climbed up the rocky trail over Firescald Knob.  I'm sure the views from this rocky scramble would have been amazing on a nice day.  But all I got was rain and fog, with about 50 feet of visibility.  In some places the trail was hard to find.  I second guessed myself many times, but never got off track.  A few not so nice words were uttered.  Fortunately, I was able to flip my mood like a switch.  I took it on as a challenge.  I started talking smack to the trail.  "Ok, so that's how you're going to be?  Up and over these rocks?  No blaze in sight?"  No problem.  I got this.  We get over that mountain, and lost a ton of time in the process.  Jerry Cabin shelter was just a couple miles away, and we were soaked to the bone.  Pulled in around 545pm, and the 6 person shelter had 8 people in it.  Sigh.  The shelter had a fireplace too.  Sigh.  Determined not to set up tents in the rain, we pushed on to the next shelter at Flint Mountain, 5.9 miles away.  The trail then played the I'm going to cross a random dirt road every 5 minutes game on us.  Thanks to the CMC, the trail was blazed well, and we didn't loose our direction.  There was a nice meadow at one point, which I'm sure looked really pleasant any other day.  Not today though, just dark, wet, dreary, walking through a rain cloud.  We rolled into the shelter, covering the distance in an impressive 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Everyone was already in their bags, but we got a spot in the shelter!  Hung everything out to 'dry'.  Changed into my only warm, dry clothes I had left, cooked dinner, and went to bed.  21.3 miles.  In the rain and hail.  Just about 1% of the whole trail.  The trail put the beat down on me today, but I got back up, and put a beat down on the trail.

Pink Lady's Slipper orchid.

April 20

Cosmic

When ever you leave a town, or a gap that goes into town, there's only one direction that you are headed.  Up.  Today would have 4 big climbs.  Up for a while, a little down, up some more a bit higher, then another little down....rinse, repeat.  Upon leaving my campsite, I headed out alone up the first mountain to "Lovers Leap".  Great views looking back on the river and Hot Springs.  I saw some beautiful pink blooms, from azaleas I think, for the first time.  I came out of the woods at one point, and walked along a gravel road, across a particularly nice area around Mill Ridge.  Apparently this section is home to wild turkey and grouse, but I didn't see any.  I've seen both of these birds other times on the trail.  I crossed another road at Hurricane Gap, which is right on the Tennessee border.  So really I have no idea where I am right now.  Every day I'm somewhere bouncing back and forth between NC and TN.  Made it to Spring Mountain shelter, and I didn't feel like going further, so I set up camp.  I tried to eat a lot of food, and heavier items in particular, to lighten my food bag.  I cooked two 7 inch pizza kits I had picked up in town.  I had also picked up a box of Little Debbie cosmic brownies, and let me tell you, they are heavy, but they pack about 280 calories each, and satisfy my chocolate fix.  These will become a staple of my hiker diet.  Too cold to fix breakfast?  Cosmic brownies.  Mid-morning snack?  Cosmic brownies.  Lunch, dinner, anytime?  Cosmic brownies.  I've also found honey buns are great, but only the gas station brand ones.  There's at least 600 calories to be found if you look for the right brands.  Can you tell I think about food a lot now?  Haha.  Your burning 4000-6000 calories a day, so anything high in sugar, fat, or carbs is great.  Then some protein at night to help the muscles recover.  

View of Hot Springs from Lovers Leap.

April 19

Orion

I'm still on trail time, so out of habit I was up at 630am.  Went across the street to do laundry.  Clean clothes....oh yeah!  Breakfast skillet at the Smoky Mountain diner was perfection.  Spent the day walking around town, doing standard town chores.  Email, facebook, journal updates at the library.  Checked out the outfitter.  Post office.  All that good stuff.  Town is like a magnet.  Actually more like a black hole.  You see everyone there.  It's hard to escape.  I ended up seeing dozens of people that I had met in the last few weeks.  Some had been there a few days, some were still rolling in behind me.  KB caught back up.  Great to see him again, and to see some of his new gear purchases.  A bunch of our Georgia crowd all had dinner and drinks at the tavern, then people started heading off to their respective hotels or hostels.  As the big Trail Fest was starting tomorrow, many of the rooms were already booked up.  I still hadn't made arrangements to stay in town, so I made my way down the sidewalk, err trail, north of town, in the dark.  Total hobo style again, across the tracks, jumped the rail, and headed down the trail down by the river.  Under normal circumstances this would be totally unacceptable.  But not on the trail.  It's good to change your definition of normal.  I ran into Rocketman, Bambam, Tink, and Apollo.  I was trying to find the constellation Orion, as I have a habit of doing, but I was unsuccessful.  I don't have a trail name yet, but in talking about Orion, that came up as a possibility.  Apollo and Tink approved.  So I'm going with that, and I'll see if that sticks.  I'm also on a mission to find a small mirror ball.  Trying to spice up the shelter atmosphere at night.  We'll see how that goes, haha.  The river is raging now due to all the rain.  Thai  Dye, Apollo, Tink, and I were all camped right along the trail next to the roaring rapids for the night.  I slept with my food bag for the first time too.  I didn't get eaten by a bear (obviously).  Technically, I did a nero today, since I had to hike 0.9 to make camp.  Definitely need to revisit Hot Springs.  It's a really small, but really cool town.  Many of the residents are hikers that never left.

The AT through Hot Springs.

April 18

Trail town

So glad to get a spot in the shelter last night.  Nothing like putting on wet underwear, socks, shirt, shorts, and shoes in the morning.  Got a late start.  Wrapped up in cooking a long breakfast, of oatmeal and coffee, and talking with Truckin'.  2 shelters away would make a 15 mile day.  The allure of pushing on to Hot Springs was in the back of our minds though.  I saw an awesome red salamander on the trail today and got a good picture.  Rain, rain, and more rain.  We took a break at one point during the day, sitting on a couple of wet logs, rain still  coming down, and I thought even in this weather, I'm still loving the simplicity of the trail.  Had a big climb up Bluff Mountain, followed by a big down of course, and rolled past Deer Park Mountain shelter with plenty of daylight left.  As we descended down the mountain into town, we could start to see glimpses of houses, and could hear town noises.  Our pace quickened.  Totally soaked, feet hurting, knees starting to hurt from the serious downhill.  Every time we thought we were coming in to town, the trail would double back around another hill.  Finally we stepped foot on pavement.  There's a new hostel right at the trailhead, which we heard good things about.  The trail in Hot Springs goes right through downtown.  There's stone "AT" markers right on the sidewalk.  We checked in to the Iron Horse Station, which was a fantastic hotel and restaurant.  Very plush by any standards, and much more than what a hiker was used to.  Got an outstanding double burger at the tavern across the street, and some good local beer.  So far the NC beers on this trip have been great when I've had a chance to sample them.  Hot shower, and comfortable bed, and planning to take a zero tomorrow.

My room the Iron Horse Station.

April 17

Attention passengers this is your captain speaking

Had a good night's sleep in the bunk house and I was up pretty early.  Good thing I got in early yesterday to claim a spot, as many other hikers had pulled in throughout the day, filling the bunk house and cabin.  One guy slept on the porch.  It was tough to leave the snack laden comfort of Standing Bear, but the trail isn't going to hike itself, so off I went.  Today started with a lot of climbing.  Up, and up, for almost 5 continuous miles, gaining 2400 feet up to the summit of Snowbird Mnt.  Took a break there with Truckin', next to an FAA control tower.  Pretty cool to see this fenced in structure out in the middle of nowhere on top of some mountain.  Views were great, mountains all around.  Took a lunch break at Groundhog Creek shelter, and ran into Tink and Apollo again.  They were planning a zero day there at the shelter to rest up for a "marathon" day into Hot Springs.  A marathon is named such for being a hike of exactly 26.2 miles - marathon distance.  Loosely it can also refer to any big mileage day.  The privy at the shelter was in view of the shelter, and looked like it was built for kids.  The walls didn't come up very high, so you had to pull your pants up quick when you stood up so you didn't moon everyone.  This topic provided lots of laughs.  Clouds were beginning to roll into the area this afternoon, and before long, they opened up into a cold rain.  Ups and downs, but mostly ups, took us to the base of Max Patch, where we ran into Joe again.  He was under his tarp waiting on a ride, suffering from ankle problems.  Hope he's on the mend and back on the trail soon.  I've been looking forward to Max Patch for the entire hike, and I had wanted to tent on the summit, but that wasn't in the cards today.  Totally socked in with fog, and a bone chilling wind and rain, there was no choice but to speed walk across the massive bald as fast as we could to the cover of the tree line on the other side.  I'll have to come back sometime to see it under clear skies.  We made it to Roaring Fork shelter right at dark, doing 15.1 miles.  Not a bad day.

Dreary day  on Max Patch.

April 16

Catching up

I planned for a short day today, about 3.6 miles, to Standing Bear Farm.  I left the shelter and after 0.9 miles, I was officially done with the Smokies.  The trail crossed over the state line into Tennessee, and soon after I walked by a bunch of tents (now that you are out of the national park you can pitch tents in the woods again).  It was Slims, Earthling, Joe, Tink, and Apollo.  All who I had stayed at the Blueberry patch with back in Hiawassee Ga, and I hadn't seen them since the NC state line back at Bly Gap!  I hiked under Interstate 40, to a gravel road where the AT reentered the woods.  Float was waiting there for his parents to take him into town for a day, and when they arrived, they brought donuts.  Awesome second breakfast.  Half a mile further I came to the road to the hostel at Standing Bear.  What an awesome place.  Rustic log cabins, bunk house, shower room, and out house.  Another building had a laundry room, and kitchen facilities complete with a counter-top pizza oven.  I went into another side building, the 'store', to pick up my resupply box.  The 'store', was fully stocked with all kinds of hiker foods, gear, fuel, toiletries, and treats.  A fridge and freezer were full of bacon, eggs, frozen entrees, pizzas, etc. that you could cook in the kitchen.  I spent a nice leisurely day on the grounds, while dozens of hikers strolled in.  I was glad to get in early in the day and get a bunk space.  This was a really cool place, with really cool people, and really catered to a hiker's desires.  A little reward, or oasis, for completing the Smokies.

"squirrely" having a snack at Standing Bear Farm, TN

April 15

Ten.  Twenty.

Climbed up from the shelter this morning to some great views at Eagle Rocks, then back down into Cooper Gap.  At some point in between the two, I crossed another major milestone.  10% completion of the AT, at mile 218.4.  I flew up and down Mt Sequoyah, and up and down Mt Chapman, crossing over 6200 feet yet again.  Ate a quick snack at Tri-Corner Knob, then up and around Mt Guyot.  I was hiking for much of the day through more gorgeous evergreen forests, in some places the trees were so dense you could only see a few feet off the trail into the woods.  It's been an amazing sight to see trees that have fallen over, and in doing so, the entire disc shaped root system is pulled up with it.  Sometimes the roots had wrapped around a huge rock underground, and when the tree fell and the roots pulled up out of the ground, the rock was now suspended several feet in the air, trapped in the roots.  In other places the trail would bust out onto a ridge line again, for more shear drops and awesome views.  At one point I took my pack off, and simply just sat down right on the trail and soaked in the views for a good 15 minutes.  I passed Cosby Knob shelter after about 13 miles, and it was still early in the afternoon, and I was feeling great, so on I went.  I finally rolled in to Davenport Gap shelter, the last shelter in the Smokies for northbounders, around 5pm.  Some section hikers, Three Ten, Sweetwater, and Crush were there.  Amazing story about Crush, he actually started the trail a while ago, but back in Georgia, he suffered a ruptured appendix, hiked out to a road crossing, gave the 911 responders his exact GPS location using the notes provided in the AT Guide (kudos to 'AWOL', you literally saved his life by having that info in your guidebook!), took a couple weeks off to recover from surgery, and is now back on the trail.  Hardcore!  Anyway, this shelter was small and dirty, and no privy.  It had fencing on the open side, to keep larger animals out, and no bear cables.  So you hang your food on a mouse trapeze inside the shelter and hope a bear doesn't come rattle the fence during the night.  Sounds fun.  I had just rolled out my mat and sleeping bag, when we heard a commotion coming down the trail.  A local guy had parked at the road crossing, 0.9 miles north of the shelter, and pulled a cart up to us with a cooler full of Mountain Dew and Sunkist, and get this...3 pizzas from Little Caesars, which were still warm!  I was amped about my improved dinner selection.  I chugged a few sodas.  It was getting dark, so we all turned in for the night.  What a great treat, and especially since I had just finished my first 20.0 mile day!  What a way to end the Smokies.

Dense forest in the Smoky Mountains.

April 14

Holy double trail magic batman!

Great start this morning.  Another beautiful day.  All I had heard was how tough the Smokies are, and that it rains just about every day.  What a blessing it's been to have such great weather.  I made quick work of the 4+ miles to a major road crossing at Newfound Gap.  When I crossed the road and entered the parking lot, Y's Guy was there waving me over to a pickup truck.  A couple, Mark and Wendy, had a cooler of sodas, fruit, chips, homemade brownies, and ham sandwiches for any thru hiker passing by.  Really nice people, and oh man was the food a great treat.  Also arriving in time for the magic was Thai Dye, Sweetwater, Three Ten, and the Australians - Big Brother and Little Brother.  As we finished our lunch, another group from a church in the area pulled up and offered more goodies.  I got an orange, 4 ginger cookies, and a bag of cheetos.  Double score!  My appetite is definitely in high gear now.  I stopped for 'second lunch' at Ice Water Spring shelter just about 3 miles up from the road.  I also talked to a back-country park ranger for a bit, who was meticulously checking all backpackers for their required permits.  I took a short side trail to snap some great picks at an amazing spot called Charlie's Bunion.  I met Pippy and Bojangles there, and they were nice enough to get a good picture of me standing on the massive rock.  Hiking was pretty easy today, just rolling up and down ridgelines between 5000 and 6000 feet.  The views have been incredible.  In some places the trail is really narrow, on top of a ridge, with massive drops on either side.  Firs, spruce, and other trees and shrubs, cling to the sides of the mountain.  More perfect, sunny weather.  I can imagine this being pretty treacherous in rain/snow/hail.  After a 15 mile day, I pulled in to Pecks Corner shelter.  I thought about pushing on to Tri-Corner Knob, but my sugar fueled afternoon energy had worn off, and I needed to rest.  Pecks was 0.5 off on a side trail, and the water was a few hundred feet down a steep path, but it was a really nice area, at 5555 feet.  An owl hooted several times.  I guess that's my dinner bell.

me on Charlie's Bunion

April 13

The early bird gets, frozen

Up at a frigid 4am, and out of camp by 430, we donned our long johns, fleece hats, puffy jackets, and head lamps and started out for Clingmans Dome, 3 miles ahead on the trail.  Clingmans is the highest elevation on the entire AT and is the 3rd tallest mountain on the east coast.  In the dark, we entered the high elevation Spruce and Fir forests.  My water froze up again in this 6000+ foot area.  We got to the summit of Clingmans Dome, elevation 6643, at around 6am.  We hiked the side trail to the observation tower.  We climbed the concrete ramp to the top, and shivered in the sub 30 degree temperatures, while the wind whipped around us.  The sky started turning pink as we eagerly awaited the sun's warmth.  However, we hadn't anticipated that it would take nearly an hour for the sun to finally crest over the mountains.  Despite the numbing cold, I was able to take some great photos from our perch, in the ambient light beginning to illuminate a new day.  When the round, orange globe of the sun finally crested, we snapped a quick photo and hurried down from the tower to get out of the wind and try to warm up.  We went a half mile down the paved access trail to the parking lot.  Several photographers where there snapping pictures in the morning light.  The towering mountains cast some amazing shadows in the early morning light.  We waited around in the parking lot, while hundreds of cars pulled in.  Tourists from all over North America are driving up here to see the views.  Some people ask us what we are doing.  After explaining that we had been hiking for weeks, and covered almost 200 miles from Georgia, one man in particular said we were his heroes.  I definitely felt like a bit of a celebrity, haha.  Thai Dye had a friend of his drive up to give him a resupply.  KB was waiting for a relative in the area to pick him up to take him in for a visit for a few days.  Thai Dye strapped a 16 inch sub to his pack, saying he was going to start a trend, and we hiked back up to the top of the mountain, and got back on the AT.  I was hiking alone for the rest of the afternoon.  Coming down from Clingmans I passed the 200 mile mark of my trip!  I am really enjoying the Red Spruce and Frasier Fir trees, it smells like I'm hiking through a Yankee Candle.  Sadly, many of the firs are dying off, due to an invasive pest.  The tall, grey skeleton-like trunks, speckle the mountainsides in stark contrast to the dark green hues of the live ones.  I hiked down into Collins Gap, at 5738 feet.  Yep, that's right, a gap at 5738!  Then up Mt Collins I went to get to the shelter.  Unfortunately, the shelter was 0.5 off the trail, but it was late in the day, and I couldn't make the next shelter, 7.5 miles away, by dark.  Mt Collins shelter was full, so I got to tent, which I actually prefer.  I've only slept in shelters a few times so far, and I find I get a much better night's sleep in my tent.  At just over 6 miles, this was a spectacular nero day.

sunrise at the observation tower on Clingman's Dome, GSMNP

April 12

In the orchard

Freezing cold outside last night.  I was plenty warm, but my water bladder did freeze during the night.  The trail this morning was absolutely beautiful.  Leaving Russel Field and heading into Spence Field a few miles ahead, the trees thinned out significantly.  We walked among more open areas with large, old trees that looked like they could be some type of fruit trees.  I was thinking maybe a long time ago this area might have been some homestead with orchards on top the the ridges.  We've hiked up out of the full on spring bloom now, and as we crossed over the 5527 ft of Thunderhead Mountain, the views were incredible.  The whole of the Smokies were laid out at our feet.  We rolled down into some gaps at around 4500 feet.  That should give you a good idea of the massiveness of the Smokies.  The gaps are still above 4500.  Incredible.  Hiked past 3 shelters today, and ended up at Double Spring Gap shelter for a big 16.4 mile day.  The trail so far in the Smokies has been really nice.  A bit rutted out in places, but easy hiking over all.  And the weather has been perfect.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Around 70 during the day, and in the 30s at night.  The shelter at Double Spring was packed, so I had to pitch my tent.  KB, Thai Dye, and I are planning to wake up early and hike up to Clingman's Dome to watch the sunrise!

me on the AT near Spence Field, approaching Thunderhead Mnt, GSMNP

April 11

On the boarder

Leaving the Lodge, we caught a shuttle back to the trail where we had left off yesterday.  The trail enters the woods for a mile or so, then comes out onto the road, where you actually walk right across Fontana Dam.  The view of Fontana Lake are amazing, the skies are clear, and the sun is shining.  At trail mile 167.1, I officially stepped foot into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The elevation at the Dam was 1700, but I had a big climb over the next several miles to Shuckstack Mnt, at 3800 feet.  There was an old fire tower at the top.  Yes, I climbed up it.  Amazing views.  Mountains in every direction as far as the eyes can see.  And of course, a spectacular view of the lake below.  Good place for a lunch break.  The climb up Shuckstack wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but I still had to get up Doe Knob a few miles ahead, which climbed up to 4500 feet. At the summit of Doe Knob, you leave NC exclusively, and the AT now travels the border between NC and TN.  We passed the Birch Spring tent sites and continued to Mollies Ridge shelter.  Still feeling good, we continued on to Russell Field shelter for about a 15 mile day.  In the Smokies, you aren't allowed to camp just anywhere.  You have to stay at the shelters.  There are 4 spots for thru hikers, and the rest of the spots are for section hikers that have made reservations.  The shelters usually sleep 10-16 people, and if they get full, then you are allowed to pitch a tent in the vicinity.  The shelters have bear cables, but only some of them have privies.  The 'privy areas' are a really gross minefield.  They all are stone built, and have fireplaces inside next to the bunk platforms.  Not having the option to tent anywhere you please is an adjustment.

Shuckstack fire tower

April 10

Wake the Dragon

KB, Y's Guy, and I hiked about 5 miles into Fontana NC and stopped in at the Lodge.  I felt out of place in the lobby amongst the massive fireplace, leather couches, etc.  We all wanted to take a short day, so we split a room, and headed to the restaurant for lunch.  Awesome beef Ruben sandwich.  Not your typical deli meat.  This was shaved beef, and you could see the smoke ring around the meat.  Yum!  I walked around the resort area, picked up my food drop, checked out the store, bought a pint of ice cream and a coke, and milled around for the rest of the afternoon.  There was a computer in the lobby at the Lodge, so I was able to update a few days of my journal.  There's a big car festival here this week.  The vast majority of the cars pulling up are Honda S2000s.  So what I learned is that nearby, there is an infamous mountain road called the "Dragon's Tail".  318 curves in 11 miles.  Sports car and motorcycle enthusiasts from all over come to test their skills on this road.  It's highly dangerous though, and fatal crashes sometimes occur.  I had dinner in the Lodge restaurant, consisting of a burger, local beer, and an awesome slice of coconut cream pie.  Kudos to the chef, and to our excellent server.  Sleeping in a bed tonight.  What a treat.  A lot of hikers stayed in the "Fontana Hilton", which is a large shelter down near the Dam.  It's named as such, since it is a pretty nice shelter, that actually has a restroom, and showers on site.  Pretty cool.  Tomorrow I'll be in the Smoky Mountains!

Fontana Lake

April 9

Jacob's Ladder

Hiked down from Cheoah this morning, then several ups and downs in the 3000's.  Took a quick lunch break at Stecoah Gap, and talked to a nice local gentleman there.  Next on the agenda was a hike up what is called "Jacob's Ladder", which is a 0.6 mile stretch that is ridiculously steep.  It took a good 45 minutes to get up it, and at the top, I was beat.  I thought it was the toughest climb so far on the trail.  At least it wasn't very long.  The rest of the day was really nice hiking.  More spring colors from wildflowers lining the trail.  Finished off a 14 mile day at Cable Gap shelter, and ran into Y's Guy again.  Fontana Dam is about 5 miles away, so we'll be starting the Smokies soon!  In other good news, I've been hiking in my new shoes for 2 days now, and my blisters are healing up.  Thanks so much Apline!

Cable Gap shelter.

April 8

Easter

Woke up and read a few passages of the Easter story this morning in lieu of attending service anywhere.  Packed up camp and headed back toward the trail.  When I came out of the woods, there were 2 ladies standing by the tracks to greet us with a large ziplock bag of Easter goodies!  Hard boiled eggs, gum, candy, and a very hiker specific treat of Clif Bars and hand sanitizer.  Awesome!  The Easter bunny even comes to the AT.  Full of sugar, we hit the trail at about 11:30am, with nothing but climbing ahead for the next 8 miles.  In the lower elevations, spring has sprung.  The trees are starting to leaf out in bright fresh greens.  Wild flowers are everywhere.  Particularly interesting are these white flowers, that in some places cover an entire mountainside along the trail, making it appear as there's a light dusting of snow on the ground.  We passed the first shelter coming out of the Nantahala gorge mid-afternoon, and pushed on to Cheoah Bald.  At an elevation of 5062 feet, we tented right at the summit with excellent views.  Throughout the waning hours of the evening several hikers set up their campsites up there too.  By nightfall, there was KB, Darwin, Lucky, Lewis, Napster, Buehler, and myself.  Buehler was hiking with an accordion (wow!), and played several tunes for us around the campfire while the sun set for the night.  Magical.  At one point he started playing the Tetris theme song, so that was pretty awesome.  Short hiking day, but it was certainly memorable.  And so far, my new shoes seem to be working out nicely.

Easter bunnies.

April 7

You down with NOC, yeah you know me

Up early, and a short hike down into the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC).  Learned that in Cherokee, Nantahala means 'land of the noonday sun'.  Well first thing first, we went into the restaurant to order breakfast.  Many hiker packs lined the bench outside.  Sausage gravy biscuits, eggs, and coffee.  I went into the outfitter there and talked to an employee named 'Alpine'.  He has thru'd the AT before.  He literally spent 2 hours with me fitting me for shoes, and talking about how to take care of my feet.  I mailed my old shoes home, and now I'm rockin' a brand new pair of Oboz.  I took a look around the festival at the various vendor tents that were set up.  Then lunch.  Hungry Hiker burger - Two 1/2 lb patties with all the fixings, and a salad.  Then apple cobbler a la mode.  Yeah so a full pound of ground beef, devoured in about 2 minutes, haha.  The area around the NOC is gorgeous.  A footbridge takes you right across the river.  Kayaks, canoes, fly fishers all enjoying the water.  Cyclists zooming by on the road.  And of course many hikers.  A true outdoor sports mecca.  In the afternoon I sat in on a presentation by a guy who hiked the "Camino de Santiago" in Spain, which is about a 35 day casual-ish hike through Spain, following a pilgrimage route in honor of St James if I recall correctly.  Maybe next year?  Pizza dinner at the restaurant.  Then I went to set up camp.  A few of us walked down the railroad tracks a few hundred yards, and pitched tents/hammocks between the tracks and the river.  I felt like such a hobo, haha.

16oz of ground beef, Yum!

April 6

Saving the sun from the fog

We were up early due to the weather and cold.  Two young hikers, Lewis and Lucky passed our trailside camp, and said:  "last night we slept in a castle", referring to the tower on Wayah Bald, and "we're on a mission to save the sun from the fog".  Quite an odd first 2 sentences to hear in the morning.  Hiking was great though.  The fog was so thick you could only see about 100 feet around you.  The woods smelled fresh, crisp, and green.  More ups, more downs.  That's how it goes.  When the sun finally decided to grace us with its presence, we dried out our sopping wet gear in Tellico Gap.  We climbed up a steep section to Wesser Bald, which finally had a bit of an actual bald on it.  There was a great wooden observation deck too.  I climbed up, and looked out to rolling mountains in every direction.  Absolutely breathtaking.  We all layed down on the floor of the tower, soaking in the sun.  It was the most comfortable wood I had every layed on.  We pushed on past the Wesser shelter, saw some good views at a place called "The Jumpoff", and called it a day at A. Rufus Morgan Shelter after about a 15 mile day.  The knee is feeling a lot better, but my blisters from Georgia have still not healed.  We're only 1 mile away from the NOC, so were going to check it out tomorrow morning.  There's a festival there today and tomorrow, should be cool.

Taking a nap at Tellico Gap.

April 5

No room in the inn

Everyone slept in intentionally and missed the 9am shuttle, to catch the 11am shuttle later.  I however, got up around 630, and waited in front of the motel for a van that would pick hikers up and take them to the First Baptist Church in town for an AYCE pancake breakfast.  The food was great!  Y's Guy was behind the line cooking bacon too.  He had been in town for breakfast there yesterday, and dinner too, so he thought he'd come help the kitchen staff out this morning, haha.  We were dreading the climb out of the gap where the shuttle dropped us off around noon, but it wasn't that bad.  We passed a sign on the trail for 'Swinging Lick Gap', but someone had turned the 'L' into a 'D', and that was hilarious at the time.  We got up to Siler Bald, and decided not to stop at the shelter since it was 0.5 miles off on a side trail.  There wasn't much of a bald there to speak of either, and the AT didn't even go over the summit, so that was disappointing.  We came down into a gap and took a break for a bit, then pushed on up Wayah Bald.  At the top, there wasn't really a bald here either, just a road leading to a parking area and a strange circle of rocks.  Nearby, just a bit further down the AT, there was a great observation tower.  A stone structure that used to be used as a fire tower.  Great views for 360 degrees all around.  According to the displays posted in the tower, on a clear day you could see over 60 miles away northward to Clingman's Dome in the Smokies, and over 110 miles away southeastward to Greenville, SC!  We pushed on to the Wayah shelter a mile away.  It was packed.  Dozens of hikers coming out of town had created another bottleneck effect.  We couldn't find level tenting.  Rocket Man didn't care since he had a hammock.  We all set up our tents inches from the trail in the most level ground we could find.  In the middle of the night it started thundering and raining again.  I kept rolling into my tent's wall, so I packed up everything before the rain kicked in too hard, and set up in another location.  Rocket Man didn't have a rainfly for his hammock, so he packed up and hiked somewhere down the trail in the dark.  Worst night's sleep on the trail yet.

Wayah Bald.

April 4

Short Bus

We woke up to clearing skies, and hustled down the trail, 3.8 miles to Winding Stair Gap, in about an hour and fifteen minutes, to catch the 9am shuttle into Franklin, NC.  This is an unplanned stop for me, but after yesterday, I feel I deserve a break.  That's the great thing about this hike.  If I feel like stopping, I can, if I feel like going I can.  HYOH.  The shuttle pulls up around 930, a short bus driven by Ron Haven.  Ron is a local politician of sorts, and owns several hotels and businesses in the area.  He provides the shuttle service free of charge, even if you don't plan on patronizing one of his hotels in town.  He told us many stories along the way.  To say Ron is a character, and that he is hiker friendly, would both be understatements.  Ron pulled the bus off into an overlook, and told us the scene we were about to see only happens a few times each year.  I can happen if the temperatures are just right.  We looked out from the mountain, down into a valley of clouds.  Peaks of other mountains poked through in places, like islands in a vast sea of grey.  Incredible!  Darwin, KB, Running Water and I checked in at the Budget Inn.  I took a shower!  Did some laundry.  Got some awesome country cookin' at Corbin's Country Buffet in the middle of 'downtown'.  We got back on the shuttle at 4pm and got dropped off across town where there's a big outfitter, grocery stores, Walmart, etc.  I got a blizzard at DQ.  Triple chocolate goodness.  Back at the hotel, I was cleaning my water filter, and dropped the stupid filter screen thingy down the sink drain.  Running Water gave me some line and a fish hook, and after about 15 minutes, I successfully fished out my filter screen, LOL!  I'm awesome.  We left the room in search of more town food nearby, but ended up at McD's.  Dollar menu it is.  Still tasted great though.  It was great to spend a day in town to make me feel human again and wash off the hiker funk.

Early morning fog in the valley below Winding Stair Gap.

April 3

EPIC!

Forgot to mention something crazy from last night.  So in talking with Pastor James, he told me a story about how back in 1994, if I recall correctly, he and some friends were hiking on the AT north of Neel Gap back in Georgia one afternoon.  They thought they smelled smoke, and bushwacked a bit off the trail and found a smoldering airplane crash in the woods.  Gruesome as you can imagine.  They hiked back out, and notified the authorities, who closed down the trail for the recovery.  So I'm thinking back to when I hiked in that area, and I remembered a small plaque in the woods that memorialized a small plane crash.  How crazy is that?  First of all seeing a memorial plaque in the middle of the woods, then meeting the guy who found the crash almost 20 years ago.  Wow.  So back to hiking.  The trail down from Standing Indian was great.  I wasn't sure how far I'd go today, but I had options at a shelter 6 miles out, a campsite 10 miles out, and if I was feeling up to it, and push up and over the massive Albert Mountain to the next shelter at 13 miles.  Well I stopped at Carter Gap shelter for lunch and to use the sunlight to dry the dew off of my rain fly and ground cloth from my tent.  I signed the register at the shelter, and noticed nobody had removed the register from last year.  Angie, if you read this, I found your entry from 2011!  So cool.  I just happened to stop by that shelter for lunch and may not have if I had hiked different mileages over the past few days.  Anyway, the trail continued to be great, passing through rhododendron tunnels, and across ridges with wonderful views.  I went past the 10 mile mark and felt great so I kept moving along, alone.  I got to Mooney Gap, at 4496 feet.  Yes that is a gap at 4496 feet, so that should tell you something about the mountains in NC!  The weather quickly turned, as thunder rumbled and the sky darkened ahead of me.  The climb up Albert was coming up, and I knew the shelter was just a mile or so past the summit so I pushed on.  I was on a section of the trail that was only 2 or 3 feet wide, that cross cut a near vertical slope, just as lightning started to flash all around me.  I've never seen lightning at eye level before.  I was up so high, that I was actually IN the storm.  Then it started to hail.  Pea sized hailstones pelting me and my pack.  I crouched under a tree on the side of the mountain and prayed for safety.  After a few minutes there was a break in the weather and I made a run for it up Albert Mountain.  I met Darwin again, who was also doing the hide under a tree plan too.  Now we were stuck in a frigid, cold rain.  We waited it out for about half an hour, but ended up getting too cold.  We mustered up all of our courage and decided to climb to the summit.  The trail up to the top was particularly challenging, even in the best conditions.  We pulled ourselves up in some places by climbing hand over hand in some sections on slippery wet rocks, finally reaching the summit at 5250 feet.  There was a huge fire tower at the top, and since we were seeing a lull in the lightning, we climbed the staircase, to the top, several hundred feet above the summit, to outstanding views.  Then we heard more thunder, and Darwin swears she felt 'static' in the air, and seeing as that we were on a metal structure, we got off the tower in a hurry.  We practically jogged the next mile to the shelter and pulled in looking like a couple of drowned rats.  Dave was there and gave me a warm cup of coffee.  No sooner than that, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We were feeling strong and exhilarated, and since it was only 4pm, we decided to push on to another shelter 5.3 miles away.  Hailstones covered the trail.  The mountains were amazing after the storm.  I don't think I've every felt more alive in my entire life.  I could feel the blood coursing through my body.  I couldn't stop laughing.  An adrenaline induced hike/jog got us to Rock Gap shelter just at night fall, as the rain started up again.  KB was there!  Shivering.  Dinner of instant butter flavor potatoes, adding a packet of salmon, and hot sauce, was incredible.  6 of us crammed into the shelter like sardines.  First night for me sleeping in a shelter, next to a couple people I've known for about a week, and a few strangers, after an unforgettable 18.2 mile day!  Just another day on the AT........

The Albert Mountain fire tower.

April 2

Welcome to North Carolina

So all the excitement of crossing the border into the second state on the trail is quickly qwelled by Courthouse Bald.  Right out from my campsite at Bly Gap, I struggled up the steep grade and switchbacks.  Welcome to NC, now climb this mountain.  Thanks Trail....sigh.  My knee still hurts a bit, and that climb didn't help.  I'm glad I didn't try to push on last night with everyone else.  Plan to do another 'short' 9 miles or so today.  Hiking alone for the first time today too, so that's different.  The rest of the trail today has been pretty nice.  Passed another Sassafras Gap, there seems to be a lot of mountains and gaps named that in these parts.  Just past the first shelter today, was a side trail called 'chunky gal trail', that made me laugh.  But what I was really excited for was where I planned to camp for the day, on the top of Standing Indian mountain.  The summit is at 5498 feet above sealevel, and my first 5000 footer of the hike.  The trail was nicely graded, I took my time, and still got to the summit with hours of daylight left.  Soon after, a older man named James, and his grand-daughter Jessie came to the top.  We enjoyed the views to the south from the summit, and set up our tents on the grassy summit, and began cooking our dinners.  They gave me some leftover ingredients that they had to make a personal pepperoni pizza cooked right over the coals of our campfire.  Delicious second dinner!  In talking to James, I learned he is a Baptist preacher at a church in the nearby town of Franklin.  I showed him my waterproof Bible, and he thought that was a great idea.  His grand-daughter was saying that she wanted to get him one as a gift, so I hope she was able to do so.  Mine only has the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs, and I've been trying to read a verse from Proverbs every night before I good to bed.  Honestly, I haven't really read any scripture for a long, long time.  Hopefully some wisdom and guidence will rub off!  A section hiker named Jeremy, out with his son and a friend rolled into camp too.  Six of us at the summit of this grand mountain, watching the sun set over Lake Chatuge.  The stars came out, the moon was nearing full peak, and we gazed at Jupiter, Venus, and Mars (confirmed planet sightings using Jeremy's Iphone app).  Jeremy shared a nip of 12 year aged scotch from his stash of "good stuff".  I usually don't like dark liquor much, but it was exceptionally good.  It was chilly at our elevation, but I got the best night sleep yet on the trail.

Sunset from Standing Indian Mountain.

April 1

Run for the border

We woke up early, as the breakfast bell rang around 8am.  We went into Gary and Lennie's home and all sat around a big dining room table to a full breakfast of eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, cheese biscuits with homemade sawmill gravy, blueberry pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup, and coffee!  There's no fee for the shuttle rides, the stay, the use of the facilities, or the meal.  Just a donation envelope at my breakfast seat, in which I placed my donation.  There's really no price you could put on what you get there though.  Gary drove us up in shifts back up the mountain and we pushed on with the NC border within our sights just 8.9 miles up the trail.  I stopped to take a picture at the wooden sign nailed to a tree that said "NC/GA".  What a feeling!  Georgia was conquered.  One state down, 13 to go.  Just past the border was Bly Gap.  Everyone from our group took a break at the campsite, but pushed on to the next shelter since there was so much daylight left.  My knee still hurt a bit, and I didn't want to risk injury so I decided to stay back and set up my tent, even though it was only about 3pm.  It felt weird to have everyone leaving me behind, but I ended up meeting some other hikers:  Turtle, Incline, Y's Guy all tented near me by the campfire.  As it turned out, it was a great decision to stay.  Incline taught me the PCT method of hanging a bear bag.  The bears in the area have learned how to snap the ropes from traditional bear bag lines, but with this PCT method it is virtually bear proof.  Until bears grow thumbs, and learn how to pull a rope, untie a knot, and work a carabiner, your food is safe, haha.  Georgia was nice though.  Many ups and downs.  Nice views, especially since the trees haven't leafed out yet.  Spring is just starting to creep up the mountains though.  The terrain and flora reminded me a lot of Virginia actually.  Everyone talks about how hard Georgia is.  It was tough in many ways, but I think that is mostly due to it being where you first start out.  Looking back, in the first few days on the trail, we dreaded some of the climbs of 400, 600, even 800 feet.  But that's just a warm up for whats ahead.  So far, I feel strong in my legs and back, but I need to take care of my feet, and be careful with my knee.  Other than that, I'm thankful for the great weather.

Good bye Georgia, Hello North Carolina!

March 31

Blueberry

Woke up this moring early since it said in my guidebook that the shuttle to the hostel in Hiawassee drops hikers off at the gap here at 9:30am each morning.  The Boy Scouts were up early too, and invited us over for breakfast.  Bacon, sausage, eggs, orange juice, and pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup!  Heaven.  We filled up, and packed up our soggy tents and gear and hopped a ride in a Jeep that was dropping off hikers from the Blueberry Patch Hostel.  Gary greeted us and drove us down to his home and hostel just outside of town.  Upon arrival we were given the grand tour of the grounds, and introduced to his wife, Lennie, who was busy cleaning to change things over for our stay.  Many more hikers started rolling in that had gotten other rides into the hostel.  We dried out our gear in the grass and along the many clothes lines.  Lennie offered us homemade cupcakes, and took our wet stinky clothes in individual laundry baskets to start on the wash.  We all took turns taking showers in the bath house, which was fully stocked with any hygene product you could imagine.  Then Gary drove us all into town in a couple of shifts.  KB, Slims, Joe, and I all wanted to hit up a buffet for dinner.  We got an amazing southern dinner at Daniel's steakhouse, all you can eat salads, fried chicken, beef tips, potatoes, half a dozen types of vegetables, desserts, sweet tea (of course), for 10 bucks!  We walked around town, to do some resupply shopping.  I picked up a knee compression sleeve for at the drug store, and Gary picked us back up and brough us back to the hostel.  Some of us played cards in the dining area of the bunk house, then went to bed.  There were 11 of us in the bunk house that night:  Me, KB, Joe, Slims, Pops, Earthling, Tinkerbell, Steve, Dazed, Confused, and Robert.  For anyone planning an AT hike, the Blueberry Patch is a really nice place.  Gary is a former AT thru hiker, and he and his wife Lennie felt that God called them to offer this place as a refuge for hikers as a service to Him.  No smoking, drinking, drugs, etc here, so some hikers will skip the Blueberry, but that would be a mistake.  Gary and Lennie don't 'preach', or pressure anyone into their faith.  But through their warmth, kindness, and generousity, they are shining examples of God's true love.  There aren't enough words to describe how I felt staying there, but the best I can come up with is that they treated me like family.

At The Blueberry Patch with Lennie and Gary.

March 30

An offer you can't refuse

Started off with a big climb this morning up to Tray Mountain.  Elevation of 4430 feet.  At the shelter we were taking a break, when Josh came up behind us.  He told KB and I that he had started from Springer with 3 one pound jars of peanut butter.  He had eaten one, was working on the second, and was totally sick of it.  The third jar, he put down on the shelter floor with a twenty dollar bill and told us we could split the money if we took the jar of peanut butter from him and carried it with us.  Our first meal in town was on him!  The rest of the day went pretty well, but in the afternoon we had a big, steep climb up Kelly Knob, another 4000 footer.  I did great going up it, took a brief break at the top, but as soon as I started moving to head down the mountain, my right knee siezed up in pain.  I knew all too well what this feeling could mean, so I took it really slow down Kelly.  The downhill hurts most of all.  We got to the crossing for the shelter at Deep Gap, but the shelter was a steep 0.3 miles downhill.  While pondering my next move, it started to rain.  So I put on my pack cover and rain jacket.  Then my stomach started acting up, and I hurried off into the woods to answer nature's call.  A sense of panic started to creep in, but I decided to just sit and wait, assess the situation, calm down, and then make a decision.  I ended up waiting around in the rain for about an hour or so, and the knee was feeling managable, so I pushed on.  KB went on ahead, since I was moving so slowly.  He was wanting to make it to the next road crossing to tent, in order to catch the shuttle into Hiawassee first thing in the morning and do a true zero day.  I was in a lot of pain, and hobbled the 3.4 miles into the picnic area at Dicks Creek Gap, just before dark.  A break in the rain held off long enough for me to set up my tent right beside one of the picnic tables.  KB and I talked to a local Boy Scout troop, #605 out of Baldwin, Georgia, that was setting up in the area as well.  We were invited over to their picnic canopy for a full cookout of burgers, dogs, chips, cookies, and Gatorade!  KB is an Eagle Scout himself, so he was a big hit of course.  I was feeling pretty miserable with the knee acting up, and still having some, lets just say 'stomach', issues, but the kindness of the troop not only filled my stomach, but lifted my spirits, and that is what trail magic is really all about.

Entering another Wilderness Area.

March 29

The Cheese

Well so much for a zero day.  Feet are still banged up pretty good, but I'm well enough to keep hiking.  Passed a nice spring this morning that cut right through the trail.  There were pretty yellow wild flowers in bloom all along the spring.  The first goal for today is to make it to Blue Mountain Shelter about 7 miles up the trail.  Got there a little after noon, and took a lunch break.  Another hiker, Dave, suggested lacing my shoes differently to skip a loop or two to help loosen them up.  Going to try that and see how it goes.  Decision time coming up.  Should we try to shoot the gap at Unicoi?  Went for it, and came down off of Blue Mountain down into the gap for a loss of 1000 feet of elevation.  Then up, up, up Rocky Mountain.  There were some nice tent sites, great views, and some other hikers I knew up there at the summit that were stopping for the day.  Still a few hours of daylight left, so KB and I pushed on for tenting at the "Cheese Factory" site.  Ironically, the block of cheddar I had started with from Springer had just run out yesterday, so I mused that I could just pick up some more cheese if we pushed on to the factory, haha.  So down Rocky Mountain we went, and a small climb up to the site.  There was a forest road crossing, and I left a message made of broken sticks that said "0.3 Cheese", so that another hiker a few minutes behind us, named Darwin, would know that we were close to the campsite.  So, the "Cheese Factory" site is named as such as there was a dairy farm at that location in the early 1800s.  The locals thought this guy was crazy for putting a farm way up in the mountains (over 3500 feet), but after he started winning awards for his cheeses, I suppose he proved to everyone that mountain cows are happy cows.  KB, Darwin, and I set up our tents in a nice grassy area, cooked dinner, and went to sleep right at sundown.  There were several others tenting under the cover of a rhododendron thicket nearby.  Feet feel a litte bit better, but still not great.  I'll see how tomorrow goes I guess.  13.4 miles done today, biggest day yet!

Chattahoochee Gap signpost.

March 28

The Pain

We left the cabin and started back on the trail at Neel Gap.  Unique to this spot, the trail actually passes through the building of Mountain Crossings by way of a breezeway between the store and the hostel.  I entered a new wilderness area called Raven Cliffs.  Early into the hike we passed a couple of hikers we had met before, coming toward us going the 'wrong' way.  Apparently they had camped on top of the mountain somewhere for the night and had their food bags, which were hung 25ft off the ground from a tree branch, stolen by crafty bears in the night.  So all the food that they had bought at the store the night before was gone, and they had to by new food bags and spend a lot more money, at a premium cost, at the store at Neel Gap.  The bears in Georgia have learned how to snap the ropes allowing the food bags to drop to the ground.  Hiking  today I crossed many ups and downs.  The view from Cowrock Mountain was exceptional.  Then down I went into Tesnatee Gap.  What I'm finding is that the word 'Gap' is actually a four letter word, haha.  Because when ever you see "Gap", that just means you have to come down from some mountain, and go straight up another mountain.  It's a good place to take a breather before climbing.  Also, don't eat lunch in a gap, or you'll feel like a rock is in your stomach on the way up the immediate climb.  Going up Wildcat Mountain was really tough.  I kept going past Whitley Gap shelter since it was a crazy 1.2 miles off the trail.  I heard that when the shelter was built, the trail was supposed to have been rerouted to pass close to the shelter, but I guess that hasn't happened yet.  We entered another wilderness area called Mark Trial Wilderness.  It's pretty cool so far in Georgia, how one wilderness area backs up right to another, and another.  At the end of the day I rolled in to Low Gap shelter after about a 12 mile day.  The shelter was full, and there were dozens of tents, due to the bottleneck of hikers that was created at Neel Gap earlier.  I set up my tent and did my evening chores.  Doing my routine foot inspections I noticed several blisters cropping up.  One in particular on my right pinky toe was really bad.  It was like a blister on top of a blister, with a hardened callous cap.  I lit the end of a safety pin to sterilize it, pierced the blister in a couple places, let the fluid drain, then applied neosporin, a bandaid, and duct taped the whole toe to keep the bandaid in place.  Today it was decided that the guide book lies, haha.  Even thought the ups and downs according to the elevation profile didn't look that bad at first glance, the trail beat us up pretty bad today.  I need to take it slow and see how my feet feels.  KB is talking about taking a zero day in the woods at the shelter tomorrow.  A few of us got a nice fire going and sat around for about an hour after dark talking.  We heard of a total of 4 hikers that lost their food to bears the night before, just in the mountains that we had traversed today.  I went to bed without wearing my earplugs.  My food was secure on the bear cables at the shelter area, but I figured if one of those crafty bears strolled into camp in the night, I would rather be able to hear it and wake up and try to scare it away.  Haha!

Flowers starting to bloom at Low Gap shelter.

March 27

Blood

Woke up to another perfect morning, and hiked on into Woody Gap were some ladies were getting ready to start setting up to do some trail magic for hikers.  We got there a bit too early and missed out on the hotdog cookout though.  Had a tough climb up Big Cedar mountain, followed by a long down hill section for miles into Jerrard Gap.  Here's the tricky part.  Just recently, the Park Service here in Ga has closed the next 7 miles of the AT between Jerrard Gap and Neel Gap to overnight camping unless you have a bear canister.  Bear canisters are used by hikers out west, where bears can be more dangerous, but generally never used out here on the east coast.  The bears in this particular area have gotten acclimated to humans and have learned to associate people with food, and are really clever about getting bear bags out of trees for an easy meal.  So we pushed on to clear this section.  This took us into the Blood Mountain Wilderness, and up and over Blood Mountain, a 4461 foot summit, and home to the highest shelter along the AT in Georgia.  The Blood Mountain shelter was on of the original shelters along the AT, built in the early 1930's.  Blood was tough.  A 2 mile assault up the mountain, and a punishing 2 mile decent down a boulder strewn trail.  But the views from the top were unbelievable.  I'll always remember Blood Mountain.  That is a mountain that has character.  While taking a break at the top, we met a hiker that had already hiked over 1400 miles this year, starting on Jan 5 in Key West, and hiked through Alabama, then into Georgia to get on the AT.  WOW!  Once we got down the mountain into Neel Gap, we stopped at the famous Mountain Crossings outfitter and hostel.  I got a snickers bar and a coke, and they were delicious.  The store is full of gear and souvenirs. Inside the store, and in the trees outside, hikers boots from years past are strewn about.  A really unique place.  And I got to meet an AT legend, "Baltimore Jack".  Pretty cool.  The hostel was full, but we ended up getting a cabin a quarter mile down the road at Blood Mountain Cabins.  The $60 fee included free laundry service for our stinky clothes.  Split 4 ways with me, KB, and 2 section hikers, Josh from Arkansas and 'Natures Own', it was a great deal.  We were in the "Raccoon" cabin, appropriately named for the stuffed raccoons in the living room.  We had an oven to cook our frozen pizzas for dinner, stove, sink, bathroom, shower, clean laundry, and a back porch complete with rocking chairs overlooking the creek.  Amazing!  Definitely recommend staying in the cabins.  I have a few blisters to take care of, so I treated my feet before turning in for the night.

Blood Mountain shelter.

March 26

Ramrock

The day started off with the normal routine.  Get up, use the privy, get water, eat breakfast, pack up, and start hiking.  Everyone at the shelter was talking about the first big climb, Sassafras Mountain.  Pretty tough going up and down that, but the weather was great and the trail was beautiful.  Early in the afternoon we stopped at Gooch Mountain Shelter to eat and relax.  There was plenty of daylight left so KB (from West Va that I met yesterday), continued on and camped just off the trail at a place called Ramrock Mountain.  We did a 'big' 11.5 miles to get there and we were a little worried about pushing on that far, but man was it worth it.  The views from the rock outcropping were incredible.  We arrived in time to fix dinner with a father and son that were up there too.  A few minutes later 2 other hikers from the Atlanta area pulled in to camp, and we all got our tents and hammocks set up in our tiny little campsite.  During the evening we could hear heavy artillery being fired.  Apparently there's a military training facility nearby.

View from Ramrock Mountain.

March 25

First day on the AT

Woke up on Springer to a cold fog.  Very limited visibility.  We packed up our gear, ate breakfast, and continued hiking officially on the AT.....horray!  After a few miles we passed the Stover Creek shelter, and continued on until mile marker 4.3 at Three Forks, where Mom had driven up a forest service road to meet us for lunch.  Then I had to say my good byes, and Dad and Tim got in the car to head back home, and I kept hiking north.  After a mile or so, I stopped at a nice little waterfall at Long Creek to take a break.  I met another thru hiker there from West Va, and we continued on to Hawk Mnt Shelter to camp for the night.  Lots of other hikers were there already.  I set up my tent, got water, cooked dinner, several other hikers arrived throughout the evening, and stayed up talking with people for a little while before heading to bed.  Beautiful hiking today.  The trail was pretty easy going.

The start of the AT, and the first white blaze.