Hot Springs, NC -- Damascus,VA

Day 23

Mileage 14.8

We left Hot Springs and began our ascent after a great omelet and a phenomenal cinnamon bun at the diner.

After a 0 day it's really interesting how quickly my legs forgot what they were doing. 

They hurt. They are tight and its uphill all day.

Everyone took their time today.  We stopped for like 2 hours for lunch.

It's crazy that 15 miles is a small day now.

Day 24

Mileage 18.8

I don't have much to talk about today. 

So I'll talk about food.  I packed out fucking pesto. I also packed out Cabbot cheddar cheese and quinoa pasta.  Pesto mac and cheese has changed my life. 

Out here food is everything.  We talk about what we are going to eat in town days before we arrive.  We all have lists with must have items.

The sky seems to always open up in the afternoon to enjoy some good views.  I still enjoy the silence of the woods.  There is still an exhilarating feeling after every big climb and the 10 seconds following it.  Those few seconds as your breath becomes normal and your heart calms down never gets old.

Day 25

Mileage 14.8

Hiked all morning in the fog and a drizzly rain. We are doing 15 mile days until we get to Erwin, TN. 

I've been really enjoying the "balds" we hike.  Otherwise the woods are barren.  The balds at least give us a change in scenery.

Once again the sky opened up in the afternoon.

My lunch was two tortillas with honey, nutella, peanut butter and trail mix. Really hoping I don't get sick of it. Minus the nutella, that shit is too sweet.

Day 26

Mileage 15 ish

Gorgeous day.  Blue skies and warm! Yet we hike in the forest all day and only get this one view.

I hiked alone all day. The quiet was great.  Days like today make me feel like I still am enjoying this enough to finish.

Day 27

Mileage 10 ish

The rush to Erwin is real.  5.5 miles into Uncle Johnny's.  I immediately shower.  We then get a hitch into town by two teachers who are fishing for spring break.

We go straight to a chinese food place and go hard on some food. 

We then go to a laundromat and wash our clothes.  Then take turns going to the grocery store to resupply.

Everyone goes overboard.  We haven't had a real grocery store for a while.  I got stuff to make chikpea curry.   Honey Badger and Wet Wipes got a 12 pack. Glim Glom brings a box of wine.  Our packs have not been heavier.  Literally everyone's bags weigh minimum 35 lbs. With the heaviest at 51!

We have 4.5 miles to get to the first shelter outside of Erwin. It's straight up the whole way.  This is hell.

Ok fast forward.  We have ate and drank errythang.  We all get to sleep. Loudest snoring ever.  That coupled with the giant storm, none of us slept very much...

Day 28

Mileage 22

Start hiking and in 10 minutes the rain starts.  I just got my rain jacket and fly on before it pours.

Today is one of those days where I didn't look up much.  With my rain hood on its hard to see anything but the path right in front of me.

Let's talk more about food.  This chikpea curry is fucking bomb.  I packed out: 2 red bell peppers, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, chikpeas, quinoa, garlic paste, and vidalia onions.  It uses a bit of fuel and weighs a bunch, but fuck it was good!

Also of note, today is the first day I listened to music while hiking.  If you get the right music, the uphills get crushed.

Day 29

Mileage 18

I haven't talked much about my mental state, but the last few days had been taxing. Not many views and a very barren and drizzly trail. 

Well today makes it all awesome!  9 miles in the morning with some exquisite views. Which start with Roan mountain and a spruce and fir forest and ends with walking along the top of 3 balds.

Then we go eat way too much food at Bob's dairyland.  I got a great veggie burger with tots and onion rings and a fucking milkshake.

I hike another 9 miles.  The beginning is brutal for everyone. It's all uphill and we are all super full and many grunts and guttural noises are to be heard. 

We arrive at a side trail that has a waterfall. What do a bunch of hikers do when they see a giant waterfall? We immediately climb it and get in the water.

Day 30

Mileage 16.7

Fucking. Rained. All. Day.

It was great! 

Now I'm at the weirdest hostel with cats everywhere.

The "beds" are a small amount of foam.  One has cat shit on it and one has cat piss.  I chose one without either and not next to the giant spider.

That being said, Bob Peoples does a lot of work on the trail and the experience of going here was worth it.

Went into town to get a resupply for the next 2 and a half days. This store is straight out of cold war with half of the goods expired. 

Can't wait until we get to Damascus...

Day 31

Mileage 18 and a half ish

Left the hostel by 8:30 and came up to this roaring waterfall within a mile. My mood immediately changed.  Nothing like walking next to a roaring river to lift your head.

Next up we arrive at this lake.  We are all going slow today.  We chill and take an hourish break at the lake and eat.

We are heading to a vista shelter tonight!  We finally get to it at maybe 5.  It's crazy to think that we took like 2 hour long breaks today and still did 18 miles no problem. 

This day really helped me out mentally.  It hasn't been often that I dug into my head, but the last few days I definitely asked myself why the fuck am I doing this.

The answer seems so easy on days like this.  After sitting on a cliff outside the shelter watching the sunset, nothing else mattered besides what I could see and the small conversation a group of us was having about the mountains we were looking at.

We realized all the mountains we could see were ones we had hiked in the last few days.

Day 32

Mileage 23.3

We wake up early to watch the sunrise. The perfect start to the day.

Today we are doing a 23 mile day and some are even pushing to do a 30 mile day.

As everyone leaves for the day, the 6 of us are the last ones at camp. Darwin, Legs, Glimglom, Honey Badger and Wet Wipes. 

After today our crew has been hiking for 300 miles together.  We are all pretty much on the same page and have a great sense of humor together.  It has 5sure been a big factor in getting so far.  If I was by myself this whole time with no one to hear my shitty jokes or get songs stuck in their heads...

Day 33

Mileage 10

Fuck.  I slept like shit.  My sleeping pad is broke and my feet are cut to shit. 

I guess I hadn't mentioned these things prior.  My shoes disintegrated at around mile 400 and the heals were just the plastic part.  So my feet have pretty shitty abrasions. New shoes in Damascus!  Thanks Mom!

My sleeping pad baffles at the top came apart.  So half of it is just giant and my head slips off all night. Heres to hoping the outfitter can hook it up...

Ok let's not talk about that bad stuff.  Today is race to Damascus.  10 miles in under 3 hours!  Drop my bag off and go straight to the coffee shop! 

Then straight to mexican.  Burrito and marg let's fucking go!

Ok now I go to b&b and shower.  Then we all get dinner and then head to the brewery.

A much needed down day.  We all are doing a 0 tomorrow too!

Day 34

Mileage 0!

I'm the only one who is at the b&b, so I eat at the table as much as I can and chat with the owner about the next parts of the trail.

All that I need to do today is go to the outfitter and resupply.  Otherwise its all about food and chilling!

The Great Smokies National park

Day 15

Mileage 14.1

Today I started the ascent into the Great Smokies National Park. 

This has been what I've been looking forward too since day 1! 

Holy shit it was a climb to get to our campsite.  We hiked up into the clouds all morning.

Met up with several other hikers at camp we had seen the last few days.  Our squad now is: Papa, BO, honey badger, darwin, legs and patrick.

The smokies are so beautiful.  We are camped at 4400 feet and having a blast.

Day 16

Mileage 16.6

We had an aggressive day planned.  A shit load of PUDs.  

Damn its cold.

Every time I stopped my hands went tingly, even with two gloves on each hand.  The trees were beautifully covered in ice all morning.

There was a giant muddy hill we had to go down.  I slipped and slid on one foot with my other up as high as my head.  The most ungraceful ballerina ever.

In the afternoon the sun came out and all those ice covered trees started spitting ice chunks at me. Cut the top of my damn head from one. Little assholes.

At the end of the day my legs were tired.  I tented out and passed out at 7pm.

I woke up cold twice and had to put on more layers.

We are camped 3 miles from Clingman's Dome!  And the plan for everyone is to get to Newfound gap and go into Gatlinburg and resupply and stay the night.

Day 17

Mileage 14 ish

Today was epic and terrifying!

First we hike 3 miles and go up into the tower at Clingman's dome!  You can see for miles!

The descent down Clingman's was covered in ice.  There was also a waterfall pouring water on top of said ice. It was unbelievable.  I had to go painstakingly slow.  But I didn't fall once!

Got to Newfound gap at 2pm.  Everyone had gotten hitches in town.  I had enough food so I kept going.  3 more miles to stay at one of the highest shelters on the trail at 5950 feet.

I did get a beer and water as trail magic at the gap though!  I also dropped my peanut butter and fell on my ass in the parking lot.  Figures.

Got to the shelter around 4pm.  This made it so I climbed all three of the 6000 footers on the AT in the smokies today!

There was a guy camping at the shelter just for the night who shared his mint chocolate moonshine.  Sup.

Day 18

Mileage 19.8

Today had a choice.  12.2 miles or 19.8 miles.  In the smokies you have to stay at the shelters.

Lumber Jill and Beeker both were down and we got to the first shelter at 2 and decided to keep going.

Beautiful day hiking.  Started in the fog and ended up with a bluebird day.

20 miles was a long fucking day.  The last uphill my legs were tired.  But we made it to the shelter by 5:30.

Mostly hiked by myself all day.  I've been really loving the alone days.  I get to think and admire the nature surrounding me. 

Day 19

Mileage 17.5 ish

Only 7 miles left of the smokies!

Got an early start and was hiking by 7:30 but just as the sun rose the clouds covered it.

Made it to the end of the smokies by 10 and all they had was a sign about killing bears. WTF.

Got to the standing bear hostel and ate half a pizza and got some candy bars and a v8.

There we met up with some people we hiked with a week or so ago.  Winter, Oz and truck joined Lumber Jill, Beeker and me as we pushed forward another 7 miles to the shelter.

There was a new crew there building a fire and also planning on getting to Hot Springs in two days.  Sat around the fire until 8:30 and passed out.

Day 20

Mileage 13.1

A day with two peaks to climb, but low mileage. 

These days seem to follow a schedule lately.

Wake up at 3am.  Convince myself to go pee.  Look at the stars.  Sleep until 6:30.  Convince myself to unzip my bag.  Put my shit away as fast as possible.  Get my food out of the trees.  Eat 3 packets of oatmeal with a packet of carnations instant breakfast, honey and peanut butter.  Put my bag on and walk.  Hope my hands aren't numb yet (They are).  Walk until I heat up.  Take most of my clothes off.  Eat lunch. Walk.  Get to the end goal of the day.  Eat dinner #1.  Eat dinner #2.  Swear about already eating my desert candy earlier.  Get in my sleeping bag as its dropped below freezing by now.  Sleep.

Day 21

Mileage 13.5

Today's motto.  Get to Hot Springs as fast as possible. 

I need a shower and to do laundry.  Its day 7.  Filth bucket.

Left camp at 8 and got to Hot Springs at 12. I think this is the fastest I've hiked so far.

That said everyone this morning had that motto and I was one of the last out of camp.

I headed out in all my clothes like normal.  Get up the immediate climb halfway.  I strip down to short shorts and short sleeve.  Everyone I passed passes me back.  The leap frog is real.

Tip toe and I head out at a good pace and pass everyone except Darwin, who was rushing to find a place to stay tonight.

At one point I asked Tip toe if he wanted to pass me.  "If I go any faster I'm going to have an aneurysm."

That said I got to the place I'm staying around 12.  Immediately showered and went off with Beeker to do laundry and eat.

We ate at the diner.  I had a veggie burger and mac and cheese with a giant pepsi.  I finally feel full.

About to meet up at 7 with the whole crew for dinner and live music.

Tomorrow is spa day.  I got a 6 pack and a bunch of baked goods from the fam to bring!!! You are the best.  Although I have no clue how to make the guac they sent me ingredients for...

--Strider

Day 22

Mileage 0

Made guac and bought a six pack.  Going to the spa to eat snacks and drink.  I think there are 14 of us!

Franklin - fontana dam

Day 11

Mileage 17 ish

It sleeted and snowed all day!  13 degree high for the day in the mountains!

It was so fucking beautiful.  The snow and the peace was epic.

I met up with two guys in Franklin I had met earlier on the trail.  Papa and BO.  They are both 60 years old.  We have had a blast together.  Papa is training for his next ultra marathon.  BO has a phd in anthropology and teaches at Duke.

My legs are on the other side and seem like they are healing and getting stronger.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast run by an English couple that was super weird. We had to leave all our clothes in a mud room not attached to the house.  Then we had to immediately show and wear a provided track suit...

Day 12

Mileage 14 ish

We started at burningtown gap.  It was 9 degrees with 30mph winds.  There were only two people ahead of us on the trail.

I was warm except my hands were cold and tingly for the first 20 minutes.  After that I heated up and enjoyed some spectacular views all day!

We made it to the NOC today and stayed at the hostel.  I ate two dinners at the restaurant.  I was starving today!  I didn't want to stop and cool off. 

Day 13

Mileage 14 ish

I left the NOC at 8:30 and started the 8 mile uphill climb.  I felt it in my right knee after the climb. 

Such a pretty day in and out of the snow!

I was super tired after the day, but I stayed in a bed and breakfast log cabin.  Hot tub.

Hot tub.

Day 14

Mileage 16ish

Made it all the way to fontana dam!!!  Holy shit!  I've gone 167 miles total.  And we start the smokies tomorrow!!!!

Today was a nice and easy except for Jacob's ladder... 

No knee pain today!!!  My Achilles is still tight, but at like 80% so it seems like I'm on the mend.

I also hiked the first half with BO and we talked all morning.  Super smart and genuine guy.

The 2nd half of the day I hiked in silence by myself as I overlooked fontana dam.

I'm so excited to start the smokies tomorrow!

They say only 50% make it past the smokies so wish me luck!

Happy St. Patrick's day! I'm in a dry county in the south.

--Strider

Dick's creek - Franklin NC

Day 7

Mileage 17.9

Today was a long day.  Got free breakfast from where I stayed.  Then started walking towards the trail.  Got a hitch with a guy who was doing trail magic the day before.

Didnt start hiking until 9:30


Hiked through the forest fires all day today;  it was surreal.

Got up to indian mt shelter by 5!  My legs are tired!  Word is snow tomorrow though...

Holy shit!! I finished Georgia!!! I was worried I was picking up a southern draw there for a second...

Day 8

Mileage 16.7.

Welp today was a struggle.  I'll keep the complaining quick, because I'm still having a blast. 

My right knee locked up for the second half of today due to a too small brace I bought.

Also had to climb the first real mountain.  Albert mountain.

Also it started sleating and snowing.

Even still, today was beautiful.  Climbed to the top of a tower on top of a 5200 foot mountain.  I could see forever! 

I made it over 100 miles today sup?

Day 9

Mileage 8ish as fast as possible.

Spent my first night in a shelter!  I was warm in my sleeping bag, but fuck it was cold in the morning.

I messed up and thought it was 7:15 when it was 8:15.  UGH.  The shuttle gets to winding stair gap at 11:30... 

Oh I forgot it snowed 5 inches last night!

I start packing my gear and got my bear bag down to make breakfast.  I then realize what time it actually is.  Pack my shit, eat a snickers and leave saying goodbye to the last few at the shelter as I high tail it out of there.

Good thing I can bend my knee today!  Push it pace wise and make it to the stairs at 11:27!  They yelled up to see if anyone was still coming.  "Don't leave without me!"

I made the bus and I'm now on round two of lunch.

Going to the lazy hiker brewery in a few to celebrate clean shave's birthday!

I am going to take a zero tomorrow.  I need to buy some warmer clothes as its going be pretty cold this week.  My knee could use a full rest day too.

It looks like the safe move is to go slow until fontana dam and might have to wait out the weather to go through the smokies.

--Strider

Neel Gap - Dicks creek

Day 4

Mileage 16ish

I woke up in a cloud and can't see 3 feet in front of me!

Ankle is less swollen and barely bruised this morning!

Today was really cool weather all morning.  Hiking in and out of clouds and rolling fog.  I was hiking through giant rhododendron bushes!   That being said it also rained lightly all morning.

Got to first shelter by 1230.  Took an hour lunch and soaked my ankle in a stream.

My legs felt good so I kept on hiking.  Made it to the blue mountain shelter at 4!

It fucking poured.  I'm wet.  My whole life is wet. The shelter was too full already.  I set my tent up in a new record 3 minutes...

Tonight I eat two dinners. 


Day 5

Its 19 miles to dicks creek.  I'm thinking i do 12-15 today and make tomorrow a nero and rest up.

It stopped raining this morning.  But its windy and cold.  I did wake up to an amazing sunrise though.


My whole life is still wet.  I put my bag and some clothes out to dry.  My sleeping bag stayed dry and I do have enough dry clothes.

Ended up hiking 15.5 today and it was beautiful all day!  Halfway through the morning I took my ankle brace off and it felt normal all day!

My right knee and left achilles were tight most of the morning and loosened up as the day went on.

Got into camp and saw some familiar faces and hung out around the fire and talked until 8pm! (Thats super late)

Really need to figure out how to get more calories.  I keep waking up hungry.  Going to resupply tomorrow and see if 4000 calories is better than the 3300 to 3500 I have been eating.


Made it to Dick's creek and shuttled into town.  While I got here early, I still think staying the night is a good idea to rest my legs.

Today is my first nero and I'm looking forward to doing laundry! I'm just the nastiest right now.

--Strider

Springer Mt. - Neel Gap

Trail log

Day 1

Today I got to start hiking at 9:45 AM.  (Late start)  I started with 6 others from the hiker hostel after we had a great breakfast. 

I felt great today.  I made great pace and my legs felt strong.

This may actually have been the best fucking day of my life.  The views in Georgia are beautiful and the trail is easy compared to anything I've ever hiked before.

I made it to the gooch gap shelter at 5pm today.  Which puts my day mileage total at 16.7!!!

I plan on getting a much earlier start tomorrow and am shoot for Neel Gap in 2 days!

Day 2

Mileage 8.2

Today I learned things.  First, don't sleep at too big of angle.  I slid into the bottom of my tent all night...

Second, don't walk and look at the view at the same time.  I rolled my ankle slightly.  No bruising or swelling though and its only slightly sore.  Decided to take it easy for a bit. 

Day 3

Mileage total will be 11.5

Went over blood mountain and got to Neel Gap today.  Spent a while there and got a hot shower and resupply.  Now about to hike into camp.

Ankle is a little swollen and bruised today, but has felt fine all day.  Bought a brace and am just going to cruise the next few days and rest it.

Trying to get to dicks creek and stay at the top of georgia hostel in a few days.

Looks like wifi here can't handle pictures.  Ill post some as soon as I can!

--Strider