Thursday march 28

Headed from birch camp to Spence field shelter. left at 840, arrived at 340. Miles 171.7 to 182.5 from springer mtn...I left motivational notes for zag at Mollies ridge shelter and  Russell field shelter.. Tempting her with promises of a roaring fire in the fireplace and images of warm, dry house shoes, electric blankets and a full glass of scotch (vivid imaginations, right?)
Terrain gentle but changed from beautiful snow-covered to slushy mess as it warmed up throughout the day. Tonights total is18 people in a 12 person shelter..nobody wants to tent on snowy, slushy ground. All the smoky mtn shelters have fireplaces which are quite useful for sock and shoe roasts each evening...one or two pair of scorched socks and shoes is a small price to pay : )
We just heard the road from newfound gap to gatlinburg is open again after all the snow...woo hoo...now we can get to town and pick up food and medication..
It's 24.3 miles to newfound gap from here. The plan is to get to derricks knob tomorrow, but if we could push a little farther to silers bald, then to Mt Collins shelter, we'd have a short day on Sunday and get on down to gatlinburg...that's a big "if" we can agree to go on past derricks knob..rumor is it's very steep and this slosh makes for a slippery sliding day...poor traction makes for slow going. These hikingpoles have saved my life multiple times every day.
My feet were soaked today, even with the turkey bags...I think they've meet their match with the slush. I removed the wet stinky toe tape, used alcohol hand sanitizer on my feet (I know it says it's for hands, but trust me, my feet were better off for having been sanitized)...a hefty dusting of powder and dry socks made the world seem a lot better....and a brief warming at the fireplace.  Of course, all this must be done AFTER I've gone to get water for the evening and next day andgone to the privy. I want to keep my dry socks dry, so any outside journeys necessitate rebagging at the very least.
I find myself limiting water intake before bed so I don't have to visit the privy during the night.
Pic is sock roast in progress...

Wednesday march 27

After being dropped off at 950am by jp, the clever  and entertaining Fontana shuttle driver, we heaved on our packs, foreign as they were after 4 days without them. I had to relearn how to walk steadily with my old friend.

We walked a few miles on pavement, starting at Fontana dam. Hydroelectric plants are always a little scary to me. Everything is so HUGE.  We could look down the tubes where the water goes through down to the turbines. The flow rate must be in the  several million gallons per second  Like some great abyss...not something to fall into over the relatively flimsy rail ...
our destination was 5.6 miles to birch springs campground (aka Gsmnp campsite 113)  not a long distance, but slow going in the snow Zag was having some shooting pain in her right foot with each step, i honestly expected her to tureen back any minute. One time i thought she and goat had turned back, but they called back out to me eventually. ( "hooty hoo" is the secret forest call of serious thru hikers)  . Streak and I got to camp about 130. We had to scrape the snow  off our tent sites. There was nice afternoon sunshine..good southern exposure..made for an hour or so of good rest in my tent, allowing me to warm up and dry out shoes and socks before zag and goat arrived. I cooked dinner and ate@ 330 & was asleep by 630.  some other hiker came in near dark and camped down by the stream. A little paranoia regarding bears in the smokies, but slept as well as usual...tomorrow the destination is Spence field shelter.
Pic is socks hanging on hiking poles to dry in the sun....looking out my tent door...

Tuesday, march 26

Well......activities  for the day here at the Fontana village resort lodge:
Plan to meet for breakfast at 730..

So me, being full of intention, got up at 630 and showered, possibly (and hopefully) my last opportunity until gatlinburg...put on my hiking underwear(yes, they're different..compression shorts with anti microbial properties), turkey bags, packed up and cinched down my pack and went to the restaurant....zag was not so full of intention...well, not the same intention. Old goat, silver streak and I sat at the table and convinced ourselves that leaving today was the right thing to do. It's just snowing. No gusty winds. But it kept snowing, and zag, being the patient and rational person that she is, kept her eye on the weather. Being the antsy, needs regular physical activity to be sane and has been lounging for 3 days person that I am...I was not satisfied with the general forecast or the heresay chatter. I want to know the actual trail conditions. Not that there is a foot of snow at Mt la conte...or at the Marina, or at the back country ranger station...I want to know what's ON THE TRAIL....there is what's called a ridge runner that monitors and maintains their section of the trail....I called the backcountry ranger station every so often trying to get the report from the ridge runner...I never did.. All reports were discouraging.

Silver streak and I decided we would go slack pack the 1.5 miles from the dam to the Marina...so tomorrow ( ?) we can start from the dam....I'm really looking forward to walking across the dam..that'll be beautiful....it was snowing big fluffy flakes while we walked...it was very peaceful. The lake shore and surrounding area were totally covered in snow...actually EVERYTHING was covered in snow except the roadway. A very nice walk...it calmed me a great deal to be outside, as usual. walk quietly, stand still and listen.....
Came back, had lunch and a nap (yes, I settled down enough to nap)..days of our lives was on...the same characters are still there from my teenage years: Marlena,John black (Roman Brady?), Sammy....didn't see bo & hope...are they dead? Made me laugh and think of my mom and granny and aunt ferra... We all knew not to call or disturb in any way between 1100-100 a they were watching their "stories"..
Hmmmm where was I? Oh yes..in the bed. I've gotten really good at building my hotel bed nest: 4 pillows and an excellent wool blanket....it took a night or two to figure out how too be"just right" in the bed...here I've gotten it figured out and will have to leave tomorrow.....how did I get comfy in my bag?
All the shelters in the smokies have fireplaces I'm told. Sleeping with a fire going sounds great....
Tonight I'm having what is my last beer until gatlinburg or hot springs... Zag and I went down to the general store for what I'm calling "rape and pillage at the village" for 2 more days' worth of food in case we can't get down to gatlinburg (where our next food resupply box is)..the road is currently closed due to icy conditions and the roads will not be actively cleared..if it doesn't melt before we get there..tough ninnies. We'll have to keep going...so we got a little extra food.
We're watching basketball (go bama)
About to go have a hot bath then to bed I go.
Same plan tomorrow morning...meet at 730 with bag packed...keep your fingers crossed..don't get me wrong, I want to be safe...I'm just chomping at the bit...
Pics: snow at the lodge. Outside the  lobby this morning while trying to get a trail report, this afternoon from the restaurant...notice the mountain view on the left and the big snow cloud obstructing the mountain view on the right..we watched the storm roll by...then another came in 10 min later...

Monday march 25

This is day 3 at the Fontana resort village lodge. Not bad, I suppose, if this is how you want to spend your time: meet your hiker pals at the restaurant for $15 breakfast and talk about the weather conditions above 4000 ft, sit in the lobby and check email and all the weather sites you can find, hoping for different news, listening and watching the younger hikers to see who is staying and who is going , who thought they might go but changed their mind.
Last night, silver streak wanted to head out this morning...this morning he changed his mind due to the low temps & sustained wind speeds... Clever girl, Apollo, & dump truck just headed out...I hope they'll be ok.. Hermes decided to stay (he wears a hiking kilt and vibram 5 fingers) he had concerns of being cold as he already had on all his additional clothing...leggings)
Yesterday I spent my time sorting through my music files...which ones are stored "on device" vs. on the cloud, then taking advantage of the extended period of time with free wifi to download  (lobby areas only...zero reception or data in the rooms..makes for lots of hanging out in the lobby)
We also sorted our food and packed up the bounce box to send ahead to hot springs, NC, a box of miscellaneous to send home :dry bag( that originally held extra clothing that I sent home last week, then I used it for my tent, but I'd rather stuff my tent into the dead spaces in my pack), a smoky mountain cookbook purchased here at the resort, a hand written letter(wow!), pony tail holders, fire starter magnesium block, my reading glasses with the LED lights, and zag contributed a bag of stuff...this allows us to recycle a box home for the next food drop, and to further lighten our load...
I also printed out the shipping labels for the 2 boxes using the 1 computer/ printer available for guests.
Today I've had breakfast, deleted email, played words with friends, updated blog, chatted with various hikers coming & going. My big outing today will be to Donn my pack and take the boxes down to the PO...

This afternoon Megan, an internet friend of zag's, picked us up, drove us down to Maryville to the outfitters, to the brewery for lunch, to Walmart, to her house, and back to the lodge. The drive included deals gap...home of 318 curves (therefore very popular with motorcyclists)..."tail of the dragon"..we were in a manual transmission Nissan versa...pretty good on the fun factor...not like on 2 wheels, though.
Zag bought a foam pad to go underneath "princess" (the given name to her 3Rd big Agnes q-core...)
I just drooled over the 50% off rack...so many nice things in my size...I did consider having some discounted apparel shipped home....but I abstained. A little trail magic at the outfitters: Bert introduced us to little Debbie pies in the cardboard box...maintains the integrity of the pie in transit, high calorie, box can be used as fire starter...
My only purchase today was at Walmart. Megan told us about some awesome scent killing laundry detergent that hunters use...so I got some and she will ship it to hot springs.
Of course, at the age of 40-something, I am not immune to standing-in-line-impulse-chocolate-purchasing whims....one peanut butter Snickers and one herseys milk chocolate with almonds...
We had lunch at the smokies brewery..cheeseburger, mashed potatoes and beer.
Pics: mountain view with and without snow; owl, zag, Megan; on the way to Maryville,  community of Tallassee ,on the side of chilhowee mountain...unlike my hometown, the accent is on the 2ND syllable,

Saturday, march 23

A weather necessitated zero day at Fontana village resort lodge.
Big event so far is going down to the general store for groceries and the pit stop for wine while zag did her laundry. The whole group that had been hiking together the past few weeks is here, waiting on the weather to allow us a clear hike through the smokies.
Old goat did his laundry, silver streak printed out his smokies permit, scorched pipes cooked his lunch over the lobby fire place, John  has been talking nonstop for hours in the lobby, dumptruck clever girl, Apollo, detour, are the ones who's names I know.
We're all just hanging out, catching up on correspondence and checking the weather every hour or so and its not changing. High on Tuesday is 28 with wind gusts to 30mph, with snow....not great hiking weather.

Friday, march 22

I only shivered a few times in my bag last night...no snow on the ground this morning!
I meant to be on the trail by about 730 this am, but didn't wake up till 7..I jumped up, packed all my stuff, had a protein drink and was hiking by 8. The morning routine has certainly evolved with this cold weather. It's simply too cold for any standing around, such as cooking, bathing, etc..I've begun to sleep in what I intend to wear the next morning, in addition to my thin wool jammies...(those must be removed as they're too hot to hike in and I try to keep them as clean as possible)
I get out of my bag and pjs, stuff it all in the same waterproof bag (that, through the night, held my 3L platypus with the next days water supply safely insulated in my rain gear, deep inside my pack so as not to freeze), roll up my thermarest and put it in it's special bag, put everything in it's place inside my pack, one last privy stop (in hopes of pre hike poop) and hit the trail. It takes me about 2 miles for my fingers to thaw and to feel anything other than painfully cold....all the while, my eyes are watering from the cold and I hope to not stumble from pre awake stupor and cloudy eyeballs..I've done well so far.
Since I was hiking alone today and my sole purpose was to get to Fontana before the p.o. closed, I hiked as fast as I could for a long as I could...I kicked ass ! I left the shelter about 8 and got to Fontana about 12 30.... Avg 2.5 Mph..that's the fastest yet! I called for the shuttle from the Fontana dam visitors center. It felt so good to sit in a car! He was very kind to let me drop my pack off at the village report lodge then take me the.1 mile back down the hill to the p.o....saved me a little walking. I knew we had 3 boxes and I didn't want to carry those up that hill with my pack on, too. The lady at the po was very nice, though a little overwhelmed with all the hiker boxes arriving & hikers trying to pick up before closing. One poor guy was trying to call his mother and there is spotty cell service here at best. He insisted on standing in the tiny lobby while speaking very loudly into his phone: "mom? can you hear m...mom?"apparently, mom sent his box to Franklin, which is a few days south of here...Ahhhhhh, communication. I picked up our 3 boxes and trekked back up to the lodge and checked in.
I had a super hot shower, wore my frog togs (luckily i keep a spare pair of socks and underwear in the bounce box) back down the hill to do laundry (I washed everything except my sleeping bag and my rain suit) I wandered around the general store, sat and read some books for sale and drank free coffee (black) while my clothes washed...some other hikers came in with beer while I was drying, so I had a Budweiser....tough for such a beer snob...but a tired hikers gotta do what a tired hikers gotta do...
Zag came dragging in with her slack- packing, stayed- in -a -warm -bed and had -a -hot -shower -last -night self about 530...we went down and had dinner with some other hikers and talked about our plan for the smokies..the weather forecast calls for rain, snow and low temps and, quite frankly, we're worried about hypothermia...the bad news is, it's possibly a 3 day delay, the good news is, we will still be alive without any frostbite or hypothermia....

Looks like we're planning to stay here one more day to see what the weather does..if it hovers and dumps a bunch of snow, we'll have to plan further, if it blows on through with minimal residual, we can move on...I'm not looking forward to hanging out tomorrow...maybe refresh myself on rules of gin rummy...
I'll have more time to sort out the food and bounce box and prep for future drop points, maybe look up the life cycles of fern and moss that I can't quite remember all of from biology...
Oh yeah, finally saw trillium coming up today...all along the trail on the way down to the dam...spring is here!
Tonight we're all hanging out in the lobby because there's excellent Wifi service...I've tried to catch up on my blogs since I've got service and power..woo hoo! I am not looking forward to our delay, but, in the interest of safety  and  a less miserable experience... You know what? I'm truly enjoying this and I want to keep on trucking...but safely, not being pig headed just to get the miles...so I'll hang out here...

Pics today: sunrise in the mountains,
View of Fontana dam as I came down the mountain...frustrating as you can see the lake and dam from miles away...takes a long time to get down to it,
A neat little cave I passed along the way.

Thursday, march 21

Yesterday (Wednesday) was 6 miles uphill out of noc..wretched, I say
Sheltered last night@ sassafras..
new foot care strategy: alcohol sanitizer rubdown followed by application of powder all over, put on clean-ish socks for tomorrow that hung out in the sun all day today on the outside on my pack, put on my wool socks for sleeping over those to keep em all toasty...
sassafras shelter was a nice 2 story with windows facing East..made for a sunny morning...very helpful since we woke up to 18 degrees in the shelter and 12 degrees and snow outside!
8 kids from Towsen college (north of Baltimore, MD) stayed here last night..spending their spring break section hiking from Fontana dam to noc. They are part of an outdoor guide program at the college...typical for their age: enthusiastic and very vocal...most of them slept under a tarp outside the shelter...they were carrying and cooking lots of food...

Today's hike was 9 Mikes from sassafras to brown fork shelter. hiked mostly on snow surrounded trail..beautiful scenery today. I stayed WAY ahead of zag ,old goat and silver streak..zags brands new out of the box big Agnes Q core mattress delayed almost immediately last night, so she didn't sleep well at all as it was a cold hard floor at the shelter..so she and old goat got a shuttle into town this afternoon from stecoah gap
Tonight it's me, silver steak, movie star and rainbow braids at the brown fork shelter.  In the shelter register are many comments about mice here...e have hung our food bags on the mice string..we shall see...
Tomorrow I will hike all the way to Fontana.12 ish miles. I'll need to get an early start so I can get to the post office before they close for the weekend at 345 on Friday afternoon! I've got a food box and a bounce box to pick up!
Should be a bit warmer tonight (in the 20s) and in the 40s tomorrow...
Weather forecast for the smokies is a bit sketchy..calling for rain/snow through Wednesday...surely no fun...
Met on the trail today: bear charmer and gray jay
Pics: old goat (green shirt) and silver steak (in hat) near "jump up" on Wednesday
Snowy scenery on Thursday morning

Tuesday march 19

Soggy night after the storm.
The good news is my tent did as well as one could expect a tent to do in a thunderstorm complete with hail....mud splashed on the sides, condensation on the underneath of the rainfly. As I closed out the blog last night, I left you dangling regarding whether I would use my down bag, (since I really am trying to avoid getting those fluffy down feathers wet& I was decently warm with all my clothing on.) I checked the weather and it looked like the rain was over. When I sat up in the tent to unpack, I realized my sleeping pad was soaking wet.
Because I am a trail supergenious, I didn't think about my wet rain gear soaking my sleeping pad underneath me..I  was just so cold and nervous about the weather, I wasn't thinking about the obvious..duh.
I dried it off as best I could with my damp bandana and then rationalized that it was ok if the bottom of my bag got a little damp since the insulation was getting crushed anyway underneath me...
I slept as well as usual: woke up every hour or so to roll over, but careful to stay on my sleeping pad as the floor of the tent was damp...one dilemma I'm having is that I sleep much better with ear plugs, but they hurt the inside of my ears...like a decubitus ulcer from the constant pressure in my canal....so I take them out..then I can heat all the snoring and all the bears sneaking around looking for the food bag that's beside me inside the tent...
Woke up to frozen condensation and dew this morning..cold as everything but easy to shake off the tent for packing away.
After a few climbs, the downhill to nantahala started. It was a very harsh and precarious start, too. There is a place called the jump off and now I know why! It looks like there is nowhere to go, like the trail dead ends off the side of the mountain. I stepped back and looked around to make sure I didn't miss a turn or something and came to the conclusion that, "no, this really is the way I'm supposed to go"..I looked down to the right and had to let go of my poles to use my hands to lower myself down...I could've jumped off the end of the mountain and landed on the trail, but it would've killed me as it was about 50 feet down...
I passed silver streak, old goat, the ferret trio(domino, fidget, dude), and John on the way down the mountain. I didn't rest at all for the whole 6 posh miles and avg speed was 2.06mph...getting better!
Arrived at noc about 1pm, bathed me and my stinky clothing in the hot shower for about 30 minutes...sat out in the sun and dried for a couple hours; dried out my toes and my clothing, tent, sleeping pad and turkey bags...really nice..zag made it even better by bringing up beer and a pint of Ben &Jerry's peanut butter cup ice cream...yes, that was lunch.
After she showered, we went down to the outfitter and they replaced her leaky sleeping pad. very good as she's Ben having to reinflate it several times each night, meaning she's cold and uncomfortable..no good for hiking!
Had dinner with old goat and silver steak. Sleeping in the bunkhouse tonight: 1 set of bunk beds per room and a bench, must walk about 15 yards to the bath house...
Tomorrow we hike 6 miles up  out of this river canyon to the next shelter (sassafras gap) expecting really cold temps the next 2 nights...not looking forward to that, but as long as it's not raining, it's tolerable.
There's apparently some snow forecast for the smokies next week, we're hoping it won't interfere with our schedule. The problem with the smokies is the elevation makes it much colder, and were not really equipped to negotiate or survive significant amounts of snow..
Don't want to worry, just want to keep an eye on things and have a secondary plan..
Pics: me &old goat @dinner
Airing out my toes and gear

Monday march 18

Woke up to fog and light rain, so we all suited up in rain gear...all day it was on and off with the jacket..hot and sweaty climbing up, cold when you stop or the wind blows...lots of wardrobe changes today..it's hard to be a trail diva without a good support staff!!
We hiked 11 miles today. Zag and I move at very different speeds, so the method that had evolved is sort of like this:
The night before: "what's the plan for tomorrow?" Hike to here..ok
In the morning: where are we going? "we could go here, but if the weather is bad we can do this, or if my knees/feet hurt we can stop here and call the hostel and get a room..."
Isn't it early I in the day to know you can't make it to the shelter?
We'll see..
So I hike. Moving quickly to get warm and that's the pace that's comfortable to me.
I stop at a landmark about halfway to our original final  destination and wait..when my trusty hiking mate shows up, we have lunch
.so far, zag hasn't bailed on me for the longer destination..she's been a trooper, hiking on sore knees and feet....
I can hike about 5 miles without stopping before my muscles need to rest...usually it's around my shoulder blades from my intense use of the hiking poles..sister is getting some good shoulder extensor muscles....that pud at my armpits is about gone!
Today I hiked pretty much by myself. John the retired navy/auto zone guy walked with me just a bit. He's full of stories, but there's a little something off putting that I can't quite put my finger on...so I hike on..
Beautiful weather today...walking in the fog is so strange...it finally started raining good as I got to the shelter..thunderstorms complete with tiny hale.
Shelter was nearly full so I decided it was the perfect time to check "tenting in the rain"off my list. Any time the rain eased up, I sat up my tent, dug a little trench around it so the water would flow around it rather than under it (go air force field training!) what I couldn't control and didn't know about was the integrity of the tent itself...(remember that I have a down sleeping bag that is useless if it gets wet)..I'm in my tent now and feel an occasional drip..I've been too chicken to get my sleeping bag out of it's waterproof sack, I'm bundled up in my clothing from today, plus warm hat and orange puffy jacket..I'll look at the weather radar soon and will get it out if the worst I'd over..

In the shelter tonight: domino, fidget (UK girl), & 3 other guys

Sunday march 17

Happy St patricks day! I was hoping for some green beer trail magic today, but I got an even better surprise! A guy named fresh ground had set up camp and was serving up hot dogs, chicken noodle soup with French bread, salad and dressing, fresh fruit, coffee and hot chocolate...it was a nice break in the 11 mile day...I had 2 cups of soup with bread &  2 cups of coffee mixed with hot cocoa powder (aka trail mocha)..delicious!
30 of us got dropped off this morning and immediately scattered into our groups...you know all those young folks belting out the 20 mile days took off never to be seen again, then there's the middle bunch that cruise along at 2ish mph(that's us) and then the creepers that arrive at the same destination, just a bit later (we've been there, too)
I woke up during the night sometime with my left knee aching...I think I stretched a little too vigorously after my little 3 mile hike yesterday...I took some ibuprofen and it was fine all day today, but no severe downhills, either.
Zags knee was pretty sore the second half of today..she cooled it down with cold stream water when we got to the shelter this afternoon (the first thing I do when I arrive is go get the water for the night and next day to save a trip back to the water source in the morning)
We ate all the food we could hold for dinner and still didn't eat todays alloted amount..damn trail magic!
Fresh ground also had a scale...my pack weighed 36# with nearly 2L of water & 5 days worth of food.
Interesting sights today:
Forest of dead trees due to some disease?
Stone tower at wayah bald
Rain expected early in morning so I I've got my turkey bags ready...so glad to be in the shelter so I don't have to deal with a wet tent...
people I've meet the last few days:
John, retired navy
Old Goat
Prayer walker (who was day trading with Dixie grits....remember him? I heard that several people are using him for that while on the trail...)
Donny (pipes)..I also started calling him scorch  as he burned his eyebrows trying to light his pipe...)
Some guy with a ferret...(Domino)
Dinner tonight: protein drink cocktail, oatmeal appetizer, curry chili entree..yum

First Nero day

Nero = near zero
We had to stay one more night in Franklin as the outfitter didn't open until 10am...so we spent the morning sorting out our food and gear situation; figuring how to not carry more food than needed..sounds easy, right? I'll say I overestimated what I would need.
We also filled a box to send home: thick fleece leggings (the ones I walked through town in last evening), my long sleeved zip neck shirt (every time I've worn it, I took it of as I got too hot while hiking)..the awesome knife I got for Christmas as I was just carrying it around in my pocket,( more knife than I need), my Sawyer bag for the water filtration system sprung a leak, so my extra platypus bag will take it's place..

so with less food, less clothing and gear I prob lost 2-3 pounds (which my knees will appreciate on the next downhill) 

  at about 11am we caught a ride back up to Wallace gap (where we ended yesterday) and hiked the 3 miles that our bodies simply would not do yesterday. A sunny, warmer day..breezy. I only carried water, a few snacks and emergency kit in my pack..we avg'd  2 mph, not bad considering the long steep ascent...another first today: we hitched a ride to and from the drop points...the locals are super hiker friendly...got a good local history lesson to boot!
This afternoon we visited 2 local outfitters: 76 outdoors, the guys there were very helpful, even let us use their computer to print out usps shipping labels & use their packing tape to seal the boxes.
We had to check out a little pub that our  ride up to Wallace gap told us about: rathskellars; we had a cider and a spinach, mushroom, & provolone sandwich on homemade bread..very much like a miniature calzone..
This afternoon we took the shuttle down to Walmart and the other outfitters....we bought fresh fruit and spinach for dinner tonight. We also purchased 1/2 gallon of chocolate soy milk which a drank while sitting out front waiting for the shuttle to return....
Tonight we've been trying to catch up with communication, find the slow leak in zags air mattress (unsuccessful), and enjoying our final rest before a hot the trail first thing in the morning...destination is 9 miles.. tenting it tomorrow night..expecting rain on Monday or Tuesday...another learning experience...
Pics are of us hitching a ride from winding stair gap back to town, zag soaking her feet in trash cans with Epsom salt water while her new compression shorts dry in the sun...
Another beautiful day in the mountains

Friday, march 15, 2013

last night we stayed at Carter gap shelter..we met up with 2 nice guys that are here from California to hike the AT: pilgrim and trekker...they were going to get up at 615 am to get an early start to make it all the way to Franklin, NC today...16 miles or so...Nevermind that it was dark at 615, it was also cold... hard to get out of that bag..it was the first time we slept in the shelter. A positive experience. No mice activity that we were aware of..we hung our food bags on mice string just to be safe. (I'll give a tutorial on that later)
we hiked our butts off today and still couldn't catch those old men..I'm sure it's because their legs are so long! They ended up 3 miles ahead of us and we all got picked up by the same shuttle van and are at the same hotel tonight in Franklin.  our sleeping bags rested out in the sunshine while we showered and did laundry...I want you to think about what clothing I could have possibly worn while I did laundry....yes, my rain jacket, some leggings that I've only slept in, and my beige Crocs with the orange strap...".I'm sexy and I know it....I hike"
I even walked to some gas station for beer in that outfit....zag and I sat outside the motel room in strappy plastic chairs, watching the sun set and drinking a beer (that we poured into our nalgene bottles so we wouldn't get in trouble) waiting for laundry to finish...it was great..our toes were tape free, bathed and were airing out in the sunshine...a healing moment, for sure..
Well, it's off to bed after dinner at the local steakhouse....we'll see if we make it out of here tomorrow or not..got to go
to the outfitters in the morning for a few odds and ends. Then to the post office to hopefully send some stuff home and have lighter packs..my feet are starting to complain...pictures are: "vista" trail..morning sun peeking through...the actual vista, zag getting water at a lovely stream..I decided I needed a little refreshment here, too, in the form of rinsing my face and hair and my bandana, which I then used to bathe My torso and pits....so nice...
Good night, all...

Thursday, march 14

We hiked from standing Indian shelter to carter gap. I must say the terrain in north Carolina slopes more gently than in north Georgia...it's a good thing, too, as we didn't get out of camp until 11am..don't be alarmed..it was 19 degrees last night..very difficult to get out of my toasty bag and into freezing hiker clothes..my compression shorts were frozen solid so I had to switch to plan B...the backup underwear..so we walked..pretty UN eventful...crossed some beautiful streams..2 new Olympic sports I propose: mud skating and rock hopscotch...
The picture is of  something we keep seeing. It's ice that comes up out of the damp ground..(water expands as it freezes) and this just shoots right up out of the ground..so beautiful and bizarre..I'm sure there must be a name for it, but no one here at the shelter knows..so let me know if you know..

tuesday March 12,2013

Today was the good bye day....to slack packing, warm hotel beds  hot showers, and, worst of all, my best friend and love of my life...
I know, it's not like I hadn't prepared for this, but it's still hard...so of course I cried as I hiked (anyone that knows me I'd totally rolling their eyes as I cry so very easily) and what made it even worse is that we watched Forrest Gump last night...I'd you can watch that without crying, you're just not human...

Today we hiked 9 ish miles to Blue gap..we're now in north Carolina! Woohoo for crossing our first state line...beautiful day...hiked into a cloud on top of some mtn, complete with frozen precipitation..not snow, hale, or sleet...not sure what to call it...sun was shining all around, but raining ice down on us as we walked...
tenting at the campground at bly gap with probably 10 others..
Met some other thru hikers today..one couple (dream & socks) with their dog, Charlie...it's nice to see that he's so well behave..makes me miss my 2...I hope my old man can hang in there till I'm done and I hope that puppy girl doesn't drive him to an early grave!
Missing my family tonight, but warm and toasty in my tent.
Addendum: had Fritatta and grits for dinner

Addis gap to dicks creek gap (hiawassee)

That is actually a lie. We really hiked from 1 mile away on the forest service road....(it was about an 8 mile drive up this dirt road...slow going over muddy ruts)...total hiking today was 6.5 miles...in my humble defense, I carried my full pack except I only had today's food..(30 pounds)..my left knee was perfectly fine, right knee a little pinchy from the extra weight?? Fine tonight, though...
We met "snowy frog" on the trail today and later gave him a ride into hiawassee to the holiday inn express...after dropping off the frogman, we went to michaelees for a great lunch, dessert and a latte....
At the hotel tonight, zag and I have been doing last minute pack inspection with the hope of reducing both volume and weight.  Food is big and heavy(and it's only 5 days' worth)
Zag has some nasty blisters that are being very worrisome...it's hard to enjoy hiking when your feet are killing you...
So our packs weigh 37ish pounds...more than we'd like....makes me want to eat a lot the first few days to reduce the pack weight!
Todays hike was so beautiful...very foggy ..have you ever taken a walk in a foggy forest? Treat yourself to a magical experience.

Day 4 Unicoi to Addis gap

Saturday march 9, 2013

The original plan for today was to hike 17 miles...but after  hiking our butts off for 14 miles yesterday, we decided 17 was just too many for today....not enough daylight or leg energy...
So off we trekked from unicoi gap...uphill for a ways...we met up with a little trail magic at tray mountain gap...BSA troop 605 out of Baldwin, GA was serving up pancakes..had a Nice warm fire going (to dry my hands after washing with real soap and water)...
I love pancakes on the middle of nowhere...go boy scouts! If I'd had my wits about me, I would've shown them my official cubscout  flashlight that my pal Michael gave me to use on the trail (it was safe in my pack the whole time)
We met up with a few thru hikers today:
one bell; a couple from Montana that we leapfrogged with all day...
Up and over rocky mtn & tray mtn ..then we had to decide which way to walk on the fire service road to meet up with our ride...it was to be a 1 mile walk and we didn't want to go the wrong way..that would've been a 3 mile mistake. We chose the right direction, thank goodness...
Lots of rocks and sunshine, less mud and ice...all beautiful : )

Friday march

Today is Friday, March 8, 2013.
Day 3 of our slack packing...on the way to Katahdin....
one issue with slack packing is that someone is picking you up at a specific time and place.
Today our destination was 14 miles.
We got dropped off at Hogpen gap at 8am...there was nowhere to get picked up except unicoi gap which was 14 miles away.
The weather was absolutely perfect. Sunny and a little warmer...I  stripped down to my short sleeved shirt a time or two today(on the uphills of course)
The terrain included several miles along an old logging road which was fast and easy except I was trying to go as fast as I could sustain...for several miles..my legs are not at all accustomed to this as I am not a runner.I learned today that I do best on varying terrain...my legs like change....often is better.
We met our first thru hikers today.
They were leaving low gap shelter when we passed. The older guy (I think his name was "Dixie grits"). We walked together now and then.. He seemed nice; lives in Mississippi but hoping to move to Virginia someday. We leapfrogged with him until just before lunch at Chattahoochee gap. We caught the other guy from low gap shelter at Chattahoochee gap. He walked a bit faster (and we stop for a minute here and there : )..anyway, the four of us walked along the logging road as it wound around the side of the mountain. I kept catching strains of someone really belting it out...just singing as they walked...I commented to myself (as I do continuously throughout the day..this is the only one I'll share from today)"he's really got a set of pipes"..lo and behold
..this is the guy we caught up to at lunch..he didn't have a trail name yet, so I told him I'd been calling him"pipes"all day in my head..so I hope it sticks..I will have bestowed my first trail name if it does...we went up and over blue mountain..then came on down to the parking lot...another awesome day on the AT...my toes and knees are sore..but life is good...
Tomorrow's another day..

Neels gap to Hogpen Gap

Thursday March 7, 2013
Snow is much more beautiful when it's sunny, there's not as far to walk and there's more time to get there.
Today our destination was only 7ish miles.
Melting snow on a well traveled trail is called a mud path.
Praise the turkey bags...
Ascending a mountain makes you hot and sweaty...more so if on the sunny side.
Stopping to eat makes you cold, more so if on the shady,windy, snow- covered side...
Those 7 ish miles took longer than anticipated as we had to keep adding or shedding layers throughout the day.
We actually stopped and sat down in the sun for lunch...cool and breezy, we sat on a garbage disposal bag to keep our rearends dry...worked like a charm!
So we sloshed down the last mountain side and happened upon two fair maidens that had been to several wineries (tasting) and went for a burger and fries....
All is well.. And if it's not, I'm sure ice and ibuprofen will help ...

Woody gap to Neels gap

Wednesday march 6, 2013
Driving through the mountains of north Georgia this morning, we noticed the snow on the mountains "oh look how pretty.."
We arrived at woody gap (which is near suches, georgia.) at noonish only to find the winds whipping the snow around at about 40mph... Thus began our first day of hiking the AT...we had 11.6 miles to get to our destination of Neels gap..(to follow our excel spreadsheet that has our hike mapped out with the assumption that we can average 12 Miles per day....)
The first four days we are doing what's called slack packing...not needing multiple days worth of food really cuts down the weight of a backpack...
So as we stood shivering in the freezing wind and snow earlier today, deciding what we each wanted to include in our pack, all i could think about was warmth, carbs and shelter. So i took my tent and sleeping bag (in case we had to stop for some medical emergency), hat, fleece gloves and waterproof mitten covers, balaclava, Kermit green marmot ether driclime hooded jacket, rainpants (added protection from wind)...this is what i had on in addition to my usual hiking pants and shirt...yes, i had on my Turkey bags..
.the just in case stuff  : down mittens, Patagonia micropuff jacket (the low profile blaze orange one) rain jacket...

For food i had some  homemade salmon jerkey , gorp, and fruit "leather"

We walked all 12 miles (ish)..snow, ice covered rocks, wind...really beautiful except for the wind...I've never been so happy to see a rank old stone structure from the ccc...built in the 30s...i knew we only had 1.5 miles left until our destination..all downhill, over icy rocky terrain..to our sweet companions awaiting with beer and fried pies...yummy..ended the day with beer and pizza in Helen ga...hot shower and bed here i come

Home

Tomorrow morning we leave very early...drive to Georgia, get dropped off and hike 11 miles or so to our first destination.
We're doing what's called slack-packing for a few days. (hiking with a  less-than-full pack...much like "not playing with a full deck") This should help my aging body with the transition into pack-encumbered daily hikes ...hopefully with less chance of actual tissue damage.(..I expect to be very sore, stiff and achy...but that's ok.)
Today I am under the electric blanket....(maybe trying to absorb as much warmth as possible) while the laundry dries and the dishwasher finishes. I'll fill the bird feeder and double check my pack contents, food schedule and bounce box..recharge my spare battery, hang some new lights on the back porch. Eventually I will actually go and fill the truck with gas and gather snacks for the drive over. But for now, I'll stay under the warm blanket...

Humbled

When is the last time you were surrounded by nearly all the people you love?
(Funerals and holidays don't count.)

Let me tell you what a wonderful feeling it is. I understand that some people have some anxiety about their "worlds" colliding.....let them collide.
Let them crash forcefully into each other and mingle and mash you in between...feel all that love, kindness and generosity squish out and fly all over you...leaving you drooping under a thick, heavy coat of "we love you and support you",
"i always thought you had good sense, but you're crazy as hell for doing this", "I'm so envious that you're making this dream come true for yourself",
"I will pray for you every day",
"can we meet you somewhere with supplies?",
"here's the phone number for my friend/sister/parents ....call them and they will feed/shuttle/board you"

This is a heavy garment.
This is love.