4/26/13: Zero'd in a pretty apple orchard yesterday bc I was lazy and decided eating copious amounts of my food, yoga and napping in a sunny field all day was way better than hiking. Besides, with all the rain everything was wet so we hung and spread out things to dry. Going into town (Elk Park) tomorrow. Staying at Overmountain Shelter (converted barn) tonight which holds 20 people. It is supposed to be rainy again this week.
REMEMBER: NO RAIN, NO MAINE!
4/29/13: Cater Saves the Day (I mean the Water Bottle)!
Near Laurel Falls, TN we, Aqua-man, Wooden Spoon & her dog, "Gaia," Blood Orange and myself, were hiking in a beautiful area and while crossing a river bridge someone dropped their nice $10 water bottle into the river. Two of us saw this as a serious challenge to rescue it and actually sprinted (as much as you can harnessed with a back pack) along the river and leaning over the intense current looking for where we thought the bottle would be coming. I ditched my bag and put on my sandals just in time to leap 2 or 3 feet into the river and successfully grabbed the bottle. I earned my dinner as a reward. Being wet was nothing new under the sun for it's been raining forever. My tent has been leaking lately and the company is mailing me a new bigger one to the Damascus, VA post office where I will also have another food box awaiting me in a few days.
I've hiked 420 miles so far.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
300 Miles at Sam's Gap
After 17 miles in the rain and cold, I was hungry (more like ravenously hungry) for a hot meal so I walked 3 more miles to a diner and met the nicest elderly couple eating there. They asked if I was alone and I guess I wore my "pitiful" look for they invited me home for the night which gave me a chance to bathe, wash my clothes, sleep in a real bed, fed me breakfast and carried me back to the trail the next morning. It, and they, were awesome!
4/22/13: On a downside note I have avoided the shelters altogether due to the viral bug going rampant and the CDC has closed several shelters in order to "bleach" them out; however, I was sick anyway for 24 hours and had a zero day Saturday. I walked only a short distance Sun. but today I feel better and have reached Erwin, TN. I am finally getting "my trail legs" and should make better time here on out.
4/22/13: On a downside note I have avoided the shelters altogether due to the viral bug going rampant and the CDC has closed several shelters in order to "bleach" them out; however, I was sick anyway for 24 hours and had a zero day Saturday. I walked only a short distance Sun. but today I feel better and have reached Erwin, TN. I am finally getting "my trail legs" and should make better time here on out.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Great Smoky Mts.....Here I come!!!
4/7/13: Ughhhhh....awaiting my package at Fontana Dam, NC (was due 4/6/13). Start the Smokies tomorrow. From what I hear they can be a "little harry." Had longest day so far yesterday, 14 miles, but it was great. Spent the night on top of Cheoah Bald and saw the most beautiful sunset and rise.... Clingman's Dome is over 6600 ft. and is the highest point on the entire AT.
4/8/13: Zero day today in order to get my 1st pkg of supplies from home. Will start early tomorrow (4/9/13) into the Smoky Mts. Besides a permit, you must lodge in their shelters ($20 head) for you are not allowed to camp (tent) at night. Sometimes it is hard to find vacanies in shelters due to not only "AT thru-hikers" but "day-hikers" and "section hikers" using them as well. In that case, you have to walk to the next one. May take as long as a week to hike the 70+ miles through the Smoky Mts. I am still in a group of four although not all the same ones. We have discussed how we might like to "aqua blaze" this week...meaning that we will follow the rivers to enjoy the scenery and then get back on AT - all being the same distance. There are meanings for different "color blazing(s)" such as "yellow blazing" means you walk the roads rather than the AT.
4/11/13: Text received from Cater: "I'm ok. Call in four days - phone's dead."
TC: 4/15/13:
Note: Even though I hike with other people, we all walk at our own pace(s) and end up together at the shelter or camp site at the end of the day. I am usually the cow's tail- probably due to my bag being heavier (my fault) and maybe my shorter legs (not my fault). Currently there is a couple "Puddin and Patty cake", Sparky, and Nova from Nova Scotia.
I am happy to be out of the Smoky Mts. as they were really hard! You walked either 6 or 20 miles to reach shelters. The first day we hiked 17 miles up hill in 85 degree weather and lot of gnats. A few days later it was very severe climate with 30 mile winds, hail, etc. but we reached Clingman's Dome + 250 mile marker. There were no good views due to being rainy and cloudy. Later I was hiking at night alone in a pretty swampy pine forest and fell twice due to darkness. I don't like hiking at night and only did that night because I didn't want to stay in or around one of the shelters.
Atop one mountain point there were no tress, therefore you could see 365 degrees around you. It was awesome! We hiked 21 miles Saturday. On Sunday (4/14) the rain and wind blew my tent over! We were
camped outside the shelter (and will probably do so for the next week) because a "tummy bug" is going around and the shelters are obviously contaminated with germs all over including handling the log books, etc. We walked 18 or 19 miles to Hot Springs and received wonderful Trail Magic from the nicest Summit Mt. ladies. I ate a pack of crackers, fudge round, cucumbers, bell peppers, oreos and 2 sodas. Fantastic!!!
Woke up this morning with very sore feet, ankles and knees. Although I bought some inner-soles for my well worn shoes, I actually need new shoes which I can purchase near by or online. As of today I have hiked 270 miles, a little over 1/10 of my trail walk! (still can't imagine why my feet hurt)
4/8/13: Zero day today in order to get my 1st pkg of supplies from home. Will start early tomorrow (4/9/13) into the Smoky Mts. Besides a permit, you must lodge in their shelters ($20 head) for you are not allowed to camp (tent) at night. Sometimes it is hard to find vacanies in shelters due to not only "AT thru-hikers" but "day-hikers" and "section hikers" using them as well. In that case, you have to walk to the next one. May take as long as a week to hike the 70+ miles through the Smoky Mts. I am still in a group of four although not all the same ones. We have discussed how we might like to "aqua blaze" this week...meaning that we will follow the rivers to enjoy the scenery and then get back on AT - all being the same distance. There are meanings for different "color blazing(s)" such as "yellow blazing" means you walk the roads rather than the AT.
4/11/13: Text received from Cater: "I'm ok. Call in four days - phone's dead."
TC: 4/15/13:
Note: Even though I hike with other people, we all walk at our own pace(s) and end up together at the shelter or camp site at the end of the day. I am usually the cow's tail- probably due to my bag being heavier (my fault) and maybe my shorter legs (not my fault). Currently there is a couple "Puddin and Patty cake", Sparky, and Nova from Nova Scotia.
I am happy to be out of the Smoky Mts. as they were really hard! You walked either 6 or 20 miles to reach shelters. The first day we hiked 17 miles up hill in 85 degree weather and lot of gnats. A few days later it was very severe climate with 30 mile winds, hail, etc. but we reached Clingman's Dome + 250 mile marker. There were no good views due to being rainy and cloudy. Later I was hiking at night alone in a pretty swampy pine forest and fell twice due to darkness. I don't like hiking at night and only did that night because I didn't want to stay in or around one of the shelters.
Atop one mountain point there were no tress, therefore you could see 365 degrees around you. It was awesome! We hiked 21 miles Saturday. On Sunday (4/14) the rain and wind blew my tent over! We were
camped outside the shelter (and will probably do so for the next week) because a "tummy bug" is going around and the shelters are obviously contaminated with germs all over including handling the log books, etc. We walked 18 or 19 miles to Hot Springs and received wonderful Trail Magic from the nicest Summit Mt. ladies. I ate a pack of crackers, fudge round, cucumbers, bell peppers, oreos and 2 sodas. Fantastic!!!
Woke up this morning with very sore feet, ankles and knees. Although I bought some inner-soles for my well worn shoes, I actually need new shoes which I can purchase near by or online. As of today I have hiked 270 miles, a little over 1/10 of my trail walk! (still can't imagine why my feet hurt)
Monday, April 1, 2013
The First 100
4/1/13: I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter yesterday. If you're anything like us... You were hoping a bunch of girl scouts would be hanging out on a random NC mountain road handing out cookies, sodas and other Easter goodies. That didn't happen but we must have prayed incredibly well to those trail gods because Cliff Dodson (Tabasco) picked up (3) fellow hikers (from Maine, NJ & Ohio) and myself in Franklin, NC and escorted us to Asheville, NC for a zero day! Willow, Mr. Rogers, Luscious (trail names) and I (Rainbow Bright) are going to purchase food and gear today. Last night Joanna (who was my gear guru and my saving grace) came by for dinner and chatted all night about AT hiking. Terri Dodson, as usual, was a very gracious hostess and fabulous cook.
It's been (11) days on the trail and feels like I've been doing this forever. The weather has been unusually bad for this time of the year, but all who remained have managed to keep their spirits high.... (there seems to be a high dropout rate so far.) Right out of the gate we've experienced almost every kind of weather condition including snow, freezing rain, fog, more rain with crazy winds, and sunny...
Thus far, I think the most exciting point for me has been crossing the NC border. Until this point I was the 'GA girl hiking in GA' with a bunch of people from all over the country and even the world. But now I'm "away" from home just like everyone else. I've hiked with Australians, British, Canadians, and lots of Germans (due to a 2007 German documentary).
Two days ago we hiked Albert Mountain which has a ridiculously steep incline that includes cliff side trails and boulder climbing. All throughout the ascent I was thinking about the horrible things I was going to say about this place. However, once I scrambled over those last boulders and saw the beautiful Smokies, I have only raves bc it looked and felt awesome!! To top it off, the peek is the (very exciting) FIRST milestone, 100 miles!
4/2 - 4/3/13: Following a stupendous and relaxing visit in Asheville, NC, Cliff carried us back to Franklin, NC to resume our trek. (The visit and the “Dodsons” were awesome!!!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and stomachs). We actually hiked about 2 hrs and took a nap in the “meadow” which could be habit forming. We’re about 6 days from the Smokies and (1) day from NOC where it will take all day to climb 3,000 ft. straight uphill…..I feel myself already complaining out loud. I've given my secretari-mom instructions for my first box to be mailed to Fontana Dam, NC and to update the blog.
It's been (11) days on the trail and feels like I've been doing this forever. The weather has been unusually bad for this time of the year, but all who remained have managed to keep their spirits high.... (there seems to be a high dropout rate so far.) Right out of the gate we've experienced almost every kind of weather condition including snow, freezing rain, fog, more rain with crazy winds, and sunny...
Thus far, I think the most exciting point for me has been crossing the NC border. Until this point I was the 'GA girl hiking in GA' with a bunch of people from all over the country and even the world. But now I'm "away" from home just like everyone else. I've hiked with Australians, British, Canadians, and lots of Germans (due to a 2007 German documentary).
Two days ago we hiked Albert Mountain which has a ridiculously steep incline that includes cliff side trails and boulder climbing. All throughout the ascent I was thinking about the horrible things I was going to say about this place. However, once I scrambled over those last boulders and saw the beautiful Smokies, I have only raves bc it looked and felt awesome!! To top it off, the peek is the (very exciting) FIRST milestone, 100 miles!
4/2 - 4/3/13: Following a stupendous and relaxing visit in Asheville, NC, Cliff carried us back to Franklin, NC to resume our trek. (The visit and the “Dodsons” were awesome!!!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and stomachs). We actually hiked about 2 hrs and took a nap in the “meadow” which could be habit forming. We’re about 6 days from the Smokies and (1) day from NOC where it will take all day to climb 3,000 ft. straight uphill…..I feel myself already complaining out loud. I've given my secretari-mom instructions for my first box to be mailed to Fontana Dam, NC and to update the blog.
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