Day 5

Aug 27 Groundhog Creek Shelter to Max Patch 6 miles Weather: thunderstorms I'm having some weird dream about getting thrown off a cruise ship at sea when I'm woken up by some horrific sound. This is one of those that could definitely have woken the dead. I should have prefaced this with the fact that upon further inspection of the map, I was sleeping in a bear reserve. Not deer or rabbits, bear. So automatically my heart starts racing to just below 200bpm. It's pitch black and raining. I reach for my light and turn it on... nothing but white. The mist was so thick that my tikka-plus on fresh batteries couldn't penetrate 15ft. I know the noise came from near where my food was hung about 40ft away. So, with no clue what to do, I started yelling. After a few minutes of that and no other sound but rain, I got up and slowly walked over to my food. Right as I shine my flashlight at the bag I see movement and BANG! It was the same sound that woke me. Now after 30 straight hours of rain and wind, quite a few limbs were falling from the trees, especially at this gap. And this particular food hanger was equipped with large aluminum disks around the cables to keep critters from crawling to your food bag. So of course this equated to someone throwing a bowling ball into a metal trash can every time the wind blew too hard. Relieved, I laid back down. I know it's not a wholly exciting outcome, but I was much happier that it didn't include a bear or some critter eating my food. I slept horribly for the rest of the night, chalking it up to how much body fat I had probably burned hiking up the mountain. I wake up at 7 and moan. Getting out of my sleeping bag, I notice a bright red rash about 4 inches high just above my ankles. Grrrr. After using up 6 AAA batteries to get that message sent out the night before, I was going to be pretty upset if I couldn't get my phone working. I had to call to find out if, when, and where I was going to be meeting people at Max Patch. It turns on, but claims it doesn't have enough power to connect. So I plug in 3 fresh batteries and leave it off to charge. Meanwhile, I filter water, stuff myself with as much oatmeal as my stomach can take and lie back down for a minute. One turns into a few more and before I know it, it's 10am. Oops, I'm bad about that kind of thing. Well at least by now my phone should have some juice. Wrong, it said the same problem. I throw on my dripping wet hiking clothes, squeeze as much water out of the cuishoning of my shoes, and threw on my pack. If I trek just faster than 2mph, I can make it to Max Patch by 1pm. This was the arranged time with my mother but an hour late for a few other friends. I keep my phone charging with another set of batteries, sorely disappointed in my charging contraption's performance. As if I should have known by this point, right as I get out of camp, a nice shower rolls through just to put me into my place. The hike was way steeper than I expected for what I knew to be a net elevation change of less than 1000ft up. But of course, that doesn't take into account all the steep downhills that I had to clime right back up just to clock even. My feet were killing me with every step, but I made it up to Max Patch by 1. The place was completely empty. So I laid down to bask in make believe sunshine. I look up to see the peak about 200yards above me disappear into a cloud. Just then, I feel the raindrops. "Does it make a difference?" I ask myself, laying my head back down. It passes just as it came leaving even grayer skies, wet grass, and thunder in the distance. Half an hour later my mom shows up looking pretty stressed. A while back, her and I took a backpacking trip at Shining Rock where if she wasn't wearing an external frame and I wasn't actually the incredible hulk, she would have died. And that was with less rain than I had the previous day. She explained about how much she was worrying about me because of how that trip went and how my sister wrecked her car. I calmed her down and we ate a wonderful lunch and I drank a gallon of apple juice 8-) yum. Nobody can complain about real mountain spring water, but it can't compare to juice. We both weren't feeling great so we relaxed at the base. I decided to fiddle with my maps and books. The sign at my shelter described 8.3 miles to the next northern shelter. Minus about six that I had just done, that's about 2 left. Under the mileage description in my book it said 1.8 from the summit. Then I look at the map. It showed the shelter at least 5 miles away. I look deeper into the book and discover that in a different spot it described the shelter 4 miles away. So I had no clue exactly how far I had to hike to find a place to sleep. At this point it's 4pm so soon I will have to get started. A thunderstorm rolls through so we hop (gingerly, my feet didn't magically heal) in the car to wait it out. I get out my cell phone and fiddle with it as my mom is describing her upcoming trips. Still no charge. During the deluge the day before, I convinced myself that one of the reasons I had to continue this trip was to continue my story. Without the ability to share it each day as it was happening took a lot out of me. As my mom is talking about a family get-together this weekend, I decide I don't want to hike through the rain tonight. I want to get my charger fixed. I want to dry my clothes, shoes, and sleeping bag. I want to make sure this rash isn't something that's going to be a problem. I turn to her and say let's go. By no way is this adventure finished. I am spending tomorrow at radio shack getting my phone charger fixed. Friday driving to Atlanta and spending the weekend with my family. Tuesday I will be back on the trail at Hot Springs, NC (just north of Max Patch). By then my blisters will have healed and I will be ready to rock this trail. Gear swap notice: camp towel unnecessary, replacing with bandanna. Sorry about this hiatus, but it's what I'm doing. High: plenty of water in the spring where a week earlier people had nothing to drink Low: my favorite place turns out to me not so cool this time

Day 4

Aug 26 Davenport Gap Shelter to Groundhog Creek Shelter 11 miles Weather: all day storm I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning. At 6:45, nothing sounds like a good idea, especially not getting up and out in the rain. But in order to make it to Max Patch tomorrow morning, I knew I had to get up. At that point I still didn't know if anyone wanted to meet me there tonight which would have been a very long haul. I hung all my clothes to dry last night, but they were all dripping wet from the moisture. By 9:15 I was on the trail, in the rain. The first three miles were decently nice with a beautiful waterfall. Upon crossing over the Pigeon River, I was daydreaming of a couple years back when I kayaked that river. A car coming up behind me broke the thought, and I could have only imagined how miserably soaked I looked. He slowed down and to my surprise, asked if I wanted an apple. I was caught a bit off guard, but quickly recovered. Throwing my raincoat hood back and smiling ear to ear, I responded excitedly. He opened his trunk to expose a large box of natural-looking apples. We get to talking there in the rain, and Appleman explained that he's doing a housing project at a bankrupt orchard. So there hundreds of organic apple trees just begging to be harvested. I tell him of my adventures and troubles of yet and he reaches in then hands me a new lighter. Three apples and a lighter, I was ecstatic. Appleman, I hope karma brings you something truly wonderful. At 11 the climb began, and my apple induced happiness was done by noon. By 1, I was dead tired and all my clothes, even inside the rain jacket, were soaked. My toes were sloshing in my boots. To paint a nice visual here, understand that the trail was so steep that it was almost all steps of logs or rocks. The trail turned into a river so I was graced by a wonderful cascade of hundreds of miniwaterfalls each falling into the next at each view. The climb continued up for over 4000 vertical feet. At 3:20, I reached the top, barely. The wind was blowing so hard that it was difficult to move against with the pack The rain felt like needles with every gust. The peak is cleared for a large white FAA radar tower. I know the view would have been great because I've taken pictures of this peak from Max Patch. Not only did I discover what the strange structures were on top of the ridge, but I also visited them. I pushed myself down and after getting lost for a half mile, made it to the shelter. I don't expect anyone to be joining me here, but don't mind if they do. Four cups of pasta later, I'm cozy in my sleeping bag. High: Appleman Low: my feet are so blistered, I don't know if I'll be able to hike tomorrow Sorry no pictures, it was too wet for the camera. Also, my battery charger isn't working quite as expected, so I don't think I'll be able to post daily.

Day 3

Aug 25 Tri-Corner Knob Shelter to Davenport Gap Shelter 15miles Weather: rain I woke up to the red glowing eyes of the peacock...just kidding, I haven't gone insane yet. Got up, made the oatmeal, packed the bag, looked like I was in for a wonderful morning. Wrong! As James and I leave the shelter, it begins to downpour. Thank you tropical storm. I don't care how waterproof your hiking boots claim to be, they don't stand up to tromping through the water like this. We start off with a steady uphill which turns into downhill for the rest of the day. By noon the rain lets up, but my boots are sloshing full of water. Continuing for the rest of the day, I was in the clouds, literally. The tops of several trees were hard to make out. There were few views in spite of hiking on top of a ridge all day. I did get a nice spectacle of the clouds rolling up and out over a valley. It looked as thought this big white ghost was climbing the mountains with us. On the way down my knees were ready to blow out at each boulder. As slow as uphill might be, at least it doesn't hurt like downhill. We finally hit Cosby Shelter for lunch at 1:30. James left to hike down to his ride at Cosby so he can make it to school tomorrow. Ha ha, sucker. I tried to dry my shoes out, but it's so muggy I had to make do. There didn't seem much point to wasting a fresh pair of socks on wet boots so I threw nastiness onto my feet and climbed near Mt. Camerer. If you want a view you're going to have to look back a few months, because all I saw was white. The last 6 miles seemed to take forever. Finally I made it to Davenport Gap Shelter. To my surprise, there's nobody here. I've never stayed in a shelter by myself, and this one is kinda spooky. After getting over a tummyache, I got some food and laid down to relax. It's raining again, but it can do that all it wants at night while I'm in here and dry. It too hot and muggy, but I suppose that is what I should expect at this low elevation. Tomorrow morning I'll be out of the Smoky Mountains and crossing north of I-40. I have a funny mental image of me trying to dodge interstate traffic with my pack on. I have spared you all a picture of the blistered feet for fear that google might ban my site for indecency. Thanks James for the great start to this journey. You're definitely welcome to join anytime. High: running into a big buck and a doe on top of the ridge Low: painful pruned feet

Day 2

Aug 24th Icewater Springs Shelter to Tri-corner Shelter 13 miles Weather: mostly cloudy and muggy After having slept badly for about a week now, I was hoping to be able to sleep into the morning. Evidently the other hikers were pretty adamant about me being awake at 6:30am. Wearily, I get up, make breakfast, and realize there is a peacock following me around. After chatting with some new friends, James and I head out to Charlie's Bunion. About a mile down the trail, I hear some noise behind me, looking to find the peacock still following us. We came closer for further inspection when she jumped into the woods never to be seen again. Charlie's Bunion is still my favorite spot in the Smokies, although 50 years later, Charlie claims he never had a bunion. Leaving there we hiked 6miles to the turn-off for Peck's Corner Shelter by 2pm. Deciding we had to fill-up on water, I hiked an extra mile to get to the shelter and back and didn't get started hiking again until 4. The last 5 miles to the next shelter hurt pretty bad. After dinner and clean-up, I'm in bed by 9. Hopefully, I can sleep a little better for the trek awaiting me tomorrow. High: views of never ending peaks and valleys Low: springs being almost dried up

Day 1

Aug 23rd Clingman's Dome to Icewater Springs Shelter 11miles Seeing as James and I didn't get on the trail till 3pm, the exhausting hike put us well into night. For whatever reason, I got the bright idea of starting right where I left off two years ago, Clingman's Dome. The trail started out beautiful and to my surprise, full of blackberries. Many times I stopped to top off a 16oz nalgene with as many of the tart beauties as I could grab. Continuing down from the top, our knees wanted to buckle as we'd head straight down. The uphills were that much worse another 5miles along. It was getting dark as we reached Newfound Gap, and we dawned out head lamps. Three miles later down Sweat Heifer we got pretty spooked by a bear and decided to turn around to the closest shelter, Icewater Springs. And here I lay, listening to the several snoring men. I want to thank everyone who helped me get out on this trip, especially Dad and Janet. I miss everyone already and hope to get the chance to meet up along this adventure. Good: blackberries Bad: forgetting to bring several necessities

Busy packing for the AT

AT Plans

I am planning on section hiking the entire 2,150mile Appalachian Trail in the next year or so. Saturday, I'll leave to complete a 650mile chunk of it. Each name is the shelter I'll be staying at and the ones with the states are the cities I will be picking up food from. If anyone sees any glaring mistakes, please let me know ASAP. I am trying to average about 16miles a day with an easy day each week. Much more info to come.

Aug 23 Start: Newfound Gap 204.6, Pecks Corner shelter 215.0
24 Cosby Knob 227.9
25 Groundhog Creek 245.5
26 Max Patch 251.9
27 Roaring Fork 252.9
28 Deer Park Mtn 268.5
29 Hot Springs, NC 271.7, Spring Mtn 282.7
30 Jerry Cabin 298.1
31 Hogback Ridge 312.8
Sept01 No Buisness Knob 333.5
02 Curley Maple Gap 344.1
03 Cherry Gap 356.2
04 Roan High Knob 371.4
05 Apple House 386.1
06 Roan Mtn,TN 386.6, Mountaineer 395.3
07 Laurel Fork Shelter 412.8
08 Vandeventer 428.4
09 Double Springs 442.8
10 Abingdon Gap 451.1
11 Damascus,VA 461.1
12 Saunders 470.5
13 Thomas Knob 489.1
14 Hurricane Mtn 505.1
15 Trimpi 514.2
16 Chatfield 531.9
17 Atkins,VA 536.4, Davis Path 539.1
18 Knot Maul Branch 550.3
19 Jenkins Shelter 569.4
20 Helveys Mill 583.4
21 Jenny Knob 593.2
22 Wapiti 607.4
23 Doc's Knob Shelter 615.8
24 Pearisburg, VA 624.0
25 Pine Swamp Branch 643.3
26 Laurel Creek 661.8
27 Niday 674.2
28 Pickle Branch 684.3
29 Catawba,VA 696.9, Catawba Mtn 698.9
30 Lamberts Meadow 707.3
Oct01 Fullhardt Knob 721.7
02 Bobblets Gap 735.2
03 Bryant Ridge 748.5
04 Thunder Hill 758.8
05 Matts Creek 771.2
06 Glasglow,VA 773.4, Johns Hollow 775.1
07 Brown Mtn Creek 793.4
08 Seeley-Wookworth 809.2
09 Harpers Creek 823.5
10 Maupin Field 829.7
11 Paul C Wolfe 845.5
12 Waynesboro,VA 850.5