Colorado Part 2

We came to quite a surprise heading up to the campground by Mt Bierstadt. After going through Georgetown, the road was completely closed for the night due to construction. With no better options, we set up our tent near the road block. At 5:30am the crew came up the mountain in their diesel trucks and construction equipment. We made our way up to Gnuella Pass and hit the trail at 8. The first half mile was through marshland then we gradually climbed. It steadily increased to a steep rocky trail with the last half mile as a boulder field. It was windy as heck but at the very top we were able to get to the other side for a rest. We had a great view of Mt Evans and debated about trying to head there. Looking down Sawtooth trail that connect the two, we decided we would definitely need to be roped up. Heading down, we chatted with our new friend Jenny and felt our knees crumble as we descended. We drove back to Denver to check out Great Divide Brewery which was closed Sunday. The environment we pretty sweet offering is a free sample of four of their beers. They were all pretty good, but their Oak Aged Jeti Imperial Stout was better than the rest. I had high expectations for the Wild Raspberry Ale, but it just didn't have much taste. We had our big planning session for which hikes to hit then headed back to the mountains.
First time ever, James got to throw his Jeep into 4wheel drive. Heading on up to Gray's Peak trailhead in the dark, we almost ran into some panicked elderly hikers heading down the road. Their car couldn't make it up so they caught a ride, hiked for the day, then came back way too late at night. There was no one left to ride down with, and with no flashlights, they were in pretty poor shape. Of course, we gave them a ride down. After reaching the end of the road, we set up our tent right beside the river. It got down to the thirties and my summer bag just wasn't cutting it. At about 6am all the other hikers showed up with their slamming doors echoing through the valley. After a hot breakfast, we hit the trail. It wasn't all that bad, but we were taking it pretty slow. We went straight for the saddle in between the two 14ers and chose the harder of the two to hit first. From Torrys Peak we had amazing views then headed back down to the saddle. The climb to Grays took a while with the altitude headaches. We were very fortunate with the gorgeous weather as it was sunny all the way down. We were pretty dang tired so we set up tent there by the river for a second night. This time we got far from the parking lot and bundled up as warm as we could. We slept right until the sun hit the tent. With the pitch of the valley sides, this wasn't until 9:30. A few minutes drive down the road we look back to see the tire completely flat. With no flat slots to change it, we had a wonderful time with the Jeep falling off the jack no mater how many blocks we pit in front of the tires. An hour later we're rolling down and head to the gas station with wifi. Giving James his internet fix, we got ourselves some greasy burgers. We went to Dillon Lake to check out the highest sail club in the states. After searching a owner seeking a crew with no success we headed to Dillon Dam Brewery. The Brown was amazing, kinda like a lighter chocolate stout. Asking the bartender, we found another brewery only a few blocks away, Pug Ryan's. James walked up to the bar and ordered the Kiltlifter. "Oh Jaka, you flatah meh" bartender. Oh and, "when I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race" HG Wells. Moving on, we walked off the alcohol with a wade in the alpine lake. Continuing the Tour de Brassiere, we arrived in Fresco for Backcountry Brewery. The Switchback Amber was a great marzen. The bar physics debate ensued; Jake +1. We found another sailboat marina here at the other end of the lake and are wondering how the other claims the highest when it obviously shares the title. We drove to Kite Lake saving the Breckenridge Brewery as a reward for the next hike.

Colorado Part 1

After waiting a whole summer, James and I found time to pull of our Colorado trip. The 20 hour drive was long, but I didn't expect Kansas to be so incredibly boring. Pulling into Colorado, we were exhausted. We decided no hiking for that day so looked into some leisurely activities. After a quick look, it was a no-brainer that we needed to head to Golden to visit the Coors Brewery. We walked to stretch our legs, checking out the little shops and playing in Clear Creek, the one that's pictured on every can of Coors (remember Rocky Mountain spring water). The line for the brewery tour was wrapped out and around the parking lot, all in the hot sun. After a half an hour, I couldn't take it anymore and headed to buy a couple tallboys and joined James back in line. I've never been to a large-scale beer production facility (Sam Adams doesn't actually make much in Boston) and this was completely different. The kettle room held at least a hundred huge copper kettles and smelled absolutely amazing. We learned about all the grains and filtration elements that I wasn't familiar with. Another thing I didn't know is that Coors makes Killians and Blue Moon. The best part of the tour was the free beer at the end in their lounge. We ran into a couple of people playing cards and had to join in the game. After several rounds of fresh beer and good rummy games, the four of us hit the bars and live music there in Golden. Four pitchers later, we found ourselves admiring the mesa formation up above Coors. We asked the bartender if there was a way to get up top. In sandles and flipflops, the four of us hit the trail only a couple blocks away. We reached the top of the cliffs right as the sky was beginning to blaze in orange and red above the town in the valley below. Of course the sunset was amazing and relaxing with our legs hanging over the cliffs was just perfect. We made it back with just enough light thanks to the full moon and went back to the bar for more live music. With plenty of fresh beer in our hands and great new friends at our sides, we danced the night away. The second morning after eggs and toast for breakfast, James and I drove up to the mountains to hike up Longs Peak. The idea was that we would probably have a hard time doing a 14er without being acclimated to the altitude. Unfortunately it was a bit worse than I thought. I was out of breath just bending over to lace my hiking boots. After a couple miles we ascended above treeline and had amazing views all around us. A mile later we came to the trail turn-off for the lake at the bottom of the cliff straight to the peak. It was absolutely gorgeous looking to the cliff in front with the valley and another mountain behind us. Moving on we started climbing a bit more but it was never actually steep until we hit the boulderfield. Here was the basecamp where about ten tents were set up in rock windbreaks with ammo boxes to store the food in. At 4 we headed up the boulderfield with no trail to the appropriately named Keyhole. At 5 we went through and the view from the other side was ridiculous. The mountains seemed too steep to actually be standing and the lakes at the bottom were reflecting the sunlight straight at us. It was pretty scary because if we made one slip we were tumbling several thousand feet. The only bad part of the view were the thunderclouds staring us in the face and moving right for us. The peak was completely shrouded in clouds. We knew we only had a mile to go, but realized that we had to turn around. Being caught on these rocks in a storm would have meant death for us. We turned around and scrambled down the boulderfield, and my worse fear came true. Jumping down to a rock, I felt the tear in my left knee and the pain shoot down to my toes and up to my back. I limped six miles back down, watching the lightning overhead just waiting for my hairs to stand on end. We ended up in the dark because we were going so slow, but the stars were totally worth it. Once back to the car, we decided call James's cousin living in Denver to have a place to crash. Sleeping in, I woke to the planning session for the next few days. We decided that we needed a day off of hard hiking to let the joints rest. So if not hiking, then? Microbrews. We drove to Boulder to go on Avery's tour. It was a much smaller brewery than I've experienced, but they had a large selection and a great laid-back atmosphere. Their beers were hoppier than most and some had more than twice the alcohol content of normal beer. From there we drove to Left Hand Brewery in Longmount to enjoy a sampler of more amazing beers and great conversation with some locals. Heading back to Boulder we climbed to the top of the Flatirons. It was nothing compared to the previous day, but gave me a chance to see how my knee will do using treking poles. The view over the town was great because from over a thousand feet up, it was perfectly flat as far as you could see. It was just getting dark as we got back to the car. We grabbed a pizza and drove up to camp for the night. Pictures and video will be added when I get to a computer.

Pics!

Day 6

Mon July 27 8mi After it rained all night long, I woke to a clear sunrise. I made my oatmeal while still bundled in my sleeping bag (cooking in the shelter is a big no-no.) I got to hiking and soon knew that it just wasn't going to work. Every step my left knee felt like it was tearing apart. I climbed 1700ft to an amazing view at Kelly Knob where I fortunately had cell reception. I came to the decision that since I'll probably be leaving for a big hiking trip to Colorado this weekend, it's a good idea to get home and let this knee heal up. I hiked (limped) to the first paved road crossing and hitch-hiked down to VA-Tech. Sad to leave, but feels good knowing I knocked another 75miles off.

Day 5

Sun July 26
12mi
Come to find out my tarp is not exactly waterproof. However, it did keep me plenty comfortable through the rainy night. I woke to drizzle and decided to go ahead and pack up my stuff. As soon as I took down my tarp, it started raining hard, getting my gear pretty wet. I relaxed there at The Captain's place waiting for it to stop raining, and when they offered breakfast, I couldn't refuse. Again, I jumped to do dishes before anyone could say differently. I then took the opportunity to take a shower and got my gear ready to go. I was really hoping my knee was healed, but the 1000ft ascent at the second mile told me differently. So much for trying some big miles today. I did pass Mtn Lake Resort where supposedly "Dirty Dancing" was filmed. I'm staying at War Spur Shelter tonight because of the rain. Of course I have it to myself as I've yet to see any other hikers. Talk about solitude.

Day 4

Sat July 25 12mi This morning started out perfect. There was no rain last night thankfully. I grabbed a quick breakfast and got all my gear bundled. My blisters have all but disappeared and my muscles are feeling pretty good. My left knee however was still hurting pretty bad. I was forced to start using a hiking stick and take the downhills very slow. To ease the pain I wanted to keep my pack as light as possible. I decided to carry only enough water to make it to the next water source. Little did I know that this source wasn't flowing at all. It was little better than pond water. I had no choice because the next source was at least 7.5mi away and I was traveling much slower than normal with the bum knee. After filtering it through a bandanna and giving it a double dose of the UV, it still tasted like swamp. The next 7.5 miles took me 5hours, quite a bit slower than my usual 2.5mph pace. I was forced to keep my left leg straight as if I was in a cast. No pain at all when I did this. Unfortunately, that's impossible while you're hiking up and down mountains with your house on your back. But, I did see a bear cub. I wanted to keep it, but it ran away to quick. I made it to the next shelter in perfect time for a rain shower. I cooked a big bowl of rice, unable to decide if I should be cooking dinner or just grabbing a snack. I had plenty of daylight and needed more miles so I decided to continue on. I had read about "The Captain's House" and was pretty curious. The Captain has a house just across the river from the trail and lets people camp out on his lawn. My knees were killing me and I really wasn't looking forward to climbing the mountain to the next shelter. As I got close, I heard a stereo blasting. I saw about 6 tents pitched and a big group of people huddled around the picnic table. Of course I had to go check it out. The coolest part was taking a zip-line over the river to get there. When I pull up and introduce myself, I find out that this was a family reunion of sorts. The immediately tell me to have a seat and put a beer in my hand. I thought I was in heaven. They loved telling me their lives' stories and I told them all about mine. Before too long, I was shucking corn and getting the grill ready for steaks. I insisted for them not to cook anything for me; I'd be happy with leftovers. Of course they cooked plenty and I stuffed myself on an amazing steak dinner. I spent the rest of the time doing the dishes and offered repeatedly to help out with anything else. Definitely a great night. If only my knee can heal up for tomorrow, I'll be doing pretty good.

Day 3

Fri July 24 14 miles I never realized how much I was missing out by sleeping in the shelters every night. This morning I awoke to a beautiful sunrise straight over the cliff from where I was atop the ridge. After an hour of hiking I came to an overlook where I watched the clouds and fog roll through the valley a thousand feet below me. Upon reaching Prearisburg, I gave up on the idea of hiking to the closest food joint and charged my phone and refilled my water at the Rendezvous motel close to the trail. The man taking care of the place was incredibly friendly, and I didn't end up leaving until 1pm. I really wasn't feeling well for the next bit of hiking so I laid down for a nap and awoke quite refreshed. The climb up the mountain was killer, even though I know it shouldn't have hurt so bad. After reaching the top of the ridge, I came to a powerline with at least 5 varieties of wild flower in bloom. I laid down there in the sun and before I knew it, I was asleep again. Later, I continued hiking, but my joints were hurting too bad. I stopped for dinner and stuffed myself full. About .1mi later I was treated to an amazing sunset from atop a wide open bald at Rice Field Shelter. I've seen a thousand sunsets, but this was by far the reddest orb I've ever seen. I hiked another 40min to the next water source so I could wash dishes and have some drinking water. I was exploring for the spring and somehow stumbled right upon it as I was looking for my way back to the trail. I'm sleeping out under the stars hoping the weather report is correctly predicting no rain tonight.

Day 2

Thur July 23 15miles Having been on a horrible sleep schedule, I could wake myself up until 9:30. My boots were still wet from the previous days rain. Midday I threw on a fresh pair of socks, but the boots just got them wet too. Being wet the whole time, my feet hurt pretty bad and are threatening to blister. It was a gorgeous day despite the forecast's 50% chance of thunderstorms. I started the day low and realized exactly where I was when I crossed a suspension bridge over a stream. The next couple miles to Wapiti shelter seemed to take forever. From there I climbed and spent the rest of the day on ridgetop. I got very few views, but the ones that were there were beautiful. I trudged on stopping every hour until I came to Doc Knob shelter. I felt like an idiot for wasting a bunch of energy trying to find the spring when it ended up being a hole at the base of a tree right near the shelter. My water purifier has been working great but decided just to drink this straight to save on batteries. On one charge, I only get about 5gallons. From there I continued about 3miles as the sun was setting. I had to set up my tarp on top of the windy ridge because the sides are to steep. The stars are out and it's looking like it'll be a beautiful night.

Day 1

Wed July 22
10 miles
Finally, I hit the trail again. James and I drove on up to Lickskillet Hollow near Bland, VA. Debating how much food to carry, I just decide to stuff my pack full so I don't have to resupply any time soon. Unfortunately this meant turning a nice comfortable weight into a bit more of a burden. I realized I forgot to bring an extra cell phone battery causing a bit of frustration. As soon as we hit the trail, it starts downpouring and continues on and off for the next hour. We didn't mind much though. After an hour and a half of hiking it was time for James to head back to his car to head home. Soon I came to a road and took a look at my guide book. I thought I had left the trail at Trent's grocerie and had 8 miles to the first shelter. I soon realize that I was standing at the road that leads to the store and had another 8 miles to the shelter after the 6 I had already completed. So I continued on as it was getting dark, taking the opportunity to take a side trail down to a waterfall. It added half a mile to my hike, but was well worth it. I wasn't expecting to make it to the shelter anyway. I continued on with my diminishing daylight until I hit a creek where I stopped to cook dinner. Stupid me managed to loose my only spoon after eating having been on the trail for only a couple hours. It's only 20 miles to Pearls, so I think I'll be able to manage. I dawned the headlamp and hiked for another 45min until my knees started hurting and set up my new MSR tarp. I absolutely love it so far. I'll be getting some more rain tonight so we'll see how well it works. I'm thinking the dental floss as tie lines might have been a bit too extreme.

Red River

June 14-21 When I got a call from one of my best friends in high school about needing a partner for some crazy adventure, I was all in. I didn't realize at the time that we needed to be crazy to attempt something like paddling 275miles down what can be loosely termed a river. I say this because this was almost too viscus to be called a river, more red clay than actual water. The best part of the planning was choosing to go in the middle of the summer. It was quite amusing to hear how "unseasonably" hot the 100+ degree days were. I promise I'm not as much of an alcoholic as I sound in these videos. The interview at the beginning of the second video is awesome, but pretty boring, so skip to 3:00 where we get back to the adventure. Hope you enjoy.

Backpacking in the Smokies

May 25-27 Chris Agee and I had been trying for a while since he graduated to get another backpacking trip going. After talking with a bunch of friends, we recruited James and Stephanie, who's never been backpacking before. Finally finding a good date, we loaded up the jeep Monday morning and headed up to Clingman's Dome. As we pulled up, it started raining, causing quite a hassle with trying to get the gear out of the car and lace up our boots. By the time we reached the top of the tower (6600ft), it had quit raining but gave us absolutely no view. We took the southbound Appalachian Trail down the ridge 4mi passing many tired weekenders heading up. We were going to keep on the AT to get up to the bald, but a thundercloud right over the top told us otherwise. I took the lead with a brisk pace 3mi down a nice ridge to the left. Much easier going without the erosion on the AT. From there we reached the top of Forney Creek Trail.. We descended gentle switchbacks till we reached the headwaters at a lush waterfall. From there we began an awesome puzzle game of crossing the creek. First one we arrive at took several minutes of planning and another 10 of executing the maneuvers from rock to rock. Then a couple of hundred yards later we had to do it all over again, except this time, they removed one of the stepping stones. After Stage 20, there were no more rocks left and couldn't hop around anymore. Sick and tired of removing boots, wading through, waiting for feet to dry, and so on, we all hiked in our water shoes. So there we are in nothing more than flip-flops carrying our heavy packs over rocks, when finally we arrived at a suitable campsite. We came to a consensus that we weren't at the planned campsite, had another 3mi to go to get there, and that this location was meant for keeping horses. Just as we asked the question whether to continue or not, a huge crash of thunder shook the valley. We start putting up the tents there, but the rain came quicker than we could prepare. In my hurry to set up the tent, I left my pack and boots uncovered in the downpour. I soon got them into the vestibule and started sanitizing water. The UV sterilization pen worked perfectly this time using a tiny touch of salt in the water. By the time I had the bottles filled, it had stopped raining. I started on dinner and laughed as James and Chris were still huddled in the tent thinking it was still raining. It rained on and off throughout the night adding to the way too sticky moisture content inside the tent. Fortunately nothing leaked. Day two started out with some oatmeal and lazy packing. We hiked on at a good pace, but took far too many half-hour snack breaks. After 3mi we arrived at the campsite (3200ft) we were supposed to stay at with a nice picnic table right by the creek. Another 2mi down and we arrived at our turn-off. I really wanted to continue on that trail to where it hits Fontana Lake, but knew there was no way to make the miles work. At the intersection was a ranger bunkhouse calling for another break. We turned left and in less than a mile had a knee deep crossing and last sight of the beautiful Forney Creek. We wasted another 45min drying our feet and getting water before starting the climb up to High Rocks. This ended up being a hard climb and seemed to take all day. We just couldn't understand why we weren't to the top yet. Finally we reach High Rocks at 5:30 and were treated to a beautiful view of Fontana Lake 8miles off and several thousand feet below. There used to be a fire tower up top, but all that remained was a lonely folding chair. We had a backup campsite at 75 in case we couldn't make it to the lake at campsite 74. We booked it down to 75(3200ft) and debated about continuing. I was outvoted, so we left the beautiful, empty site for another trip. Another hour and a half hiking we reached 74(1700ft) at Fontana Lake. By the time Stephanie and I showed up, the 5 other groups of people had already claimed all the good tentsites. I was pretty grumpy that I had left a wonderful campsite to come to one so crowded. I'd be sleeping on all kinds of rocks and roots. I soon got over it, set up the tent, and headed for a bath in the lake. Scaring away a water moccasin at the bank, we got into the water and started sudsing up. As soon as I covered my face in soap, I hear an approaching wave of sound. "Is that wind?" I asked as Stephanie watched the wall of rain come to us. We quickly threw on our clean, soon-to-not-be dry clothes and ran back to camp to secure our gear. Drizzling for a while, we made dinner and prepared for bed, knowing we needed plenty of sleep for the day ahead of us. The last day was rough on all of us, going from one of the lowest points in the Smokies to one of the highest, a net change of almost 5000ft. It rained on and off the whole day. The batteries for the water sterilizer ran out at our last water point forcing the use of iodine, turning great tasting spring water into "poo water". We all push hard as we could and eventually emerged from the trail to the parking lot, raining at the car just like we left it. Overall, we had a great tour of the Smokies, taking trails on ridges, valleys, creeks, lakes, and of course mountains through a variety of weather conditions. Thirty-eight miles total in 3 days, and not a single lick of complaining from the newb.

AT Section 2 Day 9

Fri Apr 17
Helvey's Mill Shelter to Jennys Knob Shelter
10mi
So I decided to take it easy today since I've been doing some big miles lately and I now have a heavy pack. I slept in late until the sun finally forced me out of my hot bag at 8:30. I hiked for an hour and ran into Bushwack and Tumbleweed. I was correct that they didn't make it into town yesterday so they got up early and hit it today. They're continuing on and we're planning on meeting up again tomorrow night then doing lunch together Sunday in town. I was wanting to stay in town Sunday night but just found out that the hostel won't be open for a few more weeks and I don't want to spend the money on a hotel. It looks like I'll have to hike on after lunch. Today I've just relaxed in the sun. I washed out my clothes and shoes. I've got a big day ahead of me so I'm going to try to get to sleep early tonight. Sleep better take care of this headache that I've had all day.

AT Section 2 Day 8

Thur Apr 16 Jenkins Shelter to Helvey's Mill Shelter 17 miles

What an awesome day! I got out hiking at about 8am to a perfect sun rising over the ridge. You have to realize I haven't seen the sun since Easter. I got up on the ridge in a couple miles and had the rest of the 12mi with an amazing view down into the valley. It was really cool to see the transition from the steep sides coming to a point to the wavey green ocean with barns floating in. At a nice pile of logs I took a nice break looking at the ant sized tractors below. I continued booking it on over to the highway so that I'd have plenty of time in Bland. I got to the highway and started down the 2.5mi of pavement all the way down the mountain. I didn't try hitching too hard and there wasn't much traffic anyways. That pavement really hurts you feet though. I got to the post office and was delighted to find my package. I cried a little inside when the mail-lady grunted as she lifted by box. The I cried some more when I tried to fit it into my pack. This maildrop is a lot bigger for some reason, I guess I was planning on 8 or 9 days back when I split the up. As I'm trying to arrange my pack, a lady in a $5 Footlong shirt walked into the post office. I took this as a sign from God and got a ride back to work. How I ate two footlong Subways I still don't know. I was there a long while planning out this week, charging my phone, and making plans for May trips though. I left there and started the walk back to the trail. Once I got to where the highways split, I stood with my pack on and my thumb out. Within a minute I climbed into an old chevy pickup and was a few thousand feet higher in no time. I hopped out and sat at a vista looking out over a long winding valley with the interstate at the bottom.

At this point I realized I didn't have my hat. Now I was strapping clothes all over the place to be able to fit my food in my pack so I was sure it had to be somewhere. I tood everything out and checked every pocket, no where to be found. I was crushed. I walked along trying to figure out how the heck the trail crossed the interstate when I ran into the father and son that stayed with me last night (I'm not even going to start on the 3 pro snorers that kept us awake all night). Their ride was stuck in traffic so they were headed down to Bland. I asked them to go find my hat while they were the when the bow pulled it out of his pocket. I was ecstatic. I thanked him and gave him his choice of any of the snacks I had. He got the rice crispy treat, but I wish I could have done more. Evidently it fell out of my pocket at those pile of logs I was talking about before. They were killing time for their ride and I wasn't in any particular hurry so we stood there for about an hour talking. Come to find out, they live in Rochester Hills, Michigan, which if I'm not mistaken, is where my dad went to high school. Their poor dog could barely walk after their 60mi trek. I got on up to the next shelter, had a big pot of pasta and spaghetti sause. This is the first night I've been able to see the stars and they are amazing. Oh, and I have the shelter all to myself! I can't decide if I want to do an easy or hard day tomorrow. I guess it'll depend on how well I sleep. Night everyone. Thanks Humpty-dumpty and Salt!

AT Section 2 Day 7

Wed Apr 15 Knot Maul Shelter to Jenkins Shelter 19 miles It was a pretty decent day today. Chilly and drizzly all day, but nothing too cold or too wet. I hiked again with the couple I met a Saturday night, Bushwack and Tumbleweed. It was a slow day with a good bit of ups and downs. Half way through we were on top of the balds in thick mist near Chestnut Knob Shelter. It got windy and cold at that point so we had lunch in the shelter instead of the pond as I had hoped. We passed at least 20 lookouts, but the view was nothing but white. It's taking me a bit to get my trail legs Hopefully after a nice sleep, the legs will be doing alright. I'm anxious to get to Bland tomorrow to pick up my food drop and get on for another week.

AT Section 2 Day 6

Tue Apr 14 Chatfield Shelter to Knot Maul Shelter 18.4 mi Happy birthday to my sister, but I don't think she reads this. Today has been a long day. I woke up at about 6:30 and was excited to see it wasn't raining. It took about an hour to get dressed, get breakfast, and get everything repacked. As soon as I dawn my pack, it starts raining. But I was having more of a problem dealing with my heel than I cared about the rain. After about 4 miles, I was down in the Great Valley I was talking about yesterday.

Everything 50ft higher than me was in the clouds, but the beautiful rolling green hill for as far as the eye could see were amazing. Shortly after, I resupplied at a gas station right before crossing under I-81. I let myself choose between carrying all day a beer or a mtn dew, and the dew for tomorrow morning won out. I climbed a big mountain crossing into the next wide valley. Then ridgeline. Then back down to a river. Then a mountain. You get the idea. All very pretty except when I couldn't see because of the rain or if I was in the clouds. Over 18 miles of this before reaching this shelter. I really like this a lot more than the constant forest of NC/TN, but I do miss the balds. The pastures here are just so bright green and roll on forever. Anywho, my feet are hurting and tomorrow is going to be longer and harder than today. Fortunately, if I don't feel like I can make it, there's a nice shelter halfway. I'm really happy everything in the pack stayed dry. I don't know whether it'll rain tomorrow. Hope my food package is in Bland by Thursday morning. Love you all!

AT Section 2 Day 5

Mon Apr 13
Partnership Shelter to Chatfield Shelter
7 miles
Good things first. I got the whole loft in the shelter to myself last night so I didn't have to listen to anyone snoring. The hike wasn't strenuous at all. There was a nice view from a log bench that made for a nice break. The view today and the second half of yesterday has been much different than I'm used to. Usually the AT runs along the tops of ridges and the ups and downs come from going from mountain to mountain. The usual view is the valley below and more mountains on the otherside and peaks as far as you can see. Here, however, the mountain drops off and the valley is flat and miles wide before the next parallel ridge. The flatland is an incredibly bright green compared to the gray-brown of the mountains. I would hate to be doing this section when there's leaves on the trees because there's almost no breaks to see down into these valleys. Now for a little bad. It turned out that I don't have a blister, just a hard bump like bone that hurts every step. I don't know if it will heal today or if I just have to deal with it. I threw the SteriPen off the mountain to save weight by getting rid of useless equipment. just kidding. But it hasn't worked a single time in a couple days now. So any questionable sources like streams I've been using iodine tablets and drinking straight from good looking springs. And lastly, it's supposed to rain tonight and the next two days. Unfortunately, they took down the next shelter so now I'm forced to do 18.4 tomorrow in the rain. I'm so bored now, I wish I had just tried for 25 today. I know I wouldn't have made it though. There's a book sitting in the shelter, but the first 120pages are missing. Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep tonight and get started early. I've got some heavy bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. Can't complain too much about sitting all day next to a babbling brook.

AT Section 2 Day 4

Sun Apr 12 Hurricane Shelter to Partnership Shelter 20 miles

Today was absolutely beautiful! I was pretty scared about it being too cold last night but it ended up much better than the night before. I woke up very early with a couple thru-hiking and hiked all day with them. They had been taking the pace pretty slow, but decided they wanted to book it today to get to this shelter. The three of us had all day to talk about everything with not a cloud in the sky. We came across the into the wild bus, evidently moved to VA.

We were booking it for the first half and took out time with many breaks sitting in the sun for the rest. The special thing about this shelter is being able to have PIZZA delivered! And the first place I've been able to get reception. The three of us put down two larges pretty easily. It's pretty easy to see why this place is called "Paradise Shelter" It'd be a bit nicer with the running water, but that's not until the nights are above freezing. I got a nice blister from my boots. Tomorrow I have the choice between 7 or 24 miles, so I looks like tomorrow will be an easy day with 7 to heal the heel.

AT Section 2 Day 3

Sat Apr 11 Thomas Knob Shelter to Hurricane Shelter 16 miles Well, I survived the storm last night! Between the hail hitting the tin roof, the thunder, the gusts literally moving the shelter, and the freezing cold, I got almost no sleep. It was still raining when I got up so I wasted hours chatting with the others waiting it out. Finally it stopped and I hit the trail at noon. I was hiking in the highlands through the clouds. Shortly into it, I was surprised by a wild pony staring me in the face.

I definitely want to go back to Grayson Highlands and Mt. Rogers again someday. By the time I got to lower elevation the clouds had cleared and I had a beautiful day of hiking. I met up with a family of dayhikers that gave me an apple and a bag of carrots. Yum! I've got some good company here at the shelter. It's supposed to be even colder tonight. Sorry, but with such poor reception, posting the pictures is going to have to wait.

AT Section 2 Day 2

Lost Mtn Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter 13 miles Fortunately, today was definitely not what I expected. It was absolutely beautiful when I woke up so I decided to best the threat of thunderstorms and was out hiking by 9. At 10 I started climbing and the rain came. By 11 I was miserably wet and freezing. I found a small muddy cave to hide in.

It was thunderstorming, freezing, and the wind gusting and supposed to continue throughout the night. From the book's description, the next shelter was not suitable for bad weather. So I resigned to sleep in the hardly suitable shelter I'd found. Water was trickling down and spraying from everywhere, but I went ahead and took a nap. When I woke at 1, the rain had passes and the skies were clearing up. I packed up my gear and continued the climb. I was soon at the summit of Whitetop Mtn with a beautiful, sunny view. Parts of the trail were snowy and others rivers.

The weather managed to remain perfect despite the predictions.

Once I got to the shelter here on top of Mt Rogers, it started thunderstorming. I can literally feel the building move when the wind gusts. But I'm dry and we have a crowd of 8 keeping this place warm. My SteriPen is about to be thrown off of this mountain. Good thing I don't mind iodine too much.

AT Section 2 Day 1

Thur Apr 9 Damascus to Lost Mtn. Shelter 17 miles Weather: beautiful

Meeting up with some new friends, I started the hike off right with a double serving of the most unhealthy biscuits and gravy imaginable. I hung out with everyone a little too long considering if I was going to stay the next two days in Damascus. After tying up some loose ends at the outfitter, I hit the trail about 11. It was a beautiful day, bluest skies I've seen and upper 60's. After stripping off all my layers, I was hiking in shorts and a tshirt. The trail had great variety starting at the river, heading up a ridge, back down into the valley and up to a peak. I made it to the first shelter at about 3:30. I found a man with his young son and a friend and chatted with them over lunch. They were having the same trouble with their SteriPen, so I offered my advice. Mine has given me a smiley face every time, but it take some convincing to get to that point. I decided to continue hiking to make it as far as I could today. Chances are I will be taking a 0mile day tomorrow because of the thunderstorms. Its in the 30's up here now, so I'm a bit frozen. I got two of the guys that stayed in the hostel with me staying here tonight. They caught a shuttle to the top and are headed south. Hopefully I don't go nuts tomorrow.

AT Section 2 Day 0

Damacus, VA
Weather: beautiful and chilly
Trail conditions: mud and sharp rocks covered in wet leaves with a topping of snow
As with coming off the trail, James and I took the mountain bikes off to the trails. Our usual rides take us through quick ups, downs, and zigzags. Going up a mountain was a bit different experience. Not that it would have been all that bad dry, but it was soaked from the past two days rain. This turned every root into a slip and slide for the rear tire. Usually you just torque it in a higher gear so you have plenty of momentum to make it over slick obstacles. This wasn't quite so easy to do when the ascent goes on longer then your heart is willing to race. Once on top we continued to climb the ridge having beautiful views down both sides. Most everywhere was covered in snow making for both gorgeous scenes and cold spray from the tires. Once we turned around, I might have had to pedal 3 or 4 times. We followed the ridge all the way down this time, crossing the stream way more than any biking trail should. Back here at the hostel it's dang cold, and I'm pretty nervous about all the rain I'm supposed to get. Fortunately, I have no set goals so even if don't make it anywhere, this trip is still a success.

Caribbean Cruise

March 21-28 2009

For my Christmas present, my family took me along aboard the NCL Norwegian Dawn for a 7-day cruise in the Caribbean. We ended up having the rooms for me, my dad and stepmom, stepsister, stepgrandmother, and my grandparents. My grandma was the odd one out as it was the generations of Smith men and same with the rest of the girls. The weather was poor leaving port so we explored the 13 floors trying to learn the layout. Soon we were headed to dinner in the incredibly fancy Venetian restaurant. Afterward was a variety show of all the entertainment giving short previews of what was to be had for the rest of the week. The next day was a day at sea so we headed to the top deck for some sunbathing. It was a bit too windy, but we made do. I averaged about 5 meals a day, so that occupied much of my time. Several dinners included ordering double entrees and always double deserts. The show that night was a sing/dance with music from the 70s. The next day we arrived at Samana, Dominican Republic. It was raining so we went shopping. The merchandise was almost all handmade unlike most of the made in China souvenirs you see. Once the rain stopped we got a creeper-van taxi to take us around the island. We hiked through the mud to see a nice waterfall getting to experience the local flora along the way. The next day we arrived in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We started with some shopping looking at all the expensive jewelry. Then my dad and I went scuba diving. The first dive was to a WWII ship and a reef. The neatest part was when the divemaster plucked up a sea urchin and handed it to me. It was spikey on one side and suctioned to my hand on the other. I could turn my hand upside down and feel the suction cups get tighter as it stayed on. For our surface interval we snorkled at Turtle cove. I got to swim with at least 6 medium sized seaturtles and 2 rays. One of the turtles below me looked up as to say hello then started swiming up literally inches in front of me. The second dive was to two WWII barges used for target practice after the war. These we much more lively then the first dive with every inch covered with vibrantly colorful coral. We saw more turtles, rays, and a barracuda with teeth way larger than I want on a fish I'm swimming with. Next time I dive, I know I'm renting an underwater camera. Next morning we were at Tortula, British Virgin Islands. All but the grandparents took snorkling excursion to the baths. This was a very popular place for the hundreds of sailboats that were out that day. We snorkeled to an island then walked through a boulder field that created caves with sandy bottoms and the ocean crashing through the gaps with the sun shining down in rays. I spent the rest of the time skindiving and collecting shells from the deeper reefs. The next day was another day at sea so we sat out in the sun all day enjoying burgers and beer. Beer singular because they were 5.50 a piece. The last day we stopped at a private island in the Bahamas. It was the perfect setup with a long beach with about 1000 beach chairs, hammocks, swimming and snorkeling, and hiking. After getting back on the boat I learned about the alcohol pickup, so I went to the shop and bought a bottle of run. I made myself a few drinks and spent the night doing the usual dueling piano show till 1am and hanging out with everyone for most of the rest of the night. In all, there's no way the cruise made any money off of me considering how much food I ate. Next time, I'll definitely have to find all-inclusive drinks or smuggle some onboard. Oh, and take a friend, not just the family.

AT Day ?

Today James and I completed the skipped section of the AT. 20mile dayhike without stopping. Rained most of the way and was bitter cold. I lost all faith in weather forecasters. It sucked, and I hurt. However, I'm pretty sure I'd like to get back on the trail after my cruise this week. Sorry no pictures, it was hard to even see our feet in the clouds.