Trail Magic!

Yesterday we pulled into a shelter at the end of a 24 mile day to find it almost completely full. But we also found a note and a phone number offering a place to stay, hot meals, and showers with pick-up 1.4 miles up the trail. We called ahead, and it turned out to be members of a Lutheran church in a valley just below us called Burke's Garden. We hiked down and met Ron Levison at the trailhead, who took us back to his home for showers. Afterwards we went to have dinner with Peter, the Lutheran vicar, and his wife June. It was delicious! We went back to Ron's to visit for a few minutes before heading to bed. In the morning they fed us scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, and coffee. It was awesome! And Burke's Garden was stunningly beautiful. Best trail magic thus far!

Virginia!

After some much needed rest in Boone, I hiked a short fifteen miles to Damascus, VA. I spent the night in a bed thanks to a buddy on the trail named Milkshake. He's doing a three month thru hike to raise money for a summer camp for burn victims. He is putting in insane miles! More information can be found about his cause at peaksforpeace.com under Appalachian Adventure. The last few days have been great hiking weather and pretty moderate terrain. Today was a short eleven miles into a truckstop motel near Atkins, VA with a group of about seven other hikers. We spent the afternoon off our feet watching TV, which has been great for our feet. Getting ready for a few 25 mile days coming up!

Boone, NC

A lot has happened since my last post! After a few long 20 mile days, we had a short six mile day into Erwin, TN. After getting in around 11:30, we had time for quick showers before catching the shuttle into town from the hostel. We ate a huge, delicious mexican lunch, and then walked a few miles to the old movie theater downtown. We saw The Lorax, and then walked back to find a grocery store for resupply and to wait for the shuttle back to the hostel. We made a huge salad for dinner and watched another movie; the vegetables were delicious! We left Erwin and hiked four 20 mile days to get close to Boone, NC where one of the hikers in our group is from. On the way we climbed over Roan Mountain, one of the highest points on the trail. After Roan are a series of beautiful grassy ridges and balds with amazing views. Aaron's mother picked us up at the end of our fourth day and drove us back to their home near Boone. What a beautiful place! They prepared an amazing dinner of salmon and salad for us, and we stayed in an amazon cabin on their property. Yesterday we hiked 26 miles with only day packs by dropping off cars, which is called "slack-packing." We came back to the cabin afterwards for showers and comfortable beds. Today or tomorrow we will hike the remaining fifteen miles to Virginia, depending on whether we decide to take a rest day here in Boone.

Hog Back Ridge Shelter, NC

I think Spring must have arrived while we were in the Smokies, because it has been warm! Our first two days back on the trail after our rest day were upper seventies or even eighty degrees with high humidity and we were really feeling the heat. We made it to Hot Springs, NC in two days and camped by the French Broad River just outside of town. We reapplied at the Dollar General and the outfitter in town, and had a delicious dinner at Iron Horse Station. We left town late around 11 am because we were waiting for a mail drop to arrive. At around mile 15, we saw a sign on the trail near a highway inviting us up the road for dinner at the home of some older thru hikers, Fal and Hercules. They were incredibly generous, feeding us beef stew, waffles, and ice cream. We call these kind of things "trail magic." We left around 645 pm with about five miles remaining to hike, and ended up doing a bit of night hiking. Today was another tough 21.5 miles. We are 26 miles from the next town, Erwin, TN Looking forward to the hostel there!

Rest day in Cashiers, NC

Made it through the Smoky Mountains! After several short days out of the NOC to rest my knee, I met up with three other hikers at Fontana Dam just before the trail entered Great Smoky Mountains National Park. All three were setting a pretty fast pace so we set off into the park together. My knee felt great on the long ascent of several thousand feet into the park, and we ended up doing a long 23 miles. The weather was overcast and blustery, and turned very wet and very cold overnight. Thankfully the shelters in GSMNP all have stone fireplaces inside them, so we were able to stay pretty warm. The next day we slept in a bit and awoke to thick fog and lots of ice. We set off for another long 20 mile day and luckily the fog gave way to beautifully clear skies by afternoon. We summited Clingman's Dome at around 2:30, which marked the highest point in the AT at 6,600 feet! The view was amazing but it was incredibly windy and very very cold. That night turned out to be our coldest in the park, not less because a two hour long effort to build a fire in the fireplace was a complete failure. The next day, our third in the park, would be another 20 mile day. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect, with clear skies and 60 degree temperatures. The views were amazing! That night we stayed in a full shelter with about twelve section hikers, which was a ton of fun, not to mention much warmer with so many warm bodies in the shelter. The next day, our fourth in the park, was just a short 8 miles to the park boundary where my parents were to meet us. We drove to Asheville for an incredible Indian food buffet, where we all consumed an outrageous amount of food. It was thru-hiker heaven! My fellow hikers stayed in Asheville for a rest day and I headed to beautiful Cashiers, NC with my parents for a day off. Thanks so much to the Lemming family for opening their home to us! It is an incredible place to rest and recover before we head back to the trail tomorrow!

Sassafras Gap shelter, NC

After a great breakfast at the NOC, I hiked the seven miles out of the gorge (gaining almost 3000 ft of elevation) to Sassafras Gap. My knee felt ok, but it only hurts descending so that may not mean much. I think the poles will be a big help, but my arms are sore from using them! Several years of cycling have left my upper body pretty weak. It's already quite cold here by 2:30 pm, so I'm sure it will be a cold night.

Holed up at the Nantahala Outdoor Center

Well, the knee pain that brought me off trail in Franklin hasn't gotten better so I made an executive decision to take another day off here at the NOC. I'm staying in a hostel, so it's much more economical than a motel in town. All of the other hikers I've met and passed in the past week are slowly trickling in, so there are a lot of familiar faces around, which is nice. There's a pretty good restaurant here, so I've been able to eat well (though I'm spending more than I'd like to). I also picked up some trekking poles at the outfitter, which everyone has said will make a huge difference in how your knees fare. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on the trail tomorrow!

Flickr Photostream

I've been uploading photos to my Flickr account, which you can find here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75474536@N02/

Rest day in Franklin, NC

I'm holed up in a motel today for an impromptu rest day in Franklin. I started having some knee pain yesterday that hadn't gotten better by this morning, so I decided to hitch into town and take my first rest day after hiking about 107 miles in 7 days. The weather is supposed to be pretty bad tomorrow and Saturday, then nicer weather to follow. I should be at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 3-4 days, where the weather can get pretty rough at high altitudes. Hopefully the calm weather will see me through the park. The highest point on the trail is there- Clingmans Dome at 6600 feet. Looking forward to it!