march 23- fontana lodge day two

Today was my second day staying at the fontana lodge. And it was a really fun day too. Woke up around 10am. packed my stuff, ate breakfast, and checked out of my room around 11. Me and dj planned to stay one more night, but wanted to find more people to share a room with so itd be cheaper. Also, wet dog and sugargnome were leaving, and they had helped split the room last night. Dj knew that sarah was splitting a room with 3 more people, so he asked her and we joined into that room. Making it that 7 people would be splitting a hotel room that only had 4 bed spaces. So 3 of us will sleep on the floor. Once we had that settled, we just chilled in the lobby for a while, reading. I quickly got bored and went to the event room. Where there was a local member of the cherokee tribe giving a history of the cherokee along with a question and answer session. After that i played cornhole with some other hikers.it was me and guard against hey everybody and lucas. Cornhole is a game where you throw beanbags across a room and try to get them into a hole in a platform. Me and guard won. After that the hotel showed a movie "the life of pi" so i got a bag of popcorn and watched that. On a side note, guard told me that freight train has dropped out because of problems with his legs, but he might join back up sometime down the trail. The movie ended around 5pm. I went to the lobby and spoke to some people for an hour or so. A bluegrass band was supposed to come play around 7pm, but the event coordinator, jp, said they had cancelled. So he set up his ps3 and we played guitar hero for about an hour and a half. When that ended, a group of us went to the game room, where me and guard played a round of foosball and pool agaisnt clever girl and apollo. Everyone has heard of clever girl because they made a birthday party for her at the shelter, the fontana hilton. I didnt go to that because i was staying at the lodge, and i didnt want to walk the 3 miles back in the dark. Shes hiking with her husband, dump truck. After that we all went back to the room and had a beer and just chilled. Eventually we decided to check out the bar and get some food. We stayed there until they closed and threw us out at around 1030pm. Now were in the room. My sleeping bag and pad is set up on the floor. Tomorrow me and dj will try to hitchhike to knoxville. If we cant get a place to stay we can camp out in the woods there, or find some hidden spot to sleep. Itll be like being homeless for a day. Ive always wanted to try that. Besides, We dont have a place to stay until monday night.

march 22- fontana lodge day one

Sleeping at the fontana hilton wasnt bad. It got cold at night so i spent most of the niight curled up deep in my sleeping bag. When i got up in the morning i bbegan preparing myself for a trek through the smokies. My feet were in bad shape, and i was Worried about what the weather will bring, but still i was preparing to press forward no matter what. I had told dj that i didnt think it was a good idea to continue just yet, and that we should wait out the storm. At the same time, progress needed to be made and i didnt want to hold us up. When i was almost ready to go, dj came back into the shelter after talking to flipper. An older hiker, he had told dj what a night of freezing rain would look like. He said there would be a sheet of slippery ice covering everythinng. It would make the ground impossible to walk on until it starts thawing, and the temps in the smokies are forecasted for the low 30s. If we hiked up into the smokies, and we encountered freezing rain, we would be trapped in a shelter, or unable to hike forward. A situation like that in the best case scenario would only leave us trapped in a shelter for a day or two. And worse case scenario we could die of hypothermia from being wet in below freezing weather. Djs response to that information was that he decided he wants to wait until after the storm. At least i wasnt the reason for holding us up, though i was relieved. We werent sure if wed stay at the fontana lodge, or at the shelter. We caught a shuttle into fontana village anyways, might as well stay someplace warm until the evening. When we got to the lodge we found 3 other hikers who wanted to split a room. So five of us splitting a room would come out to only about $13 each. We got a room then hung around until 1pm, when there was a presentation about edible plants that grow in the mountains. After that i tried to do a quick workout, then i went on a beer run to pick up some beer for the evening. We bumped into owl while walking so she joined us for our mini adventure. It was only a walk to the gas station anyways. We got back to the hotel, expecting beer, pizza and karaoke. But the event coordinator, JP, told us that the karaoke guy wasnt going to be able to make it, but that we can get beer and pizza in the bar. I hung out there for a little bit. Then went back to the room

march 21- fontana village

Another cold night, a very cold night. The condensation on the inside of my tent was frozen, the water bottles inside my tent were frozen, and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. I got dressed quickly, my fingers quickly numbed once outside my sleeping bag, even with gloves. I took down my food bag which i had hung from a tree last night, then took down my tent. Dj was taking it a little slower, we didnt do many miles today so he wasnt in any hurry. Once i had all my stuff packed up i told dj i was heading out. Standing around wasnt warming me up. The only way to do that in the mornings is to begin hiking. Even after a half hour of walking my fingers were still numb, though my feet felt much better. The daytime was cold too, and i hiked by myself until i got to the road to fontana village. i prefer to hike alone because i can keep my own pace, though it ges boring and time passes much faster when im with another person. I had stopped periodically during the day. 5 to 10 minutes at a time to let dj catch up. Towards the end i was scared he had gotten lost again. I was relieved when some hikers who got to the road a few minutes after me told me he wasnt far behind. We began walking towards fontana village. Me, dj, dude, and fidget. We walked almost a mile while trying to hitchhike until a woman in a pickup truck pulled over and drove us the rest of the way to fontana village. Fontana village isnt really a village. Its a resort town, with only a few stores, all of which are just an extesion number away from each other by telephone. What i mean is, the town is more like one sprawling hotel, but made of different buildings to look like a resort town. So all the employees in all the stores know each other. We spent some time in fontana village. i picked up some food at the general store for lunch, and dj went to the post office. It started getting late so we asked an employee in a golf cart for a ride back to the trail. Turns out he also does the resort shuttle. So for $3 each he drove us back to the trailhead. From there it was only a mile walk to the shelter. This shelter has a 20 person capacity, and down the path there is a bathroom building with real toilets, sinks, and a shower. I took a shower after ig got here and washed my clothes at the same time. Then spent a half hour drying them under the hand dryer. Theyre still a little wet but will be mostly dry in the morning. Me and dj cant agree on what to do tomorrow. He wants to do 3 high mileage days and get to gatlinburg on sunday night or early monday, then try to hitch to knoxville. The problem is that there is supposed to be a storm in the smokies on saturday. And i dont feel prepared for the cold weather mixed with wet and snowy conditions. But at the same time, waiting here for 3 days until we can head to knoxville feels like a waste of time. Ont the other hand, fontana village is having a hiker festival over the weekend. with pizza and beer tomorrow afternoon, and other things to do saturday and sunday. Id rather stay and have fun, and try to get some upper body workouts done in the spare time. But i dont want to feel like im holding dj back. Also, the bottoms of my feet are very raw. I took off my socks today for the first time since leaving franklin on sunday. The skin is thin and painful. The damage that my feet have taken as a result of me not taking care of them is very easy to see. If we do go into the smokies tomorrow, ill have to make sure to change my socks halfway through each day so my feet stay mostly dry. Im scared of the smokies. Everyone is. Most of the people in the shelter tonight are takin off until the storm passes. I think there are almost 15 people in here tonight. I told dj ill let him know how im feeling in the morning... i dont know... the cold and rain mixed together is a very scary thought. It rained a few days ago, but the temps were in the high 30's that night. So the cold was bearable. But a night in the low 20's even when dry is hard to handle. The smokies go into the teens on a regular basis.

march 20 - almost at fontana

Again we did a longer day. Today was 15 miles, and it wouldnt have been so difficult except that both the uphills and downhills today were very steep. One part is called jacobs ladder. Where you ascend about 600 feet in .6 miles. The trail was almost walking at a 45 degree angle. We were abloe to see 3 large lakes in the distance, one of them is probably fontana dam. Likely because were walking towards the lakes, and tomorrow we will get to the fontana dam shelter in less than 7 miles. The fontana dam shelter has been nicknamed "the fontana hilton". Because it is a 24 person shelter, and it has bathrooms and a shower. Not just a privy. I dont remember if ive described a privy yet, but its pretty much a toilet in a 3 and a half walled stall. With a toilet seat that has just a pile underneath it. Its not a hole in the ground. the pile is above the ground to "facilitate decomposition". This might actually be more pleasant than just an outhouse with a hole in the ground, because the pile is well vented. Im going to try to get a ride to fontana dam tomorrow to stock up on food for the next few days. Were taking the next week off. 3 days of fri, sat, sun at fontana dam. Then to knoxville to spend the first two days of passover with the jewish community there. We are planning return to the trail next week thursday. Then begin the smokies. Taking off a week before the smokies is a good thing. Theres alot of talk of the smokies, and how cold it will be. Nobody is excited for the smokies, only for the hopefully good weather that will be after it. The smokies are about 75 miles of hard uphill and long steep descents at high elevation. It will be cold and difficult, and the nearer we get to spring before entering them the better. The trees here havent even started budding yet, but weve had a few warm days. The night have been cold though, with last night going below freezing. Sleep was a bit difficult last night, we were in a cold, crowded shelter, and one of the annoying girls who were staying there was snoring most of the night. Dj has named the group " the AT divas". They seem very out of place on the trail, with one of them bragging yesterday about how she doesnt care about littering. After which she threw garbage in the privy. They were talking this morning about how their friend is picking them up from the next road because its too cold here for them. Its a windy, chilly night. On to fontana dam tomorrow, then a weeks break. I cant wait for the break, the shower, the food, and the passover seders. Gonna be a good week. As long as we can push off the smokies.

march 19 - NOC

The rain stopped overnight, and my clothes were somewhat dry in the morning. I wore them anyways, knowing theyll dry while i hike. Me and dj packed up our gear then hiked the 1 mile to the NOC. We hung out in the outfitter shop then went to the restaurant there for breakfast. After breakfast we opened up the package that DJs uncle had sent, in contained some food for dj and passover food for both of us. We divided up the food then dj called a synagogue in nearby knoxville to find out about passover accomodations. Im actually typing this up as he speaks to them. We dont have alot of hiking to do today, but its all uphill. Only about 7 miles to the next shelter, with 3000 feet of elevation gain. Its already 1pm, so we'll take it slow but not too slow. Were dreading the smokies, everyone is, the cold, the elvation the terrain. Nobody has anything good to say about em. We printed out our permits for the smokiies at the outfitter. It comes with a list of rules we must obey for the smokies. One of them is that thru hikers must give up shelter spot to those with reservations, but can only stay in shelters, no tenting allowed... hopefully well be able to take 2 days off for the passover seders. 2 days closer to spring is better than nothing... We started hiking the 7 miles to the shelter around 1:30pm. It was completely uphill the entire day. The same way we hiked down 3000 feet yesterday we had to hike back up. Wasnt so bad though. Me and dj hiked together the whole day. Hiking with another person always makes the day go by quicker. Plus, i had a can of beer right before we started, and drank the other four while hiking. Was hiking pretty fast so was burning it off faster than i can catch a buzz. We stopped for a half hour for lunch, and i ate a big lunch of food i found in the NOC hiker box. After that it was really hard to hike. Hiking with a full stomach is never easy to do. So i huffed and puffed until we finally reached the shelter. Its pretty crowded here now. Theres a group of really loud girls here. One of them i called powderball, she goes by powder puff but shes kind rounder than that. Allready ate a big dinner, i have alot more food than i need to get me to fontana dam only 20 miles from here. Then well probably go to knoxville for the first days of passover. Theres supposed to be a hiker gathering at fontana dam on sunday, so finding a ride shouldnt be too hard.

march 17-18 fresh grounds and rain

Yesterday and today were good days. Yesterday i took the 9am shuttle out of franklin, and started hiking from winding stairs gap. Dj, hermes, carlie, and frances got off at a different stop about 3 or 4 miles back. So they had a bit more hiking to do. I came to fresh grounds a few miles in with his table set up. This time he had alot more food. He said he got so many contributions for his help that he added more food and decided to do it for longer. He said hell be on the other side of the smokies at davenport waiting for us to come through again. I stayed there about an hour. Owl and zag eventually came to that spot, and after about 15 minutes we all continued on. Me and owl hiked ahead of zag, cause shes a much slower hiker. Wed stop every now and then and wait, but never long enough for zag to catch up. Owl and zag were supposed to meet at a certain campsite, but by the time we stopped to check where we were we had missed the campsite so we just kept going. We reached a stone fire tower and spent some time there. We were able to see all the way to the smokies from there. I tried to climb up the side of the tower, it was only about 20 feet, but i got scared halfway up and climbed back down. If i didnt have 2000 more miles of hiking to do i might not have been as scared of falling. One really interesting partg of the forests ive been seeing the last two days is that almost all of the trees are dead. There are fallien trees and branches everywhere, and all the trees are covered in green mold and moss. Only the rhododenrons and other smaller plants arent dead, and most of the pine trees are healthy too. There just arent many of them here to begin with. Owl got in contact with zag via cell phone, and we continued on to the next shelter. Dj eventually showed up, and frances a little while after. Hermes and carly stayed near fresh grounds because he promised bacon and eggs for breakfast. While we made dinner for ourselves, john made a fire. We spent a while sitting around the fire talking and went to sleep around 9pm. It was a warm night, in the low 40s, and i was able to sleep in my sleeping bag in just a tshirt. We were all worried about the forecast of rain in the morning. So we werent sure if wed even hike, but when we woke up it was cloudy and overcast, not raining. So we all continued on, planning to stop at a shelter about 11 miles away. It was raining on and off during the day. So by the time i got to that shelter and caught up to dj i was already soakin g wet. Rain gear does a good job of keeping rain out, but it also keeps sweat in. The tradeoff is that you can maintain a warmer temp in rain gear than in the pouring rain. From that shelter, me, dj, and 3 other guys decided to continue to the next shelter, 5 miles away, and only one mile from the NOC, tomorrows destination and resupply point. We hiked at a breakneck pace, and 2 hours later reached the shelter. The shelter was packed to capacity with all of us in there. So we slept shoulder to shoulder, which def helped keep us warm in our slightly damp sleeping bags. Someone had put some vicks vaporub on top of our food bags because we had heard that mice dont like the stuff and will stay away from food bags that have some on top.

march 16 zero day

Today was a good day. Took a zero day in franklin, and took the time to resupply for the next few days of hiking. The weather was in the 70s so walking around town was great. It felt like the summer. Got some food and resupplied. But stayed in my room most of the day just eating and watching tv.

march 15- getting to franklin

Good day today. And long. Woke up after another chilly sleep, wasnt too cold though, nothing was frozen. And ive noticed some thing about the cold too. That is that my body can be warm in my sleeping bag, but as long as i breathe the cold air ill wake up shivering. So i tightened my liner over my face, and breathed through that with my sleeping bag hood cinched over my head. Still woke up alot, but because my back hurts when i sleep in one position for too long. Instead of both that and the cold. So the day started off well. Ate the poptarts given to me yesterday by the guy at the shelter, packed up my tent. owl, the lady who had given me the salmon jerky last week caught up just before i left, and this time she gave me venison jerky. Any protein is good protein. And by jerky standard this stuff was pretty good too. About 4 miles in, after a hard climb, i got to a fire tower that overlooked an entire valley, but i was so high up it was a valley full of mountains, and i can see rolling hills and mountains in every direction. I took a picture and went back down the tower, it was very windy and cold at the top of it. The higher you go the colder and windier it gets. The day warmed up pretty quickly after that, and soon i was down to a tshirt. Today was the first day it was warm enough to do that. I stopped at the first shelter, about 6 miles from where i started, to check the register, take a break, and change my socks. Ive found that switching to dry socks midday helps slow down the blisters. Dj had signed out of that shelter earlier in the morning, so i knew we were close. I continued hiking, over mostly easy terrain, except for a fun climb past a waterfall. I eventually made it to winding stair gap. I figured dj was camping further down the trail, but i needed to resupply food. After about 15 minutes i managed to hitch a ride into franklin. The guy who picked me up claimed to be rons cousin. Ron is the owner of 2 motels in franklin and one in hiawassee. Hes also a name ive been hearing repeatedly from people who know the trail well. Anyway, he dropped me off at the budget inn in franklin. Just before i rented a room i decided to turn on my phone and call dj to see where he was up to. When i turned my phone on i got a flood of missed text messages. One of them was from dj. Turns out he was staying at the budget inn with hermes, frances, carlie, and a new guy named bo baba. The front desk called his room and he came out. The motel told us they only allow 4 in a room so me and hermes split a room. I took a walk and picked up some food. And then we hung out until we went on a beer run and just sat around chillinng, eating and drinking. We're all pulling a zero day tomorrow. Which means that were not hiking at all. We all have to resupply before we hit the trail on sunday either way, and most of us have achy joints from the past few days of hiking. Its gonna be a relaxing weekend. And when i get back on the trail on sunday itll be a short day anyways, maybe about 5 miles, because im 6 miles ahead of everyone else.

march 14

Today was a long day. Not a bad day, just a long day. Did a little over 16 miles today. I wasnt planning on doing that many, but when i got to the shelter about 12 miles from where i started, there was still 3 hours of daylight left, and only 4 miles to the next campsite. The day started cold, really cold. The kind of cold we havent had since last week when we first started this adventure. The temp got down into the teens overnight, and the water bottle i had inside my tent with me froze during the night. The condensation on the rainfly of my tent was frozen too. My feet had gone partially numb during the night, and i had gone to sleep wearing everything i have, even gloves. My sleep was frequently broken by bouts of shivering until i'd fall asleep again. I packed up and left camp as quickly as possible. it was too cold to sit around and make breakfast so i ate a zone bar and started walking. It didnt take too long to warm up and soon after i had taken off my down jacket and long underwear and was wearing a sweatshirt and just my hiking pants. I stopped at the first shelter i came to to check the register for signs of dj. He hadnt signed in to that one. There was a guy there making lunch for himself and 3 other hikers who were out on standing indian mountain. They were only in for a few days and had plenty of leftover food. So he gave me a bowl of ramen and a bag of snacks. I continued on, feeling renewed and fed, and hiked as quickly as i can. Today the elevation went up to about 5500 feet. The highest ive been yet on this adventure, but the terrain was relatively easy. With gentle inclines and declines the whole day. The view from the top was nothing less than amazing. I was able to see as far as the horizon, with dozens of mountains all around, in every direction. I think i saw some even higher than the one i was on, but its hard to tell from a distance. At the shelter i was aiming to stop by, i bumped into owl and zag. Owl had given me a bag of salmon jerky a week ago on the trail. Trekker was also there, he helped me last night after the alcohol incident. And pilgrim was there, an older guy, yet still making good mileage. Trekker told me there was a message for me in the shelter register. Dj had written the lyrics to the tenacious d song "dude i totally miss you" sometime today. Probably in the morning before he left the shelter. I continued on until i got to betty creek gap. And ive eaten, and im about to go to sleep,. Its 745pm, and evryone else here is already sleeping. Its also getting cold, gonna be another long night...

march 13- cross to carolina and drank the alcohol

If youve ever wondered what happens when someone drinks denatured alcohol, keep reading. Day started off pretty well. Wokie up abt 8am, made breakfast, packed up, and started moving at about 930. Saw gary as he was dropping off a group of hikers that stayed by himm that night. Said hello and kept going. It was a cold day, one of the colder ones weve had, and so i had to wear my gloves for almost the entire day. I checked the register at the plumorchard gap shelter to see if dj had been there but there was nothing from him. So i kept hiking, and decided to go as far as i can and hopefully catch up. It was also a very windy day so the presence of the sun did little to warm me up. There was one cool moment, as i was ascending a mountain, where the wind was roaring very loudly. As i reached the top, the wind stopped completely and it was perfectly quiet. Then a few second later, as i began descending, the wind picked up to a roar again. It sounded kinda like a roller coaster. I eventually crossed the georgia/north carolina border and saw alot of hikers staying there. That site is the lowest elevation for a while, and it gets colder the higher up you go. It seems like carolina will be higher and colder than georgia. While i was ascending the first mountain in nc i turned around and saw the georgia mountains all lower than me. Then after i got to the top i saw all the nc mountains higher than me. I eventually reached the muskrat creek shelter, and decided to stay. The next shelter is 6 miles away and i couldnt get that far before sundown. I said hello to everyone staying here then cooked dinner. Shortly after dinner me and another hiker had a smoke. One of the hits was especially harsh, so i grabbed the first bottle off the table and took a swig. It tasted like nail polish remover and burned going down. I realized that i had drank the denatured alcohol i use for my stove. So i immediately asked otehr hikers for water. About 5 min utes later my stomach became uneasy, and then i puked up everything i had eaten just before. Then i got cold, really cold, another hiker shared his hot food with me. While i ate some trail mix to try to get some energy in me. A half hour later i felt like i was back to normal and i fell asleep.

march 12- long day, camped alone

I hiked far today. Really far. And im camping by myself for the first time. Its not a shelter or a campsite. Its a little clearing near the road, near dicks creek gap. Its close enough to the road that i can see cars driving past, but they cant see me. They call this stealth camping. I left the blueberry patch this morning, after another awesome blueberry patch breakfast. I helped gary clear the table, then he called me into the kitchen, and we spoke about religion for a few minutes. One of the other guests from the day before had told him i was jewish, and he wanted me to know that he and his wife love jewish people, as they are from the same bloodline as jesus, as well as being fellow humans. We spoke about finding god, or jesus, or religion in general. The blueberry patch is renown for having the best breakfast of any hostel around, but its also known for gary and his wife lennie, who run the blueberry patch. The blueberry patch is a garage converted into a two room guesthouse, its heated, and has a stove and fridge, and 6 small bunks, and large beds. Gary and lennie live in the house. And run a farm in their backyard, with donkeys, goats, and of course blueberries. Frank, who gave me a ride yesterday, told me he takes his kids to the blueberry patch during the summer to pick blueberries. Back to gary and lennie, they are known to be generous, patient, and above all, religious people who love people and want to do what they can to help people, they open their home to hikers, and all hikers know they are welcome at the blueberry patch as long as theres space, though gary will usually let you sleep on the floor if all the beds are taken. I almost ended up sleeping on the floor there last night, when another hiker walked in from the rain at 730pm. The only spot left was the couch, which was where i ws gonna sleep, but new hikers take precedence, and it was mu second day there. So i told gary that the newcomer can have the couch and ill take the floor, under the table. Which is where gary prefers people sleep if they sleep on the floor because they wont trip anyone waking during the night to go to the bathroom. As i was sweeping the kitchen, molly came in to help. I told her i didnt need help, that i was just sweeping under the table so i can sleep there. She asked sarah, another hiker, if they can share the big bed, and molly let me take hers. Before we went to sleep, dj called a chabad a few towns away to see if they can accomodate us for passover. They said theyll get back to us.... Back to the hiking today, i hitched a ride from the bluberry patch back to unicoi gap, and dj got a ride from gary to dicks creek gap. About 18 miles away from where i started. I quickly caught up to traillite, as hes quite overweight and hikes very slowly, and we hiked together for a few hours. It was relaxing going so slowly, and i still wanted to take it easy on my ankle, but by 2pm, after 4 hours of hiking, we had only gone 4.5 miles. I told him i need to catch up to dj. And i hiked ahead. I was planning on only hiking 5-8 miles today, but instead went 18, on one leg and two trekking poles. Once i was halfway from unicoi to dicks creek, i decided to just go all the way to dicks creek. When i got here i refilled all my water, then cooked dinner and tried to make a fire, the wood is still very wet from yesterdays rain. So it didnt catch, and i didnt put much effort in. Im in my tent now, my new tent, which is smaller and lighter, and feel slightly cramped, especially for a two man tent. Its dark, and getting cold very quickly, im hearing sounds in the woods and im uncomfortable being here alone. Its gonna be a long night. Plus i heard the temps will be in the low 20's.

march 10-11 staying at the blueberry patch

Today is my second day at the blueberry patch, and my third zero day. Well yesterday was a nero, in which i hiked only 2 miles to get off the mountain. Carlies mother gave me a ride from unicoi gap to the blueberry patch. I dropped my stuff there, and met gary, the owner of the blueberry patch. Then me and bill who also goes by woodman, hitchhiked into town. We got a ride from a guy in a pickup truck who told us to sit in the flatbed. It was really cool sitting out in the opwn watching the landscape zooming past. When we got to town We checked out the outfitter, which is more of a garage with some hiking supplies, and i asked if they can get me an ultralight 2 man tent. they said it was no problem and theyll have it by morning. Then me and bill went to ingles, the local supermarket, and resupplied our food. Didnt have to buy much food though, because the hiker box at the hostel had plenty of food that other hikers had left. We hitched back to the hostel, i took a shower and shaved while gary washed my clothes. Most of the hikers had come back, and someone made dinner for everyone. We all tried to go sleep shortly after, but one of the hikers, andrew, was snoring so loudly that everyone had a hard time sleeping the entire night. He was still snoring in the morning, and so was renamed earplugs, because he should give them out to anyone sleeping in the same area as him. Gary and his wife served breakfast, then gary drove some hikers to the trail at dicks creek gap. A few of us stayed behind, some because of the weather, and me because my ankle is still bothering me. I got a ride into town from gary, and shipped 4lbs of stuff, along with 6 more lbs of tent, then went to the outfitter and bought a lightweight tent, my pack is below 50lbs even with alot of food and water. After that i went back to ingles and picked up ingredients to make pizza. Then i hitched a ride back to the hostel with a guy named frank. He's a real estate agent in atlanta, and owns some property in hiawassee. He had his two little girls in the car, and he told me that his son wants to hike the trail after high school. When we got to the blueberry patch he took a picture of me with his kids, that i think he wants to post on this blog, im just not sure if people can post here. Me molly and andrew made the pizza, which was with vegetarian meat and nachos. And shared it with the other hikers here. Dj showed up shortly afterward when gary came with some more people from the trail. Gary told me i can stay another night here, but new hikers take precedence over second timers, and all of the beds are full. Another hiker, prayer walker, told me i can split a room with her at the holiday inn if i like, so im debating hitching to get there. Though i might just stay at the blueberry patch because its raining hard outside.

march 9- dj found

Today was a pretty good day. I pulled a zero day, which means i took the day off. Partly because of my ankle and knee and partly because it was saturday. Either way it was a well deserved day to relax. I woke up around the same time i usually wake up, about 8am, made breakfast, then brought my pack from my tent to the shelter to lay out everything and decide what else to send back tomorrow when i get to hiawassee. I managed to find about 4lbs of stuff to get rid of, clothes, wilson, water bladder, and some other things that i just have too much of.. An eagle scout troop came through about lunchtime, and a few other thru hikers also stopped at the shelter for lunch, so i spoke to them, seeign if they had seen dj at the previous shelter. Nobody had seen him, but about 1pm he showed up, with snacks given to him by the people that helped him. The eagle scouts left shortly after, but not before givin me their extra food. My strategy for my off day was to eat and sleep alot to help my body heal. So I had a big lunch and took a nap. When i woke up an hour and a half later gthere were more hikers here, some that planned to stay the night, and a few that didnt. One of them, irish charm, told us that he and some other hikers stop in every town and drink. He wants to write a guidebook for the trail with the best towns to get drunk at and/or just have a good time. We all ate and sat around a campfire while an older hiker, john, told us stories of vietnam and his time in the army. We all sat around the fire talking until about 8, and gthen everyone went to sleep. Tomorrow im only hiking 2 miles to unicoi gap to hitch a ride into hiawasse. Im gonna get things i need, as well as a lighter tent and backpack. And ship the rest of my stuff home. Ill prob stay at a hostel called gthe blueberry patch, then get a ride back to unicoi gap in the morning and continue hiking from there. Me and dj have decided that we'll keep to a similar schedule, but not necessarily hike together, so we can go at comfortable paces for each of us. When DJ, now DTour, showed up, he asked me what it felt like to have a zero day. I told him it feels like getting a day off from school. Its just more relaxing.

march 7-8 dj gets lost

Its march 8. Thelast two days were beautiful to say the least. Clear blue skies, sunny, and the temperature was in the high 50s or low 60s. Last night was cold. But it warmed up quickly in the morning. Not all was well though. Yesterday, me and DJ left neels gap, after a good nnights sleep at the hiker hostel there. We bought some new gear, i sent home 8 pounds of stuff. The day wasnt supposed to be a long hiking day, only about 7 miles to thw whitley gap shelter. Despite my lowered pack weight, DJ was much faster than me, and kept having to stop to wait for me. After a while he just went ahead, and i was hiking by myself. I eventually caught up to frances and carlie on top of a mountain while they were eating lunch. Neither of them had seen DJ, even though he was between me and them last time i saw him. I figured that he had maybe gone around them and was far ahead. I continued hiking with the others, hoping to catch up to him eventually. We had passed the 7 mile mark and still hadnt seen him. So we continued on to the low gap shelter at the 12 mile mark. Dj wasnt at that shelter either, and it was late in the day. So i hoped that he had just gone off trail to the whitley gap shelter and waited there for me. Either way, the next day was supposed to end at the same place, no mattr if we had done 12 or 7 the day before. In the morning i continued hiking to the blue mountain shelter, 7 more miles away. I expected DJ to catch up at some point durimg the day, since hes faster than me and i took today very slowly, because my achilles tendon is swollen and causes my ankle to hurt. When i got to the shelter he wasnt there, and still hadnt caught up to me. It was still early in the day, only about 2pm. It gets dark at about 7pm, so there were still plentyl of daylight hours left. That meant he still had plenty of time to arrive. I took out my phone to try and call him. His phone went straight to voicemail, he hasnt had service, but it was worth a shot. I noticed that i had a voicemail. DJ had left a message saying that he got lost the day before, and ended up finding a house. The people who lived ther drove him to the trail, and he was continuing from the tesnatee gap. About 15 miles from here. Its almost dark and hes still not here. We are both taking a rest day tomorrow, saturday. So im going to wait at the blue mountain shelter. And hopefully hell catch up on sunday. The day off will help my heel hurt, and sunday may be a short day, wiith us staying at a hostel in hiawassee. Where i will be able to rest some more. There is an anesthesiologist staying at the shelter with his son while they are on a few day hike. He told me that if my ankle gets any worse my tendon can tear, leaving me with an injury that can potentially leave me unable to hike permanently. Ill need about 3 days of rest until i can hike again. Ill also have to lighten my pack. Mine is the heaviest around at 50lbs. Most others are in the 30s. Theyve given me the nickname "pack mule", as well as "sherpa", and "chef boyardee" because my meals are often a concoction of things i have on my food bag . Along with "The almighty D" it has become " The Almighty Chef Pack Sherpa Mule Boyar D". DJ's name, meanwhile, has become Dtour. Those werent the only names i was given, two middle aged women on the trail called me "pipes". Because they heard me singing from far off while hiking, and had caught up to me when i stopped to rest. They were hiking a little further than i was, to unicoi gap, where they were getting a ride to helen, a town a few miles away. they gave me a bag of homemade salmon jerky, which was pretty good. I ended up sharing it with everyone at the shelter when i got there.

march 6- neels gap

We woke up very cold. It had snowed during the night, so my boots that had been waterlogged from the day before were now frozen solid. After trying for more than 15 minutes with numb fingers to get my boots on it finally worked. Since the boots were frozen my feet quickly numbed from the cold. We got our hanging food bags and slowly packed up our things, which was difficult because of the cold. It was so cold during the night we thought we were going to die in our sleep from the cold. Seriously. In all the books about the appalachian trail, nobody ever mentions the cold. Well bill bryson does in his book, but he says it was a freakishly cold spring. Everyone else paints a sunny picture of a happy green forest where nothing goes wrong. Maybe they are scared to talk badly about the trail, maybe their years were just so much more pleasant, or maybe we just started much earlier than most people do. Either way, these past 5 days have been the most brutally cold days ive ever experienced. We walk all day until were sore, then set up camp, and get into sleeping bags that are in no way warm enough for the weather were encountering. Ever night i wonder if this will be the one i just dont wake up. We both dread the night for that reason. A sleepless night of shivering, and sporadic situps or pushups to raise our body temperature to the point where we might be able to feel our toes. Thats why today, after the coldest and windiest day of hiking, where it was too cold to even make breakfast, and where our water bottles were frozen solid in the morning so we hardly even drank any water, we both bought sleeping bag liners, and DJ bought a new sleeping bag. Its huge, a 15 degree big agnes with a sleeve in the bottom for a sleeping pad. I hope hell be comfortable in it. Im going to continue with my sleeping bag. Coupled with a liner it might be tolerable. The liner says it adds 15 degrees to the comfort of a sleeping bag. Plus ive been spending a few minutes each night trying to "reloft" my sleeping bag, by pinching the stuffing and trying to pull it apart to fluff it up. the cold wont be a problem tonight though. Were staying at the hostel at neels gap. Attached to the outfitter store theres a 16 bed hostel. For $15 plus a $5 donation you get dinner and breakfast a bed to sleep in. I took a shower here for the first time in 5 days. It was the greatest feeling ive felt in a long time. The warm water was something that just doesnt exist on the trail. The closest i came to a shower on the trail was was my face and crotch in an icy cold stream. Theres alot of other hikers here. Its such a comfortable place i dont want to leave in the morning. Just stay for a few days until my blisters go down and my knees and back stop hurting, but that wont happen. we have to continue as soon as possible, and check out is at 9am. We should be reaching a town in 4 days or so. So we might be able to find a hostel there. Hopefully the next 4 days will be easier too. Today I sent home 8lbs of gear that i wont need, And there less food in my pack than when we started. My pack weighs just under 50lbs now. Much less than the 65 i started with. We also did our laundry here. So our clothes are once again clean. Weve been wearing the same clothes since thursday.

march 5

March 5. We woke up to the sound of rain on the tent. Surprisingly enough, the tent is doing a good job of keeping the rain out, but the inside walls are covered with condensation. Not sure how were gonna go today, my back and knees hurt, and we havent even gotten up yet. Im gonna hike with knee support today, though ive lost one of my supports. I guess one is better than none. My knees werennt too bad during the hike, but it rained most of the day, especially towards the end. The day wasnt all bad though. When we reached woody gap, there was a guy with a table set up giving out free food and hot drinks to hikers. He had hiked the trail last year and wanted to make things easier for hikers during their first few days hiking. He went by the name of Fresh Grounds. There was a light drizzle and mist for most of the day, and the last 2 hours there was a downpour mixed with hail. When we got into camp i was cold and tired. After we set up the tent i used my towel to dry out the inside, as it was wet from the morning, and it was raining while we set it up. We hung our food a quarter mile away on a tree, then invited frances and carlie to come chill in our tent. DJ came up with the idea that we should all pass around a light and say something about ourselves. While we did that, carlie had each of us draw a penguin in a hot air balloon. She wants every person she meets to draw that for her. After carlie and frances left, me and DJ stayed up talking. We didnt want to go to sleep because it was cold and our sleeping bags were wet. We finally went to sleep, though we both just stayed up most of the night shivering.

first and second day of hiking. march 3- 4

Today is march 4th. We have finiswhed our second day of hiking, and both my knees and my back hurt. I have blisters on both as well as severe chafage. The chafage is the only thing i can do anything about, and itll hopefrully be healed by mornign, since hydrcortisone is fuckin awesome. Yesterday we began ourhike, we hiked the approach trail from amicalola state park, climbed over springer, and stayed in a shelter about 2 miles past it called stover creek shelter (i think). While on the approach trail a hiker named frances joined us, and has been hiking eith us since. Caleb had to go home due to a stomach ulcer that he had forgotten his medicine for. We beump into freeman every now and then. As he stayed atop springer last night instead of continuing to the next shelter at lower elevation. The temperature at springer last night went into the teens, while the temp at stover creek was in the low 20's. It was the coldest night yet, and i hardly slept. My water was frozen in the morning, and both of feet were numb. Its scary waking up in the morning and not being able to feel your feet. Tonight were staying in the tent for the first time. We got to a campgroung near a stream. Its called the justus creek campground, and there are a few other tents here too. Freances has a hammock. Im considering getting one at a store at neels gap called mountain crossings about 20 miles further. Thing is, the tent is really good for rainy days compared to the hammock, but the hammock is a fifth the weight. My pack is way too heavy. Ive been slowing DJ down. I stopped him from reaching the next shelter today, and it might take us an extra day to reach mountain crossings. Though Once we get there, ill mail home the things i dont need. I have an extra knife, a first aid kit that is wat too big, extra clothes, and afew other small things i dont need. Ill prob shed about 10lbs there. If i buy a hammock itll be closer to 15. Gonna go to sleep now. Tonight the weather is beautiful, and the tent is great at keeping the cold out. This is the warmest night so far, and i hope it stays that way. Ive heard rumors about extrfemely cold weather tonight, and rain tomorrow.

second day at amicalola. march 2

Today we woke up freezing. Though when i say woke up, i mean multiple times during the night because of how cold it was. The temp went down into the high 20's, and i heard that tonight it should be in the low 20's. We woke up at one point during the night and decided to do pushups to raise our body heat. It worked well, until after falling asleep we got cold again, it was in and out sleeping the whole night. If it doesnt start getting warmer soon im going to need a warmer sleeping bag. We went to the visitors center in the park today just to check it out, and found two people with a few different birds of prey, owls, a vulture, a hawk, and they told us that there will be a show with more birds at the lodge a mile away. We decided to walk there, and when we got there the show was already under way, different birds and a presenter talking about them. Afterwards, we spoke to the presenter, who is a park ranger here and she gave us advice on what to about the cold, how to lighten our packs, and some tips about the trail. Shhe told us we can sleep in the campground bathroom that is heated and will be open all night. DJ asked a counterperson at the lodge for a hot drink, and a few minutes later one of the girls working there showed up with hot cocoa for each of us. We walked back to the shelter, pcked up our packs that we had left at the visitors shelter, and shortly after got back to the shelter, a few more hikers came to join us. A few minutes later, the park ranger showed up with a duralog for us to start a campfire with. Things are looking good, but im still debating sleeping in the batroom. Its late now. I think around 9pm. Its cold. Very cold, and its snowing. Were sitting around a campfire, 2 of the other campers, caleb and freeman, joined us a while earlier. Caleb was a guy in his early 20's, he had grown up on an army base, and had been discharged from the army.. Freeman was ollder, he stopped working in 2003, and has been living on the trail and the road ever since. We ate a dinner we cooked over the fire, and were just chilling smoking now.

first day at amicalola

Today we headed to amicalola falls state park. Mahnu drove us there. Which made life much easier as we didnt have to find a shuttle or cab. We stopped at a pizza store first partly to get breakfast and partly because DJ thought it would be a good idea to bring a pizza to the campground. Turned out to be an awesome idea. We stopped at a paint store during the drive to pick up some denatured alcohol for our stoves. Then continued on our way. as we were drivin g it occurredc to me that atlanta is set up very differently from new york, and it makes more sense. The city is very dense and is the center of atlanta and its suburbs. There is a highway that runs in a circle around atlanta, with other highways crossing it and through the city. This makes it possible to reach atlanta from any direction. The subways run just to the outer limits of the immediate suburbs, and i was told by mahnu that most of the middle class live just a few exits beyond the reach of the subway. This is to ensure that no homeless end up in their towns. Beyond that is suburbs and rural land, with many farms. We drove past many farms on our way to the campsite. And even got lost on some back roads for a little bit because we had the wrong destination in the gps. We got to the park shortly after realizing this because we were only about 10 miles off track. We signed in and weighed our packs. Mine weighed 65lbs, with only half my water. About 13 lbs of that is my food, and i severfely overpacked that. I gonna eat like crazy over the weekend to lighten the load abit. We found out from the people who work at this park that wazter is very easy to find on the trail. So carrying alot is usually not necessary. DJ's pack weighed only 37lbs, he packed only the essentials and will be resupplyiing from mail drops in town. I packed alot because i didnt want to rely on mail drops, though ill be able to resupply in towns when we stop to get his mail drops. After finding the shelter, we immediately began collecting wood to makee a fire. The workers told me it was 29 degrees last night. Anfd it wont get warmer until next week. At the same, its unusually cold here now. We spent an hour trying to hang my food bag. Broke 2 tree branches in the process had to look for a good tree to hang the bag of food from so bears cant reach it. Im tired and it cold. Gonna go to sleep.

day in atlanta

My day in atlanta was interesting to say the least. After i got off the train i waited at the nearest bus station to what i hoped was the train to the airport. When i got to the train station it was pretty straightforward. There was a train that went all the way to the airport. Well 2 , but they followed mostly the same route. Atlanta has 4 subway lines that intersect the city latitudinally and longitudinally. That is, two run striaght north to south and two run straight east to west, and they only go separate directions for the last few stops at the end of the line. So i took the subway to the airport expecting to get off and wait 11 hours for DJ to get off his plane from chicago. when i got to the airport it wasnt even 9am yet. And his plane was getting in at 7:30pm. So decided to ride each subway in atlanta in every direction. 4 hours later i was feeling like a hobo as i has slept much of my time on the subway, waking up at the end of each line to take it back the otherway. So i had run out of subway and was wondering what else to do. So i took the subway to the middle of atlanta where all all 4 subways cross. A station called 5 points. I walked around looking for something to do and i decidedc to find a starbucks using my gps, so that i can access the wifi with my phone. Found one about 10 minutes later, updated my blog,checked facebook, and then a homeless guy started asking me about my backpack, how much it cost, what i was doing, etc.. I told him about my appalachian trail plans, and then we spoke for the next hour or so about all the free stuff to do in atlanta. Evidently, on the first thursday of every month there are free art exhibits with free refrreshments, and thats how the homeless guy keeps himself occupied once a month. I left him to go find food. After snacking i found an army navy surplus store a mile away so i walked to it hoping to find fuel for my stove. They had nothing of use to me so i wanderedmostly aimlessly around. An asian guy at a convenience store told me how he always likes to bring weed when he hikes to help him sleep, which i guess is good advice. I headed to the airport around this time, about 7pm to go meet DJ. His flight got in about a half hour later. While waitimg i saw 3 other hikers in the airport. I can tell they were hikers from their backpacks. After DJ got in mahnu picked us up and drove us to his friend where we were staying for the night. We chilled, dj and mahnu jammed, some guys came over, then we had a schmoke and went for pizza. Me and DJ had an interesting convo when we got back. We spoke about our reasons for hiking the appalachian trail, as well how we expected the hike to be. We both have very different views and expectations. We have similar reasons to some extent, such as to get away from what we always do, and to go on a cool adventure. But our expectations are very very different. I might talk about them here some other time. Passed out shortly after that until morning