3 States down, 11 to go!

Well, it's been very interesting since the departure from Erwin, Tn.  It has rained the most the past week than any other stretch.  However, I've also been very lucky with weather for most of this hike.

After the first day we popped into the Greasy Creek hostel for lunch.  The sun was out and allowed for us to dry out our gear.  After a cheese burger and pint of Ben and Jerry's, for yours truly, we set off for Roan mountain. Fueled by 1,000 calories of icecream and pacing up some awesome new switchbacks I cruised my way up Roan.  Nokey tends to lead with his fast pace, but not today.  Over 2,000 feet were tackled as Roan tops out at around 6,200.

We stayed up top at Roan high knob shelter.  As the first to arrive, cold and drenched in sweat, i was greeted by some perky Floridian sectioners. These [insert curse word] set their tents up INSIDE the shelter, leaving very little room. I was a bit outspoken about my anger with this as I told them other hikers were on the way. Nokey was even louder with his disapproval and our annoyance with their stuff spread all over the place.  We had to set up upstairs around another tent that practically blocked our entry.

The next morning they were being overly nice and kissass to us, too late.  The rest of the day would prove to be much better as weather and everything else improved.

We were met at Carvers Gap by trail angel and 2011 thru-hiker, Mothership, with sandwiches and other goodies. We departed for what would become my favorite stretch of the trail so far. Cloudy skies and fog soon gave way to blue skies and impressive views as we crossed the beginning of the Roan highlands. We visited the well known Overmountain shelter, which was a converted old barn with a gorgeous view.

The following walk over Little hump and Hump mountain was just Amazing (pic below). It reminded me of hiking in Scotland so very much! 

We ended up at 19E by Elk park, Nc.  We camped by the road that evening along a nice little creek.  With stomachs growling we called a steakhouse that posted an advertisement to hikers and offered a ride to and from.  Within 5 minutes we were in the back of a pickup enroute.  Shortly upon arrival the owner sat down to chat with us and offered me a 40oz porterhouse (pic below) for the 32oz price.  I demolished the whole thing with a salad and half a baked potato.

The following morning we departed with a group from the local hostel including dirty girl, hot feet, secrets and shenanigans, spirit, talks a lot, woof and a handful of others.  Finally crossed over into Tennessee for good and left NC behind as we crashed early at Mountaineer Falls (Balls hehe) shelter.

The next day was a bit rainy with some snow flurries up on Ponds Flats.  The rec area at Watauga lake brought more trail magic as some angels grilled skirt steak and chicken for everyone.  The weather cleared up and we pushed on to Vandeventer shelter for another 18. 

The following day we pushed 22.7 into Abingdon gap shelter, the last shelter before Damascus, Va.  The promise of thunderstorms held true the following morning as it opened up and soaked all of us on the way in with strong gusty winds, lightening and thunder.  I did the mileage in about 3 hours.

Damascus has been amazing since arriving!  Great small town all centered around biking and hiking.  The social dynamics of the trail community.  Meeting new people and seeing all sorts of others here has just been a lot of fun.  Our first night jason and mary lou came in from Johnson city for karaoke and mass quantities of beer.  I do not recall leaving or walking across the street to my bunkroom.  The following day was a lazy day with some resupply shopping.  I needed a new water bladder as my camelbak developed a hole in the top as well as some gaiters (shed water off of my socks and shoes) for the next deluge.

Yesterday we packed up and got ready for the climb up and out of here.  While waking up at the local coffee shop we spun the idea of slack packing (getting shuttled ahead with a small day pack and walking back).  Its a nice way to get mileage in without the full pack weight.  Our friend Otto had a truck here and dropped us off about 18 miles out. I cleared it all in about 6 hours.

Today I'm stuck waiting around for a 2pm shuttle to where we started yesterday.  I'm very ancy as I write this blog.  At this point I'm ok with a day off, but not a fan of wasting more time.  I've calculated that i must average no less than 18 miles per day from here on out to summit Katahdin on my birthday at the end of July. This shouldn't be an issue as I plan to up my average to 25 per day (i want to break some 30 mile days) through the 4 weeks it should take me to clear this state.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life as much as I am right now!

Margaritas and Icecream

Departed Hot Springs after a zero day there with Flash, Nokey, Barefoot and Gypsie soul. Nokey, Muck and the girls (barefoot/gypsie) had been there for 4 days due to barefoot falling ill.  Since she wasn't totally up to par, we only planned a 5 mile easy hike to a pond with a campsite.  By the time we reached our destination barefoot wasn't looking very well.  Luckily Chuck Norris, the owner of the hostel in Hot Springs, had offered to pick her up anywhere if she didn't feel well.  Nokey called and he was there within minutes at a dirt road just above the campsite.  Such a great and caring guy!  To any reading this on trail journals, be sure to stay at the laughing heart hostel at the foot of the trail.
We met and camped with stingray, steady, F-100 and glogg. The temps dropped into the low 30's that night and I shivered in my 40° bag.  This would be the start of my regret of switching out my colder 10° bag.

The next day we did a 15 mile trek ending with a nice climb that froze my troublesome knee in the final stretch.  Sheltered this night with the same group as well as Secrets and Shenanigans.

The next day was Sooooo effin Cold.  I barely slept that night as froze my ass off in temps of the upper 20's.  I wore everything i had including rain gear.  We all waited to slowly crawl out from the insides of our sleeping bags.  It was a very lethargic morning and a late 10:30 departure.  It was so windy for the first couple hours!  By the time we peaked Big Firescald knob the sun was out and the wind had abated.  However, the knee was trying to lock up again.  We relaxed in the sun and ate lunch up there as i waited for a 800 mg ibuproferen to take action.
Everything went well till the next shelter when it acted up again.  However, it was late (too late to push for the next one) AND this place had tarps covering the front with a built in fireplace.  After the past freezing evenings the idea of  warmth kept us all there.  Joining us was a couple from Germany Fredrica and Sebastion.  We would travel with them till Erwin from this point on, very cool people to be around!

We pushed for 15 miles the next day.  Gorgeous weather and all went well for most of the day.  I changed my hiking style to a slower pace and shorter stride.  The last 2 miles got rough.  I said F U knee and pushed it through.  Instead of hobbling and babying it I made it  move full motion (doc said I couldn't damage it) and man it hurt for a while, almost made me puke.  Yet, it eventually gave in and worked with a mild ache.

We hiked a couple miles into Sams gap early the next morning and hitched a ride to a cafe for breakfast. We resupplied at a market/gas station and hitched back to find trail angels giving out food and drinks. For those not familiar,  trail angels are hikers and exthru-hikers that show up at crossings and such with food, drinks and snacks for section and thru-hikers.  Always a very welcome sight!
The rest of the day was a long fantastic hike!  We ended at No Business shelter at about 9:30 pm for 20.7 miles and had a short 5 miles into the hiker hostel on the Nolichucky river the following morning.

Jason Clark, my long time buddy from highschool, picked us up and took is into Johnson city.  Him and his better half Mary lou have a gorgeous house they're restoring. We  were so kindly treated to dinner by them at a Poblanos.  Yours truly had two fishbowl sized margaritas and meal that was ginormous (see picture) and came back in a box.

We were supposed to hit the trail the next day, but we slept in and got a late start into town for resupply. Jason took us to a fantastic burger joint and we finally agreed out loud to take a zero day.  We hit the movies (Hunger games) and were treated by our hosts to a spaghetti and salad dinner which incorporated fresh ramps (wild onions) that I picked along the trail. The remainder of the evening was filled with laughs, tv and good ole Ben n Jerrys icecream.  Nokey ate 2 pints to himself, it was impressive.

Today was a late start and a short 5 miles to the first shelter.  We'll wait out tonights rain storm here with shenanigans and secrets as they came in late from a zero as well.  Gonna be raining all day tomorrow.  Shooting for a 22 mile stretch, maybe 13 if the rain is really bad.

All for now :-)

Loving life

What an amazing week this has been!  The knee started out sore but has gotten much better since i started back at Fontana dam.  Smokey mountain national park was fantastic!  The initial climb was brutal, but once you're up there the elevation gradients aren't so bad.  About the third day in the knee started cooperating with me.  The views were great as was the weather. Finished a 12 mile day (hardest section in the park) by being chased in by a storm.
I hiked the last part of the park with a new group that was a lot of fun.  Skillet and perch are from Belleair and Tampa, Fl.  Vicegrips and Sap, a married couple from....i forget.  We're all about the same age except Otto who's in his 50's and hails from Boone, Nc.  We did a night hike for the last stretch of the park, such a blast!
Spent a day and a half at Standing Bear farm hostel.  A great place to stay, great people and a lovely setting.  Skillet, vicegrips and myself killed a lot of beer while we were there. Good times!
I hiked to Max Patch yesterday from the hostel.  Fantastic weather, great hiking and gorgeous views from atop. Watched the best sunset yet that evening and then did a 180 to watch the full moon rise out of the horizon. So awesome, i can't even do it justice here!
Hiked 16 miles today in perfect weather.  So much vegetation is sprouting up everywhere along trail and throughout the mountains.  Its such a pleasure to watch it all coming to life.
Tomorrow I have a short hike into Hot Springs, NC.  Meeting my folks there for lunch and hopefully i can get a soak in the spring water.