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.

Snaggle Foot

Since my last post from NOC I have rafted the Nantahala, put another section behind me and been sidelined by the knee again….OH, and I now have a trail name!  I am now known as Snaggle Foot ;-)  This came about as my friend Jen made a comment on FB about my (blogged) foot issues and all the silly names (trail names) she was reading about and called me snaggle foot.  I found this very funny and read it out loud to everyone…and well….it has stuck. lol

The zero at NOC was great!  Runoff, Bookworm and I rented a raft and I guided them down the Nantahala River.  Perfect weather for it!  Then while at Rivers End Birdman showed up with BLT and Dak.  He offered us to come to Asheville for the night for some beers, pizza and pool….not to mention comfy beds and showers.  Dak, runoff and I took him up on the offer and jumped in the car. 

Once there I crashed and the three of them went out.  I knew if I joined them there were only two unfavorable scenarios in my near future.  1. I would be the tired whiny guy that just wants to leave (Lame) and 2.  I would end up getting drunk in an effort to stave off the sleepiness and not be that whiny guy.

The sleep did me well and offered me the opportunity that evening to reorganize my gear before passing out.

The following two nights and three days were spent going towards Fontana Dam.  This started off with a 6ish mile (3100ft elev.) climb up and out of Nantahala gorge that we flew up.  We ended that day shortly after the climb at the first shelter.  The following was a 15 miler that left my knee in pain during the last 2-3 miles.  This is the point where I started to feel maybe a doctor visit would be best just to make sure of what’s going on.  The next morning was only 5 miles into the Dam and I hobbled a little bit towards the end of it.

I offered Dak and runoff to crash at my joint instead of the shelter for the night and they took me up on it.  The next morning I got up to drive them back and between the case of beer from the previous night and the promise of nasty storms they decided to take a zero and spend another day here.  I couldn’t go anywhere since the Doc wouldn’t be able to see me till Monday morning.  

They accompanied me to REI so I could return the other boots that tore up my feet and my failing Steripen that only seemed to work when it chose to.  A HUGE shout out and Thank you to REI Asheville for being so awesome and allowing my exchanges!  Such a RAD store!  The rest of the day was filled with other errands, movie rentals, pizza, wings and beer.  I ran them back to the dam the following morning.

The doc checked out my knee and gave me some great news.  No major problems, and it wasn’t my IT band.  It’s the lateral collateral ligament in my knee.  This is towards the outside of the knee which is why I assumed it to be the IT band from the pain.  It’s a direct result of pushing to far too soon and will get better as it acclimates to the daily grind.  The biggest problem will be keeping to 10 mile days for a couple weeks.  I can do more and will want to, but need to allow it to heal and get used to the strain.  He said eventually it will go away all together; I just have to take it easy for a while.

I’ll be back on trail in a day or two to take on the Great Smokey Mountain National park and break 200 miles….at a snail’s pace ;-)  I will also be comforted in knowing that the knee issue isn’t serious and will eventually work itself out as the body acclimates to the strain.

BTW, my feet are healing well and kind of looking better.  I love my new Merrell shoes and superfeet insoles!

Beautiful weather, horror show feet.

I left franklin on sunday after spending an extra day there.  I made up a day as i hiked past Wayah bald and on to the next shelter.  Met some new people (gail, spoon, cheddar, boxhead, runoff) and ran into bookworm and magpie agian.

Hiked (hobbled) into NOC yesterday.  All the downhill aggravated my knee a bit.  Nothing like last time, just some mild pains here and there.  We spent about 3 hours at the rivers end restaurant eating and drinking.  I was able to ice my knee there while numbing my aches with icecold beers.
Looks like today will be another zero day.  I dont want to, but my body feels like it needs it. 

Mentally i want to push on.  However, the new shoes rubbed my left foot (its smaller than my right) and formed that blister on the bottom and a small one in my heel.  Today the bottom blister is a bit infected, so im tending to it with rubbing alcohol and antibiotic ointment.

I bought some superfeet insoles which should solve the blister issue and provide extra cushioning, support and stability to help with my knee.

Im taking a picture if my feet today as they seem to be a hot mess.  Between calluses, blisters (old and new) and 3 soon to fall off purple toenails......they are pretty gnarly looking, lol.

Since its so nice today a couple of us are thinking about renting kayaks and doing a run down the Nantahala river.  A day on the water with some rapids will make up for taking a day off ;-)

From this point on, I leave home behind me.

So, I’m back in Franklin as I’ve hiked my way back in from Hiawassee, via Dicks Creek Gap trail head.  I was dropped back off there on Monday around noon.  I only planned to do 5 miles into the first shelter.  It was a solid 5 miler with enough elevation change to get my heart pumping and see how the knee has come along.  All went well, pain free and I enjoyed the walk through fog and a light drizzle.

Met some new people and ran into a guy I met at the hostel the tornado night.  He was just getting started then……I’ve apparently forgotten his name (*note to self* maybe you should start writing names down since you are bad with them?).  Also met the boys from Jersey, Chester chip??, critter and Guac.  Cool guys and they set the pace for the rest of my walk.

Venturing out on a foggy morning with the promise of clear skies later on that afternoon, I anticipated crossing the GA-NC border within the first part of the morning.  It would be the first milestone of achievement to pass on this venture.  Finishing the first of 14 states and starting the second.

I must say, this “achievement” was met with a bitter-sweet feeling.  You ask why bitter??  Well, let me tell you.  NC welcomes you with a serious climb.  It’s not the longest, but it’s got some steepness to it, enough to put your pounding heart in the back of your throat.  The fact that the top was masked in fog made it feel never ending…..a grueling climb into the nothing.  This climb and one that comes right after it left me a bit drained for some time afterwards.

I eventually came upon Muskrat Creek shelter and popped in for lunch.  I had the pleasure of seeing Sipsey and Animal again as well as meeting “Tom for now”.  It was really cool to see Sipsey still on the trail and getting to talk to him again.  Animal was panning for gem stones, something I’ve always wanted to do!  I watched and got a brief tutorial on how it’s done.  Very interesting to watch, and even more interesting to see how many little rubies and amethysts he was plucking out.  I ended up spending about 2 hours chatting with Sipsey and Tom.  In truth, I needed the rest.  Tom, like me, was a talker and kept the conversation flowing.  He’s a very interesting guy from Massachusetts.

I moved on to Standing Indian shelter where I met back up with the Jersey boys and others.  The weather had cleared to sunshine during my lunch break and made for a beautiful 5miles to Standing Indian.  Ended up with 12.2 miles this day and fell asleep to the sound of coyotes and occasional owls hooting.

The next morning I felt a twinge in my knee while breaking down my tent.  I got a bit worried, and set off at an easy clip.  I was planning on 14.4 miles with the possibility of doing 16.2, all depending on how the knee faired.  I got to the next shelter (Carter) at 7.6 miles and realized one of my new teva sandals had fallen off where it was attached on the outside of my bag.  I was very displeased to say the least, but shit happens.  I was not about to go backwards to look for it, it could have fallen off anywhere along there. 

I moved on to the next destination and WOW what a day!  Some amazing views, a rock scramble to the top of Albert Mountain and a fire tower atop of it.  Such fantastic rewards for my longest day yet.

I popped into Big Spring shelter and saw Jay and his wife again.  It was early enough and the next shelter was only 2 miles downhill.  Why not, let’s make it 16.2.  WELL……apparently that shelter isn’t built yet and I ended up pushing on to Rock Gap shelter for a 20 mile day.  I was BEAT!  Also, during that stretch I neglected a hot spot on my foot and developed a nasty, large blister on the bottom of my left foot.  I’ve never had a blister on the bottom of my foot before.  The new shoes have done their damage, now time to heal.  I also reached another accomplishment during this day as I have now hiked over 100 miles. WOOHOO!

I ran into everyone else again at this shelter, all bitching about the non-existent one.  Also, we had a trail angel show up with freshly baked chocolate and Angel food cake.  So Delicious!   This push left us with only a 3 mile walk to the trail head of Winding Star Gap at US64.  It also, put me a day ahead of schedule.  My dad picked me up at the gap yesterday and we squeezed everyone in for a ride into town.

I’m taking a zero today to get new camp shoes to replace the tevas (probably getting some crocs) and nurse this gnarly blister on my foot.  I’ll be back on the trail tomorrow.

Tomorrow it is

I'll officially be back on the Trail tomorrow.  The knee has recuperated very well.  I went on a hike yesterday to test out the new shoes and my knee.  All was well, just a tiny bit irritation in the knee when I pushed it (jumping/stomping around).  So with that I decided to give it one more day of rest and the entire 5 days of recommended time.

I've dropped my base pack weight down to 24lbs (prefood/water).  I'm very pleased with this!  Should make for some better hiking and less stress on my knee's.

So tomorrow I get back on with fresh legs, a better knee, lighter/better fitting shoes and Much lighter pack.  All a recipe for success in finishing the trail. I'll be back here in Franklin in 3 days for a shower and resupply before I move on to NOC.

Cheers

WooHoo!

Great news today, I’ve awoken to what seems to be a pain-Free knee.  In my best zombie impression, I made my way to the bathroom first thing this morning and returned to bed.  As I lay there contemplating getting up or sleeping more, it suddenly hit me……I didn’t just hobble back-n-forth to the bathroom…..I walked………with a Normal gait!!!  WooHoo!

After that initial revelation in mobility my first thought was, I’m hiking today.  Then the cold hand of reality and this so-called “good sense” that seems to be instilling itself into my life during this decade of maturation, slapped me across the face.  A recollection of years of jumping the gun on injury recovery periods and how it usually doesn’t work out well for me flooded my brain.  I slowly pulled the covers over my head as I mentally conceded with this “good sense” and the idea that it would be best to wait another day or two. *sigh*

Stir crazy, always been that way.  Now the subtle hint of it that’s been dancing in my head will become loud blaring lights and sirens till I change scenes and reenter the woods.  This will be a LONG couple of days, I shall have to keep myself busy and occupied.  I should also abstain from trailjournals.com, it’s like salt in the wound as I read about everyone I’ve met so far reaching Franklin and moving ahead of me.  It’s ok though, with my new and MUCH lighter shoes, fitted with not one, but TWO good knees, I’ll do well to catch up or run into them along the way.  Falling behind will allow me to meet even more people that started after the Thru-Leaper group. It will also be nice to walk alone for a bit.  I'm a solo hiker by nature and although the company has been great, I'm ready for some one-on-one time with the flora and fauna.

I’ve already dropped numerous items from my pack to lose some weight.  I also bought a compression evac sac for my sleeping bag.  With the evac sac I had, it kept managing to expand a lot in the bottom of my bag and taking up WAY too much valuable room.  It’s now under half in volume of what it was before.  I’m very pleased with this.  

I have an itinerary loosely created in my guidebook.  Today I shall retool it in the sense that I’ll place dates to locations as well as a mail drop timeline for my folks.  Before I was gonna play it by ear and call/email the drop places and times.  Now, I feel the importance of having a date to reach.  It will also be easier for my parents to work with as well for their planning purposes.  

Along with that I’ll also be experimenting with organization in packing my bag.  Trying to find the most efficient way to do so and possibly dropping some more weight off of it.

These tasks (and some rented movies) should get me through the next couple of days.  I’m gonna shoot for Sunday to get back on the trail.

Cheers!