Georgia to Maine without a plane: April 2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Gatlinburg to Hot Springs

The morning we needed to head out of Gatlinburg was rushed. The free shuttle was leaving at 8:30 am and was a mile walk from our hotel. We didn't checkout until 8:00 so we had to walk fast. Plus I needed to get fuel for the week and we were hoping to stop at an ATM. We made it to the shuttle with 5 minutes to spare and fortunately there was a gas station across the street. We hit the trail with full packs (about 35lbs each including food for 5 days and a liter of water).

That day, we were blessed with good weather, which was especially great because that section of the trail was home to a lookout called Charlie's Bunion, which is arguably the best view on the entire Appalachian trail.

That night we made supper and I spilled my entire rice dish (which had butter and bacon in it!) on the ground. I was pretty deflated after that. The next day was the worst on the trail yet. It started raining as soon as we left camp. It was also a cool day and my hands lost dexterity within 5 miles. We pulled off into the nearest shelter to warm up and ended up staying there. The shelter was packed. There was a total of 22 people in the shelter and some people had to stay on the floor.

Our clothes were soaked and did not dry even though we hung them to dry overnight. Our shoes were soaked too. In the morning, we took off from the shelter to get out of the smokies. It was all downhill and I ended up getting a bad shin splint on my left leg. We ended up at standing bear farm (the most popular hostel on the trail) and stayed the night there. We hiked a total of 18.4 miles that, making it our biggest day yet. It was probably our most memorable night yet as well since Lumpy, the caretaker of the hostel, was fully loaded since it was his birthday. At one point, lumpy fell down he was so sauced. Despite that, the hostel was vey nice and had a very nice atmosphere.

We only hiked 7 miles the next day since we were so sore from the previous day. We hung up our clothes that night since they were still wet from the day it rained. We also ran into some trail magic at the top of snowbird mountain that day. We ate some cookies and had a cold drink before continuing.

The day after that we ran into some more trail magic where they were serving up hot dogs, chips, and cold drinks. The intersting part of the groups that were doing the trail magic is that they were not part of an organization. They were just groups of friends out helping hikers for the sake of helping others. It was refreshing to see people helping others without any kind of agenda. We also summited Max Patch that day where we got to see another amazing view. That night we got to the shelter and witnesses the worst privy yet. It didn't even have a door. I guess beggars can't be choosers (I've been saying that a lot since the start of the hike).

The last day we hiked 13 miles into Hot Springs. We could start to see smoke around the town early in the day. In case you didn't know, there has been a large fire around Hot Springs for the last few days. There has been a lot of activity, from helicopters, to planes, to forest service vehicles and fire trucks. The hill behind us was on fire last night and the whole town has been enshrouded in smoke for days. The trail, north of town, is closed due to the fire, so we are getting a shuttle tomorrow to Allen gap, which is about 14 miles north of here (in trail miles). We took a zero day to take care of some things. Namely, sending some gear back home, restocking food, and getting some lighter gear from the outfitter. We traded our MSR whisperlite stove for a pocket rocket. I'm estimating that we dropped our base weight by about 3 pounds today. I will also have the peace of mind of not carrying around 30oz of gasoline now. And, the pressurizing pump on the gas container was staring to deteriorate.

We hope to be in Erwin, TN in 5 days where we can resupply on food again.

Until next time,

Leap and Frog

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Fontana Dam to Gatlinburg

We left the Fontana Dam shelter early on Saturday morning and entered the Smokies.

It was a beautiful morning for a hike. The landscape of the smokies seemed to be pretty much the same as everything else we had seen up until we crossed some sort of magical line where flowers started lining the forest floor.

On the way to the shelter, we came across an old fire tower overlooking the dam. It was sketchy as all hell, however. The first flight of stairs was missing a handrail on the right side and the floor of the top portion was spongy particle board. I took a few pics and came back down as soon as I could. The fear was worth it for the awesome views.

We stayed in a shelter for the first time that night, and we decided we would never stay in one ever again. The trail log at the shelter mentioned that there were rats there, but even more irritating was the 3 guys snoring in the shelter. Everyone complained about not getting any sleep the next morning, so we decided to stay in our tent from then on. The other not so great part about shelters in the smokies is that most don't have privies. Rather, there are designated "toilet areas" where you must go. These are always a minefield of human feces that must be navigated very carefully. You are supposed to bury your poop 6 inches in the ground but somehow people end up ignoring that rule.

The park has more than made up for its shortfalls with beautiful views and a varying landscape. I took a short nap in a meadow near the summit of a mountain overlooking the park, which was one of my favorite moments on the trail so far.

We also reached the highest point on the Appalachian trail a couple of days ago. The point is called Klingmans Dome, and it is over 6500' above sea level. The views were incredible. On the path leading up to the top, the landscape changed to a dense forest of spruce trees. The change of scenery did a lot to brighten our mood.

We hiked down to the shelter after reaching the summit and made food and went to sleep. The next morning, we woke up at 6:00 am and hit the trail by 7:00. We arrived at Newfound gap at 9:30 after hiking 5 miles and caught the shuttle into Gatlinburg. There was some trail magic setup in the gap so we got to eat some fresh fruit and snacks before the shuttle arrived.

Once we arrived in Gatlinburg, we spent some time at the outfitters to get some supplies. Then we made our way to our motel and showered up. Our plan is to get back on the trail tomorrow and hike to Hot Springs, NC in 5 days. I've made a spreadsheet with the plan and some other stats. You can check it out here:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?page=view&resid=163A0240689BD4D9!282379&authkey=!AImHKwH9_zxNIXI

We're are over 200 miles into the trail now and we're still loving it! Once we get out of the smokies, the trail will follow the North Carolina / Tennessee border until we reach Virginia. I'll try to make another post once we get to Hot Springs.

-Frog

Friday, April 15, 2016

NOC to the Smokies

Last time I posted was the day before heading into Wesser (the area is also just referred to as NOC, Nantahala Oudoor Center, an outfitter where you can get new gear and resupply). It was a short day's hike into Wesser. When we got there, we rented a cabin, took showers, and did laundry. Then we went to a restaurant along the Nantahal river.

In the morning, we bought food enough to get us to Gatlinburg, TN, which is where we plan to take our next zero day. We hit the trail by 11. We had to climb 3000ft in 7 miles to get to our next campsite. It was brutal. We were tired by the end of the day despite the low mileage.

The next day we hiked 12 miles to get to the next campsite. One interesting feature was called Jacobs ladder, which is a very steep incline up to the summit.

Today, we hiked 9 miles to get to Fontana Dam shelter, also known as the Fontana Hilton (this is the first shelter with a shower and a proper bathroom). A bubble of hikers is here, so we had a campfire and I got to meet a lot more awesome hikers. We also got to eat at a restaurant in Fontana Village. We also hung at at the general store for a while to let our phones charge. On the shuttle back to the shelter, we crammed into a van with a total of 8 hikers (not including the driver). It was actually kind of fun, despite having multiple backpacks laying on me.

We also ran across a rat snake today. It was up in a tree and I would have walked right by it if it wasn't for Louisa's keen eye. We haven't seen much besides a few squirrels. That might change tomorrow since we are entering the Smokies, which is a bear sanctuary.

We are definitely looking forward to seeing another national park, but not as excited about the rules and restrictions. You must tent at a shelter, and if it's full, you must hike onto the next one, which could be 10 miles away, even if it's raining or storming. I will try to remember to post again once we get to gatlinburg, which should be 4 days from now.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Day 20

Well, we haven't had exactly 20 days on the trail. We've had 4 zero days so far and a couple of neros (near zero). Last Wednesday, we had a huge day in terms of miles. We hiked 15.9 miles to get to winding stair gap and hitch a ride into Franklin, NC. We didn't actually hitchhike, but my trail buddy, Thor, texted me to give me the number of Beverly. She gave us a ride to our hotel and only asked for a donation for gas money. We also caught up with the Finnish couple, Lucky Man and Strawberries. We stayed in Franklin until Sunday morning, due to the cold front that had moved into the area. The low temperature at night was reported to be around 20 F every night during that time, and we know our sleeping system does not do well below 30 F. We started getting cabin fever toward the end, but it was nice to have some days to relax, heal, and explore Franklin. The first day in town, we did laundry, bought groceries, and relaxed. On Friday, we only got out of the hotel room to get lunch. We tried going to a Chinese restaurant we found on Yelp, but after a half mile of walking, we discovered that it was boarded up. So we walked back up the hill and ended up going to Fatz, a restaurant right across the street from our hotel. The worst part about walking around Franklin is that there few sidewalks and crosswalks don't exist. This meant having to wait 10 minutes to cross the freeway. By Saturday, we had enough sitting around. We took a walk to get downtown so we could check out the local brewery and associated food truck. After eating lunch and having a beer, we decided to head back to the hotel. On the way, a truck pulled over and offered us a ride. We graciously accepted and rode in the back.

On the same day, we met a lady named Prairie Star. As it turns out, she was born and raised in Sturgis, SD, which gave us plenty to talk about. She is also a thru hiker and her husband had come down to visit her (they live in NC), so they had a car. They offered to drive us back to Winding Stair gap since she was planning to head back out on Sunday too. Both her and Jack, her husband, were super nice and we enjoyed visiting with them.

On Sunday, we hiked 11 miles to our next shelter. The shelter and campground were all but full when we arrived and by the grace of two hikers from the UK, we were able to find a place to pitch the tent. Today, we hiked another 11 miles and had some amazing views.

A lookout tower, where I took the below picture

Looking north toward the Smokies (I think)

We're both glad to be back out on the trail. My knees have been feeling better and Louisa hasn't had any more blisters as far as I know. Tomorrow we head into Wesser, NC to resupply, then it's onto Fontana Dam, then into the Smokies.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Week 2 Retrospect

What went well:

Better planning in terms of food

Muscles are getting stronger

Joints are aching less

Staying on top of blisters (using Leukotape asap)

Did more reading at night and in the morning

Reached a new state

Got trail names

Hit the 100 mile mark

What could have went better:

Took less photos (and there were plenty of things to take photos of)

Should have individually wrapped my peanut butter and jelly tortillas

Still didn't wake up any earlier (I'm no longer worried about this as our daily mileage is still fairly small and the temperature of the night usually is dictating when we get up, i.e. If it's cold, we get less sleep, so we tend to sleep in the warmer morning to make up for the loss)

What to work on for the next week:

Take more photos!

A very important photo I took this last week

New state, new name

As of Sunday evening, we are in North Carolina now! One state down, 13 to go. We also have new names now. From now on, Louisa shall be referred to as "Leap" and I shall be referred to as "Frog". There have been several days where we kept passing and being passed by the same hiker, so he dubbed us "Leap frog".

We are close to Franklin, NC, where we might take a couple of days off. The weather has turned cold and snow is possible. We are doing well, physically and mentally. I caught a blister forming in my left foot yesterday, but put some Leukotape on it just in time.

We had a tough time getting the sign and both of us in frame.

As our legs are getting stronger, we plan to start putting more miles on in the coming weeks. We are hoping to hit 15 miles a day as the terrain / weather allows.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Day 7, 8, 9, 10

Haven't had good service in a while and my phone didn't have much battery so I've been slacking on the blogging.

Day 7:

After a fairly cold night, we spent the morning sleeping in. We didn't hit the trail until 10:45 AM. I made a small fire in the morning to help warm myself up. We hiked to the next shelter, made camp, and spent the evening reading (this has become a common theme of how we spend our evenings).

Day 8:

We got going a little earlier and hiked into Unicoi gap. There were two separate groups serving up trail magic. One was a church group serving hotdogs and hamburgers, and the other was an outdoor enthusiasts club, and they were serving free food and beer. I ended up having a Milwaukee's best and a ton of food which made hiking the rest of the day fairly easy (due to lots of carbs, not the alcohol, which was barely detectable). We hiked up Tray mountain and setup camp at the shelter there. We didn't get much sleep because the wind was so loud. I woke up several times during the night and could have swore I was by the ocean.

Day 9:

Another day enshrouded by fog. The worst part about hiking in the rain / fog is once you reach the summit of a mountain you've been hiking for hours, you can't the see the beautiful landscape you would normally be able to see on a clear day. We got up early (as per last weeks retrospective) and arrived at our next shelter by 1:00 PM. Fortunately, the bubble of hikers we started out with are a day ahead of us, so Deeo Gap shelter was almost empty. There was a guy there taking a zero day and later in the day, a couple from Finland stopped by that I hadn't seen since Gooch gap. We all sat around and chatted until dark. It was one of the better evenings I've had socializing with other hikers.

The other reason the shelter was fairly empty was that a lot of people got off the trail due to the predicted bad weather. We opted to keep going because if we got off the trail every time there was a 30% chance of thunderstorms, we would never finish it. It did rain fairly hard and there was thunder and lightening, but we both slept really well.

Day 10:

We woke up at 7:00 AM and were hiking by 8:00. We needed to be to Dicks creek gap by 11:00 to catch a shuttle into Hiawassee, GA. We got to the gap by 10:00 and the shuttle didn't arrive until 11:20, so we got plenty of time to sit around and talk to other hikers.

Once we got to town, we checked into our motel and ordered a pizza. We don't have a scale to weigh ourselves, but we can tell we are both losing weight, which is no surprise. We ran a serious calorie deficit this last week, which we plan to correct with our resupply for the next week.

We also ate at a southern style buffet called Daniels. It was really mediocre, but it was worth it for the atmosphere, which can only be described as southern kitsch. We plan on taking a zero day tomorrow and to be back on the trail by Sunday. Sunday will be our last day in Georgia and we will end up camping in North Carolina that night. Georgia was beautiful and I'm going to miss it.