The BandAT Adventure

more pictures

2006-08-25T19:51:15Z

http://rit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037888&l=783c2&id=15701170
http://rit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039370&l=e4b1b&id=15701170
http://rit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039445&l=43c7b&id=15701170

awesomeness.

mushy mushiness

2006-08-15T22:47:27Z

ok.. i promise to type all my journals up and junk.
everything kinda mushed together at the end.. cuz we were doing crazy consistent 20+ mile days.. so things just.. you know.. mushed together. but stay tuned. i promise. really.

OH.. i put some pictures up from GA-TN.. here's the link - peruse the site while you're waiting for my adventures. :)

http://rit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037694&l=12435&id=15701170

smooches.

Woodberry 'plus' days

2006-07-14T16:37:29Z

Heyo

So i'm at Woodberry with the bandats and we're taking two 'plus' days here at 'ol Clambone's house. We got off the trail in Waynesboro yesterday around 5:30 after hiking 20 miles in 6 hours. I averaged about 3.5 mph - a record for me. We were seriously bookin it. We got on the trail at around 11:30 after spending a fantastic afternoon/night/morning at Rusty's Hard Time Hollow - an INFRICKINCREDIBLE slice of Hiker Heaven. Rusty, this old dood, has been treatin hikers to a good relaxin time since 1982, fed us TONS of food and was completely awesome. He's totally backwoods - only got electricity about 2 years ago and doesn't having running water, but does have 7 natural springs on his 17 acre property. He was really great.

Freebird, a 4,000 miler, had rallied everyone up that we had been hiking with for the past .. forever.. and got us all to go to the hollow. By the time that everyone arrived there were 13 of us (plus Rusty and this 'unique' SOBO named dirty deeds - a complete character.) There were the 5 bandats, Freebird, Spirit, Danger Dave, Wink, Edge (and Nobee, Edge's pooch), Woodstock (who just bought a mandolin), Prozac (Laura finally got her trail name) and Juke Box, making 15 altogether.

When you first get to Rusty's property you have to walk down his .25 mile driveway which is lined with trees that are covered in all these crazy signs. they were hilarious... most of them. I wish I could rememeber what some of them said. But, the very last sign before the hollow said "You know you're a redneck when you have signs all on all of your trees". Then after you get past the trees you walk down towards the main house where driveway widens and become a big open area, and it's completely covered in crushed cans. Yes, crushed cans. here's the story behind those. In front of the main building's door there's a wood post and once you were finished drinking your beverage of choice, you're supposed to place the can on the post and use a wiffle ball bat to hit the can past a certain point marked by an American flag about 25 feet from the post. If you get it past the post you get a free bowl of ice cream. Out of the 12,000 people that have come to the hollow, only 3 have done it - Egon came pretty close though. I think there were 50+ cans in the driveway from all of us.

So we made this big ol dinner with squash, potatoes and tomatoes from Rusty's garden - and TONS of rice - i think there was a 5 gallon pot FILLED with instant rice. ANYWAY, so we ate ridiculous amounts of food and rocked out to James Brown who was blaring on the stereo. Best time ever.

After dinner Rusty fired up the hot tub, which was a far cry from a jacuzzi... but completely genius. When he first opened the hollow, some hikers told him that he needed a hot tub - and being all backwoods, he didn't really know what one was. After some explanation from the hikers, he created his own. Apparently he's a metal worker, so he's good with all that kinda stuff. So, he obtained this big tub looking thing and perched it atop some rocks, leaving enough space to build a fire underneath and created a steam vent .. and voila, a hot tub. Freebird had said that the tub was actually an old chicken frier. haha. we were hot tubbing in a chicken frier big enough to fit 3 people comfortably.

Woodstock and I went to bed early (12:30 AM) and everyone else was chillin down by the fire pit and hot tub.. after a while Egon came up and.. after having drank some beer, came up with a bunch of empties and wanted to play a round of wiffle.. can, but was worried that he would wake us up. So Rusty took the opportunity to bring out his horn and blew it real loud and yelled up to the bunk house 'is anyone sleeping up there'.. and then blew it again. I guess going to bed 'early' was out of the question... egon took the opportunity to practice his can smashing.

During the afternoon, Rusty had us pick blue berries from the his patch and the next morning he used them in these gigundo pancakes. We all ate until we were way too full, and then Rusty brought out a '1 gallon and 1 pint' bucket of cookies and cream ice cream and told us that we couldn't leave the hollow until after it was all gone. It didn't take much since there were 13 of us - but man.. ice cream for breakfast.. only on the trail.

So.. after all that food and fun.. we didn't get back to the trail until 11:30 and had to hike.... a lot. and.. before 5:00. it was tough to leave Rusty's.

OHHH.. one last thing. Rusty takes polaroids of everyone that comes to the hollow and staples them to a board on the ceiling according to the year. So, I was able to see some of the people that I had hiked with in the north, like Compass and others. It was also cool to be able to put some faces to the trail names that i've been reading in the registers. :)

holler.

2006-07-04T20:23:56Z

so me and my dad are leaving around 5 ish tomorrow. Yahoo says it's going to take 8 hours.. my dad says 11.....................

so we're going to get there at like... 2.. and we're not supposed to meet the guys until 530.
we're going to be sitting around for a while. nonetheless.. i'll be hiking with the bandats.

anyway, i bought a smaller, lighter pack yesterday - 2lbs, 2oz.. as compared to my 4lbs.. something oz. yay.. so that means my base weight is down to about 10lbs.. give or take some ounces. :)

frickin blood suckers

2006-07-04T02:29:10Z

so that achiness that i mentioned a few entries ago...

i have lymes disease.

what the hell.

cuz i can.

2006-07-01T22:28:04Z

guess who got their base pack weight down to 12lbs... this kid. that's without food and water. so - i won't be carrying above.. 25 lbs.. i doubt that it'll even get that high.
if only i could get a smaller, lighter pack - i wish i had known that i didn't need a 2400
and that i should have gone 'go lite'

nonetheless, this really excites me :)

right now i'm feelin kinda achey - like flu achey.. so i'm hopin that subsides in the very near future.

and i'm reunited with the bandats in T - 3 days :)

coonslick @ 2006-06-30T22:42:00

2006-07-01T02:45:02Z

Here's a re-post of the mail drops where you can send me some love :)
Be sure to send a week in advance cuz i've missed some letters that have been sent too close to the ETA :(

8. 14-Jul Waynesboro, VA
*Woodberry Station
Woodberry Forrest, VA 22989
9. 24-Jul Harper's Ferry, WV
*799 Washington Street
PO Box 807
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-0807
10. 30-Jul Boiling Springs, PA 17007
11. 5-Aug Port Clinton, PA 19549
12. 9-Aug Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327
13. 19-Aug Kent, CT
*17 Prospect Ave
Amenia NY 12501
*indicates an address to be used instead of the town P.S. address

This is where i get off and the rest of the bandATs continue on to conquer Katahdin in Maine.

Here's how to write the address:

Name
“General Delivery”
Address (Town/Stop)
“Please hold for AT Thru-Hiker”
ETA (Est. Time of Arrival)

Example:
Shauna Walsh
General Delivery
9710 Gainesville Hwy
Blairsville, GA 30512
Please Hold for Thru-Hiker
ETA: 5/19/06

or

Shauna Walsh
General Delivery
Troutville, VA 24175
Please Hold for Thru-Hiker
ETA: 7/6/06

Baby, I got your # - and I know that you've got mine.

2006-06-29T23:16:05Z

Guess who got a call today from Pearisburg and has two thumbs - this kid!

After a very wonderful conversation with Jonathan - we made plans for me to meet back up with them in Troutville, VA on July 5th. So my pop is escorting this fine young thang to the south for another.. longer.. section hike of the AT... with the bandats!!! holler!

I'm soooooooooooo freakin excited.

I really miss them. a lot.

And, something that i've been meaning to say, but haven't said is: I really still feel like it was a good decision for me to get off. I think I started the trail with a lot of apprehension and negative emotions, and felt a lot of pressure to stay with everyone. But, hiking by myself (and with bugbite) these past couple of weeks has helped me to realize that all of the pressure that I was feeling was self imposed, and that I am so freakin capable of hiking up huge ascents without coaxing from anyone else. (Sidenote: Can I just say that I love my legs. I used to never really appreciate them until I started backpacking. These puppies have pushed me up some huge ascents.. they're simply the best.) I really can do it, and I think that I needed to prove that to myself. I'm capable of hiking 22 miles and not feeling like death afterwards.. really.. hikin by myself helped me to realize that it's all in my head. I just needed to get past that.

So, now that I am past that, and have cleared my head of anxiety - I'm ready to get back on.

I can't wait.

ENTER BUG BAIT... err.. bug bite.

2006-06-29T19:25:10Z

So, after we were eaten alive at canpus lake (andrea more than me), we couldn't hike a ride from the camp grounds to the trail (a whole 1.5 miles!) so we had to walk it and junk. Andrea got a taste of her first hiking in the rain experience, but it didn't last very long. We only had about 12 miles of hiking on the trail to Graymoor - a friary/nunnery in Westchester County (I think) The bros let backpackers stay under their pavillion for free, which is by a huge soccer/baseball field.. running water and a cold shower to boot! Andromitus and I played with the frisbee for a bit in the big field - staying in the shade when we could cuz it was so honkin hot.

When we first got to the shelter we were greeted by Peace Maker - a super sweet dood who was re-starting a thru-hike for the 3rd time this year! He ran into some problems in NC and PA, something about broken bones. He was awesome. We ended up ordering some chow together from a local pizza joint that delivered - rock on. Andromitus and I ordered a small extra cheese pizza - which, by the way was 14".. by no means a small. Peace Maker had some baked ziti with a salad. Needless to say - we were stuffed... and left 2 pieces for other hikers who might come to the shelter.

Shortly after we stuffed ourselves silly, Grizzly and BP (standing for Backpacker - the magazine) came to the shelter and polished off the food that the three of us couldn't eat. Grizzly was a thru-hiker who started sometime in the spring, and BP had JUST barely started a thru-hike a couple of days prior to Graymoor. He was hired by Backpacker magazine to hike the trail and use a GPS thingy to record data. He's getting paid something like $.93 per mile - not a bad deal - I wish I were gettin paid to hike the AT!! BP later shared some awesome pistachio pudding with me... mmmm. Before he jumped in and out of the cold shower, Grizzly played some frisbee with Andromitus and I which was a lot of fun.

Brother Leo, a bro from Graymoor came to the pavillion with his pup. Before he came to talk to us, he let his dog out on the opposite side of the field from where we were and drove over with the dog in tow - he was walkin his dog. (he's kinda old and stuff). it was cute.. his dog was super sweet and so was he. :)

Anyway, later that night Pebbles came .. who wasn't feelin too good :( so i didn't really get to talk to her too much.

OOOH yes.. I'm forgetting a monumental occasion - the renaming of Andrea from Andromitus to Bug Bite - thanks to Peace Maker. She definitely earned her name.. SHE WAS COVERED in but bites.. big swollen red ones. I counted around 60 on the back of ONE of her legs. They liked her. I decided that a better, and more fitting name was bug bait. Someone actually accused me of knowing that she was bug bait in order to keep the bugs away from me. I .. had no idea. poor bug bait!!

Alas, this would be the last night of our glorious week together.. tear.

Hello Elvis Trailsley

2006-06-29T00:35:48Z

Yesterday was the first day of summer AND naked hiking day! Andromitus and I ran into Elvis Trailsley, a 4,000 miler, who was planning to hike a small section of the trail naked to celebrate the occasion and to skinny dip in Nuclear Lake. He was a sweet dood, and a trail maintainer, and also lived
'400 steps' off the trail. He found us sitting on a log eating some fruit that Bamboo had left in a bag tied to a tree. Bamboo stayed with us at Telephone Pioneers Shelter and drove from Pawling to bring his friend Torbin home. It was an awesome surprise to have freshens on the trail, and a note to us from Bamboo!

Tonight I originally planned for us to stop at RPH shelter, which was a sweet shelter (climbing trees, a BLUE odorless privy, water pump.. the whole 9). It was only 9.0 miles from Morgan Stewart. We got to RPH around 11:30 and met 4 girls: Saspirilla, Crumbs and... I can't remember. But I told them of our plans for tomorrow, which was a 18 miler because of our shelter dependence. They told us about Canopus Lake which was roughly 7 miles from RPH. AND it hot showers. FREE hot showers. and free camping for thru hikers. and mosquitos. So we decided it would be a good idea to keep on keepin on to the lake. and we did. and about 2.5 miles later.. i realized that I had left the guidebooks at RPH and had to go back and get them. Which.. wasn't too bad except this really kinda steep ascent that was right after RPH (headed south). Going down was fine .. but on the way back i pretty much wanted to kill myself. AND .. i didn't bring my pack with me (I left it was Andrea), and didn't have any water - so I was extremely.. parched, if you will. SO i stopped at a stream.. looked at it's glistening clear water and contemplated the risk of obtaining some strange parasite. In the end, I succumbed to the deliciousness and had a couple handfuls of water. I couldn't help it. I was almost dead from dehydration.

Oh before I forget. Andrea got an early visit from eh hemm.. aunt flo. and she didn't have much in the way of supplies. So we pretty much stopped traffic to ask women if they had extra tampons. we turned up empty handed.. UNTIL... we came to the road that RPH was situated near. Andrea went up to the houses that were near the shelter (this is a rare occurrence - usually shelters are never near houses) to ask if they had anything. Andrea made out like a bandit. The second house she went to, there was a woman with these crazy dogs who were all insane, and the woman hooked andrea up with like a 2 month supply. :) I was so proud of andromitus for her gumption.

So, in the end. Andrea hiked 16 miles.. and I hiked 21.5. I was wiped. I definitely needed an energy booster after the additional 5 miles .. so took out some hot chocolate.. that i knew i wasn't going to drink cuz it was 189302 degrees out.. and ate it. delicious sugar rush.

And then when we got to the lake.. i had to construct a tent. out of plastic bags and ground cloths.. with acorns n rocks.. and some rope.. and trekkin poles.. and i think i used some medical tape. I had been thinking about the constrcution of the tent from the moment that i we started hiking away from RPH. really.. some of the acorns i collected along the way.
It was awesome and I still can't believe I pulled it off.

It was super small - roomie for one person, reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaally tight for two people.. so i told andrea that we couldn't move once inside.. unless it was to kill skeeters. it was nuts.

Eat to hike, hike to eat.

2006-06-29T00:17:44Z

Andrea and I woke up bright and early and busted out the 10 miles to rt 22 by 11AM. Along the way we walked over some sweet log bridges, tons of bog bridges and through some fields that had lots of.. cow.. poop.

We did deer tick checks after every field.. but came up with none.

Just before we got to rt-22, there was a tiny gfawn literally 5 feet from us in some super tall grass. It was really cute :)

Shortly after our Bambi sighting we arrived at a landscaping co. building where the AT crosses rt-22 and Pawling was about 3 miles south of where we were. We tried hitchin.. but no one gave us any love.. after about 15 minutes or so I went inside the building to ask if they had a phone nearby.. I told them what i needed.. and a guy in the office said he would give us a ride down there which was awesome bc out of the bazillion cars that passed us on 22, non had stopped. So he drove us to Pawling and I calle dhome and my sister found th fuel I needed and said she would drive it down to us. (thank God we were close to home!) So while we waited for Brianne to arrive we went to a deli and junk.

After I dropped some of my sandwich on my shirt.. my sister arrived and brought us back to the trail. It was fantastic to be able to eat a hot meal on this hot day :) Yay stove fuel.

Hike with a Buddy.. or a bug bite.

2006-06-29T00:07:35Z

Today was Andrea's first day on the AT, and hikign with me.. ever. My Dad dropped us off at the Northern Terminus for this section around 7:30 and Andromitus (which I have dubbed her trail name) and I hiked to the 10 mile river lean-to .. 8.7 miles. We made really good time and were able to take a really nice long break on a bank of the Housatonic. We saw a water snake gliding through the water.

During the morning we crossed a rocky bald and lost sight of the blazes... so I was wandering around and instead of a blaze I found a very defensive rattlesnake. aaah!!

it rattled, i scrambled, the end.

Anyway, so Andrea and I have been chilling around the shelter for a bit. We played frisbee and cards and waded in the 10 mile river. We tried to cook dinner, but the fuel canister I bought doesn't fit my stove. Apparently I was the only one who didn't know the the blue cansiters are a nono. So we have to go to Pawling tomorrow and get ahold of someone at my house so that we can get fuel.

this group of people came to the shelter just before dusk for a 10 min break.. they were hiking CT in 2 days - roughly 60 miles. the leader of the group was wearing a lime green tennis skirt, a matching head band, and a purple sleeveless shirt.. HE was very .. in control.

coonslick @ 2006-06-08T21:27:00

2006-06-09T01:32:39Z

I hiked close to 200 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That's a lot.

Oh, yes.

2006-06-09T01:19:26Z

So, yea. I'm off the trail. I know. I've been home almost a week - since the 2nd. I am completely and totally heart broken. But, it was my decision to get off, so I have to deal with it. (really. i don't want to talk about it.. so this entry is all i have to say)

What it came down to was the fact that .. well.. I'm short, and my stride is much shorter, and people were able to do a bit more than I was able to at a faster pace.. which i had known from the beginning.. but it really took a toll on me. The mileage also jumped from what our original plan was. In a section where we were supposed to be averaging 12.3 miles per day, we averaged over 15. So in a section where we were planning to average 15 got changed to around 19... I said that that was way too much for me to handle - I had gotten hurt already, wasn't completely better and didn't want to risk getting hurt more.

One thing that I learned while I was with the Bandats was this: As much as I was a part of a group, and hiking with other people, I had to do it myself. There was no one else that was going to put one foot in front of the other, or lift my sometimes too-heavy pack onto my sore shoulders except me. As much as the bandats, and especially Jonathan, encouraged and motivated me to keep going, there was no one else except me who had to find the energy to keep my body going. As much as I needed to keep on the pace and do the miles, I also needed to love what I was doing in order to stay positive, find motivation and keep going. I really love hiking, I love being in the backcountry with everything I need on my back.. but I felt like there was something missing.. I really wasn't able to take in everything.

For me, the point of going on the AT was to enjoy it, not to go crazy trying to hike ungodly amounts of miles in one day. So, I decided to get off for a little bit, take a break - rest my body, get stronger, and get back on when I feel I am able to do it again.

Do I regret getting off? Of course. I'm completely bummed. I told myself that I wouldn't regret getting off.. but I wish I were in some crazy shelter on top of some moutain or in some 'deep gap' listening to owls and mice and crickets and not typing this entry. I also regret not saying anything about change in the number of miles that we hiked as compared to our original schedule. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

So, I'm getting back on the trail this Saturday, but not with the Bandats. I'm solo hiking sections of the AT around the Northeast at my own pace. I think it'll definitely help me to relearn what it means to be completely enveloped in my surroundings. You may be wondering why I wasn't when I was with the bandats - I don't know -- I guess I felt too much pressure, or I was putting too much pressure on myself because I felt like I should be hiking at a faster pace, or that I could be pushing myself a bit more than I was so that I could get to the shelter sooner. But in the end - it became miserable for me. I really wasn't enjoying it at all. I would get to the top of a mountain and just be so completely one-track-minded that I couldn't enjoy the beautiful scene that I had worked hard to get to.

I really do miss the bandats, and hopefully I can return to the trail with them at some point.. and maybe if things slow down a bit. But we'll see. until then.. like they say.. i'm hiking my own hike.

Day 19

2006-06-09T00:46:50Z

Yesterday was a really interesteing day. It began normally - 13 miles, no problem. We were climbing a mountain and during the beginning of a rain storm, a lightening bolt cracked right over my and Jon's heads. We were pretty much on a peak - so it was very scary. We threw down our poles and fell to the ground. We took our pack off and climbed down the mountain to Siler's Bald Shelter. We were soaked to the bone. After about 45 minutes we retrieved our packs form the mountain and headed towards Clingman's Dome. Along the way we happened upon a shelter that had smoke coming from the chimney and decided that it was good place for lunch. We stayed a but longer than planned - it took us a little while to get there with all the mud, rain and lightning commotion... We climbed Clingman's Dome and couldn't see anything cuz of all the fog from the storm that had passed. Jon's knee also had begun hurting him earlier in the day, so he was moving pretty slow. A lot slower than me, if you can beliece it. He sent me ahead to Mt. Collins Shelter where we planned to meet the rest of the Bandats. It was about 4 miles from Clingman's Dome. I hoofed it there and told Joe and Leighton about Jon's knee - they went to find him and help him with his pack. When everyone was at the shelter I broke the news that I planned to get off. 15 mile days were pretty much my limit at the time, and in the next section we were planning to do 20 miles a day. I couldn't see myself doing that and actually enjoying the AT. I decided that I needed to be a bit more crazy to do that.

Day 17

2006-06-09T00:38:22Z

Today we hiked about.... 17 miles. We're not too sure because our data book and guide books are saying different things.. one says 16.. one says 19. It definitely felt like 19. Jon and I took our sweet time - leaving Birch Spring Gap around 7:30 AM. We hiked on and off - mostly on, until we reach Spence Field Shelter where we met 'Bear Killer'. He was this old dude who was from Philly and section hiking the AT. He told us about how he got his trailname - this looooooooong elaborate story .. shortened: He went camping one weekend and he thought he heard a bear. When he woke up in the morning he found prints and scat all over his campsite. He told some people that he worked with and the 'grape vine effect'occurred - he heard that he had killed a bear.. hence the name.

He was crazy... crazy hilarious.

After lunch/napping we hiked over Rocky Top Mountain - which is mentioned in a song that Jon sings/plays. The lyrics go 'Rocky Top, you'll always be home sweet home to me - good 'ol Rocky Top, Rocky Top Tennessee.. corn won't grow on 'ol Rocky Top.. folks get their corn from a jar.' I learned soon after that that song is Tennessee's state song.. the lyrics bring me to something that I've been thinking about lately. The forrests here are mostly new growth forrests - the trees are really young, only about 100 years old or so. Before loggers came in, there were old growth forrests with trees that were around 1,000 years old - much like that Poplar that we came across. The forrests were full of huge trees until people began to log and clear the mountains. The clearings resulted in erosion of rich soil that had been developing for 100's to 1,000's of years. People who settled in the mtns couldn't grow any food on the land because of the lack of nutrient rich soil. Crazy. So that song reminded me of all that - and climbing good 'ol Rocky Top face me a good glance at a young forrest.

Anyway, Today we also hiked over our highest peak so far - Thunderhead Mtn - 5,527 ft!! woo-ee! Tomorrow we hit the At's highest peak.

By the way - we're also in the Smoky Mtns, and tonight, the shelter we're staying in has a cage across the entrance because of the huge population of bears that live in the Park. Daniel, another thru-hiker that we've been running into a lot, saw two, possibly three bears in one day! I have yet to see any. Hopefully I have a very distant encounter with one so that I can have my bear story. :)

Quote of the day:
'Everyone should go hiking for two weeks'
Jonathan 'Pocahontas' Walczak
Talking about the depletion of natural resources.

Day 16

2006-06-09T00:20:37Z

We've been at Fontana Dam, NC since yesterday - late morning. We got 2 rooms at Fontana Village Resort. There are 7 of us all together - the 4 Bandats, Bethany, Josh and Laura. We tentatively named Laura O.C. for 'Oh Canada'. It was a lot of fun to chill and hand out with everyone. Bethany's Mom brought us a TON of delicious chocolate chip cookies. They were amazing. We showered, did laundry, played in the pool, ate ridiculous amounts of food, bought beer and played drinking games with the cards that we sent home today. We had a ton of fun and really enjoyed eachother's company. Bethany's Mom drove us to Ingles - the local grocery store, for fresh eats, and she also treated us to dinner at 'Lynn's Place' - the local eatert in Robinsville. During the car ride back from town we listened to stories told by Orville Hicks, a mountain man with a really thick Southern accent - Mrs. Kimmel, Bethany's Mom, had a CD of recordings that were made of Orville's stories before he died. They were hilarious. Woop-di-cat, woop-di-cat.

This morning we picked up ourmail from the post office, sorted out our foodm read letters and ate more food that we received in the mail. My mom sent brownies and peanuts and my grandma sent oreos. I also received some hilarious letters from my crazy sister and Andrea 'Andromitus' Breyer (no relation to the ice cream). I also got letters from Jeff, my parents, aunt nancy and grandma - all were very appreciated and very uplifting!

It's been really hot and sticky here, so we're goign to start hiking in the early morning and later in the afternoon in order to preserve our enegery and avoid heat exhaustion.

So far we've hiked about 161 miles and this coming week we're in the Great Smoky Mountains, and we'll reach our highest peak on the AT - Clingman's Dome at 6,643 ft. :)

Day 14

2006-06-09T00:09:40Z

Today we hiked 15 miles. I made a Thai peanut butter sauce from peanut butter that Josh gave us and put it over pasta that we found in the hiker box at NOC. I twas delicious. Tomorrow we'll be in Fontana Dam. I'm tired.

Quote of the day:

'Do you think our bodies are shrinking?'
Joe 'Egon' Wetzel
Talking about the weight of our packs and the effect they have on our bodies.

Day 13

2006-06-09T00:07:35Z

Man, it was hard to leave the convenience of civilization this morning. We had a 7 mile hike from the NOC this morning. I twas pretty much a straight ascent - about 4,000 feet up. The hike wasn't too bad, but the hardest part for me was leaving the NOC. Town days are definitely exciting... we spend money, a lot of money, but it's always fun. We're only on the trail for 2 nights before we get to Fontana Dam, where we'll have letter and goodies and showers waiting for us. :)

On our way up the trail today we ran into a group of trail maintainers. One of the guys asked me and Jon to pass on a message to some workers who were further up the trail. He said to say something like "Man, that other group back there has done way more work than you guys." and also to say "nanner, nanner, nanner". We did.. they laughed - it was funny.

There is definitely a sense of community on the trail. People come from all different social backgrounds and perspectives, yet all have the ability to find companionship where ever they go. It's awesome. People are all going throught the same pain, and climbing the same mountains, satying in the same shelters, passing over the same peaks, finding holes in food bags from the same mice - we're all hungry and smelly, all yearning for conversation and showers. It's incredible how the backcountry is home away from home.. which makes it a lot easier to get back on the trail after a town day.

Anyway - some random, interesting stuff that I've been forgetting to write about...
1. We crossed paths with a guy whose pack was 70 lbs. He was happy because he got it down from 82 lbs. Wow. AND, he had just had knee sugery 3 weeks prior to us meeting him. OK....
2. We ran out of toilet paper about 4 days before we got to the NOC. It was definitely chaotic until we came across a book that someone had abandoned at Standing Indian Shelter. Sweet relief. The reading material wasn't too great, but it made up for it when we needed it for other purposes.. eh hemm..
3. Trail gossip is incredible. It is a godo way to find out which shelters are over crowded or nasty, or to find out how far ahead the rest of the group is. Good water sources are also found through talking to other people. But - the best part of trail gossip is finding out about other people on the trail. When we were at the Plumorchard Gap shelter, a couple of older guys came for a break and started talking to us, after a couple of minutes, they realized that we were the college kids that they'd heard about and never thought they'd catch up to.. cuz we were fast. It was pretty funny to learn that other people had been talking about us. We also learned about some creepy people from other hikers.. the trail is an amazing, lively network of people.

Quote of the day:

'There's no room for them in the walls, but they're there.'
-Josh 'Wink' Winkler
Sassafras Gap Shelter, talking about the mice that were running rampant around the shelter. We were in the middle of a battle with them.

Day 12

2006-06-05T01:19:42Z

Yesterday we hiked around 13 miles. I forgot the name of the shelter we stayed near - we camped out on this little peak spot. I thad a sweet view - we cooked our dinner on this rocky bald that had a view of the mountains to the east. Prior to our arrival at the shelter we had this carzy thunderstorm that completely drenched us. It was pretty crappy - luckily Jon and I were near Wayah Bald where there was this old stone shelter. It used to be 4 stories high, but the top 2 stories burned down a while back.

Anyway, so when we got tot he shleter we found out that Bethany and Leighton had moved on the next shleter, which was 5 miles further up the trail. It was too late, and we were too tired to move on so we stayed where we were. We were all kinda upset about it... but whatever.

So, last night we decided to wake up as early as possible in order to get to the NOC so we could relax. When we woke up, there was hefty thunderstorm brewing to the north.. so that definitely helped us to break down camp quickly. We left camp by 6:45 - we usually leave between 8-8:30!.. woo-hoo!

The storm wasn't as volitile as it looked, but it helped us to get a move on. We ended up hiking 11.5 miles in about 6 hours with some breaks thrown in, which is pretty impressive for us. We arrive at the NOC at 12:30 and found a picnic table in the shade, near a cafe. Shortly thereafter we all bought some food... meat!! We woofed in down, found Bethany, Leighton and Laura - who had just showered and were walking around in towels because their laundry wasn't finished. It was peculiar, but they looked happy - and squeaky clean. Leighton directed us to the showers and took our clothes for laundry. The showeres were $.25 per minute.. my shower was expensive.. I spent about 18 minutes in there - I think I washed everything twice...

We all kinda mosied around NOC for the day - between the 6 of us, we bought 4 pints of ben & jerry's and rotated between us. I twas amazing. We pretty much housed the ice cream within 15 minutes. good job bandats!!

We also got a room at the hostel - it's only meant for 3 people, but the 6 of us - Leighton, Bethany, Joe, Jon, Laura and me - are all going to get cozy tonight.. we're pretty much used to it by now..

The NOC is located right on the Nantahala River. There is an outfitter store, a retaurant, cafe, gift shop, hotel, hostel.. etc. The At literally goes right through the middle of it... heaven for hungry, smelly hikers! We ate dinner at the restaurant, I think we all over-ate, but was awesome.

After dinner we all called home and talked to our families. I think it definitely lifter our spirits to hear from them. We learned that they've all been communicating via emial, which is cool.. like an AT thru-hiker parents support group or something. Don't worry, Mom's, we'redoing just fine.. taking care of eachother and all the jazz.

Day 10

2006-06-05T01:02:20Z

Today was pretty tough. My feet hurt so much that it took every ounce of will power to put one foot in front of the other. The terrain was mostly downhill for the first 6 miles or so. At the bottom of the descent there was a side trail that lead to the second largest Poplar in the East. It was really huge. We estimated it to have a 40ft circumference at its base, and a life that lasted about 1,00 years. That's right, I used the past tense. The Poplar was dead - disappointing, I know. But it was still standing - wich is still impressive. We ran into the Indiana boys. This was Kiel's (pronounced keel) last day on the trail, so he and Josh were on their way to Franklin, NC. Josh said he planned to put in some long days to catch up with us. cool. another person to hike with on the grand AT.

Kiel and Josh had a bear encounter last night when they were in their tent - nothing realyl happened other than some scratching and rustling around. Kiel got his bear story before heading off the trail!

So anyway, back to the rough day. My feet hurt so it slowed me and Jon down quite a bit. It sucked. I cried. I'm over it. I'm just hoping to get through the next day before we get to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) so I can buy some insole thingys for my boots.

Day 9

2006-06-05T00:55:06Z

Today's terrain was pretty easy. We hiked about 14 miles, through some really sweet rhodendron tunnels and on the sides of some rpetty high cliffs. The kicker for the day was our very last ascent, Albert Mtn. It was about a 500 ft ascent in .3 miles. About 1/4 of the way up Jon and I strapped our trekking poles to our packs and used our hands to climb up. It was crazy intense, but pretty awesome - especially when we reached the top. There was a 40 ft fore tower waitiing for us to climb. It was incredible. We could see for miles. Chilling at the top of the tower were two guys, Josh and Kiel, from Indiana that we've been running into on the trail. So it was cool to share the view with them.

After, Jon and I hiked .6 to the shelter where we stayed - Big Spring Shelter, which did not have a big spring at all. The Bandats all wanted to hike back up to the tower for the sunset, so we did, and it was good, very good.

Before I forget, the night before when we were at Standing Indian Shelter, there was an older man and woman, Carol, 'dang dang' and Ron - who didn't have a name. Dang Dang's old trail name used to be sweat heifer, but some kind hikers said they couldn't call her that and renamed her with the name that her grandchildren caller her. They only hike about 5-7 miles per day because they are doing it just for fun. They were definitely interesting people though. Ronny was pretty funny and like to make fun of us - all in good humor, of course. Carol told us about a couple of her ex-husbands. The first died and the second she divorced. Long story short, she tought he was this well-off kinda guy - they used to go to his ranch in montana all the time. Apparently Dang Dang found out that he was avoiding the government because he owed over $400,000 in taxes - she didn't want anything to do with that. Crazy kids.

Day 8

2006-06-05T00:44:19Z

We all woke up at 6:45 in Plumorchard Gap. I had a pretty rough night of sleep because Leighton was all congested and snoring really loudly. I tired to find a rhythm in his snoring, but it was really sporadic. Since I can't hear too much out of my left ear from the infection, I was hoping to use that as an advantage by laying on my right side, with my left ear up. That didn't work too well. So, after about an hour and half, I left Leighton on the 3rd level and climbed down next to Jon on the 2nd floor. I slept pretty well after that.

We woke up to rain and wetness.. hiked about 13 miles to Standing Indian Shelter. During our hike we reached the North Carolina border - woo hoo! Our 1st state line! It was pretty exciting. NC definitely welcomed us with a big bang. We had two consecutive steep ascents, and they were really hard. BEfore the second one I literally sat down and cried. I wanted to give up so badly. No one was with me, so I had to talk myself into walking up the mountain. I think I cried the entire way up. I was used to switchbacks, which zigzag up the mountains. This one was straight up to the top, no twists or turns. But I did it, and I far from giving up on this AT adventure. I think I just needed to prove to myself that I could do it.

Day 7

2006-06-05T00:36:27Z

Yesterday, day 6, was a really tough day for me - and everyone for that matter. We had some huge ascents - Trey Mountain and Kelly's Knob - which wasn't really a knob at all. I pretty much cursed the mountain the whole way up. But I got up there with a lot of patience and encouragement from Poke. Kelly's knob was also at the end of our first 15 mile day, so I was really tired. I slept like a rock las tnight. We stayed at Keep Gap Shelter in this sweet shelter that had some lofts. I was also really tired because I didn't get enough sleep the night before at Blue Mountain Shelter. I woke up in the middle of the night to a throbbing ear infection. It was extremely painful. Long story short, Bethany had some all-purpose anti-biotics that her father, who is a doctor, gave to her. So they have been helping a lot.

Today we had a really short day. We only hiked 8 miles to Plumorchard Gap. It put us behind schedule, and I think I coupole of people got frustrated with that, but it was a much needed break, especially after our first 15 miler.

We also ran into a couple of thunderstorms today, so it was nice to get out the rain and relax. We've spent the day hanging around Plumorchard Gap shlter - which is a 3 level shelter with plenty of nails and hooks for drying our wet clothes.

Tomorrow we have a 12 mile 12, the terrain looks relatively easy - as compared to the mountains that we've been face with thus far.

My knee has been feeling a bit better. I've been wrapping with with an ace bandage and taking ibuprofren - aka Vitamin I.

O yeah, I almost forgot. Joe saw two black bears yesterday - a mother and her cub. They were 40 feet in front of him crossing the trail. He's a magnet for wildlife.

Day 5

2006-06-05T00:27:21Z

Today we hiked 14 miles from Baggs Creek Gap, which was littered with Poison Ivy, to the Blue Mountain Shelter. We woke up at 5:45 in order to hike to an open rock face on Cow Rock Mtn. There we watched the sunrise and ate Trix fro breakfast. My knees have been bothering my a lot - especially during today's hike. The pain is most noticeable when we are hiking down mountains. So, consequently, I actually really enjoy hiking uphill a lot more. Despite the cardiovascular strain, uphill climbs are way more enjoyable for me. Each step is measured and carefully placed. Downhill hikes are more painful. Luckily, I have Jon to hike with. He keeps me motivated by singing songs and being awesome.

Today on our hike we saw Georgia AT Club members who were constructing a new section of the trail. We caught them on their way back from working and one of the works, an older dood became a so called 'trail angel' for Jon and I. He gave Jon and I a snickers bar, milky way, an apple, and a small can of vienna sausages - aka half hot dogs. We used the hotdogs in our dinner tonight. We made a stirfrywith carrots, sweet peppers, and Ramen. It was scrumptious. We have soy sauce, with us, so it was a really great end to the day.

We're staying in the Shelter tonight with Laura and Janet, who is an older woman who had been section hiking for a long time.. she said she likes it when mice run over her face. weird. There is also another couple who is sleeping in tents outside of the shelter. I don't know their names, but Janet told them they couldn't cook under the roof of the shelter.

Tomorrow we have two huge descents and a couple of huge ascents. It's going to be interesting with my knees. Hopefully they hold out until Kent.

Quote of the Day:
"Isn't it ironic tha tmy body likes working against gravity."
Joe "Egon" Wetzel talking about the difference between hiking descents and ascents.