My first hike was a warm up hike:

Summer Hike 2007 - Journal Springer Mountain, Georgia to Pearisburg, Virginia ( 622 miles, plus the approach and side trails )

NOTE: I have only typed in the first 27 of 51 days of my journal entrees. I have not proof read these entrees yet and I’ve only done some minor editing.

DAY -3, Wednesday, June 27, 2007, Stayed at Motel 6 in Wytheville, TN? Very hot ride.

DAY -2, Thursday, June 28, 2007, Arrived in Douglasville, GA. Dropped off re-supply package at Mountain Crossings. Very hot ride down.

DAY -1, Friday, June 29, 2007, Bought and sorted food for re-supply packages.

Mom & Les and I went shopping at the local Walmart for food for the trip. I was going to do all this shopping and preparation a couple of weeks before, but I blew the motor in my van. Since I was riding the motorcycle down to Georgia ( from New Jersey ), it made no sense to do this purchasing until after I was in Atlanta. How could I bring 60 days worth of food and my gear down to Georgia on a motorcycle? I certainly wasn’t going to pay for the shipping. We spent the afternoon making up daily food packages. The menu was basically the same for each day: One package of flavored instant oatmeal mixed (1:1 ) with unflavored instant oatmeal; two packages of instant hot chocolate; one quart package of powdered milk, two packages of instant breakfast, Lipton noodle mix ( varying flavors ), some kind of protein – either tuna or beef jerky. Each food drop package contained one soda bottle with vegetable oil in it and one large package of trail mix and some chocolate bars. Mom setup the oatmeal mixes and poured the vegetable oil into a bunch of 20 oz soda bottles, one for each food drop box. We went out to dinner and had a good time.

DAY 1, Saturday, June 30, 2007, Amicalola Falls, GA to Springer Mountain, GA; 8.8 miles: < hot, clear >

Today was an interesting day. Mom & Les drove me up to Amicalola Falls, GA state park. We got there at 8:00am. We had to wait for the visitor center to open at 8:30am. Of course we had to take family pictures under the arch < at the beginning of the approach trail >. Unfortunately, my pictures didn’t come out because I had the camera set up for flower shots. So I hope that Mom’s pictures come out. I had an uneventful hike up to the top of Springer Mountain. I met this one day hiker named Mike. We walked together for a little while up to the top of Amicalola Falls. I stopped to look at the falls. I met many other day hikers (Saturday). It started out ok, but < it > became very hot 85F. It < the temperature > leveled off at 80F. I sweated like a pig! About ½ way up I did something to my right knee on a downhill - of course ! So I tread carefully the rest of the way up. I packed 6 liters of water and ran out. <As fast as I drank the water, I sweated it right out.> Two guys in a jeep on a crossroad, Bob & Dale, gave me some cold bottled water. I put it into one of my water bags. It felt good against my back while hiking. <They offered me some beer too, but I respectfully declined. I didn’t think that drinking any alcohol at the start of a hike was a good idea.> The bugs were noisy. Lots of buzzing all day, but not bad. A few nibbles. I saw a bear only 5 minutes from the summit. < The bear was walking parallel to the trail but was ahead of me and walking southbound.> He made this noise, like a handsaw cutting wood. I stopped, looked around. I didn’t see anything. Repeated this three times until I looked up and saw him. I banged my poles together. He kept walking at the same slow pace about 15 feet away and a few feet above me. I tried to take a picture, but the bear was a shadow in the bushes by the time I snapped the picture. I signed in the register ( in the rock ) at the summit, then walked to the shelter. It was early, so I swept out the shelter, and I cooked dinner. The gnats ate me alive. So I decided to sleep just outside from the shelter in my hammock < which has mosquito netting >. After a sponge bath the gnats backed off a bunch. I forgot to mention getting water after I got the cold water. I hiked down to a water source. I decided to leave my pack up a ravine and hike down the ravine with only what I needed. The water source was a spring under a large downed tree. A very clean source. I used the water filter for the first time. It worked well. A short thunderstorm started in the middle of pumping water. And all my gear was up the hill. At night I kept waking up which allowed me to watched the moon march across the sky last night. Legs cramped a little and my neck was stiff. Met Mike (father) and Matthew (son). Mike camped in a tent. Matthew slept in the shelter and snored loudly all night. Didn’t hear Mike at all.

Editing comments: The weather was hot and clear. Dinner cooked well.

DAY 2, Sunday, July 1, 2007, Springer Mountain, GA to Cooper Gap, GA; 11.4 miles

Up at 6:10. I smell a little, breath real bad. I forgot to brush my teeth. On the trail at 7:55am. Before I < hiked, I > walked back to Springer < summit > for view and pictures. < I saw the old plaque in the rock that marks the starting point of the AT. I looked for it yesterday, but I couldn’t find it. That’s because there was a couple sunbathing on top of it. I didn’t think to look under the people. Good thing that I didn’t!> Lots of bees <all day> – harmless. Lots of buzzing. Right knee hurts on/off. 0.9 miles 8:38 include stop to take off long pants. Stopped to brush teeth, take vitamins, add hydrocortisone to butt (preventive maintenance). * 9:28 am stopped to do foot repair – hot spot bottom right heel. I added bandaid and a grey sock. < Edit: hot, clear >. Stopped to do laundry 2 miles before 3 Forks River. <Sponge bathed and rinsed t-shirt.> I met a guy there – day hiker – on his way back north at 3 Fork near Long Creek Falls. He took my picture. Rumbling thunder, still 75F. Side trail to Long Creek Falls is 4.9 miles from Springer, it’s 11:50 am. It’s now 17:30. Sitting out a thunderstorm at Long Creek Falls. Learning experiences: It was a panic to set up the tarp. I set up the hammock and sat in it wrong (it was half folded over). I flipped down onto the ground and I ripped out the end of the zipper and tore a 4” rip in the mosquito mesh. I salvaged the zipper but I need a needle and thread. Time to eat lunch! < Editing comments: Hot and clear most of the day. When I was at Long Creek Falls, I first walked back to the falls. Nice camping area there. I decided to not bathe in the falls, since I had recently washed myself in a stream that crossed the trail. It sure was nice there. I walked back to the AT and stopped to hang up my tarp because of the thunder. Two couples hiked past me to the falls and came back wet and refreshed. I almost went back to the falls, but the thunder worried me. Thinking back on the experience, it was the nicest place to bathe on the entire 630 mile hike. >

DAY 2, Monday, July 1, 2007, 5:31pm, Horse Gap

The climb up the tower was short but very steep. I’m low on water. I’m growing a blister on the ball of my left foot and middle of right heel. 4.9 miles to Gooch Gap and water. I’m not up to going that far. Right knee hurts a lot. 8:12 pm setup under tarp – heavy thunderstorm. Seams need to be sealed. The grommets that I added pulled out. Errrrr. But it works. Things to tell Mom: Send Z-Pack, 8+ oz paper cups, needle and spool of thread, don’t send M&Ms. <I packed heavy bags of M&Ms in my mail drop packages for additional calories and to add to my trail mix. I didn’t need the calories yet and I didn’t like the taste of the additional M&Ms in the trail mix and the M&Ms are too heavy.> Stopped at Horse Gap to change my socks and deal with the blisters. I met another school teacher. He’s a first grade school teacher named Mike. He started at the road near Springer Mountain. He was not well prepared. No bandaids, because his hand sanitizer bottle leaked on them from the air handlers at the airport squishing his pack. <I gave him some of mine. He introduced himself; “My name is Mike, I like to drink, I like to hike fast.” He did hike fast, but he sure didn’t plan well, This will sound snooty, but all I could think was that it’s a good thing that he doesn’t teach older kids. They would eat him up alive.> He didn’t check the pack before hiking. He also sent food ahead to a campground a mile from here, before Gooch Gap, but he got the info from a very old thru-hikers guide. He didn’t check if the campground existed before mailing his stuff. Dumb! He sure could hike faster than me! He left me in the dust. <But then again, he sent his food and half of his gear ahead to a non-existent campground.> I stumbled on and came to Cooper Gap, 11.2 miles? I stopped to talk to another teacher, Dwight. Dwight is a 4^th grade teacher from Michigan. He’s been teaching his whole working career and we are of similar ages. We both were concerned about continuing to Gooch. Then a thunderstorm hit. I set up the tarp quickly, which both Dwight and I squeezed under. <When the storm backed down a bit, Dwight set up his Eureka Solitaire tent – sort of an oversized bivy. Way too cramped to be in during a storm. I slept pretty comfortably in my hammock under the tarp. I had to position my hiking poles to push the tarp out a bit so that the dripping seam would not drip directly onto the hammock.> But I have some concerns about the tarp & hammock. I’ll get through tonight dry. But I have to do some changes to get it to work better. What if it was windy? Got some thinking to do! Didn’t bother making dinner or hanging up the food. I’m hungry, but I don’t want to cook. <By morning, Dwight and his tent were covered in mud from camping in the clearing by the dirt road.>

DAY 3, Tuesday, July 2, 2007, Cooper Gap - GA to Campsite N34 42.474’, W83 59.086’; 9.5 ( approx. ) miles

We got a very late start, 8:10am, although I was up at 5:20am. It was foggy and wet, but no rain. Just didn’t want to get moving. Everything is damp. Dwight was covered in mud. He slept in a brand new bivy-sack/tent. I spent a lot of time talking with Dwight (4^th grade Michigan teacher). I saw a brown and tan snake on the trail. I was in the lead and Dwight didn’t see it at first. I took pictures. We gave it a very wide berth since I thought that it was a copperhead. <I didn’t know since neither of us had ever seen one before. Walking slowly and far around it was a good thing to do, since I confirmed that it was a copperhead when I looked at the pictures at the end of my hike! Dwight was having difficulty with his pack. He was uncomfortable. I suggested that he tighten his waist-belt because the pack was riding so heavily on his shoulders. But when he did so, he found it to be more uncomfortable. His waist was a little large. The pack just didn’t look right on him. I didn’t say anything, there wasn’t much I could do about it.> We spent some time at Gooch Gap Shelter. I ran off to use the privy, cleaned my butt, washed my hands and then made some sandwiches. <I left in the TMI (Too Much Information) statement about cleaning my butt because as a hiker, this is a very important issue. That region will develop moisture either by accident (ahem) or from sweating. It is imperative to keep that region clean, otherwise you will get what hikers refer to as Monkey-Butt - an uncomfortable affliction. As time went on, I learned that loose-fitting, lightweight shorts are the answer – lots of airflow. I met other hikers that dealt with the issue by adding powders to their butts. If the condition develops, then Neosporene or Benadryl ointments will work wonders. Ok, enough of this delicate topic.> Dwight cooked a meal in the shelter and stayed behind. I cruised. I got water from a stream earlier. The filter started to pump slower after the first two bottles. Temperature was 75F then but now after climbing two steep hills it’s 65F and cloudy and breezy!!! I can hike in this weather. Only problem is that since Gooch Gap it’s been very foggy. It’s 4:52 pm and I’m still not to Woody Gap.

Lots more to write about… After I left Dwight, I started to haul butt. At Woody Gap I turned the radio on and found that I hiked a whole lot faster <when listening to music>. I cruised up the next mountain. I was very concerned on the southern approach near the peak. Temperature dropped to 60F, breezy, fog/clouds rolling by. This is hypothermia country. The trail showed little use/wear up there. Then it turned into a forest road, dropped a few feet and saw more trees. The breeze was noticeably reduced. I tried to put in miles, hiked up until 8pm. It’s 9:56pm now and raining lightly. I set up the tarp and hammock. Made noodles; Lipton Garlic Noodles, yuck! I have two blisters on the ball of my left foot, just before the big toe. There’s another one on the outside of my right heel. I’m at N34 42.474’ W83 59.086’. I’m in a nice spot near a stream. There are campfire pits, but I’m alone. < Rained all night. >

DAY 4, Wednesday, 7/03/2007, Campsite N34 42.474’, W83 59.086’ to Neels Gap - GA; 9.4 ( approx. ) miles ( note: days 3 and 4 total to 18.9 miles )

It’s 6:32am. Well, it’s a good thing that I stopped here and did not hike on. I barely had time to set up last night and cook dinner. I was nodding off while stirring the noodle mix <laying in my hammock under the tarp.> It rained all night and it’s still raining now. I’m thinking about what to do today; to stay or to go? It’s 7 miles to the Walasi-yi Center ( Mountain Crossings, Neels Gap ) What to wear; sandals or boots? I gotta oil my boots. They’ve endured a lot of scrapes these past few days. I forgot to mention the night at Cooper’s Gap. I set up the hammock & tarp poorly. The hammock was slack. Some of the grommets pulled out of the tarp. But I learned. I did a MUCH better job setting up this time. Note: with everything taught (tight) the tarp is too short. I used the poncho to extend the length of the tarp so that everything is nice and dry. The self-inflating pad is a must! It keeps my back insulated at night. The small size pad is ok for this weather but a wider ( shoulder ) pad will be needed in colder weather (for the arms, they are against the sides of the hammock). Legs are ok with the short pad. I forgot to mention that at Cooper’s Gap, that night, I heard heavy caliber automatic gun fire. Heavy two-blade helicopters flying around all that day. <A group of military guys were jogging as a group up the dirt road to where we were camping.> I talked to a hiker that said that he watched army maneuvers when he hiked the AT SOBO ( up ahead ). I assume where I walked through today. But I saw no foxholes or gun emplacements. Although one stretch of the trail – the rocks on the path were moved about. That’s a lot of foot wear in a short time period to do.

7/3 continued… I’m just hanging out – literally <still in my sleeping bag in my hammock.> I’m trying to decide what to do. Starting out hiking in the cold rain is not fun. I have a full bladder so I’ll have to get out of my cozy cocoon soon. I keep replaying the scene of my last year at Manchester Regional High School over and over in my mind. It’s really eating at me. I guess after hiking with Dwight brought it out, big time. It amazes me how administrators, people that used to be teachers, don’t try to build teachers; instead they are out to CYA and destroy those under them. I gotta let this go. Back to hiking thoughts – Tomorrow night I’ll try putting my clothing stuff bag in the hammock to use as a stack of pillows <to prop my upper back and head up> for when I write these notes. Future chores: Gotta add lines to my tarp (tie downs in the middle) and lines to tie down the poncho to extend it over the tarp. Last night worked out fine, but if it was windy, it would have been a problem. A thought – the poncho has a folded length on the back. Is it as long as the tarp? If so, does that help me in any way? (Tarp is too short.) I might order a larger tarp from Campmor. Well, with all of the rain, and cooler temps, I’m going to pack less water today. < Edit: As I hung out and started packing, a group of hikers passed by. Two stopped to talk with me for a little bit. I would pass them all up at the top of Blood Mountain and then I would add myself to their group the following day and make some new friends and have a wonderful time with them.>

7/3 continued… I’m in the Walasi-yi Center (hostel, Mountain Crossings at Walasi-yi) right now. I arrived around 8pm. It’s 10:51pm now. I’ve showered, talked to Terry – new hiker re-equipped from the store upstairs. <He was part of the group that I had just passed up on Blood Mountain. His pack was way too heavy, so he drove ahead to here, bought a bunch of lighter gear and is waiting for that group to meet him here.> Some items that he bought are sensible. Some… I kept quiet. The alcohol stove could be better. The mouse-proof bag is way too heavy. Some of the clothing be bought are pure cotton. I met some really nice hikers today. Tom and his Uncle Tom. They stopped by my campsite “Stream 3050’ mile marker 23.1” and chatted. They are on a 2 week hike. I saw them around 1:00pm. I was finished packing at 1:41pm. Why so late? I got up, wrote the above stuff and decided to wait out the heavy showers. Then I waited for the trees to stop dripping. I should have eaten during the rain and packed then to save some time, but I was so cold and damp that I just gave up and went back to sleep after packing most of the stuff up. I left the two Toms and the others { Ron, Donna & Jim } up on the top of Blood Mountain. They are staying in that shelter. They were going to go down to this hostel, but were told that it closed at 6pm. The store does, but the hostel is still open. Today’s pictures: On top of Blood Mountain the first three pictures are a panorama starting due south and are taken CW. The next set starts at 175 degrees. The trail going NOBO is actually backwards on the summit. To go north, you travel due south. The climb up wasn’t too bad, lots of switchbacks. Going down was difficult, lots of rocky semi-climbs. I went slowly to save my knees. No right knee pains today! But I had some burning sensations in my right Achilles tendon. I grew some more blisters too. Did 11.5 miles yesterday. Did 7.4 today. It was hot, dry, and clear all day today. It was dark out when I hiked into the hostel. A young man named Terry greeted me. He was happy to not being alone for the night <and was thrilled to see me, just so that he didn’t have to be alone.> Things to remember for tomorrow: Ship back gps, head bug net, mirrors, pepsi can stove, orange bandana. Buy a 20 oz. Gatoraid bottle – to mix instant breakfast / powdered milk in. Also buy a couple of straps to tie down my food bag. Maybe three. Buy another small lighter and a small ditti bag. Try to buy a short length of shock cod, bug netting, and silicone seam sealant for the tarp. Wash clothes and try to buy a couple of large trashbags.

DAY 5, Thursday, 7/04/2007, Neels Gap - GA to Low Gap - GA; 10.6 miles:

Last night Terry was watching Star Wars while I did my chores { cook dinner, shower }. <It was a novel experience to be taking a shower, in my first hostel, after several days in the woods and listening to Luke Skywalker fly down the canyon to fire the final shots that blew up the death star.> Got to bed way too late, 10pm ish. Today was fun. I didn’t get on the trail until 12:30pm. I washed my clothes, aired out my sleeping bag, sealed the seams on my tarp, made breakfast. I spent $40+ dollars. I got two hot dogs, Mailed one pound of stuff back to Mom. Bought a poweraid ( 20 oz bottle ). Picked up my food drop box. Weeded out some of the food from the package to cut down on weight. I put the excess food in the hiker box in the hostel. Bought a large roll of moleskin and promptly lost it. Met an enthusiastic man that was in the final stage of his 1000 mile SOBO hike. He gave me his left over moleskin and the advice to hike the side trail to the Mt. Cammerer Tower at the north end of the Smoky Mountains. He said that it was the best view of the entire hike. I hiked hard to get to Low Gap Shelter. Last 4 – 5 miles I cranked. Listened to the radio and worked! Blisters are a little bigger. No new ones. It was hot, clear, and dry all day. I met up with Tom, Tom, Ron, Terry, Donna & Jim - A great bunch. Did 10.6 miles today. Tomorrow will be a big one ( 15 miles ) to Tray Mountain. Forgot to sign the register at Low Gap Shelter, where we stayed.

DAY 6, Friday, 7/05/2007, Low Gap – GA to Tray Mountain Shelter – GA; 14.9 miles

Ended at 7:45pm ( mile marker 56.0 ) Tray Mountain Shelter. I’m totally beat. Tom took a picture of me with Tray Mountain in the background when we were about to climb it. Tom is a good leader of our group. He stopped at switchbacks so that I could keep up. I’m totally cooked. I was drenched in sweat, like I just showered. Gotta sponge bathe. I’ll set up the hammock and I’ll cook a big dinner.

7/5 continued… I remember taking scenic pictures due south before Tray Mountain. The hike in the morning was very pleasant, fairly level for a long time. I was up at 5:15am. Tom got up then and my hammock was next to the shelter. Basically, Tom woke us all up. He was the first on the trail. I was second. I think I was on the trail by 7:00am. <Ron caught up with me and we walked and talked together for a long while. Eventually he hiked on ahead because I was slower on the descents. Still nursing my knees.> Today was tough. It was very hot out in the afternoon. It was hot, dry and clear all day today. We all met up at Unicoi Gap which crosses a big road and has a parking area. I sat on a big rock with Ron and popped my blisters with a needle and did all of the foot and blister care. My feet felt much better after this. No water sources listed until after Plumorchard Shelter, which is 7.5 miles to the north. I have 1 liter of water and 20 oz of water / honey mix left. I better find water. It’s hot! 90F.

DAY 7, Saturday, 7/06/2007, Tray Mountain Shelter – GA to Campsite ( mile marker 67.7 ); 11.7 miles

Late start, 8:00 am to watch the sunrise. Younger Tom and Ron slept out on the rock face. I was nearby in my hammock. Sat out on the rock face with them and cooked my breakfast. It was very pleasant spending time in that peaceful spot with those nice people. It was so quiet. We watched the world wake up. Very nice… Hiked on to Deep Gap, 1:14pm. Met up with Donna & Jim and Terry. I hiked the side trail ( 0.25 miles ) down to the Shelter to get water. The spring was dry. Tough day after yesterday! 15 miles, was way too tough for me. Tom wanted to do 15 miles to Plumorchard Shelter (today) and his nephew Tom and their friend Ron as well. I tried, but ran out of steam and had two complications: One, I ran out of water and yes, I was in the back of the pack. Terry was in front. I was with Donna & Jim. I ran out of water at Deep Gap. I hiked down to get water, they hiked on. The spring was bone dry. They ( Donna & Jim and Terry ) planned to hike into Hiawassee since Terry’s car was parked at Dick Creek’s Gap. They asked me to join them. I said no, but was still thinking about it. Since I took forever to get water, there was no way to catch up to them. I had to dig out a hole in a trickle across the trail. I tried scooping the water and pre-filtering it through my bandana, but the results were more muddy than if I lined the water hole with my aluminum pot cover and waited for the particles to settle. Actually, I pre-filtered 32oz with my bandana folded over in four layers, this took forever! <I tried pre-filtering through the bandana, then a double folded bandana. Neither was effective in filtering out the particulates. Only folding the bandana into four layers filtered out enough particulates, but it was not time effective.> Then I accidentally knocked over the pot of water. That represented a lot of time wasted. It took a long time to pump four liters. I didn’t see any other water until just before Dick Creek’s Gap. Although it was hot, dry, and clear all day; I got scared by a local thunder cloud that was hovering next to the hill that I was on. This was a hill or two after the dry spring. There were rumblings of thunder and I was concerned. Then a loud “bang” that sounded right next to me. I saw no flash. I laid down my aluminum framed pack and aluminum hiking poles and sat and spent 15-20 minutes slapping gnats before resuming. The cloud just hovered there. I folded up the poles and moved as fast as I could out of there. It was clear overhead. I was flat out exhausted by the time that I reached Dick’s Creek Gap. I hiked another 1.6 miles to a “campsite.” Arrived at 6:05 pm. Called Linda, Dad, and tried to call Mom on my cell phone. That’s mile marker 67.6 – that’s 11.7 miles for today. Cooked dinner, which I expected to be good - It wasn’t. I took a long time to eat it. Chicken Noodles and Lemon Pepper tuna. It was the lemon pepper that wrecked the meal. I fell asleep while laying in my hammock and eating the meal. The cooking pot was on my chest. Finished the rest by headlamp. I started this journal entry at 9:38pm. Forty miles to Franklin, NC. It was thundering when I set up camp, so I hung up the tarp to be dry. No rain. It rained a little before Dick’s Creek Gap, just sprinkles.

DAY 8, Sunday, 7/07/2007, Campsite ( mile marker 67.7 ) to Muskrat Creek Shelter, NC; 10.5 miles

Just woke up. The sun is up and the birds are chirping. This beats the 5am wakeup to the march of doom. I was not only exhausted yesterday from the effort, but also tired and yawning. Not at all what I want. Major goal of this hike is to regain sleep and sleeping ability. Today is going to be a good day! 6:14am!!! Lanced my right foot big toe. Blister was between my toes, didn’t feel it at all yesterday. The other blisters are much better since popping and treating them at Unicoi Gap yesterday <Edit: The day started out hot and sunny.> Hiked into Muskrat Creek Shelter ( mile marker 78.2 ). It really rained hard from Rich Cove Gap to right before the shelter. Really hard! It was pouring at the GA/NC border. Washed my clothes out at Plumorchard, so now I have two complete sets of wet socks. So today’s mileage is 10.5 miles. Did ok in the rain, but my short gaiters didn’t work out as well as the older heaver/taller set. My feet got soaked <from water pouring down my legs and ankles, past the short gaiters, and into my boots.> I got charged by a doe in the morning. It was rustling in the underbrush up on a ridge paralleling the trail. I stopped, it rustled again. I walked a bit and waited. It charged straight down the hill at me. At 8 feet away I yelled “YO!” and it stopped and headed to its left. Donna & Jim got back on the trail at Dick’s Gap. They heard me yell. It was real nice to meet up with them again. They’re good people! As I crossed into the Natahala US Forest the geology changed. Ferrous rocks are around. I’ve noticed as I’m heading north that there is less mica on the ground. Met some crazy guys at Plumorchard Shelter. One has health problems and lots of tall stories. <He had his knees replaced. He talked a lot about the Mayo Clinic. Emma later on despairingly referred to him as “Mayo.” You get tagged with trail names. It’s inevitable that you be labeled with one. Many try to come up with their own. That’s safer, but the best trail names are made by others.> The other packed more stuff than I’ve ever seen. He’s the one that dumped stuff on the way up from Dick’s Creek Gap. He claimed that he was doing other people a favor by leaving his crap behind on the trail. People might want to use it. It was pure garbage. One item was a weird ladder looking thing with a cooking grate and a blanket. Why he wanted that stuff in the first place, beats me. In the shelter he had a metal framed tarp, heavy ground cloth and a tent. He even brought a lead-acid battery and a B&W TV and a solar panel. We all did our polite hello and lit out of there. Rained like heck for a couple of hours before the shelter. The trail turned pretty nasty at the NC border, high weeds. At the end of the day I arrived at the Muskrat Creek Shelter, of course last. Everybody was there { Tom, Tom, Ron, Donna & Jim, Terry, and Emma and others } and they cheered and clapped as I hiked in. We exchanged lots of hearty handshakes. Cool! Too many people for one shelter. Most that were already there made room for us late-comers by setting up their tents. One fella had a chocolate Labrador retriever. The dog came to me to beg for food. I told the dog, “You don’t understand, we’re hikers, we might take your food!” I love dogs, but having a wet smelly dog wander around the shelter after both of us were out in the pouring rain was not welcome. Jim and I hung our food together. I showed him my rocks-in-a-ditti-bag trick to help with throwing a rope into a tree. We were all pretty wet and tired. I was annoyed that my feet were between damp and wet. My boots were just not as good as the pair that I left back in Atlanta. Otherwise, I was dry. Everyone else was pretty wet.

DAY 9, Monday, 7/08/2007, Muskrat Creek Shelter, NC to Carter Gap Shelter; 12.5 miles <Sunny and warm all day>

Late start, 9:50am. I was late in getting my act together. Also, one fella there has this osmosis water filtering arrangement. You set up the bag overnight and then you have water by morning. A lighter setup than what I was using. Problem was, was that he spilled his water when he got up. There was no way for him to have hiking water for the day, he didn’t carry backup chemical treatment, so I filtered water for him. I read the shelter register before I left. I found Bobcat’s entry dated 3/27/2007 ( Angewrite on trailplace.com ) <On the entire hike, this one entry was the only entry that I recognized from all of my trailplace.com correspondences. I was excited to see her entry, but disappointed that I didn’t see a single shelter log entry from teledaveaustin ( Dave Connelly ). He was the guy that I tried to meet up with in the Smoky Mountains during Spring Break last year. I guess his entire list of messages on trailplace.com were pure bs. He invited me to join him on his hike, so I drove all the way down to the Smoky Mountains. No sign of him. He later typed on trailplace that he left the trail in Franklin, NC. I saw no shelter log entrees of anyone that I knew from trailplace up until then. So besides being inconsiderate and not letting me know that he was getting off of the trail, there’s a good chance that he was never on it in the first place. He had all of my contact information. Now I question whether he hiked at all. It was nice to see Bobcat’s entry. At least someone that I exchanged messages with hiked the trail.> Donna & Jim and I were hiking together. The others were somewhere up ahead. We stopped at Deep Gap for an hour to air out and sun dry my sleeping bag and other stuff - especially yesterday’s laundry and my poncho. The sleeping bag was a little damp – the liner was quite damp. Shoes were wetter than I expected. It was sunny and warm there. Public Garbage bins too, so we emptied out our garbage. A lady gave us (Me, Donna & Jim) some pudding. Very nice! We arrived at Carter Gap Shelter at 6:24pm. 8 hours, 24 minutes + 1 hour of drying time. 12.5 miles. The walk today was pleasant, long up-hills, not steep, rarely to peeks. We mostly followed the ridgeline. Donna & Jim were 15 minutes or so ahead of me, since I took longer to air out my stuff at Deep Gap. Two hikers were in the shelter; Melissa and Steve. Both were out for three or four days worth of hiking, both were a bit heavy set, but enjoyed hiking – cool! Steve was experienced in hiking. He carried more gear than I would have, but he had his “system.” He had a large dark seat mark on his shorts from sitting down. So I decided to tie a bandana to the left side/rear of my pants to use for wiping my hands and to put between my butt and whatever I sat on. Melissa was less experienced, but very determined. Donna & Jim set up their tent in the rhododendrons. I set up my hammock / tarp a little further away in the rhododendrons. I noticed that my hammock/tree straps still left a minimal wear mark on the thick rhododendrons that I hung my hammock from. There was no cell service at the shelter, but I was able to hike back towards the AT and call home. There were lots of camp sites in that area. Jim & I made a mistake and hung our food together in a tree near the shelter. Mice got into the Miller’s food bag. I lucked out, no damage to my stuff. Something to remember, hang the food further away from the shelter.

DAY 10, Tuesday, 7/09/2007, Carter Gap Shelter to Wallace Gap ( with a ride to Franklin, NC – Budget Inn ); 12.8 miles

Donna & Jim and I left at 8:45am. We passed Melissa on the trail a little while later. Somehow I got ahead of Donna & Jim. I stopped to wash before Albert mountain at mile marker 95.5 Donna & Jim passed me up as I was filtering 2 ½ liters of water after washing up. A little while later I met two trail maintainers, a husband and wife team; George & Janet. They were walking south, out looking for “blow-downs” (trees). George had a small chain saw. Nice people! They recommended that I call Ron Haven (Haven Budget Inn) for transportation to/from Franklin, NC. I caught up with Donna & Jim. They asked me if I saw the two trail maintenance people. I said, “Yes, George & Janet, they’re nice people.” Donna & Jim busted out laughing because I knew their names. They knew that I’d stop and talk with them. Very funny… We climbed up Albert Mountain, it was hot and sunny. Awesome!!! Some actual rock climbing followed by a spectacular view from the old fire tower!

Things to do at Franklin, NC:

1.) Hotel ( shower!!!),

2.) Post Office – pick up food package, mail postcards, hopefully pick up my Z-Pack and send the Kelty Pack to Atlanta

3.) Dinner

4.) Kmart or Outfitter – thinner rope, food bag, bandana, Sew on letters (to make a hiker-to-town and hiker-to-trail bandana, Straps to make compression sacks, Notepad, postcards, platypus water bag and bite valve, pair of shorts, garbage bag to use as a pack-cover.

About a mile or so, south of Rock Gap Shelter, it started rumbling. We all donned our raingear. Donna & Jim were faster at putting theirs on, so they went on ahead. Jim wisely said something about hurrying because climbing up and down a mountain in a thunderstorm wouldn’t be a good idea. I took longer to get all of my raingear on properly. At 4:30pm I ran/slid into Rock Gap Shelter to get out of the thunderstorm. Jim & Donna yelled to me as I passed an unmarked trail on the hillside that led down to the shelter. I slipped and slide down to the shelter to get out of the pouring rain. They were huddled in the picnic table area, under the roof. They were drenched. I was dry except for my glasses & face and the bottom seams of my shorts, pant legs. What I’d call dry. We were relegated to the overhang for the cooking area. Donna and Jim were hugging each other to keep warm. A huge family from Florida was in the shelter. They were not very friendly. They didn’t come out to see how we were doing or to say hello. I went in to introduce myself. The male leader reacted. The rest didn’t care. They were playing cards with candles lit, behind a huge tarp. I wanted to leave. A couple of kids came out briefly and said hello, but none invited us in. This family wasn’t friendly and they were noisy. But the thunderstorm continued. It looked very cramped to set up for the three of us to sleep in the overhang over the picnic table area. Then one of the teenagers, inside the shelter, started drumming loudly on the wall. That was it; I had to get out of there. I said goodbye to Donna & Jim and hiked out into the rain to Wallace Gap. I arrived there at 5:50 and it was still raining. I then headed east on “Old Murphy Road” until I got cell service. I called up Ron Haven. I was told to hike back up to where I got off of the trail. When Ron arrived, I described the situation at the shelter and asked him if he would be willing to pick up my friends. He drove to the nearest point to the shelter and walked back to the shelter, and being a good businessman, he invited everyone to use his motel. Super, super, nice guy. Jim & Donna were so happy! After I cleaned up and showered in the motel room, I went to the laundramat to check up on Donna & Jim. Jim bought me dinner at the AYCE Steak House nearby. We got there just before closing. I ate salad, green beans, carrots, corn, and pot roast. I ate two full plates of food plus a salad plate and many refills of root beer soda. And I wasn’t stuffed.

More thoughts about today: I got lost on the trail hours before the thunderstorms hit. Donna & Jim were a little ahead of me and the trail turned right onto a watercourse. The trail was actually “on” a streambed. But I followed the well worn path that turned to the left and went straight through a firepit in a camping area and ended 5 feet after. So I yelled, Jim yelled back. They were on the other side of a small ravine ( made by the stream ). Jim kept yelling and came back for me. I was on the trail by then, but I thought that I was headed south, when I was actually going north. I can’t thank them enough, such nice people. This was our second big thunderstorm to walk through and we camped in the rain twice before. I’m amazed how unprepared almost everyone is on the trail about rain. Everybody gets soaked and I’m staying relatively dry. And I want to improve upon my preparations. Being wet really turns the mood of being outdoors down. Yet I don’t see anyone making the effort to fix the problem. Example: Jim & Donna have pack covers, rain jackets, but everything still gets soaked, especially their feet and clothes. A poncho and sandals would be a quick fix for summer hiking. They’re in town. There are stores and an outfitter. But they won’t change their gear - which doesn’t make sense. And they could see that I was perfectly dry. I’m writing this past tense, the following day, 7/10. Edit note: Jim switched to a poncho on our Fall hike. So the change took place, just not right away. I don’t want to sound like I’m picking on Donna & Jim, far from it! They are wonderful people. And Donna researched their gear thoroughly before the hike. But almost everyone that I met on the trail would get soaked in the rain. It’s possible to stay dry with some decent gear and some practice. I’m a fan of using ponchos because of the increased airflow. Rain jackets and pants have too little air circulation, so it becomes a race between whether you get soaked from the rain or from the sweat that you generate. Later on in my hike I picked up a light weight rain-kilt, a skirt. I bought it mostly as a second set of clothing to wear while I was doing my laundry. It worked out pretty well. Since my boots were not nearly as waterproof as I expected, I also made covers for my boots out of duct tape.

DAY 11, Wednesday, 7/10/2007, ZERO DAY in Franklin, NC <very hot and sunny> – spent the day walking all over town re-supplying

I’m awake early at the Haven Budget Inn. I have lots to do today. I need to pick up my packages at the post office. I’m expecting my food and my trust Gregory Z-Pack. I have to shop and rest up for getting back on the trail tomorrow! Donna and Jim got back on the trail in the morning. I spent the entire day walking around town. First was breakfast at the VFW hall (Ron highly recommended going there). $3.75 plus a $2 tip bought me a great breakfast. Then to the post office. Real disappointed at the post office. Only food was there, no pack. Then I headed to the hardware store for duct tape and a grommet kit. Then I hiked a long way across town to get to Three Eagles Outfitters and the K-Mart across the street. A long walk in the hot sun. I spent $143.57 at the Three Eagles Outfitter. I bought four light weight OR stuff sacks, 5 OR straps, one tube of Nikkiwax, another playtypus water bottle and a bite valve with tube and adapter to fit all of my platypus water bottles. My goal was to use this in place of the platypus Big-Zip-2 bag. All of the stuff sacks are to make my pack lighter by strapping them directly to the frame and sending the pack home and keeping the frame. Then I went to K-Mart to buy a pair of shorts. Something light with lots of air flow. I also was looking for a cheap carabiner to hang stuff from. I found a heavier than I wanted pair of shorts but no carabiners. Then I walked back to the highway (in the sun) and back into town. I stopped at the Chamber of Commerce to buy some postcards. I found a wood tick on my head as I entered the building. So I walked outside, pulled it off and crushed it on the sidewalk.

Melissa came in to the hotel around 2:30 pm or so. She drove me to the post office. I sent my pack (bag) and spare glasses to Mom & Les and sent my bounce-box up to Fontana Village. I forgot to send the Big Zip back, so I left it in the hiker’s box at the hotel. It’s functional, but I don’t like it; maybe someone else will. I purchased it based upon the advice of another hiker/salesman. The idea was that the zip feature would allow me to clean out the bag when it gets gross from putting powder juice mixes in it. Well, it’s a bad idea since using juice in the bag would allow juice to drip on you from the bit-valve. Juices are better left in 20 oz rigid plastic containers. The Big-Zip is messy to fill since you have to fill it via the zip. I bought two adapters to fit the opening of the platypus collapsible water bottles. One for the bite-valve assembly, the other for the water filter. I can now easily screw the filter to a water bag and fill it quickly. The same is true for switching the bite-valve assembly from one water bag to another. This will save me a lot of time on the trail and while filtering water. This eliminates the chance of the zip opening up in my pack too. I intended to sent my cell phone charger back home but forgot to. That was lucky, I have since figured out that carrying the cell phone charger is worth carrying the weight. We went to the laundramat to do laundry. Melissa had fun watching me get my underwear out from behind the row of washing machines. I found out that they fell back there AFTER I did all of my laundry. Errrr. We went out to dinner at the AYCE steak house. We talked a lot about hiking and our spouses. Melissa was self-conscious about not completing large miles each day and felt that people talked down to her. I responded we have hiked more in a day than most people walk in a month. Whatever we do is what we are able to do, and it’s something to be proud of. After dinner I went back to my motel room to work on my “new” pack, strapping the stuff sacks to the old frame. I stayed up until 1 am working on my pack, trying to figure out how to strap everything down properly, now that I sent the pack bag to Mom. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea sending the pack to Mom.

DAY 12, Thursday, 7/11/2007, Wallace Gap to Wayah Bald Shelter ( brand new ); 13.6 miles

I waited forever to get a ride to the trail. Ron was friendly and I have nothing but nice things to say about him. But the guy working for him wouldn’t drive me to the trail. A ride to the trail is part of the stay at the motel. He delayed for hours to drive me. When he did, he claimed that a donation was requested for the shuttle service. This contradicted what Ron told me on the way in to the hotel. So instead of hitting the trail first thing on a bright sunny morning; instead, I got dropped off at Wallace Gap at 11:00 am in the pouring rain, and I got gouged by five or ten dollars. Oh well.

It was really raining hard as we drove out to the trail. My pack was unprotected from the rain in the back of the pickup truck. I got out at Wallace Gap. It was really coming down hard. But you just have to plug along, otherwise you won’t get anywhere. Besides, I really wanted to catch up to Donna and Jim. I spent some time arranging my poncho properly to cover me and my pack. The rain slowly backed down into a heavy fog. I hauled butt today, trying to catch up to Donna & Jim and the others (Tom and Thomas). They all had the NOC as their primary destination with the hope of continuing to Fontana Dam. I hiked up to Wayah Bald. On the way up, north of the Bartram Trail intersection, I took pictures of a mouse traveling SOBO on the trail. It kept stopping at each miniature puddle to stop and drink some water. When it finally noticed me it blue-blazed (took a side trail). A little later I came across a small red crayfish walking NOBO on the trail. Really. I stood there in the rain watching it. It really did stay on the trail for a few feet. I took a few pictures of it to document what I was seeing. I said to the crayfish, “Dude, you’re supposed to be IN the water, not walking around out of it.” It didn’t care, it just kept on walking on the trail. When it saw me, it did the normal crayfish stance of backing up and raising its two front claws. Eventually I picked it up and put it in a plastic bag to carry to some stream. As I headed up the mountain, I was concerned that the chance of finding a stream at elevation was low. So I stopped at a tiny stream and let it go. It immediately buried itself in the mud. I walk a few feet and saw another red crayfish walking across the trail. I guess that’s what these crayfish do down here in Georgia. I never saw one in New Jersey do that. I hiked up to the Wayah Bald Observation Tower. Took advantage of one of the public bear-proof garbage cans to get rid of some garbage that I was carrying. There was nothing to see up on the tower. The fog was really thick. Spent a little while looking at the old structure of the tower. I was disappointed to see the graffiti on the lower level. I heard so much about Wayah Bald. It was a bit of a let-down to be there in the fog. Oh well, time to move on. I headed north, not looking forward to the long walk to Cold Spring Shelter. Then to my surprise, there was a sign to the new Wayah Bald Shelter, which wasn’t listed in my book. The sign said something about a ½ mile to get to the shelter. Well after a while, it seemed like the longest ½ mile that I have ever walked. So I walked back to the sign to verify that I went the right way and didn’t miss the shelter. No such luck. So I plugged along further north and then found it. It was brand new. I mean really new. There was sawdust still on the ground. Unfortunately, some jerk already took a black magic marker to it and wrote a bunch of offensive graffiti. I scratched out the more offensive curse words. I quickly did my chores and then looked at the trail register. Donna & Jim had stayed here last night! On top of that, they got on the trail early this morning. I didn’t catch to them at all today. Errrrrrr.

DAY 13, Friday, 7/12/2007, Wayah Bald Shelter to the Nantahala Outdoor Center; 16.7 miles

Up with the sunrise. It was beautiful to see from within the shelter. I Heard a mouse doing something in the morning. In fact, right now. I took an asprin at 4:00 am. I was sore from sleeping on the floor. Thinking back on yesterday; I met a day or weekend hiker named Kent, headed SOBO. He worked at the NOC. He wore very little clothing and carried very little gear. It was raining lightly on/off. His method of handling the rain was to just accept getting wet. No raingear or boots. His method was to get wet and let it all air-dry. I also met three kids with rented gear from REI a little north of Siler Bald. They rode out the storm in the tent. I wonder how they are doing now? Sun’s up now, it’s 6:33 am. I used straight methanol (yellow container, HEET brand fuel anti-freeze) in my Trangia burner last night. Crap it burns hotter than 70% ethanol!!!! I have extra fuel so I stopped watering it down. It’s a bit lonely on the trail now. No long distance hikers except Donna & Jim, who are now a day ahead of me. The only way to catch up to them is to find the next shelter that they stayed at and keep on going. Since it rained so hard yesterday, they probably did a short day yesterday. OK, gotta get my act together and get food done and get on the trail!

It’s been hot and sunny all day today. I passed “Rambo Ron” south of the Cold Spring Shelter. He was headed southbound. I asked if he had seen Donna & Jim. He responded by asking “Are you Pete, the school teacher?” We talked for a little while. He’s a SOBO thru-hiker, very content. He’s been on the trail from Mt. Katahdin for the past 1 ½ years. He’s taking his time because he wants to enjoy the experience. He told me that he spent the night with Donna & Jim at the Wesser Bald Shelter and that they were on the trail by 7:00 am. I got on the trail at 8:00 am, so I was further behind. He told me that they were stopping at the NOC. So I wished him well and trudged on.

I had to climb up a fairly tall climb up to Wesser Bald. I passed some people parked down in Tellico Gap, by the power lines. As I was hiking up, I was passed by a youth group, day hiking, no packs. I followed them for a little way, taking advantage of their faster pace. It was sort of fun watching them hike. The guys were all into showing off how fast they could hike. The girls were talking about social stuff. The leaders of the group halted ¾ of the way up to reform the group. I of course kept on going. I met an older couple hiking SOBO as I neared the top. It was very hot and very sunny the whole way up. But once I got up high, the temperature wasn’t so bad. It was very pleasant walking up there. Lots of sun, but not stifling. Real clear, bright blue skies. I didn’t see the Wesser Bald Shelter. I don’t even remember seeing a bald, but the walk alog the Jumpoff and further north were spectacular. I walked on some exposed ridges that allowed me to see forever, all around me. I was listening again to my radio, trying to hike faster. Two things struck me. One was that I didn’t appreciate music while seeing those spectacular views. It spoiled it. The other was a set of four commercials, in succession, that I heard while going down in elevation. There was a local station advertising an on the scene reporter at a used car dealership, reporting on a sale. This was followed by an advertisement for a bail-bondsman. The theme was “we bring families together.” This was followed by an advertisement for an adult bookstore/novelty shop. Their theme was “if we don’t have it, we can get it for you.” And to cap all of this was an advertisement for a Christian bookstore. I was laughing. What a combination of advertisements. I was entering Tennessee. We sure don’t hear radio like this in New Jersey! After I stopped laughing, I realized that the radio altered my experience of seeing those amazing views and the interesting climb down the knob. I stopped listening to the radio while hiking, not only for the moment, but for the rest of my hike. I walked fast to try and get to the NOC to catch up with my friends. I tempted fate but moving fast on the decline. Consequently, I strained my left knee.

Notes from this evening, before falling asleep:

I made it to the NOC late afternoon/early evening. 16.7 miles, I’M BEAT! Lots of declines, so now my left knee hurts. But the views were spectacular! I spent some time with Donna & Jim. Their hike ended today. Donna twisted her knee, so no going onto Fontana Dam for them. I’m really tired. I’m going to sleep! My back hurts! I took 2 asprin before falling asleep. That made a difference. After passing Rambo Ron, I passed David. Both are SOBO thru-hikers. I ran into a group of teenagers led by an adult and one older teenager. They were friendly – very chatty. So the trail lost the quest and solitude for a while. They flew by me ( ½ of the group ). As the trail got steeper had everyone wait to get them back into a single group. I kept on, never saw them again. Met a nice couple walking their dog a little north of that peak. But the views were beyond incredible. Where did that couple come from? I didn’t see any roads up there. I got into the NOC just barely in time to shower and have dinner. Me up with Donna and Jim right away. We were all smiles, but with a sad note: Donna had twisted her knee today while hiking down into the NOC. Tom and Thomas left a note to us at the NOC explaining that they were off the trail too for the same reason. Tom wrecked his knee on the declines into the NOC as well. With my back, strained left knee, and stinging right Achilles tendon; it looks like I’m the only one from our group that is continuing past the NOC. I guess that this explains the high dropout rate of those that try to thru-hike the AT.

Donna & Jim took me out to dinner. We had to go to the more expensive of the two eating establishments on the premises because I took too long showering. The expensive place has later hours. Donna & Jim insisted on paying for my dinner. I had a fantastic porterhouse steak with mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes had some kind of special horseradish sauce mixed in with them. They were out of this world! I abstained from alcohol since Jim and Donna don’t drink. I got them to agree that I’d pay for their breakfast in the morning. After dinner I went back to the bunkhouse where I booked a bed. There were many bunks, but only gear from one other hiker in there. I got to meet the other occupant. His name is Louis. He’s from England and using the NOC as his base. He’s hiked north a little bit from there and he’s planning on hiking south. So we had some trail information to share with each other. He warned me that it’s a big climb up to the Sassafras Gap Shelter and he warned me that the privy there was awful (it was). He said that the views up there were shrouded by trees, which they were, but he was happy to hear that I had such great views south of the NOC. The NOC impressed me. It’s a huge operation, catering mostly to kayakers. Not only the size but the seriousness as well. By 9 pm, you could hear a pin drop. Everyone was in bed, getting ready for a big day on the river.

DAY 14, Saturday, 7/13/2007, Nantahala Outdoor Center to Sassafras Gap Shelter; 7.0 miles

Super late start, 1:15 pm. I got up at 6:28 am and started playing with ropes for a while. I worked on trying to make my stuff sacks into compression sacks. Luis slept in. So did Donna & Jim. I could hear Jim snoring through the wall. They were in the room next door. The NOC has various rates. I paid a low rate for sleeping in the bunk room. There were many smaller rooms for two. For $16.95, it was a good place to stay. I got to shower and wash my clothes in the big common building and I got a place to sleep. Showers are good! Luis and I went to the AYCE buffet. I ate four full plates of food! Jim showed up a few minutes later after I started eating. Even Jim was impressed by the quantity of food that I ate. I guess I got the hiker’s appetite. It started rain again so I put the laundry that I did last night into the dryer for $1.25. Breakfast was $40 for the three of us, including a take-out meal for Donna. She stayed in their room to rest her knee. I bought a knee-brace, two bandanas, and a mini-deck of cards from the outfitter store. It’s amazing the amount of business that the NOC does. I also got to see the river rise, right on schedule. The flow is controlled by TVA dams upstream. Pretty cool. This release of water allows the NOC to schedule higher class kayak runs. Very impressive operation. I wonder if the two eating establishments are subcontracted, or is this business one huge operation?

I said goodbye to Jim and hobbled up to the hostel to get my gear. I said goodbye to Luis. We took pictures of each other. Then I started the walk up the mountain. It took me a little while to figure out where the trail was in the NOC. I wandered around a little while. Then I saw the white blazes and headed north. The rain started falling lightly again. Not the most entertaining way to start out. But it was nice to be clean and have a full belly. I was under my poncho and dry.

I wrote nothing about the hike to the shelter in my notes, but my memory was a series of long inclines up to the Sassafras Gap Shelter in foggy, drizzly weather. The drizzle stopped after a little while. I remember walking past a memorial plaque for a fallen firefighter. I remember standing there and saying a prayer of thanks for him. I saw some limited views on the way up to elevation. I stopped to take a picture of a noisy squirrel in the low trees. I remember being surprised that I was walking slow for only the first hour after eating all of that food for breakfast. I arrived at the shelter at 6:00 pm. I only hiked 6.9 miles today to this shelter. That’s because I’m a bit cooked from yesterday’s 16.7 miles. My back hurts. My left knee is pretty bad. The knee brace helps a lot, but I was hobbling for several miles.

I was planning on putting in a 16 mile day tomorrow to get to Fontana Dam. But that’ll mean that I’ll be arriving on Sunday. Yuck! I can’t pick up my food at the post office on a Sunday. I tried to call home from here, but there was no cell service at this shelter. I hiked back up to the AT, got one or two bars, but can’t get a call out. The privy here is disgusting!

DAY 15, Sunday, 7/14/2007, Sassafras Gap Shelter to Cody Gap; 11.9 miles

I woke up before the sunrise. Nice scenery already. My back hurts A LOT! I have to redistribute the weight on the pack. The weight is down too low and torqueing my back. Distributing the weight properly will take time. I want my Z-pack! My left knee has a dull ache at times when rolling over at night. I arrived at Cody Gap at 7:00 pm. I’m done with my chores and phone calls by 9:15 pm. I’m in my hammock. Maybe tonight my back will feel good <after sleeping in the hammock> and I’ll get a good nights sleep. I passed two women day hiking south of Stecoah Gap. I got water at the Brown Fork Shelter. The spring there is almost dry. I pulled one tick off of me today. My old blisters on my heels hurt. I’ll look at them in the morning. I’m falling asleep while writing this. Goodnight!

DAY 16, Monday, 7/15/2007, Cody Gap to Fontana “Hilton” Shelter; 9.9 miles

Late start. I didn’t want to get up in the morning. It’s 7:15 am now. Gotta lance those small deep blisters on my heels. I’m at Cody Gap, mile marker 152.7. If the hills are like the last two days, I’ll have to hustle to make it to Fontana Dam (10 miles). But I don’t feel like moving. I gotta find a larger water source to wash my silk liner for my sleeping bag.

I arrived at the “Fontana Hilton” (The Fontana Dam Shelter) at 3:45 pm. I spent the rest of the day doing chores. I gave myself a full sponge bath (with soap) in the nearby restroom building. I didn’t realize that the dam and the free showers weren’t very far. I could have easily showered there, oops. I washed my socks, shorts, and one t-shirt in the sink while I was there too. I double stitched the torn zipper on my hammock. I sealed my boots. Then I walked down to the dam to get a map of the Smoky Mountain NP and a backpacker permit form. I cooked dinner. Note: “Heet” (Methanol) pure is too hot. I scorched my pot while cooking dinner. There’s a youth / counseling group here. Erica and Robin are the leaders / counselors. There’s a bunch of teenage boys. They’re ok.

I had a pleasant hike to Fontana (except for the very long decline to get down to the dam). I took a picture of a toad and a butterfly. I’ve been trying to get a picture of these blue/black butterflies for weeks. One was finally still enough for me to take a picture of it. I met one family hiking up from the marina. The all had large packs, heading south. That’s a tough hike <that they are about to do>. The decline that I just went down was long and steep and there are no views at elevation - nothing for them to look forward to. I didn’t say anything about the lack of views when they asked me about where I started from. When I answered, the woman’s facial expression was a story in itself.

Staying at the shelter was very pleasant. The group was quite. The shelter was very spacious. No mice at all. Rumour has it that rodent control (poisons) are used here. There’s a tall lamp in the graveled cooking area. There’s a double 110vac outlet on the pole. So I plugged my cell phone into it overnight to charge it up.

DAY 17, Tuesday, 7/16/2007, Backtracked a mile to the Fontana Marina to shuttle to Fontana Village ( to pick up a food drop ), then shuttle back to Fontana Dam to hike up to the Mollies Ridge Shelter; 11.3 miles from shelter to shelter.

I was up before the sunrise, 6:00 am. I brought all of my stuff outside. I did all of my packing outside so that I wouldn’t disturb the group <they were all still sleeping inside the shelter>. I made the mistake of laying my sleeping pad and sleeping bag out on the picnic table to roll it up. They immediately picked up the garlic odors from the group’s cooking.

Goals for today: { Hike back to the marina. Call for a $2 shuttle into Fontana Village. Get my pack and food. Send back my pack frame. Buy breakfast. Get a ride back to the dam. Maybe take a shower and then hike up to the Russell Field Shelter. Oh, and drop off the filled out permit form at the dam and see if I can buy and send out some postcards from there. Read the log book at the Mollies Ridge Shelter. Russell Field is the goal because it has a water source nearby, or at least it had one last spring. }

I’m actually writing this the next day. It was a very frustrating day. I hiked back to the marina and waited 2 hours for a ride to Fontana Village. I walked into the marina at 8:00 am. Called in right away on the courtesy phone. I was told that I’d have a ride by 8:30 am. While waiting, I met a couple of women who were going to section hike to the park. We chatted for a bit, but they had no interest in giving me a ride. So I waited and waited. I called again at 9:35. <My goal was to get onto the trail early before the sun started broiling everything. Time was precious.> The ride showed up at 10:00 am. I had breakfast. I paid $10.45 for 2 eggs, two tiny pancakes, 2 sausages, and 1 biscuit with gravy. It was a nice place. I walked down to the post office. I setup my Gregory Z-pack. I sent back the frame. I sorted out all of the stuff (9 days worth of food). The postmaster gave me a minute’s warning before closing for lunch. It was a scramble to get it all done in time. I walked back up to the lodge. One thing that I noticed right away is that the Z-pack is not as comfortable with a large amount of weight as the Kelty – now that I’ve learned how to setup the Kelty properly. I need to make a decent pack bag for the Kelty frame. I proceeded to wait forever for a shuttle back to the dam. I filled out postcards while I was waiting. <I gotta tell you. Fontana Village looked like a nice place to visit on future motorcycle touring trips, but after all of the delays and how that impacted this day’s hike; I do not want to give them any business again.> I asked to be dropped off at the dam instead of the shelter because I had already walked that distance yesterday. <Yes I know; I’m a fanatical white-blazer.> I quickly showered (to get a layer cleaner and to be soaking wet before starting out). I filled up on water. I got onto the dam at 2:42 pm. Way too late! It was over 100F on the dam. This was a problem because I was carrying 9 days worth of food and over 7 liters of water. The Smoky Mountains are dry up until west of Clingmans Dome. Carrying a lot of water is necessary. It was a ball buster to get up to Mollies Ridge Shelter. Much harder than it was last spring!!! I had to do some night hiking to get there. I arrived at the shelter at 10:10 pm. A nice guy named Steve was there. He was happy to not be alone with the bears. <He was alone in the shelter.> He’s very experienced hiker. He’s 44 years old and did all of the trails in the park. Well almost all, this trip he will complete them. He made his own sleeping bag and stove. <He was thrilled to see me because now the odds of being eaten by a bear was cut in half. At that point, I was so exhausted, he would have out ran me. So his chances of survival was better than that. We stayed up a while talking. I don’t remember what, but he made a garment made from the same material as his sleeping bag, maybe a jacket or his pack. They were purple. Not because he liked the color, but because it was the material the type of material that he wanted and it was on sale. He told me that the trail that I walked up was loaded with rattlesnakes late this afternoon. I didn’t see or hear any. We did hear a pack of coyotes. I slept soundly.>

DAY 18, Wednesday, 7/17/2007, Mollies Ridge Shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter, 11.7 miles

I woke up to Steve’s alarm. I looked up my entrée in the shelter trail journal. There it was 4/8. I didn’t have any dinner last night, so I have some cooking to do this morning. The nice lady at the visitor center (on the dam) mailed my postcards for me. I forgot to put Daria’s name on the school postcard. Oops. I hope that she won’t be offended by the omission. Mollies Ridge Shelter, mm 173.9.

A note: While I was hiking to the NOC, I heard a country-western song that I liked: “Ladies love Country Boys.” The kids at school probably know and like that song. Who sings it?

It was a very tough day today. That’s because I finished hiking at 10:10 pm yesterday. Way too much work. Today I hiked from Mollies Ridge Shelter, mm 173.9, to Russell Field Shelter, mm 176.4, for brunch (tuna). This is where I turned off of the trail during spring break, 4/8. I then hiked to Spence Field Shelter, mm 179.3. It’s actually a bald. I strung up my pack on the bear cables and fell asleep for 45 minutes. Some hikers came in and woke me up, including the 3 ladies that talked to me but didn’t give me a ride, back at the marina. Hiked on for the rest of the day in light rain and thundershowers to Derricks Knob Shelter, mm 185.6. I quickly crossed the aptly named Thunder Mountain in light rain and lots of rumbling. I arrived there at 8:00 pm. I met Estelle and Jason and the rest of Troop 3 – four adults and one scout. Estelle grew up in North Haledon.

It was very funny when I started talking with them. Estelle asked me where I was from and when I said that I live in NJ in a little town called Haledon, next to Paterson she said “get out of here.” And when I continued the story, she said it again. Here we were in the middle of the Smoky Mountains and we had this commonality. She started talking about people that she knew in North Haledon. She lived across the street from a young man who is now my family doctor. It was very entertaining. Troop 3 had some left over noodles and they offered them to me. I reheated them in my large pot. I goofed and had my plastic mirror in the bottom of the pot. It half melted. I ate the noodles anyway. They were delicious and I didn’t notice any plastic taste. I cleaned the pot. Then I set up my hammock and tarp and slept outside the shelter. There was a father and daughter there. I talked with them and learned that the daughter was attending law-school. They were nice to me. I told them where I started and my summer plans and I expressed that it was nice how a father and daughter could still hike together and how it’s impressive to attend (and pay for) law school. Estelle later said that they were not friendly to their group. I guess this had to do with the status thing of how far people hike. Thru-hikers or semi-thru hikers are looked upon with some level of awe. Then within the subgroup of thru-hikers there are the ones that do their 10 – 16 miles per day and then there’s the ultra-lighters who bang out 25+ each day. There’s a whole pecking order in that. It’s weird. People become snobby in lots of things. I remember being a kid, playing tennis. But then later on it became all fashion and who had this fancy gear. The same happened to bicycling. And it applies to some in the hiking world. It’s just a hobby, lighten up (pun intended).

I didn’t write any notes about it, but I do know that the spring at Derrick Knob was my first water source since Fontana Dam. I know that I loaded up on water here. The nap that I took at Spence Field, the day before, was unplanned but worked out well. I was mostly interested in sleeping, but it was the hot part of the day. Sleeping at that time reduced my water usage for the day.

DAY 19, Thursday, 7/18/2007, Derrick Knob Shelter to Double Spring Shelter, 7.2 miles

Like always, I was the last to get going in the morning. The father and daughter were out first. Then it started raining. Troop 3 left in the pouring rain. I waited it out and resealed my boots while waiting. Eventually I just accepted that the rain wasn’t going to stop and set out. A little while later the rain did stop. I met Jim Gardiner, nice guy, 68 years old – volunteer doing weed wacking trail maintenance. I talked with him for a bit. I think that it’s very important to stop and talk to and thank trail maintainers. He had his pack and he just kept wacking the tall grass along the trail. He had allotted a week or so for the activity and would camp wherever he finished for the day.

I met up with Troop 3 at Silers Bald Shelter. We all had hot lunch and filled up on water. I got some left over pistachio pudding. Yum!! The bear fencing was still up at this shelter. This was a short day. We all stopped at Double-Springs Shelter early. There was just barely a puddle of water at the spring. Not enough to pump. Although it rained during the night and there was more there in the morning. I still had enough water left to skip pumping and filtering. The Double Spring Shelter still had the steel piping to hold up the bear fence, but no fence. I joked that the steel pipes would keep out the Elephant Bears. I slept in the shelter. Tomorrow will be a big day; Clingmans Dome and onto the Icewater Shelter.

DAY 20, Friday, 7/19/2007, Double Spring Shelter (192.8) to Icewater Spring Shelter (206.6), 13.8 miles

Today was a big day, a little longer than I expected. It was a beautiful hike from the shelter to Clingmans Dome. As we went up in elevation, we entered the balsam trees. They were beautiful and they smelled good. I was still the last one out, but only 10 minutes behind the troop. I passed them up and then missed the left fork leading up to Clingmans Dome. So I walked an 0.6 miles, then the walk up to the road and another 0.4 miles back up to the observation tower. I ditched my pack in the woods and walked back to where I messed up. A white-blazer to the end! I ran part of the way down to the fork in the trail. I stepped onto one of those large diagonal logs across the trail. The ones placed to limit soil erosion on the trail. It was wet and slippery and I went down hard on my left knee. Made a huge dent in the ground – which I’m sure absorbed the impact and saved my knee and maybe the hike. I got down to the fork in the trail and ran back up the hill. I found my pack and walked up to the top of the observation tower. It’s a monstrosity on the top of a beautiful mountain. A woman took my picture for me. I went down and ate a package of tuna fish – to take advantage of the garbage cans nearby. I got back on the AT. It was nice easy hiking downhill. No steep grades. My knees feel fine!! I caught up to Charlie & Mark at the sidetrail to the Mount Collins Shelter. Charlie the 2^nd oldest leader in Troop 3, Mark is the scout. They were always walking ahead of the others. We walked to the shelter. It was a long walk. The sign said 0.5 miles and it seemed even longer. I didn’t like the idea of walking so far off of the AT when I still planned to hike to the next shelter. It was another mile to walk to and from the water source there. Then I found out that Troop 3 was planning on stayed here and not Icewater liked they talked about.

This brings on the topic of the Smoky Mountain NP backcountry permit and reservation system. Troop 3 wanted to hike further today to the Icewater Spring Shelter (the same place that I was headed to). But they had reservations for here. They tried changing their reservations by calling the appropriate number. But they were denied because of Icewater was booked up. Well in reality, Icewater only had Tri-Corner had only 6 people, including me, in a shelter that could hold 20+. So they had to stop hiking together because of bureaucracy. I’m able to hike to any AT shelter (provided that I stay on the AT) because I fall into the technicality of being a thru-hiker – a person who starts and ends 50 miles or more from the park

So I left at 2:45 pm to keep plugging forward. It was fairly easy hiking. I reached Newfound Gap. With all of the people there, in their cars; I was hoping to catch a ride to Gatlinburg for a day in civilization. I didn’t have to resupply because I still had many days worth of food on my back. But the idea of a hot shower and hotel is really appealing. I talked to one foreign gentleman for a while. He was willing to give me a ride to Cherokee. But that wasn’t where I wanted to go to. I then had a great time talking to a deaf man. His wife would occasionally translate my speech into hand – sign language. I eagerly answered his questions. Unfortunately a lady overheard what I was saying and called out to her son “There’s a hiker, he saw a deer!” That was it. I watched earlier this lady and her son. They were upper class snobs and he was a spoiled brat. The last thing I wanted was to be the center of attention, especially around people like that. So that broke the spell, I said goodbye and promptly left and got back onto the trail.

I remember arriving at the Icewater Shelter. There were some other people there and the spring was right across the AT a little further north.

Tomorrow will be a 219.2 – 206.6 = 12.6 mile day. I’ll be going to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter.

DAY 21, Saturday, 7/20/2007, Icewater Spring Shelter to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, 12.6 miles

I was real late getting up. It’s 7:02 am now. Abby (the little girl) was crying and talking a lot around 3:00 am. Lousy sleeping. It rained really, really, really hard last night. Huge thunderstorm from 1:30 am to 2:35 am. I waited from 2:09 to 2:35 to wait for a break to go pee. I was going to hammock, but I changed my mind when I looked at the clouds and the feeling of the weather. Thank God I didn’t hammock!!! We’re up on a peak. The storm was terrific. The shelter has been refurbished and extended, so we are all dry. I was awake in my sleeping bag when the storm blew in. It blew some of the dirt from the cooking area blew onto me right before the storm hit. There were four other adult males in the shelter. Two guys were a pair. The other two were a father and son and the son brought his very young daughter Abby. She must have been only two years old. She was understandably very noisy last night. Her grandfather was a nice guy but shortsightedly decided to backpack without a sleeping bag. It was pretty cold last night, up at this elevation in that storm. He’s really cold. I wish that he told me during the night. I had some thermals that I could have shared.

I arrived at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter at 5:00 pm. It was real nice to arrive early to the shelter. There was a flowing spring only a few feet in front of the shelter. I was alone so I bandana washed myself. I had time to rinse out my socks and underwear. I cooked dinner, filtered water. All day it was foggy. Lots of ridges with what might have been great views, but instead I got to see lots of gray fog. Easy hiking again. Gradual inclines and declines. Fell again by stepping on a wet log. Another one of those logs placed across the trail to limit erosion. This time I fell hard on my right knee. No broken skin. No pain. But now it clunks. I rolled the left ankle at the same time. It feels ok now. Yesterday, I fell near Clingmans Dome – same thing except I fell hard on my left side. It took a long time to roll and get back up. My rear and pack took up much of the force of the impact. I saw a salamander today, but I couldn’t get a picture of it. I met John Mogilewsky “Masu”, GA -> MA 2006. He was hiking south, just doing some hikes in the Smokys. We talked for a while – nice guy. I met two other teacher section hikers. They went from Newfound Gap to Icewater to Pecks Corner. They hiked pretty slowly. I’m in Tri-Corner now with two teenagers, Andrew and Cameron. Both are friends from high school and have done a fair amount of hiking. Andrew will be going off to his first year in college. I forgot what his major will be, but I remember that I was very impressed - civil engineer? Andrew goes by the trailname of Ridgerunner. It’s been on/off light rain. Heavy fog all day.

DAY 22, Sunday, 7/21/2007, Tri-Corner Knob Shelter to Davenport Gap Shelter, 14.8 miles

Up at 6:00 am. It’s 6:56 am and I’m heating up water for oatmeal. Tasks done: Peed, exchanged underwear and socks – put away the dry ones and put on the clothing that I “washed” last night. Cold, damp, yuck! I pulled down my food bags and packed them into my backpack. I already filtered water last night. Very cold last night, but clear cool weather all day today. Still no cell service. Amazing view at the Mt. Cammerer Tower.

It’s 8:15 pm or a little later, yup, it’s 8:28 pm. I tried to call Linda like I promised (left a message on the answering machine). No phone service. I walked ½ mile from the shelter, still no service. I’ve done enough walking today. I’m down to 2600 feet in elevation. I was up to 6360 feet during the day today. Last night, at Tri Corner Knob Shelter, it was 5920 feet, and that’s why it was so cold, 50F. I’m still pissed that I broke my camera today. Such an avoidable accident which screws things up a bit. Today was beautiful though. The only other annoying thing was the horses. You have to really step aside for them <on the trail>. The fresh horse crap is stinky and there’s hundreds of flies. But I only had to deal with this as I got closer to here (Davenport Gap). Otherwise the day was long mileage but fairly easy. On the long downhill my knees were fine. My big concern about tomorrow is that there are lots of elevations <inclines>. Lots!! I’ll be going down to 1450 feet and up to 4050, down to 2850 and up to 4629 and some ups and downs in between. It’s going to be a lot of work to get to either of the next two shelters.

I’m in the shelter alone. It was nice to be able to listen to Prarie Home Companion. I got to listen to the whole show. This was a re-broadcast, so I’ve heard it before. But it was nice to listen to anyway. I miss hiking with a group, not the hiking part, but the ability to be with others that you have known at the end of the day. I saw an entry from EZ Duzip 4/7/07. It that the same EZ from West Paterson? The experienced thru-hiker who I took out for breakfat to pick his brain before starting this big hike.

DAY 23, Monday, 7/22/2007, Davenport Gap Shelter to Groundhog Creek Shelter, 10.5 miles ( with a side-trip by car to Newport )

3:22 am – I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about my camera. Let’s see, I’m at the Davenport Shelter, just woke up from a crazy dream where I showed the movie “Born Free” to my math classes. Very odd. I’ve been on the trail for 22 days. That’s 10+ miles per day with trips to town. Not bad. 6:25 am, I decided that I’m going to call Linda and delegate to het the task of buying a camera and mailing it to me (to a post office ahead on the trail). Maybe that will make her feel good by being part of this adventure. Maybe I could get access to a payphone and have a longer talk <with her>. That would be nice. It’s a little weird being in this shelter alone. I don’t like being this alone, but then again I’m not being self-conscious when I go to the bath room in the middle of the night or feel bad for making noise, rolling around at night. I gotta see what happens this morning at the public Davenport access. Do I go to town and buy a new camera or wait for Linda? We shall see…

Took my pulse at rest – 56. It would be interesting to see what my blood pressure and my cholesterol numbers are. I don’t feel like getting up, but at least it’s not cold out like yesterday morning! I washed my t-shirt last night, so that’s going to be fun to put on in a few minutes. Gotta start the morning routine: Make breakfast, break up camp. At least I filtered water last night. No privy here, so I gotta dig a hole. I’m back to my normal hiking routine.

Things to do in Hot Springs, NC:

Buy a camera, Buy a tarp or poncho to make a rain-kilt (use the grommet tool in the bounce box), Buy one or two compression bags, send straps and original bags home, buy postcards, buy duct tape and make overshoes for boots – add two grommets to each (will a store sell overshoes?), Eat!!!!, buy sugar powdered drink mixes!, buy eggs – try soft and hard boiling them, buy pepper.

No signs or bear activity yesterday, but there’s of horse crap all over the place!

I fell back asleep and woke up at 8:20 am.

9:22 pm, I’m finally done with dinner. No time to call Linda. Today was an interesting day. I didn’t get onto the trail until 10:40 am. Some day horse riders came down into the shelter. The guide was lots of talk, lots of showmanship <in short, a real windbag>. The others looked at me like I was a bum. There was no conversation about hikers. I was about to leave then, but I waited until they were done looking at the shelter. They rode out and left a lot of horse crap all over the incline. I’m really starting to dislike horse riders. I took long this morning because I slept in and I took along time going through my pack to pick out stuff to send home when I get to Hot Springs, NC. I didn’t even cook breakfast and I was still this late. Anyway, I started hiking downhill for close to a mile and I had to go back up to the shelter to get my hat. See, I was hiking and starting to get hot; so the first layer to adjust is to tip up my hat. Well, it wasn’t there. So I ditched my pack and ran/walked back up the hill to the shelter. I found the hat. It fell in a gap in the floorboards. I ran back down to my pack. The temperature started increasing as it was getting late and lower in elevation. I made it to the crossover at the Pidgeon River and Interstate 40.

* I met George “Silly Hot Dog”, an avid hiker and a sophomore at Warren Wilson College, NC. He was about to go mountain biking along the river. I said hi to him and mentioned my broken camera. He immediately volunteered to drive me to Newport, exit 325. Which he did. We stopped at a Shell station to ask for directions to the Walmart. I bought us some ice cream bars. We drove to the Walmart, exit 325. I got a new camera $138 plus two memory cards ($22.48 each). I also bought a package of hotdogs with cheese, orange drink mix, 2 boxes of breakfast bars (I’m getting tired of oatmeal.) I also bought us lunch – fried chicken, mac & cheese, potatoes and gravy. George had 8 pieces of chicken. I gave him $20 for gas. I was thrilled. He was too. He was an interesting person – clearly unique. He occasionally spontaneously pounded the dashboard while driving. He had odd speech / focus patterns. But boy did he love hiking and traveling. He knew every inch or the trail that he hiked. And he liked to talk about the various countries that he had visited. And he loved photography. So he was real happy to be able to help me out in getting a replacement camera. More on Warren Wilson College: George explained that they help out students by mandating 15 hours per week at an on-campus job, community service hours, and lots of support. Sounds like a wonderful campus. I left George and he said something that I will never forget. He said that he was pleased to meet his new friend Pete and that he was eager to tell everybody at school about me, and he still had time to ride his bicycle along the river. People just don’t get any better or friendlier than this. I got back onto the trail around 3:30 to 4:00 pm. I hiked up to the Groundhog Creek Shelter. I arrived there at 7:30 pm. I took a picture of the shelter so I could find out what time is was. I was able to hike up to elevation without too much effort. The orange drink mix was helpful. I hiked across Snowbird Mountain. I took lots of pictures. Clearly the high point of the trip. It was amazing!! The last pictures that I took were a repeat picture. Its hard to describe. It had the region of nearby trees, the close mountains and the far away ones. As I hiked forward, I could see my orientation with them change. The 3-D effect made it look like I was flying by those mountains. I had to take repeated pictures to try and explain this to someone. I wanted to pee, but I waited until I was off of that peak. It seemed wrong to urinate on that beautiful bald. I came to the shelter and found Dennis “Artful Dodger” in the shelter. Nice guy. He thru-hiked in 94, 99, 06. <Dodger was quiet. He didn’t like to talk much at first. But as he got to know you he opened up. He had a real tough time that night dealing with allergies. I tried to give him my Claretin tablets. I had plenty of them and more in my bounce box in town. In the morning he accepted them from me. This was his first night back on the trail after working for a while in a Boy Scout camp. So he was going to spend another day in the shelter to enjoy being alone before hiking on. He’s a professional hiker. He retired at 45 and has been hiking ever since. He’s 62 years old.>

DAY 24, Tuesday, 7/23/2007, Groundhog Creek Shelter to Roaring Fork Shelter, 7.4 miles

The adage “timing is everything” or in real estate “location, location, location.” It’s 2:30 pm and I’m sitting out a thunderstorm in the Roaring Forks Shelter. The four left over hot dogs from yesterday are heating up now. I just made it over Max Patch before the storm. Cool!!! Since I’m staying at this shelter, it’s a short day; so tomorrow will have to be a long day. The weather report is the same – “chance of afternoon thundershowers…” Oh well… Max Patch was very nice. Two balds in two days, Snowbird Mtn and Max patch Good dinner! Finished the remaining 4 cheese dogs and a Taco Rice mix and two cups of hot chocolate. <When I arrived at this shelter, I contemplated camping out, but since it was empty, I set up shop in the shelter. A Cuban man with his young teenage sons and a few nephews arrive with their dog. They were very friendly people. The father and sons had some hiking and camping experience. The nephews were new to the whole experience. I really enjoyed being with them.>

DAY 25, Wednesday, 7/24/2007, Roaring Fork Shelter to Hot Springs, NC ( Sunnybrook Inn ); 18.8 miles

I had a tough time sleeping, people snoring and talking. It rained from 5:00 to 6:15 pm. The people were nice. The son that is more attached to the dog (good dog!), shook my hand when I said goodbye. Last night a packrat stole ate a lot of the dog’s food and store much of it in one of the boys boots. I got a little bit of a sore throat yesterday. I still have it today. Minor. I gave them (the family) a large pack of tuna fish to help out with feeding the dog. I ate all of the cashew nuts last night and buried the remaining trail mix this morning. I decided to hike to the shelter before Hot Springs, Deer Park Mountain Shelter. During the day I passed a group of 13 backpacking girls headed SOBO, marching up the hill I was coming down. I saw no adult leader. One of the younger girls was wearing a plastic princess crown. They were headed for Roaring Forks Shelter, where I stayed. I met two young guys hiking to the same place. Then about a mile from Hot Springs I met three women who planned to hike for 3 weeks, they were just starting out. We talked for a bit. I answered some of their concerns about hiking, camping, mice and bears. I checked into The Sunnybank Inn (Elmer’s). The place is fantastic. <Filled with antiques. The atmosphere was amazing. Elmer literally interviewed me before letting me stay there. His two employees Josh & Lindsey were both hikers and very friendly.> Now I’m seated at the Smoky Mountain Diner. I just took a shower before coming here. I feel wonderful! <Another smiley face.> I met “Dodger” in the diner!!! Cool!!! He hiked 26 miles to get into town. I wonder what I did today? Hmmm… Roaring Fork Shelter 251.9 – Hot Springs 270.7 = 18.8 miles. Not bad. Things to do tomorrow: { Breakfast, Post Office – to pick up packages; Dollar Store – razor, deodorant, soap; Outfitter – rectangle of mosquito netting (to repair hammock), Tarp or poncho to make into a rain kilt, Grommets, leggings (for warmth), Velcro, bandana; Hardware Store – duct tape, mouse traps; Laundromat – to wash my clothes (Phew!); Grocery Store – breakfast bars, container/jar for glasses, bandaids, toilet paper, postcards, razor and deodorant (if dollar store doesn’t have them) } Remember to pick up stuff left on the porch { cooking pot and hiking poles }.

The Sunnybank Inn is amazing. Antiques everywhere. I reread most of the Tao Te Ching. Passage #13 is one that I didn’t remember, but it stands out:

“Accept disgrace willingly. Accept misfortune as the human condition. ‘What do you mean by Accept disgrace willingly’? Accept being unimportant. Do not be concerned by loss or gain. This is called ‘Accepting disgrace willingly.’ What do you mean by ‘Accept misfortune as the human condition’? Misfortune comes from having a body. Without a body, how could there be misfortune? Surrender yourself humbly, then you can be trusted to care for all things. Love the worl as your own self, then you can truly care for all things.” <I’ve read this before, but after being in the woods for 25 days, it seems to have more meaning to me.>

DAY 26, Thursday, 7/25/2007, Sunnybrook Inn to the Campground just down the street; ( a zero day )

I waited around Elmer’s for breakfast which didn’t happen. They are very quite folk. Elmer has strong opinions about religion and politics, but it quite. Dinner last night was $13 w/tip. Breakfast today was $6 w/tip. Spent $52 at the outfitter – rain kilt, tripod, mesh to repair hammock netting, duct tape, 6 post cards. Laundromat was around $6 for laundry and junk food. Post Office cost $5.70 to send bounce box and extra stuff back to Mom & Les. Elmer’s was $25 per night.

Dodger came by to say hi while I was making my duct tape overshoes and packing. He’s at the campground down the street. He tried to stay at Elmer’s but Elmer told that the place was full, which is strange because it wasn’t. I decided to pack up (2:30 pm) and walk over and visit Dodger. I checked out of Elmer’s. Elmer expressed surprise that I wanted to leave, and he was right. I really wanted to stay, but I also wanted to either get back onto the trail or spend time with Dodger. I decided to stay the night at the campground ($10). After I showered and was into dinner, it poured! What was I thinking??!!!! I could have stayed a second night at the hostel for $20. Actually, it was pretty cool. I got to spend time with Dodger and another long distance section hiker (he does 25 miles per day). He started at Springer Mountain on the 13^th. He passed up Emma in the Smoky NP. She dropped off the trail there. I hung my new rain-kilt to extend the length of my tarp. I hung everything over the picnic table. Everything stayed dry in a very heavy downpour. Very windy, so I didn’t sleep well.

DAY 27, Friday, 7/26/2007, Hot Springs, NC to Spring Mountain Shelter; 11.0 miles

I didn’t sleep well. The flapping of the tarp in the wind kept waking me up. I got up early this morning because of the damn rooster <next door> keeps crowing. Off to get breakfast! I had a good breakfast at the Smoky Mountain Diner. Two eggs, bacon, two pancakes, and coffee. I was on the trail by 10 am. Dodger walked me to the trail (to where it turns off of the road, past the river). He patted me on the back and wished me well. We truly were sad to part. I’ll miss him. The walk along the French Broad River was pleasant. <It was flowing strongly and brown in color from the run off from the last few days of rain. I regret not taking a picture of the river as I crossed the bridge. But I didn’t want to bother/hinder us while we were walking across the bridge.

The hike up to Lover’s Leap was a little tough after one and a half days of being off of the trail. <When I got to Lover’s Leap, I stood on the edge and looked down at the river and town below. I could see exactly where I had just walked. A 20ish year old young man came over. He was a little strange (remember, this comment is coming from a hiker). He started talking about the afterlife while I was standing on the edge. I moved far away from the edge. I was very concerned about myself and whether I was about to become an experiment on the subject. So I moved on.> I kept hiking in and out of thunder rumbles and light rain after 1 pm (typical weather). I met some boys hiking to Max Patch and much later on a father and son hiking from Erwin, TN to Hot Springs. I hiked fast up to elevation to Spring Mountain Shelter because the thunder really started up again and was getting closer. Of course when I reached the shelter the rumbling stopped. I got water from the spring. It’s a large dug out pool/hole with a salamander living in it - almost no flow into the pool. The worst water source on the trail so far. I made my favorite dinner, Lipton Teriyaki noodles with hickory flavored tuna and a bit heavy on the vegetable oil. Yup! <smiley face> I had fun today taking pictures with the miniature tripod <the I just bought> today. I’m getting used to the new camera. I tried calling Linda many times today. No cell phone service at all. It’s pretty lonely on the trail now. I’m by myself almost all of the time now. I’m alone tonight in this tiny shelter. I have everything set up for a fast start tomorrow morning. I hope that it happens. I buried the M&Ms on the trail today. That’s bad Leave No Trace. I should have just thrown them out in town. I traded my full/new jar of peanut butter for Dodger’s almost empty jar. <I washed it out at the campground. I wanted the jar to store bandaids, neosporene ointment, a small roll of toilet paper, toothbrush and toothpaste, spare headlamp, and my glasses. I can then leave this out at night when I sleep in the shelter and know exactly where my glasses are and be able to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without having to search for important stuff. Keeping all of this in a jar would be convenient and would be protected from the mice in the shelters.> I arrived at the shelter at 5:58 pm. I completed all of my chores and it’s still light out. The sun is setting now. I read some more chapters out of the “Hobbit.” I’m glad than Mom sent that, and I liked her oatmeal cookies too! It took 8 hours to travel 11 miles today, so I’m traveling a bit slower.

DAY 28, Saturday, 7/27/2007, Spring Mountain Shelter to Jerry Cabin Shelter; 15.4 miles

DAY 29, Sunday, 7/28/2007, Jerry Cabin Shelter to Hogback Ridge Shelter; 14.7 miles

DAY 30, Monday, 7/29/2007, Hogback Ridge Shelter to Bald Mountain Shelter; 10.0 miles

DAY 31, Tuesday, 7/30/2007, Bald Mountain Shelter to No Business Knob Shelter; 10.6 miles

DAY 32, Wednesday, 7/31/2007, No Business Knob Shelter to Uncle Johnny’s Hostel – Erwin, TN; 6.3 miles

DAY 33, Thursday, 8/01/2007, Uncle Johnny’s Hostel to Cherry Gap Shelter; 16.4 miles

DAY 34, Friday, 8/02/2007, Cherry Gap Shelter to Clyde Smith Shelter; 8.8 miles

DAY 35, Saturday, 8/03/2007, Clyde Smith Shelter to Overmountain Shelter; 12.9 miles

DAY 36, Sunday, 8/04/2007, Overmountain Shelter to Mountain Harbour Hostel; 8.7 miles

DAY 37, Monday, 8/05/2007, Mountain Harbour Hostel to Moreland Gap Shelter; 17.7 miles

DAY 38, Tuesday, 8/06/2007, Moreland Gap Shelter to Watauga Lake Shelter; 16.8 miles

DAY 39, Wednesday, 8/07/2007, Watauga Lake Shelter to Iron Mountain Shelter; 13.6 miles

DAY 40, Thursday, 8/08/2007, Iron Mountain Shelter to Backbone Ridge Trail intersection; 21.3 miles

DAY 41, Friday, 8/09/2007, Backbone Ridge Trail intersection to Damascus, VA; 4.6 miles

DAY 42, Saturday, 8/10/2007, Damascus, VA to Lost Mountain Shelter; 15.8 miles

DAY 43, Sunday, 8/11/2007, Lost Mountain Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter; 12.2 miles

DAY 44, Monday, 8/12/2007, Thomas Knob Shelter to Old Orchard Shelter; 11.0 miles

DAY 45, Tuesday, 8/13/2007, Old Orchard Shelter to Partnership Shelter; 24.7 miles

DAY 46, Wednesday, 8/14/2007, Partnership Shelter to AT Relax-Inn, Rural Retreat, VA; 11.6 miles

DAY 47, Thursday, 8/15/2007, AT Relax-Inn, Rural Retreat, VA to Knot Maul Branch Shelter; 13.9 miles

DAY 48, Friday, 8/16/2007, Knot Maul Branch Shelter to Jenkins Shelter; 19.0 miles

DAY 49, Saturday, 8/17/2007, Jenkins Shelter to Helvey’s Mill Shelter; 13.8 miles

DAY 50, Sunday, 8/18/2007, Helvey’s Mill Shelter to Wapiti Shelter; 24.0 miles

DAY 51, Monday, 8/19/2007, Wapiti Shelter to Pearisburg, VA; 16.6 miles

POST HIKE: Been dealing with some kind of intestinal parasite. All the tests came back negative, but I have had the symptoms of guardiasis for months. It is now October 31^st and the symptoms are just starting to scale back.

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Left over notes from this webpage from BEFORE the actual hike.

These notes are incomplete and are slowly being incorporated into the text above.

Hike_05.htm file typed BEFORE I did the hike.

My plan was to hike for 60 days during my summer off. I would buy my food before the hike and have my mother send it in 5 to 9 day mail drops to selected post-offices along the way. This system worked out very well. Although I could have cut down the size of some of the food drops if I sent some of them to hostels and motels along the way, instead of relying solely on post-offices.

It might be more convenient and certainly cheaper to just buy food as you go. But I decided to do the mail drops to insure that I could have powdered milk. I found that I lost seven pounds during my previous seven day hike. So I added powdered milk and instant breakfast to my diet to try to keep from loosing weight during the hike. The idea worked out. I lost only nine pounds during my fifty-one day hike.

Not all stores have powdered milk. So I decided to use mail drops for all of my re-supplies to insure that I’d be getting powdered milk.

I have been planning this hike for months. I can’t thru-hike the complete AT ( Appalachian Trail ), but I can hike all summer. The goal was to start out at the approach trail to Springer Mountain, GA ( Amicalola Falls ) and hike north all summer and see how far I could go. I had a last minute snafu, I blew the motor in my van. I planned on setting up all of my re-supply packages at home, in NJ, and hauling them down to GA ( where Mom lives ). Instead, I rode my motorcycle down to Atlanta, GA and then Mom and I went shopping and set up the re-supply packages down there. That put me behind schedule by a couple of days, but that was ok. In the end, I had a wonderful hike, but cut short because Mom decided to pick me up 8 days earlier than I planned. So I didn’t get as far north as I wanted. But I guess my feet are thankful. I’m just a bit disappointed because I was really “in the groove” during the last couple of weeks on the trail. I could bang out 16 – 25 miles at will. So missing those last few days represented quite a few miles. Oh well.

I was all set to go. I purchased all of my gear. I had been on some practice hikes. Most of my gear had been field tested and de-bugged. The only major change to my gear is a recent purchase of a new pack. I bought a Kelty Trekker 3950. It’s an external frame pack. The new pack is a little heavier than my large size Gregory Z-Pack ( 5 lbs, 3 oz compared to 3 lbs 5 oz ). Both packs have the same storage capacity – 3950 cu. in. The Kelty was a little larger than I wanted, but it’s the longest frame that I could buy with the smallest capacity pack. My goal was to strap my food bag to the lower frame, outside of my pack. The idea was to lessen the food odors inside my pack so that mice and larger animals will be less interested in my backpack at night. What’s the point in hanging up a food bag way from myself at night if the pack that I sleep with still smells of food? The Kelty came with a #3 size waist-belt, which barely fits down to my 34” waist. Z-pack’s waist belt has the same fit. The curse of being so skinny. I special ordered a #2 size ( 28” ) waist-belt. It took a month for it to arrive. But the new waist belt fit much better.

It took me several weeks and 150+ miles to figure out how to fit the Kelty pack to my body and load it properly. I quickly discovered that I really disliked the Kelty pack. I like the frame, but I really dislike the pack. The weight distribution of the way the pack is set up is all wrong. The water storage sleeve is way too high. My idea of storing food on the bottom frame didn’t work out at all. Heavy items can’t be carried in that region. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to design a different pack to fit the same frame. When I re-supplied in Franklin, NC; I sent the pack home and replaced it with a bunch of stuff sacks and straps. It took far longer to load up in the morning, but by strapping the stuff sacks directly to the frame I saved a couple of pounds and was able to load the frame properly. That spurred the idea of making my own custom pack. So I spent many hours walking and thinking about this. Thinking about a new pack designed allowed many miles and hours to pass without me noticing them.

Since I haven’t field tested the new backpack, I’m going to bring my Z-pack down to Atlanta. My mother is managing my supply packages. If I decide to switch packs, then I’ll call Mom and she mail it ahead to one of my re-supply points. This is an important topic. I decided to purchase the bulk of my food ahead of time and set up packages to be mailed to various post offices along the trail. That will allow me to have food that I can count on ( specifically; powdered milk ) on my hike. I can still fine tune my food supply with local purchases. My mother volunteered to manage these mailings. I will also leave much of my duplicate gear with her so that I can have her mail items ahead to me as I need them.

I finished going through the 2006 Thru-Hiker’s Guide and the AT Shelters GPS data. I’ve plotted all of the shelters onto two map programs and I am figuring out where my mail-drops will be. I set up a spreadsheet that converts all of the latitude and longitude data into degrees and minutes. There’s a lot of planning to do before attempting a thru-hike. I started entered the 2007 Thru-hiker’s Guide data into a spreadsheet to be able to produce 50 or 100 interval elevation maps.

I’ve waterproofed both pairs of boots. The taller larger pair is going to be placed into a re-supply box in case I wear out the other ones. I bought a pair of sandals to swap into during the hike. I replaced my bamboo pole with aluminum hiking poles. I started to stitch zippers onto my tarp, but the extra sewing machine that my wife allows me to use is a piece of $#(&! It kept creating piles of spaghetti looking thread under each seam. The tension is awful on that machine. I waited for my wife to stitch these for me on her very nice sewing machine. I’m not allowed to use her fancy sewing machine. I gave up on waiting and tied four lengths of rope to each end of the tarp. A set of two ropes hang from each end of the tarp from the center line. One rope has loops to fit into each grommet. The other will pass through the loops allowing me to stitch the tarp closed with a single pull-through line. It’ll be easy to stitch the ends of the tarps closed and to pull it apart quickly. I’m down to fine tuning: { drilling holes in metal objects, adding grommets to the poncho, etc. }. I’m trying to cut down as much weight as I can. I’ve tied lines to the tarp so that it will be able to be setup in seconds. I just have to test it out in the rain.

My plans are to drive my van or my motorcycle down to my mother’s house in Georgia. Spend a day with her and her husband Les. Then I’ll bum a ride from them to Amicalola Falls and start the approach trail to Springer Mountain. Then it’s NOBO ( North bound ) from there!

My big distraction right now is preparing for the end of the school year and dealing with the motor that I just blew in my van. I have a lot to do before I start this hike…