Days 111 - 130: New Jersey, New York, Connecticut

Day 111: PA 309 to George W. Underbridge Shelter (12.7 miles)

Day 112: Dubya Shelter to Leroy Smith Shelter (16.7 miles)

Day 113: Leroy Smith Shelter to Delaware Water Gap, PA; Church of the Mountain hostel (20.2 miles)

Day 114: Zero in DWG 

Day 115: DWG to Rattlesnake Spring Campsite (13.2 miles)
Day 116: Rattlesnake Spring to US 206; High Point Motel (14.9 miles)
Day 117: NJ 23 to Murray Property Cabin (7.1 miles)

Days 111 - 116 were some of the wettest days we have had so far. Having Cooper back was great, and Cowgirl carried on from DWG when we decided to zero. We traversed the Palmerton Superfund Site on Day 112, getting the steep scramble out of Lehigh Gap out of the way early. This was the worst tick day that we have had! We spent 2 hours at lunch picking a hundred ticks off of Sheila, and another 2 hours that night at the shelter. The rain started that night and the 20.2 miles into DWG was one of the toughest days we've had. I was simply fed up with the rocks, and the rain made everything slippery and dangerous. Surprisingly enough, it did not rain during our zero in DWG. This was probably our favorite trail town so far! $2.50 hot dog and pie anyone? We hung out with a great group of thru's and even got to slackpack to the Mohican Outdoor Center the next day. The rain didn't want to quit on day 116, so we pulled off at Culver's Gap and got into the High Point motel to dry out and recoup. It wasn't supposed to rain until around 4:30p on day 117, so we hit the trail around noon and booked it to the Murray Property. We ended up getting there with plenty of time to spare and enjoyed a lovely evening to ourselves watching the rain come down.

Day 118: Murray Property to NJ 94; Appalachian Motel (18.9 miles)
Day 119: NJ 94 to Wildcat Shelter (17.1 miles)
Day 120: Zero at Wildcat Shelter
Day 121: Zero at Wildcat Shelter
Day 122: Wildcat to Fingerboard Shelter (14.3 miles)
Day 123: Fingerboard to West Mountain Shelter (8.4 miles)
Day 124: West Mountain to Fort Montgomery, NY (7 miles)

We caught word from Cowgirl that she and Chef were getting a room at the Appalachian Motel in Vernon, NJ, so we decided to take them up on their offer to join. We got in early enough to enjoy a couple of movies and to resupply in town. This section of NJ was mainly a boardwalk hike, so the going was easy, and one of my favorite sections of trail. On day 119, we entered NY with a bang! It was a steep climb early in the morning, followed by rocks in the afternoon. To get up to Prospect Rock, we had to climb a ladder and Sheila, being a butthead, decided just to throw herself at the mountain rather than to wait for instruction and help from the two of us. By the time we got into camp that night, she was limping on her left forepaw. We decided that we would watch her the next morning and see how she was feeling before pressing on. The next day she was still limping, so we decided to zero to give her the rest she needed. We spent the day hanging out, reading Harry Potter and eating. Sheila was still limping the next day, though it seemed a lot better. We decided to play it safe and take another zero. At this point I was suspecting Lyme or another tick-borne disease, but I wanted to wait and see. Maybe she had just outdone herself when we got into NY and just needed to rest. We decided to move on Day 122 to Fingerboard Shelter. We were running low on food and Sheila seemed to be doing better. This was actually one of the tougher days on the trail, terrain-wise. Before entering Harriman State Park, you come down this section of trail called Agony Grind. It was steep and rocky, and very treacherous. It was slow going and we were absolutely beat by the end of the day. I felt bad for pushing Sheila through this, but she seemed fine while hiking, just stiff after we sat for a while in camp. Fingerboard was a really beautiful shelter in a great setting. We met some section hikers at Fingerboard Shelter, a guy named Eric, his son, and his son's friend, and also recieved some trail magic from Paddy-O in the form of beer, gatorade, and donuts. The next day we spent the morning chitchatting with Eric and the boy's and then made our way down to Lake Ticora for a couple of sodas and some snacks. While there, we watched dozens of swallows tending to their nests. I noticed that one nest was knocked down, and the baby birds were lying on the concrete. At first I thought they were dead, and I asked Ramen Shaman to move them to a place where they wouldn't be trampled underfoot by any of the beach-goers. But they were still alive! So we put them in a box and handed them to the staff at the front desk, hoping that the folks at the Trailside Zoo could so something about them. We hiked on to West Mountain, getting caught in a torrential downpour 2 miles from the shelter. We set up camp just after the clouds cleared and had one of the most picturesque campsites we could have hoped for. Sheila was still limping in camp, but it was a lot less noticable than it had been at Wildcat Shelter. The next day, we had only 7 miles into Bear Mountain/Fort Montgomery. The day was pretty easy. There were 400+ stone steps up to Bear Mountain, and probably 600+ down into the trailside zoo. These steps really aggrevated Sheila's leg, but thankfully we were taking another zero for the next 2 days to attend the wedding reception of Treefrog and Squirrel, a thru-hiker couple who were getting married on the trail!

Day 125: Zero; Treefrog and Squirrel's Reception
Day 126: Zero in Danbury, CT
Day 127: Bull's Bridge Rd to Mt. Algo Shelter (7.1 miles)
Day 128: Mt. Algo to Pine Swamp Brook Shelter (17.3 miles)
Day 129: Pine Swamp Brook to Fall's Village, CT; Bearded Woods Bunk-n-Dine (8.1 miles)
Day 130: Fall's Village to Salisbury, CT; Bearded Woods Bunk-n-Dine (7 miles)


The wedding reception was awesome! We picked up some outrageous matching outfits at Walmart (American flag tees and neon yellow running shorts) and rolled in a few minutes late, making one hell of an entrance. Treefrog and Squirrel were so ecstatic to see us all, and we were thrilled to be there! The Ramen Shaman and I were especially excited to give them our wedding present; a real white blaze that had flaked off of a down tree in NY. What a great party, and a night we will not soon forget! The next day, Red and Canadiahhh! got back on the trail at the Bear Mountain Bridge, while we decided to jump up to CT with Cowgirl. She had the rental car until Monday, so we took advantage and drove to a very affordable La Quinta in Danbury, CT. We hit the Eastern Mountain Sports to get Ramen Shaman some new shoes and ran into Reroute, Kristo, and Geared Up! They were there with a trail angel Dora the Explorer, who had hiked the PCT with Geared Up last year. The trail is completely unexpected sometimes! We caught some of the US v. Portugal game at the Outback and called it night. Leaving town has always been very difficult for us, and day 127 was no exception. Not only did we have to run a few last minute errands, we also had to return the rental car by 2pm. So we didn't get back on the trail until maybe 3pm. It was hot and humid, so the 7.1 miles to Mt. Algo shelter was perfectly fine by me! Reroute, Kristo, Geared Up, and Dora even showed up with a little trail magic and invited us to dinner! The stretch from Mt. Algo to Pine Swamp Brook shelter was tough, and the water at the shelter ended up being a pond, but Sheila seemed to be doing very well, with no signs of limping even after the tougher day. We planned to do 15 in Salisbury the next day, but I was schemeing a scheme to celebrate Ramen Shaman's 28th birthday at Bearded Woods, so we pulled off early at Fall's Village. Everyone ended up being at Bearded Woods! Cowgirl, Geared Up, Reroute, Princess, Rocketman, and some new faces, Honeybadger and A-Train. Hudson and Big Lu really treated us like family. Not only did we have an amazing BBQ dinner, but Big Lu made a surprise birthday cake for Ramen Shaman! We celebrated and laughed throughout the night. We loved Bearded Woods so much, we only made it to the next town the next day and just had to come back! Sheila had fun playing with their two dogs, Cedar and Glacier, and Big Lu spoiled her like the rest of us with sausage dog food and all sorts of goodies!

Days 101 - 106: Enter Rocksylvania

Day 101: Clark's Ferry Shelter to Campsite on ridge (11.8 miles)

This was a hot and humid hike! We intended to get a little further, but a 2 hour lunch break impeded our progress. We ended up camping with a section hiker couple from Jacksonville, Alll Right and Half Left. They were pretty cool to talk to. Talk about a small world where we meet people from Jax in Pennsylvania on the AT! There was no water at this campsite so we ate cold and went to bed early. 

We had spoken to a ridge runner at the Doyle in Duncannon who said that the rocks really start north of there. He wasn't kidding, but the rocks seemed like the type of rocks you find on top of any ridgeline in Virginia. I was skeptical. 

Day 102: Campsite to Spring, Campsite just before Rausch Shelter (12.8 miles)

Well, so much for an early morning! We finally got up around 9 or 10 and headed down to the spring at the bottom of the hill for brunch. We were done with this short & sweet day around 5pm when we set up camp next to Rausch Creek, which we learned is too acidic to sustain trout populations. To combat this, engineers installed these "filters" which diverts the creek water into a flow-through cistern filled with limestone so as to raise the pH of the water. The result is just a change of 1 or 2 pH units, but it allows brown and spotted trout to thrive downstream. The "spring" next to our campsite that fed into the stream was very rust-colored. We weren't sure if this was from too much iron in the water or some sort of nutrient imbalance. Anyway, we ended up camping out with Pooh Bear and Twizzler, and Cowgirl pushed on past the shelter. It was a quiet night. Still no horrendous fields of rocks. 

Day 103: Campsite to 501 Shelter (17.6 miles)

501 Shelter is famous for a few things. First and foremost, you can order pizza delivery. Secondly, there is a shower. These are the things that really matter to a thru-hiker. We left Rausch Gap a little later than we intended but the hiking was pretty easy. We crossed an old iron bridge at one point and made a tough climb up to the top of the next ridge. The mountains in Pennsylvania are really just parallel ridge lines, so the AT will follow one for a while and then jump to the next, resulting in easy hiking dotted with a few steep climbs and descents. This next ridge, Blue Mountain, was completely covered in poison ivy. Chase and I have never had a reaction to poison ivy, but the fear remains! Once we reached the 501 trail crossing, we jumped the gun and ordered some wings and a chicken parm sub. We waited at the parking lot for our food and ate there. We then carried our trash up to the shelter with the expectation that we would be able to dump our trash there. Alas, when we arrived we found a sign that welcomed pizza boxes but said pack out your own trash! We would have to carry our greasy styrofoam container with us into the next town. 

Day 104: 501 Shelter to Eagle's Nest Shelter (15.1 miles)

We saw a timber rattlesnake! That was the only exciting part of the day. The rest of it was rocky and awful. The trail so far in Pennsylvania seemed to be either sections of nice, flat, rock-free trail, or large boulders that you have to hop across, or small, sharp rocks that stick up out of the ground stabbing your feet to death, or a combination of small and medium sized rocks that slow you way down and annoy you to no end. The rocks are really supposed to start getting bad after Port Clinton. My feet hurt a lot even with just this measly amount of rocks and I was worried that my overuse issue was coming back. We were excited about Port Clinton and the Cabela's to look for new footwear. The camping at the shelter was really nice, and we spent the evening bullshitting with the old guys; Gwalker, GreaseSpot, and Banter. 

Day 105: Eagle's Nest Shelter to Port Clinton, PA; Microtel in Hamburg, PA (9.0 miles)

The started out with me being annoyed at the lack of landmarks mentioned in the guide. Then we had a really steep descent into Port Clinton. A lady with 8 kids ranging in age from 5 to 19 asked me about Sheila and her breed. I told her if she wanted an aussie that they are great dogs but they need a lot of exercise and attention, and also she should consider rescuing one. She said they tried that and had to put the dog down because "it was crazy." I hope she never gets a dog. 

Anyway, Cabela's came to pick us up and take us into Hamburg. That place is HUGE. We were expecting something the size of a Dick's Sporting Goods, but dayum! We then walked across to the 5 Guys Burgers and Fries to have lunch with Cowgirl and Pooh Bear, who had arrived in town the previous night. We then all went back to the Microtel to check in and have a beer with Cowgirl before she hit the trail again. One beer became a chorus of "una màs!" several times, and it was clear Cowgirl wasn't leaving town that. She ended up ordering The Ramen Shaman a pair of Ariat boots to hike in because she swears by the brand and also because she was drunk. Pooh Bear came with the two of us for a steak dinner, and Cheez-it picked out some new shoes; Merrel Moab Ventilator lowtops. Sleeping in a bed and having a shower is always awesome. 

Day 106: Port Clinton to Windsor Furnace Shelter (5.7 miles)

We were supposed to be out of town much much earlier, but Cheez-it decided her new boots were too narrow in the toe box. That's the trouble with these things; you never know how those shoes are going to fit until you wear them for a good long while and take them on the trail. I could tell just by walking across the street that they were too narrow. So it was back to Cabella's as everyone else hit the trail. After a few hours, I decided on a pair of Salomon XRMission trail-runners, and so far they have been great! We then had lunch at Cabella's and had to wait around until 2:30 before getting a ride back to the trail. We wasted more time at the post office in Port Clinton sorting through the dog food and sending home a few things. We actually started hiking around 3:30p. 

The shelter was a little creepy. There were a few people sitting around, but none of them were planning to stay. We set up camp and started making dinner when we heard something crashing through the woods near camp. I saw a big black thing walk across the trail and quietly told Chase, "I think there is a bear over there." He got up while I held onto Sheila and chased it away, yelling and throwing sticks. I'm sure it was just going down for a drink of water at the spring. Regardless, we bear-bagged for the first time since North Carolina that night. 

No rocks just yet, but that would soon change!

The next 4 days were spent searching for Cowgirl's dog, Cooper. This was a really intensely stressful and emotional time for us, so I would like to do it justice by speaking about it in a separate post. We've been trying to keep our mileage up to stay on schedule for finishing at Katahdin by the first week of August, so I haven't had much energy to write but I will do my best to work on the next post throughout the week. 

Thank you to all our followers for your continued support! Be sure to check out our Facebook page for more regular updates!

100 Days

Day 86: Zero day in Pittsburgh

Day 87: Zero day in Pittsburgh

Day 88: Zero day in Pittsburgh

Day 89: Zero day in Pittsburgh

Day 90: Harper's Ferry to Crampton Gap Shelter (7.5 miles)

Day 91: Crampton Gap to Annapolis Rocks Campsite (14.1 miles)

Day 92: Annapolis Rocks to Raven's Rock Shelter (11.5 miles)

Day 93: Raven's Rock to Pen-Mar Park, Waynesboro, PA, Days Inn (4.6 miles)

Day 94: Pen-Mar Park to Tumbling Run Shelters (8.6 miles)

Day 95: Tumbling Run to Quarry Gap Shelters (12.2 miles)

Day 96: Quarry Gap to Pine Grove Furnace State Park Campground (16.9 miles) Half-Gallon Challenge

Day 97: PGFSP to Little Dogwood Run (15.6 miles)

Day 98: Little Dogwood Run to stealth campsite near piped spring (17.3 miles)

Day 99: Campsite to Duncannon, PA, The Doyle Hotel (12.3 miles)

Day 100: The Doyle to Clark's Ferry Shelter (4.3 miles)

Hike recap...

Our hike since returning to the trail has been awesome. Aside from having head colds, the terrain has been easy so our mileages have been rather consistent. We did a short day into Waynesboro to try to recover from our colds more quickly by spending a night in a warm bed and having a hot shower. The other short day was coming out of Duncannon because we didn't leave until 5pm due to a severe thunderstorm moving through the area. Our stay at the Doyle was amazing! The run-down old hotel definitely has some charm! Our attempt at the Half-Gallon Challenge was a bit pathetic. First, the General Store was closed so we couldn't participate in the "official" challenge, but the Ironmaster's hostel next door sold 1.75 quart containers of ice cream so we decided to make our own challenge. We decided to try and race each other which was a huge mistake! Eating ice cream very quickly is no fun at all, so we ended up eating half that night and half the next day. Our 98th day brought us through the Cumberland Valley and the quaint town of Boiling Springs just in time for their Memorial Day Parade. Sheila enjoyed the free eggs she yogi'd from the customers at Cafe 101, but she did not enjoy the 21 gun salute at the end of the parade. 

Reflections on 100 days...

Wow. 100 days! It seems like just yesterday we set out from Amicalola Falls in about 4 inches of snow and struggled to summit Springer Mountain before nightfall. I can still remember the feeling of the anticipation and excitement of what was to come. I remember being nervous of walking over to h the shelter to meet the other hikers at the end of our 8.8 mile day. I remember being really unsure of myself and unsure if I could really do the thing. The AT was a big and scary unknown. 

Today, I'm a little more confident in who I am and why I'm out here, and I'm still excited about what's to come (New England!!! Whaaaa?!) The AT is still an unknown in many ways, but it also feels like home. Our 5x8 tent is the coziest little house we could ask for and walking the spine of Appalachia is the best commute. The AT has become the "real life," and everything else is referred to as the "before times." I'm confident we can summit Katahdin before having to head home and start the newest chapter of our lives. 

The past 100 days have been marked by plenty of ups and downs (literally and figuratively), some of which I've documented in previous blog posts. It's hard to capture every moment out here to share with the world, but thinking back on these 100 days fills me with an immense feeling of joy and accomplishment. Hiking everyday for 11 hours a day is hard work. Sometimes you're rewarded with a great view or particularly nice terrain, but more often than not you seem to be trudging up and down pointless mountains over snowy, slushy, muddy, rocky, root-y, or uneven terrain. It's painful and exhausting more often than not. Hiking the AT is not about finding happiness in every step, though for us there is an inherent happiness in the hike. For me it's more about finding joy in the personal growth I have experienced which has stemmed from pushing my physical and mental limits and stepping outside my comfort zone. 

There is a quote I often see on cheesy home decor products that says, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away" and I have found it to be so incredibly true. For over 100 days now I've been able to wake up alongside the most loving and kind man and our silly dog in a little tent in the woods with the biggest grin on my face, and it continues to take my breath away. 

On on! To Katahdin! 

"Psychologically" Halfway

Harper's Ferry is touted as the "psychological" halfway point of the Appalachian Trail. If you look at a map of the AT and you pointed to the visual middle of the trail, your finger would land damn near Harper's Ferry, WV but this isn't why it is considered the half-way point. The actual 2014 AT midpoint is somewhere just north of a woods road at mile number 1092.65, whereas Harper's Ferry is situated around mile 1019. But Harper's Ferry is celebrated and will continue to be celebrated as a major milestone for a few reasons. By this point in an AT thru-hike, a person has endured countless hardships, whether that be injury, inclement weather, the loss of a hiking partner or group, or some combination of all three. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters also resides in Harper's Ferry and many a thru-hiker delight in having their photos taken outside of the building. The ATC keeps photo books dating back to the '70s full of hiker portraits.

We were beyond ecstatic to arrive in fabled Harper's Ferry (albeit by car). Our shuttle driver, Strings, parked behind the building and we four walked up the steps and opened the creaky screen door, letting it slam behind us. I don't know what I was really expecting from the small, whitewashed building, but I can tell you I was on the verge of tears. My eyes instantly settled on an aged wooden plank in the back of the room. The old Katahdin sign was beautiful and didn't seem real at all. We are at the ATC! They are going to take our picture! We're thru-hikers!

We were soon standing out front trying to keep Sheila still as the volunteer fiddled with the camera. She took a few different shots of us and we then followed her inside to watch the photo print and fill out the required information. While we were waiting, we spoke with another volunteer behind the desk and told him a little of our recent travels, what with having to skip ahead in order to finish at Katahdin by August. That's when everything changed.

The woman who had taken our picture was ready to fill out the information, including our start date and what number hiker we were to come to the ATC as a thru-hiker. She reached for the red permanent marker reserved for thru-hikers when the man at the counter stopped her.

"They aren't thru-hikers. They are doing an alternate hike since they missed some of the trail. Use the brown pen."

I was a little shocked when I heard this, but it didn't really register with me. It was as I was filling out our trail names and writing GA>ME that I realized that what he had said really bothered me. We are thru-hikers damn it. I mean, of course I understood that we wouldn't actually be hikers number 146 and 147, but being classified as an "alternate" really rubbed me the wrong way.

Chase and I have struggled through so much out here and we have found so many reasons to rejoice in the trail life. We feel like the AT has become a part of us, that the trail runs in our veins, guiding us toward Maine and helping us to grow along the way. To be classified in such a way really did some damage to my spirit. Our Maryland hike has been characterized by both of us having head colds and me dealing with the realization that the psychological halfway point isn't really halfway for us.

I've since come to terms with the brown "21" written over our ATC photo. We still have over half of the AT to hike and so much more time to spend out here in the woods and with each other. The numbers and milestones really are all "psychological," but the physical reality of what we are doing is still immense and applaudable.

Once we reach Katahdin, our AT miles hiked will be something like 1931.6 miles. Next year, we will hike the 22 miles into Damascus and party like a thru-hiker at Trail Days. We will make up the trail we missed from Glasgow to Harper's Ferry over the next couple of years as time allows on weekends and holidays.

I don't know when we will make it back to the ATC, but the next time we are there, I plan on holding my head high as we walk through the door and eating all of the cookies left for thru-hikers because damn it, I am an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker.

Trails and Tribulations: Days 41 - 60

Hello loyal followers! Sorry for the long stay between blog posts! It has been a crazy couple of weeks since we left Damascus and the only reason we have time to update now is due to the fact that we are in Virginia Beach on vacation from our adventure! Kelley is being considered as a candidate for admission to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary (a very exciting and intimidating time in our lives!) so we decided to take a few days to visit the campus and escape to the ocean in order to rejuvenate our souls in preparation for the return to the trail life. Our good friends, Icicle & Quailman, also decided they needed a couple of days off and have joined us for this minor detour! Check out their awesome blog: Trail Mix & Dirty Underwear.

You might be wondering why we would need to escape from the trail for a few days. A series of events led up to this, starting with the weather turning on Day 60. I'm planning on detailing this culmination of incidents and happenings that led to our decision to leave the trail for a few days in the next blog post, which I will be posting tomorrow or the next day. For now, here is a summary of our days since our last post!

Day 41: Hogback Ridge Shelter to No Business Knob Shelter
This was our first 20 mile day! Holy cow! That morning we had decided that it would be ideal to make it to No Business Knob in order to get into Erwin early the next day before the forecasted thunderstorms rolled in.Thankfully most of the slush that was on the ground the previous day had melted away and the going was easy. We arrived at Spivey Gap (15.8 miles into the day), filtered water, ate raw Ramen noodles, fed Sheila, and pushed on into the growing darkness. Night hiking with emergency headlamps is no fun, but we were really excited to see that Boomer and Smudge were awake in the shelter as we arrived well after hiker midnight (around 9 o'clock in the evening). We made a quick dinner and hit the hay!

Day 42: No Business to Uncle Johnny's in Erwin, TN
The descent into Erwin is seemingly endless. You can see the town for at least the last 3 miles, growing ever closer with each switchback. We made it eventually to Uncle Johnny's and checked into the only cabin they had left, Cabin F at a rate of $40 per night. The "free" town shuttles were really just a dinner and breakfast shuttle to one spot in town. We ended up having a good night and meeting Sunshine and Youngbeard, a newly engaged couple that we hiked with through Hampton, TN.

Day 43: Uncle Johnny's to Indian Grave Gap
The weather looked atrocious on this morning, but soon cleared to blue skies and sunshine. We witnessed some of Uncle Johnny's more suspicious business practices as they quoted a couple $55/night for the same cabin we stayed in. We learned later from Icicle and Quailman that they stayed in the same cabin, but only because the guy who had reserved it alone all of a sudden found himself shacking up with Socs and Blaze, two pretty college age girls. The guy panicked and left because his girlfriend would have been very uncomfortable with the situation, so Socs and Blaze offered to share the cabin with Icicle and Quailman. Apparently this sort of thing happens pretty often when bunkroom spaces fill up. Buyer beware.

We ended up staying at Indian Grave Gap at Freshground's Leapfrog Cafe, a traveling trail magic food fiesta set up by attempted thru-hiker, Freshground. He made us hot dogs, chili, and homemade fries that night and banana pancakes, eggs, and bacon in the morning! Unfortunately there were no privies for the next 20 miles.

Day 44: Indian Grave to Cherry Gap Shelter
This was a short day because I felt like crap after all the food. We met Radioman,Cowgirl & Cooper the Miniature Pinscher, along with Poohbear and M this night, and reunited with Penguinman. Sheila ate people poop because previous visitors to the shelter had decided that it was OK to poop behind trees 0 feet off of the trail. Disgusting!

Day 45: Cherry Gap to Roan High Knob Shelter
Another long, hard day at 17-ish miles! Cheez-it felt great during the last big climb, while The Ramen Shaman's energy drained. For the last few miles of the climb, the trail was literally a sheet of ice, which made it dangerous and slow going in the setting sun. We managed to make it to the shelter, which was up another steep, icy trail, where we stayed with Sunshine,Youngbeard, and M. It was the coolest shelter I've seen so far with a fully enclosed space with windows and a door! Perfect for keeping out the wind.

Day 46: Roan High Knob to Doll Flats (NC border! - 2 States down, 12 to go!)
It was slow going again as we came down Roan High Knob due to the continued sheet of ice. The next section of trail was full of beautiful balds, referred to as the Roan Highlands. The climb up Little Hump and Hump Mountains made us very tired and the final mile to Doll Flats seemed infinite over rocky terrain. It was a beautiful campsite though, and we had great company.

Day 47: Doll Flats to Upper Laurel Falls
Tennessee was such a beautiful state! We were greeted with many rolling, green hills and many beautiful streams and waterfalls. We found a sweet headlamp at Jones Falls, which we have named The Sun due to it's brightness. We camped right near the river and enjoyed a peaceful night's sleep.

Day 48: Upper Laurel Falls to Black Bear Resort in Hampton, TN
Black Bear Resort was really incredible, partially because it really was just awesome and partially because we stayed with such great people and had such a good time that night.We split a cabin with Sunshine & Youngbeard, and partied with Windscreen, Batman, Tree, Dorothy, Coconut, Spicerack, Cowgirl, Youngbeard, and Mr. Blue Sky until actual midnight. The hostel was very dog friendly and had a great layout, and they didn't have a problem shuttling you into town to resupply at Dollar General versus resupplying with them.

Day 49: Black Bear Resort to Watauga Lake Shelter
We missed Laurel Falls! We accidently blue-blazed on the high-water trail, and got lost! But thankfully we saw Spicerack and Coconut and found the trail again.The hike up Pond Flats was stupid. You literally climbed 3000 feet just to come back down 3000 feet. Watauga Lake was beautiful, and we spent a fun night in camp with Batman, Owl and Dr. Scrambles.

Day 50: Watauga Lake to TN 91 (Yellowblazed into the Hiker's Inn in Damascus, VA - 3 States down, 11 to go!)
On this day, we realized we had to push long mileage days in order to get into Damascus on time, which would set us up for meeting The Ramen Shaman's dad in Atkins on the correct day. I also got really down and felt very tired after realizing we wouldn't have the opportunity to take a zero day for another two weeks. With some harsh weather blowing in, we decided to pull an 18 mile day instead of a 21 mile day and to go into Damascus early. That way we could take a rest and recoup before heading for Atkins. This meant missing 22 miles of trail, but it also meant reuniting with Icicle & Quailman, whom we had been missing! We already spoke about doing that section of trail again, so the 22 miles didn't seem very significant to us. We also realized that people on the trail don't actually care what you do during your hike; only online armchair hikers care.

That night we met Batman at the infamous Blue Blaze Cafe and learned he had hiked the 41 miles from the Watauga Lake Shelter that morning, a feat quite worthy of a beer or two! You can find his awesome blog here!

Day 51: Zero at Hiker's Inn
The Hiker's Inn was amazing. The room we stayed in was clean and comfy, and they let us borrow some bikes to do our resupply.

Day 52: Hiker's Inn to campsite by pond
We hiked out with Icicle & Quailman, happy that the "band" was back together. They are amazing friends and hiking and camping with them again was awesome! The miles seemed to just fly by. Soon enough, little Cooper the Min-Pin (Cowgirl's dog) came running up behind us. We hemmed and hawwed about going back to the shelter to see if they were there, but decided to push on to the campsite by the pond, which is where we thought Cowgirl and Radioman were staying. We made the right choice, and Radioman expressed his gratitude by sharing his booze.

Day 53: Pond campsite to Elk Garden campsite
We climbed Whitetop Mountain and Mt. Rogers on this day. Well, really only Whitetop because we didn't do the blue-blazed summit trail to Mt. Rogers, but we were essentially at the top. The views were beautiful, but the wind was cold, so we hustled down the mountain to eat lunch and push on. We camped at the Elk Garden VA 600 campsite, which had a surprise privy!

Day 54: Elk Garden to Bearpen Trail campsite
The Grayson Highlands are full of rocks. We were so tired at the end of 11 miles, we camped at the first spot we could find outside of the park. It was very beautiful though, and seemed unlike anything else in America. The ponies were cool too. Cheez-it was very worried about Sheila scaring off all of the ponies and ruining the experience for everyone, and she thought this was the case until we arrived at Wise Shelter. The Ramen Shaman ran down to filter water and called back to the shelter "Ponies!!" We were all ecstatic! Walrus, a section hiker, equated us all to 5 year-old girls which was an accurate assessment of our behavior. To be clear, Sheila didn't give a damn about the ponies until we seemed very excited about them, at which point she decided to bark like mad. The ponies didn't care. We pushed on to a beautiful campsite at the Bearpen Trail intersection and spent a great night by the fire, listening to Quailman read The Hobbit.

Day 55: Bearpen Trail campsite to Trimpi Shelter
Another long day! 18 miles! But it was totally worth the sore and tired feet, because the next day we arrived at the famous Partnership Shelter for pizza delivery! Boomer, Smudge, Tree, Batman, and Dorothy were all in the shelter while The Lolligaggers camped.

Day 56: Trimpi to Partnership Shelter
Food is an excellent motivator. We made these 12 miles before 3pm! And it was a just and excellent reward! Pizza, beer, and good times loitering in front of the visitor's center with the whole gang from Trimpi Shelter.

Day 57: Partnership to the Relax Inn in Atkins, VA
This time we were motivated by an AYCE buffet at The Barn Restaurant that closed at 2pm in Atkins, VA. We woke up at 6am to the sound of The Ramen Shaman cracking a beer and hiked the 10 miles into town. The Priest caught up with us and walked into town with us. Mason (The Ramen Shaman's dad) arrived that evening bearing gifts of delicious oatmeal cookies from The Ramen Shaman's mom, Debbie. All of the hikers who hung around that night, including Batman, The Priest, Noodle, Cowgirl, Poohbear, Radioman, Icicle & Quailman enjoyed them immensely and they were gone in no time. It was a fun and productive night and we can't thank Mason & Debbie enough for their generosity! The buffet was disappointing though as they imposed a 3 plate limit and no refills on fountain drinks. We also switched into our summer gear, dropping our pack weights from the 40-50lb range to 25-35lb range. Cheez-it also heard back from a professor at Virginia Institute of Marine Science saying that she is being considered as a candidate for admissions!

Day 58: Relax Inn to Knot Maul Shelter
This was our first day hiking with Mason (aka Grandpa Kibble)! We were all excited to leave town and start the adventure, but on the first uphill it was clear that Grandpa Kibble's pack-weight was a little much and our hardened hiking legs were too fast under the lightened load of summer gear. The Ramen Shaman ended up carrying Grandpa Kibble's pack to make things a little easier on him and we all trudged on to the shelter. At the shelter we met The Cougars, a group of 3 older ladies who are section hiking together. They were a lot of fun!

Day 59: Knot Maul to Chestnut Knob Shelter
This was a day from hell, and is now Cheez-it's worst day on record. The day started out normally enough, overcast and a little rain, but as we climbed the 5000ft up Chestnut Knob, the weather turned. The rain turned into sleet, and the sleet turned into snow. Sheila coat was covered in a layer of ice and sleet. The temperatures plummeted on the Knob and the wind picked up, blowing at a sustained 20mph with gusts to 60mph. Thankfully the shelter on top was a fully enclosed concrete shelter with a door. About 13 others decided to stay in the shelter built for 8, but Cowgirl and Radioman made sure that the three of us had bunk space. The sudden turn in the weather combined with our lack of cold weather gear really caused Cheez-it to spiral into a depression and snap at The Ramen Shaman. The next few days would not do much to lift her spirits. The Ramen Shaman came up with a plan for us to make up the missed miles by slackpacking for the next few days. Radioman, Cowgirl, Poohbear, Noodle, Icicle & Quailman were all down for slackpacking, which was cool because we ended up traveling with this little group for the next few days.

Day 60: Chestnut Knob to Fort Bastian at Laurel Creek (near Bastian, VA) - Slackpack Day 1
The plan called for us to hike to the next road crossing and drop off our packs with a guy named TruBrit who runs Fort Bastian, a place with tenting and pizza delivery. Grandpa Kibble hiked the remaining 10 miles with The Ramen Shaman, and decided that he would be a trail angel for the following days to our little group due to having injured his knee. This put a damper in our spirits because we were really looking forward to hiking with him. TruBrit's place was really interesting, and so was the man himself. We were all convinced he was a pathological liar after he told us that he had been a millionaire 3 or 4 times over and subsequently gave away his wealth each time and said he had hiked over 150,000 miles in his life. We did the math on this last part, and figured out he would have had to hike 3000 miles every year since he was born if we assume he is 50 years old. The stories he told were entertaining to say the least.


We will be updating the mail drop page later this evening and adding photos to our Facebook page tomorrow morning before heading back out on the trail! Thanks for your continued encouragement and support!

Our 40th Trailaversary: Days 26 - 40

We are in Damascus! We decided to yellow-blaze 22 miles to get out of a bad wind & rain storm and honestly, we couldn't be happier! Not only have we been reunited with Icicle and Quailman, we have also been able to hang out in what I would consider the coolest trail town so far! Our original plan allowed for no dilly-dallying in Damascus, which would have been pretty terrible...

I'm changing our format again to make it easier on me, especially since we hardly ever have cell service and I never want to write in camp at night. I'd rather be sleeping!

Day 26: Zero at Double Spring Shelter
Day 27: Double Spring Shelter to Icewater Spring Shelter
Day 28: Icewater to Tricorner Knob Shelter
Day 29: Tricorner Knob to Cosby Knob Shelter
Day 30: Cosby Knob to Standing Bear Hostel
Day 31: Standing Bear to Brown Gap
Day 32: Brown Gap to Old Rd.
Day 33: Old Rd. to Laughing Heart Lodge in Hot Springs, NC
Day 34: Zero at Laughing Heart
Day 35: Hot Springs to Campsite near Lover's Leap
Day 36: Campsite to Spring Mountain Shelter
Day 37: Spring Mountain to Hemlock Hollow Hostel in Greeneville, TN
Day 38: Zero at Hemlock Hollow
Day 39: Hemlock Hollow to Jerry Cabin Shelter
Day 40: Jerry Cabin to Hogback Ridge Shelter

The Smoky's
So, as you might have guessed, we survived our super cold night in the Smoky's. The temperature in our little bungalow never dipped below 25 degrees, which is just insane when you consider that it was less than 10 degrees outside the shelter. We spent our zero day playing in the snow (give us a break, we're Floridians!) and yogi-ing food off of the section hikers that passed through. Yogi-ing is the term for acting like a "Yogi Bear" trying to get food from someones pic-a-nic basket! It's easy to do: first, find a day hiker or a section hiker. Next, continually mention how hungry you are and that you are low on food. Section hikers almost always pack too much food, so if they catch on that you are discretely asking for food, they will off-load some of the extra weight right into your belly. It also helps to be a semi-attractive girl asking a bunch of college-age guys. In the Smoky's this was really amazing because we actually were low on food and had to ration for 2 extra days.

Chase actually got his official trail-name on our zero day in the Smoky's, because Pacman was gracious enough to point out that Angeleyes was "so gay." So Chase was redubbed "The Ramen Shaman" for his ability to suggest that mostly anything left at the bottom of your foodbag would probably be really good in Ramen. And he is so right on that.

The rest of our time in the Smoky's was pretty great. Hiking in the deep snow was an experience for sure. Icicle came down with a head cold at Icewater Spring Shelter and her last few days were really miserable. She wrote a really great blog post about it, which you can check out here. We all carry cold medicine now! Our second to last day to Cosby Knob was really great weatherwise, as it was blowing 40mph across the ridgeline with heavy rain! Superfun to hike in! NOT.

We were all very excited to leave the Smoky Mountains. "At least it's not the Smoky's" became a favorite phrase.

Hostels
We've stayed in a lot of diverse places so far on our journey. There is a lot of lore behind many of the hostels along the AT, and a lot of rumors about each one. I'm going to take a moment to talk about the three hostels we stayed in on this stretch of trail.

Standing Bear Hostel divides the AT community pretty decisively into two camps: people who love it, and people who hate it. I'm pretty sure this chasm is created over the people who own Standing Bear and the resupply options, because the accomodations are normal for the AT (basic bunkhouse, OK cabin). The community kitchen area was really awesome, and the shower was great (hot water FOREVER). The people who run it, Curtis and Rocket, are pretty typical "Dueling Banjos" mountain folk. We interacted with Rocket mainly, and he seemed like a pretty genuine and decent human being (though blazed out of his mind), but our brief conversations with Curtis left us feeling pretty uneasy. Drug use is pretty open and rampant there, so if you're uncomfortable with that sort of thing, definitely stay away. My main problem with the place was the resupply. Everything that a hiker would actually want to buy was marked waaaaay up. All of the meat was out of date. The coolers smelled like pee. I get the impression that they buy groceries at a discount grocery store and then just mark everything up 50%. While you can get buy here, I would suggest sending a resupply box (though I also wouldn't be surprised if they did away with accepting mail drops, as Curtis mentioned that it takes away from his business). Overall, I would stay there again, though we wouldn't resupply and we wouldn't stay for more than a night.

The Hostel at Laughing Heart Lodge was one of our favorite places that we have stayed so far. The location is a little outside of the main drag and the room we stayed in was a little small for the price (the smallest double room in the place, I think), but the common area and the people were awesome. Chuck Norris was a really great guy to talk to and he even let us leave Sheila in the room when we went to lunch and to do resupply. He let us do work-for-stay for one of the nights that we stayed, so we swept and cleaned rooms as hikers left. We were able to save a bit of money by buying some frozen pizzas and frozen fried chicken from the Dollar General and cook in the common kitchen. We hung out with the other hikers staying the night in the living room and watched "Pitch Perfect" while eating pints of Ben & Jerry's. The showers were awesome and had seemingly endless hot water. The lawn was also really great for spreading gear out on. We would most definitely stay again!

Hemlock Hollow is just outside of Hot Springs, and I don't imagine they get too much business unless it's during peak hiker-season. We really enjoyed our time there! Mark and his mom are great people who love the trail! The bunkhouse, cabins, and bathrooms were all built using lumber logged from the property, which was really neat. The location was beautiful! A small creek runs straight thorugh the middle of the property and the cafe has this wonderful porch that overlooks the creek. They let us do work-for-stay for one of the nights, so we stacked firewood with Mark, which was awesome. The bunkroom is heated via wood-burning stove, and it was really easy to overheat the place. We woke up sweating the first night and kept the windows open for an hour to let the heat out. Sheila loved hanging out with Rowdy, Mark's Aussie-mix dog. They played for hours! The only reason we stayed here was because of Sheila: she ate some trash back at Spring Mountain Shelter (the place was a dump) and didn't want to eat or drink that morning or that afternoon. Some winter weather was blowing in that night, so we didn't want to be stuck on the trail if something was seriously wrong. She was feeling fine again by the next day, and we all watched the crazy sleet/snow/rain/wind from the comfort of the cafe. The showers weren't very good, but it has something to do with the way they get the water, so you only have 5 minutes to shower and the next person has to wait 20 minutes. Sailor showers are a must there. The bathroom is nicely heated though, so this wasn't a problem in the winter. The resupply there is pretty limited, but they weren't fully stocked up for hiker-season yet, so that may have been why. We would stay again, but the distance from Hot Springs makes it not ideal.

The Hiker Bubble
 We were unfortunate enough to get a taste for what hiking in the Bubble must be like when we stayed at Jerry Cabin Shelter. We hiked in around 5 o'clock and decided to stay as a section hiker named Codger had a fire going in the fireplace. We set our packs down and start collecting firewood to dry out our socks after hiking in snow and slush all day. About 30 minutes later, a couple come into the shelter and proceed to roll out their sleeping pads right next to the fire. They didn't even say hello to any of us before deciding to set up. Codger had his pack sitting on the floor of the sleeping area next to the fire and he had to awkwardly move it out of their way as they set up. Ramen Shaman and I thought it was weird and really rude, because we hadn't experienced anything like that before. Anyway, we all are introduced and everything seems fine until about 10 minutes later. I'm in the process of blowing up our sleeping pads because we decided we wanted to stay in the shelter with Sheila for the first time, and 8 people show up at the same time. All of them are thru-hikers. All of them started March 1st. I was very instantly overwhelmed with this group. I quickly decided that we should tent, so we moved out of the shelter, and they instantly took over. Everyone was great and nice and happy, but it just seemed so strange to me that such a large group had set out from Springer together and had been hiking together for nearly a month. We then put two and two together and decided that the couple that had come in a little early were claiming their space because they knew that there was a bubble of hikers coming. I remember hearing that there were something like 100 people at Hawk Mountain Shelter one night, and I cannot even imagine how crazy that must have been. My experience with the trail has very much been of an intimate community of hikers that are usually hiking alone and will probably camp or shelter with very few other hikers on any given day.  We all know each other and can recognize one another coming down the trail. March and April starters will have no idea what that is like until much later in the game after most people have quit. I prefer the small group dynamic of early-starters, and I'll be happy when the fast March bubble pass us by.

40th day on the Trail!
Our 40th day was spent hiking miserably in slush. Thankfully we didn't even realize it was our 40th Trailaversary!

Getting into the swing of things: Days 6 - 10

Hello from Franklin! I have updated our ETA's on the Mail Drop page! We have started to pick up the pace in order to meet our 15-mile per day average, but we are not quite there. My injury has fully recovered, as you will read in future blog posts. 

Below is a summary of days 6 through 10 on the trail. I think posting in 4 day groupings makes blogging a bit more manageable. 

We haven't posted many photos yet because we are still working out transferring them from the camera to the iPad. Hopefully soon though! 

Day 6: Zero in Hiawassee

Our zero mile day (commonly called a Zero in the hiking world) in Hiawassee was just what I needed to heal up and feel better. We woke up pretty early, ate breakfast at the Subway, talked about our hiking plan, and started in on the chores that needed to be done. We sorted laundry and set up the tent. We laid the sleeping bags over a railing in the sun so they could air out and dry out a little. I brushed Sheila and brushed her teeth. We then decided to take a break and walk up to the local grocery store, Ingles, for lunch and resupply. We have been jokingly calling the place Inglés (as in the Spanish word for english), so we had a lot of fun walking around and deciding what we would eat for the next ten days. We decided to stock up on all the hiker favorites, things that are lightweight but calorie-packed like Ramen and Snickers. We had also heard about this great recipe for a backpacker's Pad Thai that called for chunky peanut butter in chicken-flavored Ramen with a little hot sauce added. I was particularly stoked about this meal option, as Pad Thai is one of my favorite foods. We also bought a lot of trail bars and these great breakfast biscuits that would be sure to get us going in the morning. For lunch, we settled on a great Ingles deli sub made with Boar's Head meats. We agreed to only eat half today so we could eat the other half on the trail the next day. We also bought a bag of Cheez-Its, which were a wonderfully salty and cheesey snack to balance all of the sweet and bland trail bars. When dinner time rolled around, we walked up to the local all-you-can-eat (AYCE) buffet, Daniel's. We heard from our shuttle driver that they had a pretty great salad bar and we were in desperate need of some veggies. The salad bar ended up being only okay, and everything else was fried. I had an entire plate of deep-fried, brown meats. Since the veggie options weren't spectacular, we opted to finish off with a dessert of raw broccoli (the only real vegetable on the bar besides cucumbers). Feeling pretty satisfied, we hiked back to the motel to pack our bags and get ready to hit the trail the next day. We ended up sharing a couple of beers with a couple of other hikers, Honeybun and Derrick, who had pulled a 19 mile day to get into town. They were both planning to zero as a result. I think they might have been ex-military, but I could be wrong. We had a great night overall, and were excited to get back out there. My leg was feeling much, much better, but even so, we talked about taking it slow once we hit the trail, doing low-mileage days just to make sure everything would be alright. Sheila relished her time in town, sleeping most of the day away.

Day 7: Tesnatee to Low Gap Shelter 
We woke up pretty early in order to get our bags packed and be ready by our 9am shuttle departure time. Our driver ended up knocking on our door at 8:15am, which made me feel rushed. We hit the post office so Chase could fill out his change of address form and then headed to the gap. I was feeling pretty ready to take on the day. The man who drove us back to the gap seemed nice enough, kind of your "good ol' boy" type. We got to the gap a little after 9:30am and started our huff up out of the gap carrying 10 days worth of food and full water. Just before setting off, we met a hiker named Penguinman whom we had met at the base of Springer our second day on the trail. At the time, he had been heading up to the top with his wife in order to get some pictures of him signing the register and near the plaque, etc. His wife was wearing a big, puffy parka with faux fur around the hood and a pair of baggy jeans. We heard later on that she wasn't able to get up to the top of Springer, and I'm not surprised. It was really icy that day. Anyway, we met Penguinman again and set off from the bottom of Tesnatee Gap. The climb was just as hard as it had been two days ago, but by taking it at an easy pace with lots of stops to rest, we made it to the top without incident. We were passed by quite a few hikers on the way, but we made it! There were several great views from the top of the gap. It was such a beautiful and sunny day, you could actually see the outline of Atlanta in the distance. Seeing the hazy outline of a gigantic city from the top of a mountain will certainly make you feel very small. After sightseeing for a bit, we pushed on to Hogpen Gap and ate our lunch of leftover subs in a little clearing. Some section hikers passed us while we ate, as did Penguinman, who had stopped at Hogpen to get water. We took our time and made it to Low Gap Shelter by about 3pm. The shelter area was really beautiful and the water source was great. There were many great places to tent as well. The section hikers who passed us earlier were setting up in the shelter and building a fire. We all chatted a bit as I signed the register, and then we went off to set up our tent. Some other thru-hikers trickled in as we set up camp and made dinner. Trish and her boyfriend Jessie recognized us from the blogosphere because of Sheila. She has made us so popular! Trisha was really funny and thinking back on that night, I hope we bump into them again soon. A couple of solo thru-hikers joined our little group, including a guy named Gizmo who had hiked from Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The night at Low Gap marked his 66th on the trail. The last group to arrive was a couple that I had actually been in contact with a little pre-trail, Kristin and Eric (now known as Icicle and Quailman). They were super awesome and I was really glad we got to meet them. If it wasn't for having to pull off the trail for a day, we may have not met them so soon! Our little group of hikers stayed up until 9pm, talking and passing a flask around the campfire. So many great stories were told and lots of great coversation was had that night. It was probably one of my favorite nights on the trail, and I'm very grateful for the zero in Hiawassee for making it possible!

Day 8: Low Gap Shelter to Blue Mountain Shelter
After such a great night, Chase and I woke up and got out of camp later than we wanted to. This wasn't that big of a deal, since we were planning a pretty low mileage day anyway. While we packed up camp, Icicle and Quailman offered to carry some of our weight for us to help my leg recover and take some of the burden off of Chase. They were planning a shorter day as well and seemed really eager to help out, so we graciously accepted their offer. They hiked a bit faster than us, so even though we got out of camp earlier, they passed us in the first few miles. Taking it easy allowed us to really take in the scenery. It was another warm, lovely day on the trail filled with sunshine and a few great views. The beauty of hiking in the winter is that you almost always have a view of the mountains surrounding you. We took our last break of the day 3 miles from the shelter. The terrain looked really easy, so I wasn't worried about worsening my injury at all, but this last bit of the hike ended up being tons of rocks. Rocks are terrible because they wear your feet out if you walk on them, they can move and make you roll an ankle very easily, and you have to slow way down to avoid either of those things. We finally made it the shelter a little after Icicle and Quailman. They were still plopped on the ground eating what they could, which is a pretty common practice (eat first, everything else second) after a day of hiking. Chase set up the tent while I gathered water and signed the register. We also collected firewood and got ready to have a little campfire that night. That is the great thing about getting into camp early; so much time to do things before it gets dark and cold. We ended up sitting around with them until about 8pm. They were planning on zeroing at the shelter the next day to let Icicle rest a little, as she was thinking she might have pulled a muscle in her calf hiking through the rocks. It was nice being able to hang out with them a second night and get to know them more. We finished off the last of the booze we packed in and called it a night.

Day 9: Blue Mountain Shelter to Rocky Mountain
Our ninth day on the trail was pretty interesting. We woke up later than we wanted (as usual), took a group photo with Icicle and Quailman, said our good-byes, and hit the trail. It was very cold and windy, so we stopped a little way down the trail and put our mid layers back on. I have these Outdoor Research Flurry mittens that are amazing. Even in the high winds, my hands were toasty warm. We hiked down into Unicoi Gap feeling very good. The pain in my leg seemed to have disappeared entirely. We were already craving a burger, so we decided to try our hand at hitching and to grab lunch in Hiawassee. Chase stood out by the road while I hung back at the parking lot because I was feeling a bit shy. 15 minutes or so went by with no luck, and I was putting my pack on to keep going up the trail when a white SUV pulled in to drop off a hiker. The elderly couple kindly offered to take all 3 of us into town. They ended up buying us lunch from Hardee's which was an incredible piece of trail magic! Even Sheila got a burger! From the Hardee's we walked over to the Ingles and restocked on snacks. Chase had been eating like a bear already, and we needed more snacks to keep him happy. We also picked up some Terra chips for Icicle and Quailman! $40 later, we had to hitch back out the gap. We set off down the road and waited until we were on the edge of town to stick our thumbs out. It really was embarrassing for me, but after a few minutes, it seemed like the natural thing to do. In a trail town like Hiawassee, we didn't expect to wait long for a ride, and we didn't. A gentleman in an older Chevy truck picked us up as he was leaving town. Sheila and I jumped in the back of the truck and off we went! Unfortunately, the guy was about to run out of gas, so he had to drop us off about 2 miles from the gap and head back to town. I guess when we picked us up he thought we were going to Dick's Creek Gap. Anyway, we stuck our thumbs out again, this time on a country mountian highway between two small towns. It seemed like more people were driving into Hiawassee than into Helen, and we didn't get a ride until we were about a mile from the gap. It seems like when you have no hope left, the trail provides. A guy named Mike picked us up. His kids own the Hayloft restaurant in Helen, GA. He told us that at the Hayloft, they will come pick you up from the gap to eat lunch! That would have been good for us to know earlier in the day! Because of the unexpected hitching adventure, we didn't get back to the gap until 4 o'clock. We checked the guide and decided we could only get to the campsite on top of Rocky Mountain before nightfall. My leg  was feeling a bit sore from walking on the road with out trekking poles, but as soon as my feet touched the mountain, everything felt fine. We climbed out of the gap and arrived sooner than expected at the campsite. The camping area was beautiful; nice grassy and mossy spot with a view of the town below. As night fell, the city lights came to life below and provided a contrast to the starry night above. It was a cold and windy night on top of the mountain. At this point, life on the trail was beginning to normalize and really feel like home.

Day 10: Rocky Mountain to Sassafras Gap
Because I was feeling better, we decided to push our miles up a little and get to Sassafras Gap that day. We got out of camp pretty early, but the wind was bitterly cold and seemed to cut through to the bone. It was a foggy morning but as the sun rose and teh fog burned off, the day proved to be sunny and warm again. The great weather really made my mood soar. We made great time to Tray Mountain Shelter, where we took a longer break to get water and eat lunch. On the way out of the shelter, we ended up running into Icicle and Quailman! They were planning on camping at Sassafras Gap and to go into Hiawassee from Dick's Creek Gap the next day. We let them hike on ahead and continued to take it easy on our longest day since my injury yet. We met a group of hikers from Germany at Steeltrap Gap as we were taking a break. They were also heading for Sassafras and was wondering how to signal to their third hiking buddy that they moved on. I was changing my pants at the time. No time for modesty on the trail! ;) The Patagonia Houdini wind pants I was wearing as hiking pants had torn a bit in the seat of the pants and I didn't want to further damage them, so I changed to just hiking in my base layer bottoms. We moved on ahead of the Germas, but they caught up and passed us soon after. The last few miles to Sassafras Gap were mostly uphill, and it took us longer to reach the gap than I thought. I was trying not to feel too down about moving slow; after all I was still recovering. We met up with Icicle and Quailman and set up our tent near theirs. I have them the Terra chips and they seemed really grateful! I guess they were on their last portions of food before resupply in Hiawassee. We shared the bag between the four us as we set up home for the night. No campfire that night; we were all pretty beat and we were looking at a harder day in terms of elevation changes for that next day. It was a quiet night indeed. 

Posting blog updates has proven to be a little more sparse than we anticipated. I promise to try and do better! Chores tend to eat up your free time when you get into camp, especially if you arrive late. Also, I tend to be so tired at the end of the night that I fall asleep by 8pm. I have been keeping up a written journal to help reflect on the days past. 

Thank you everyone for your continued support!

The Worst Day

Day 5: Slaughter Creek to Tesnatee Gap

Our fifth day on the trail started beautifully. We woke up around 4am, looked at each other, and said "Let's do this!" We were packed and on the trail up to Blood Mountain by 730am. There was a heavy fog that enveloped everything, making the trail seem more magical and mystical than normal. Chase got a great shot of me walking up to the old Blood Mountain shelter. The fog makes it extra eerie and awesome. No views for us that day, but I wasn't concerned about that. FOOD. Hot, delicious food was waiting for us at Neels Gap. The wind was ripping across Blood, dragging the clouds behind, but I wasn't interested in sight seeing. The rocks were slick with the dampness that comes from touching the clouds, but I paid it no mind. I trugged on with a singular goal; reach Neels Gap or die trying. I even ignored the burning pain in my leg that was becoming worse by the second.

Reaching Neels Gap was a great feeling. The climb down Blood seemed to last an enternity, but we were there right on schedule. Chase went in and ordered a pizza and started a tab. Starting a tab at an outfitter is really amazing, and I'm very glad that Mountain Crossings offers such a service. We ate one Red Baron pizza, 3 bags of chips, a turkey sandwhich, some beef jerky, and I had an apple juice while Chase chugged a Coke. We stocked up on Ramen, peanut butter, trailbars, and Snickers to get us through the next three days before we would head into Hiawassee. 

We left Mountain Crossings with full bellies and a head full of worries about the impending severe thunderstorm that was forecast to hit the trail that night. We decided that we needed to stay in a shelter to stay safe from what promised to be torrential rain and lots of lightning. With all of the down and weakend trees in the area from last week's ice storm, we were worried about being crushed while we slept. We decided to push our longest day yet, and try to reach Whitley Gap Shelter. 

I was okay with this plan. We had to push hard and fast, but I thought I was capable of it. We stopped to get water and I set off like a bat out of hell to make up the time lost. My leg was burning, but I wouldn't accept defeat. We zoomed past many a pretty site and I lost interest in my surroundings. Finally, on the way down into Tesnatee Gap from Cowrock Mountain, I lost it.

I stopped for a break and was getting up as Chase was hiking up behind me. He is normally much faster than I am, to give you an idea about how fast I was moving. My leg was in burning pain and Chase was commenting that it was only 0.7mi from the Gap to the entrance of the shelter, and then another 1.2mi to the shelter. I spit at him, "This must be just SO EASY for you!" And I trugged off without another word. I made it to the bottom of the gap, berating myself for lashing out at him, but also feeling sorry for myself because I was weak. I thought about all of the people I was proving right by not being able to cut it, by not being able to handle another step on the AT. I broke down crying on the way up out of Tesnatee, which is a very steep climb. My leg was screaming at me, I was feeling soft and weak and foolish, and I couldn't go on. Chase, being who he is, just hugged me and took my pack off. We sat on the trail, and I cried a bit more, and we decided to go into town. I needed to rest, to recoup, and get my head together.

Thankfully, there was service on the road, and we were able to call a shuttle. While we waited, we cooked up a pot of Ramen and ate. A wonderful woman named Sally picked us up and drove us down to Hiawassee, a good 30 miles from Tesnatee. She was a fisherwoman from the Tampa area, so we all bonded over the ocean, and that miraculous feeling you get when you wade into calm waters at sunrise. Remembering that feeling made me a bit homesick, but it also brought me back to a centered place in my head and my heart. I remembered why I was hiking in the first place.

Sally drove us to the ATM, pointed out the all-you-can-eat (AYCE) buffet in town, and dropped us at the Hiawassee Budget Inn. We checked in and threw all of our gear in the room, made sure Sheila was settled, and headed up to the Dairy Queen for a burger and a sundae. After eating, I opened up to Chase a bit about why I was feeling so down and why I felt like I needed to press harder. I wanted to keep up with the few people we had met and I wanted to meet more hikers. I wanted to belong to the trail. I wanted my hiking legs now. We made a pact to communicate more and to take it easy when we got back on the trail. We also decided to take a full zero in Hiawassee the next day to help the strain in my leg get better.

Back at the motel, we met some other thru-hikers as we sat on the porch drinking a Fat Tire, two guys named Asshole and Blackbeard. Both had hitched in from Dick's Creek Gap and were a little crazy. Asshole had some great stories from the trail and some good advice. It was nice to talk to them about their experiences. Talking with them made me feel like an actual member of the Appalachian Trail community. 

We feel asleep happier and more experienced than the day before. It's true what they say; a hot shower, a hot meal, and a warm bed can heal all wounds from the trail.

I'm writing this post on our ninth day on the trail, and I can say that day 5 was the worst day so far. I've learned a lot from it though, and I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. You learn so much about yourself on your lowest days. I'm not hiking to prove that I can to anyone and I don't owe an explanation to anyone. I'm doing this for me and to get in touch with myself. I looked at my Appalachian Trials lists that night, and I'm sure it won't be the last time.

First Impressions: Days 1 - 4

Hello world! We are blogging from a beautiful spot on the side of Blood Mountain. The sun is about to set and we are in for a show for sure. We'd like to take this moment and catch the world up on what has been happening on our hike so far!

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who voted for us in the Appalachian Trials 2014 Badger Sponsorship! We took home 3rd place which means we will be recieveing some sweet free gear, including some dry dacks, Bedrock sandals, LARABARS, and some chocolate! We couldn't be happier with the results!

Secondly, a BIG thank you to Chase's parents, Debbie and Mason, for getting us to where we are today and making sure we were well fed and rested before setting out! You guys rock!

Thirdly, we will try to share some photos here, but a majority will be shared at our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/endlessfootpath

Let's get started!

Pain & Gain - Kelley
Our first day on the trail started out fantastically! We had a hearty breakfast at Amicalola Lodge, jogged up the stairs to Amicalola Falls, picked up our packs and hit the Approach Trail from the top of the falls. When we logged in at the visitor center, we were #50 and #51! It was kind of cool being the among the first 50 hikers to set out to Katahdin. It seems like such a far off goal (and it is) so I've been trying to focus on the short term. On the Approach we met our first fellow thru-hiker, Teddy Bear. He told us later on that he had flip-flopped a previous year, but this year he wanted the pure NOBO experience. He passed us pretty quickly and we've only seen him once since. We hiked through a lot of snow to get up to Springer, but it was really beautiful. When we did get up to the top, it was just before sunset so we hurriedly signed the register and hiked down to the shelter. We chose a campsite on thick snow near an evergreen tree. Neither of us had camped in snow before, so it was pretty exciting. Sheila seemed to really love the snow. We made sure to keep her feet warm with these little fleece booties from dogbooties.com. We will be ordering more as they proved to be the only kind of booties to stay on her feet! After we got camp set up, we popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate the beginning of an adventure. I figure everyday on the trail is a reason to celebrate!

The next day we got up and out of camp by about 9am. My feet were freezing and they didn't warm up until a couple of miles down the trail. We used our microspikes to get down Springer because all of the slush from yesterday was now ice. They worked great, but they made our feet tired. We met some more thru-hikers at Three Forks as we filtered water; Turtle, Figgy, and we saw Teddy Bear again, who gave us some beef jerky in exchange for water. We hiked all the way to Horse Gap and stayed with another couple. The gap was cold and windy, but we got through the night safe and warm. We realized that we didn't plan our meals very well in the last minute scramble, and we only brought dinner for 3 days when it looked like we were going to need 4 to get to Neels Gap. This lit a fire under me and encouraged me to push harder than was needed.

On Day 3 we hit Sassafras Mountain first thing. This is a beast of a mountain if you've ever looked at the elevation profile. Right after Sassafras is Justus Mountain, which is just as beastly. It was nice getting these two big elevation gain/loss peaks out of the way, and our hike for the rest of the day was relatively smooth. Because of the hard early morning, I was feeling pretty beat, so we made it a short day and stopped at Liss Gap early. Early camp was nice. There was plenty of time for all of the chores to get done before night fell and it started cooling off. It rained a little through the night, but with my face 6 inches from the tent ceiling, sleeping was hard. Not to mention this was our warmest night so far, and I was sweating half the night.

Day 4 started out really well. We got out of camp at 730 and hiked through some mist and fog to Woody Gap. There were real bathrooms! But sadly, no Fresh Gounds Leapfrog cafe, which we encountered back in November. We kept passing and being passed by Ibex and her group (another entrant to the Badger Sponsorship, Alexis Eliot) through out the day. On the way up Preaching Rock, I had this terrible pain in my upper thigh and had to slow way down. I remembered that I had the same pain yesterday coming down Justus Mountain, so I'm guessing I just pushed too hard that day. We decided to cut our day short of Blood Mountain so that I could rest my leg. This meant cold dinner and minimal breakfast tomorrow, but I know that I need to take it easy.

It's a marathon, not a sprint.

23 Days and Counting: Winter Shakedown

This past weekend, Chase and I took advantage of a long weekend to test out our new sleeping bag and packs by hiking the familiar Standing Indian loop trail in North Carolina. We drove up Friday night and checked into the Sapphire Inn in Franklin just as a light snow was beginning to fall and temperatures dipped into the teens. This was Sheila’s first soiree with snow and the first time I had been in the stuff in almost 10 years. We were pretty giddy, even as our cheeks stung from the wind as we rushed from the car to the hotel room.

The next morning, the forecast at the 4000ft Rainbow Springs weather station called for temperatures below freezing all day with a slight chance of snow and lots of wind. The sun was shining so we didn’t think too much of the weather and we were pretty confident in our gear. After a hardy breakfast, we headed to the backcountry information station, suited up in wool gloves and mid-weight jackets, and set off on the 4.7 mile Lower Ridge Trail that would lead us to the summit of Standing Indian Mountain, our intended camp for the night.

We didn’t get on the trail until after noon and breakfast seemed like it was ages ago. The Lower Ridge Trail turned out to be very strenuous and I was exhausted in the first 2 miles. Between the lack of calories and the biting cold, I felt absolutely drained. I wanted to push on to camp without stopping, but my legs felt like jelly and I couldn’t keep going without some energy. We stopped and munched on Nutella and graham crackers, which were delightful, but soon the sub-freezing temperatures and blowing wind stole all the warmth from our fingertips. We knew we had to get moving again to get the blood circulating. We pushed onwards and upwards and the feeling finally returned to our fingertips just as we reached the AT and the side trail that led to the campsites and summit.

I was very excited to reach camp and set up. I was cold, I was tired. The view was beautiful and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. We pitched in the most exposed area as possible on purpose in order to test out how the tent would fair in the wind and how our sleep system would handle the intense cold. We reached camp about 2 hours before sundown, but I couldn’t keep my toes warm outside of the sleeping bag, so I sat in the warm tent while Chase tested out our stove by making us some hot chocolate. Our Ti-Tri stove is pretty awesome. Chase loved being able to use wood as fuel, though it took him a minute to get the fire going. He did comment that if you wanted to use the wood-burning function as a little campfire, you would need a lot of wood to keep it going.

While Chase was still fiddling around with the stove, some other hikers came up to check out the view and to pitch camp. They had three dogs with them, two big males and a female puppy. Sheila loved playing with these dogs and had a blast with them, but the owner wasn’t very responsible. He let the dogs roam free all over the camp and didn’t pick up after his animals. One of the dogs kept trying to come in our tent. It was really frustrating because it is experiences like these that make people resent seeing dogs on the trail. They were fairly well-behaved, but they just didn’t have any boundaries and the owner wasn’t stepping up to the plate. I’m just glad that all the dogs got along.

We made dinner a little while later and buttoned down the hatches as the sun was setting. Sheila was cozy-comfy in her Ruffwear Cloud Chaser jacket and a polartec buff wrapped around her ears. She curled up on her Therm-a-rest foamy and fell asleep quickly. Chase and I shuffled around in our Zpacks twin quilt and relished the warmth of our NeoAir Xtherm pads. Despite the warmth of these items, the wind still managed to infiltrate into the bag. This kept Chase up most of the night. Sheila woke up a few times looking for extra warmth. I tried wrapping her in my silk sleeping bag liner, but this didn’t do much for her. Eventually she crawled down to the bottom of the bag and didn’t come out until the sun came up. This created problems in and of itself because Sheila would push our pads away from one another and allow the cold from the ground to seep between us. Overall, we didn’t get a great night sleep, but it wasn’t as terrible as it could have been.

The next day we decided to head down the Kimsey Creek Trail back to the car because we realized we didn’t bring enough food for Sheila. On our last hike with her, we had to force her to eat. This time around, it didn’t seem like we were feeding her enough. While it sucked bailing early, we got the chance to see a very beautiful trial in the winter. The icicles and ice formations along the creek were really beautiful.

Overall, we learned a thing or two about winter hiking and camping.

1.  Get mittens and down booties. Keeping our fingers and toes warm is really important, and we found that our wool gloves and water-proof over-gloves were not sufficient. Mittens keep your fingers warmer because they are pressed together and generate more heat. Down booties would be great for camp when your boots and thick socks do little to keep out the cold on short walks around the campsite.
2.  Get a solid interior for the tent. Our Tarptent currently has only the mesh interior, which will be great for summer, but in the windy and cold conditions we encountered, having that extra layer of nylon between us and the elements will be well worth the extra couple of ounces.
3. Get Sheila a sleeping bag. Well not exactly a sleeping bag. I loved how easy it was to slip the liner beneath her and kind of tuck her in it to try and keep her warm, and I would love to get a heavy duty fleece liner to help her stay warm at night. We went to REI but they don’t have anything child-sized in the world of bag liners, so I enlisted my friend Roni to help sew Sheila a bag. I would like for it to be a warm fleece on the inside and a soft-shell material on the outside, kind of like her Cloud Chaser jacket. The plan is to order a couple of yards of Polartec fleece from the Interwebs and fashion her something warm. I may try to use a couple of patterns online.

40 days and 40 nights

Things are really moving quickly now! Honestly I don't have much more to update on, other than the fact that we finally compiled all of our winter gear, weighed it out, and packed it up. If you want to check out the full list, visit our gear page above.

Here's a summary of our Big 4:

Backpack: Osprey Exos 46 (2lbs 4oz)

Tent: Tarptent Stratospire II (2lbs 8oz)

Sleeping Bag: Z-Packs Twin Quilt 900 Fill Power Down XL (20 degree) (1lb 14oz)

Sleeping Pad: Thermarest Prolite Plus (1lb 8oz)

The only item out of our Big 4 that we are looking to probably replace is our Thermarest pads. They're bulky and heavy and with the smaller pack, we really need the space. I've been looking at the Thermarest Neoair XTherm pads, but at $180 I'm a bit hesitant to pull the trigger. We haven't paid full price on hardly any of our gear so it's a hard pill to swallow.

Tomorrow we are set to pack up some things around the house, take the Christmas decorations down, and organize the storage shed. I'd also like to fill out our Appalachian Trials lists and post those sometime next week.

We've decided to do a winter overnight at Standing Indian in a couple of weeks. With the crazy weather this week, we'd really like to make sure that our gear is sufficient in case we get caught in a winter storm. For once, I'm hoping for cold and snow!

50 Days Out

Time really is just speeding by. I took the day off today to nurse a baby hangover and to refocus a little. Christmas was a blast this year which was a nice change.

Santa brought us a few things for the hike, including a couple of titanium mugs to match our new Evernew Ultralight Titanium Pot and Traildesigns Sidewinder Ti-Tri stove! We're very excited about this new cook-kit, as it has allowed us to shave about 1.5lb off of our carry weight, not to mention this new set packs down much smaller. Santa is a little late bringing our Zpacks twin quilt, but we're excited to see how all these items fit into our smaller and lighter Osprey Exos 46 packs. With all of these changes, we've managed to get our base pack weight down to around 14.5lbs!

Now, we added onto that weight a little last night. Santa brought me an iPad mini and a Pencil so that I could document my thoughts and such while on the trail easily. I haven't fully decided if I want to bring these items, especially given their cost and delicate disposition, but I appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

We've been testing out potential cameras the past few days to try and decide which one we would like to bring on the trail. My favorite so far has been the Olympus TG-2 Tough camera. It's only fault in my book has been the sad, sad panorama mode that "stitches" together several images. I much prefer the smooth panorama that I've grown used to on the iPhone, so I could probably get away with just using it to capture 180 degree views.

Thinking about it now, it seems like we are planning on bringing quite a few electronics... Not too sure how I feel about that.

Chase has been able to cut back on work now that it is after the holiday and he actually has Sunday off this week. We are hoping to make some great progress on packing and planning. Maybe I'll even get the gear spreadsheet finished!

Merry Merry y'all!

What's in a name?

That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

Or would it?

I've been wrestling with the idea of trail names since we returned from our second shakedown hike. Really I've been thinking about it since the moment we met our first thru-hiker on the trail and sort of awkwardly looked at one another and shrugged as we introduced ourselves. I'm Kelley, and this is Chase. That sounds way more lame than Two-bit and Mini-Moose (I just made those up, so they aren't that cool). I found I was embarrassed of my own name on the trail, and I'm curious if this happens to others...

I feel like not having a trail name makes you an outsider. To me, a trail name is an instant invite into the cool kids club; and without it, you're just another nobody. I want to make it clear, we weren't treated any differently by hikers, I just felt like I didn't quite belong. I might be a little lot sensitive to this sort of thing, as my self-confidence isn't really the best (one of the many reasons I decided to hike).

From the beginning I've viewed a trail name as something that is bestowed upon you as you struggle through the first few weeks of the AT, something that really speaks about your character or your odd habits or something silly that happened to you. I was really willing to embrace this, to be nameless until the universe decided I should have a name. But now I'm having second thoughts.

We won't be staying in shelters and having the dog complicates some things, so I'm just worried about being nameless for a month and a half. According to the whiteblaze 2014 registry, there is a little bubble of people heading out in February, so my thoughts that we will go nameless seem a little unfounded, but my worry remains.

I thought it might be a lot of fun to let our closest friends and family name us at our going away party, so we could carry a little bit of who we were starting out. A reminder of where we came from. I like this idea a lot, though Chase isn't warming up to it very well. He wants to be named on the trail. And I have to admit, choosing a name before hand may take away from our trail experience.

We could always name each other, but again I think it takes away from the experience. Maybe I should just stop worrying about it.

All good things take time.

Kelley and Sheila on Blood Mountain