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| January |
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| December 31 - Coosa met me at the bus station and ferried me to her home for a night's rest. After 29 hours on the bus, the couch was heaven. I'm afraid I wasn't much company though. I was asleep within 20 minutes of arriving. This morning Coosa had to work so she introduced me to Hummingbird and Dutch Treat, two hikers and trail angels who also live in Blairsville. We spent the day together talking about the trail, trail people and just about anything else. Dutch Treat is a talented musician, and he entertained us with his music throughout the day. So despite still being bus-lagged, I had a really fine time. Coosa and I headed up to Springer in the evening, arriving at the trailhead at 10:30 pm. We made short work of the 0.9 mile climb and joined about 20 other revelers on the summit. Coosa provided an ample supply of sparklers to get everyone in a happy mood. Like it or not, I was the center of attention and tried to be humble about it; after all, I haven't accomplished a thing yet. Right at midnight, as I was getting well wishes from several of the hikers, the weirdest thing happened. A huge shooting star lit the sky, leaving a trail of white from north to west. We all chose to call it a good omen. January 1 - What a wonderful day to start the adventure. It was in the 50s and sunny all day. I delayed leaving Springer until after sun-up in order to get a couple of pictures of the plaque and me. After that was done, several of the other hikers again wished me luck and I was off. Boy, the first few steps northbound were thrilling! I was just so happy to be underway. I must have had a huge grin on my face for at least an hour. The day went fast and here I am just before Woody Gap, high on a ridge, in a stealth site. I watched the sun set and lights below in the valley begin to shine. Eighteen plus miles - not a bad start. |
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| January 2 - Wow, there's a bunch of folks hiking today. Must have seen 40 people just on Blood Mountain. The weather was great again and it drew everyone out. I arrived at Neels Gap at 2 pm and was greeted by Winton, the proprietor of Walasi-yi, with the question “Are you hiking the Triple Crown?” I admitted my insanity graciously. My resupply box was there (hurray) so all was well. My shoulder was bothering me today, providing incentive to mail a bunch of things back to Nancy. My feet are doing great. That delicate skin between my legs, not so great. Chafing is definitely slowing me down. I'm staying at the hostel tonight and plan an early start tomorrow. Crom and Healed are here also. Both are heading northbound January 3 - It was another great hiking day. I left Neels Gap at 6:15 in the dark. After a mile or so I lost the trail. No blazes, which is not uncommon, and it just didn't feel right. After backtracking and searching around a bit I found a switchback that I had missed. As I climbed, I soon entered the clouds. When you do and it’s dark, everything gets quite surreal. Shapes and shadows loom out and seem to scurry by. And it gets really quiet so the slightest noise, like a drip from a branch, is a huge noise. The miles rolled by and I'm now stealth camped on Tray Mt just past Unicoi Gap. 25.5 miles. What a treat for supper - Nancy's Philly Cheese Steak and noodles. Yum! Tons of pot roast! January 4 - It was foggy and drizzly rain all night. For the first hour this morning I barely crept along. The headlamp was having a very hard time penetrating the mists. And to make things worse, each breath turned into an additional swirl of vapor before the headlamp. Finally, about 7:30, the trail was distinct enough to follow without light. Georgia was very bumpy today, living up to its reputation. But now it’s done and I'm into North Carolina. And my body seemed in slow speed. The pack was heavy. My right shoulder hurt. And the chafing is back. Oh joy! It looks like rain tonight too. January 5 - It started raining in the night and continued as I packed up in the morning. The morning walk in the dark was especially dark and tricky. If I lose my way in the pitch black, I could have a time of it. It rained harder and colder as the day progressed. By noon I was chilled and soaked. My goal was Rock Gap, but as I neared there, I knew it would be better to press on to Winding Stair Gap and hitch to Franklin for a warm shower and warm room. I awoke sneezing, the beginning of a cold. By evening I was having those chills and intermittent sweats. My body is quite sore and I'm chafed. Walking has become very painful. I got a number of encouraging emails from friends in the evening. They sure helped lift my spirits. Thanks so much. I'm pretty humble about this hike. Today humbled me even more. This is hard. January 7 - When I awoke yesterday in Franklin, I was still feeling pretty weak from my cold. I was thinking of staying a day and resting, but decided it was a bad precedent to set, so I pressed on. I got back to Winding Stair Gap at 8:30 and started up. It was cold, calm and clear. As I neared Wayah Bald Mt, the trees and bushes became coated in hoarfrost. With the sun and blue sky, this made for many beautiful scenes. The trail in this section was smooth so the miles went fairly quickly. By 4 pm I was at Cold Spring Shelter high on the flank of one of the mountains. I stopped and made dinner, then headed out intending to cross Wesser Bald and stay at the shelter six miles distant. The sun set as a full moon rose, making a headlamp unnecessary. Wesser was a steep up and down, but very manageable in the moonlight. Continuing along the ridge, I watched carefully for a sign or blaze for the shelter. Close to 9 pm, getting tired, I decided to just stop and set up the tarp. A check of the map showed I must be well beyond that shelter, almost to the NOC. The night was very cold, and I finally had to put on all my clothing to stay warm. In the morning, my little thermometer on my pack read 5 degrees F. Brrrr. I got up early to get to a phone before folks were off to work. But I misjudged how long the hike to NOC would take and missed calling. Now I've resupplied and am ready to head out. The next section includes Great Smoky NP and Max Patch. Lots of high country to cross and there's snow predicted for the next few days. If things go well, it will take seven days to make Hot Springs. That’s all the food I'll carry, so if I get slowed down, I'll have to bail out somewhere to resupply. Here goes. January 7, evening - Resupplying at Nantahala went like clockwork, and I headed out at 1:30. Tonight I defied hiker wisdom - hike high, camp low - and learned to regret it. Sassafras Gap Shelter is near 5000 ft and now it is very cold. My Pocketmail went numb and lost all my address info and all my mail. I don't have a paper backup so I must recreate my address file. If my friends could send an email with their info I'll start all over. January 8 - What a tough day. I crossed Cheoah Bald this morning and headed for Fontana Dam. I wanted to call home in the evening since things aren't going so well on that front and I've not been able to connect. At Stecoah Gap I noticed my fleece missing off the back of my pack. I had to backtrack 20 minutes up a steep climb until I found it. The terrain was a lot of steep ups and downs, which ate up time and my energy. I finally made it into Fontana Shelter after dark, very sore and tired. I headed down to the phone at the visitor’s center after a quick dinner. It was out of order. I can't win. January 9 - Oh, yes, I Can Win! The trail is always that way. It punishes you for your simplest assumptions, pride, and errors. And when you've been humbled, it rewards you with insight and renewed courage. I met two wonderful couples yesterday. The first was Tattoo Granny and Lookout. They were working their way up out of Stecoah Gap, taking a few steps and giving it a rest. I guessed each to be in their 60s. When I overtook them they were sitting together on a huge log, close together, holding hands, as I recall. Lookout is a slim gent with a full white beard and hair. Tattoo Granny was the grandma that everyone envisions. This spirited pair was out on a shakedown hike, tuning up to tackle the Smokies next week. What great spirit and cheer they each had. I hope I get to see them again. Later, after I'd settled in to Fontana Shelter, Daniel and Leah walked in to spend the evening. This friendly couple was on break between semesters at grad school and they were out picking up a mountain bike. They took pity on me, with my dying batteries, coughing, and frog voice, giving me a ride to the NOC for batteries and phone calls. Then they delivered me to the Inn at Fontana where I could spend a rest day. Thanks for being so nice to a stranger. So lots has gone right and I'm going to view all the cold and misery as training and opportunity. It’s time to go hiking with a smile on my face. January 11 - The night before last I started coughing and it lasted two hours. My cold is settling in my chest. And then my nose got to bleeding from my sinus infection. The good news is it stopped the coughing. I had to sleep upright for a while to get things under control. Then the next morning, the nose started again. Not wanting to deal with this anymore, I took another rest day and watched sappy movies most of the day. It was relaxing. I got going early this morning, walked back the two miles to the trail and started up into the Smokies. Down by the water there was a cloud cover and all was variations of gray. As I climbed, I passed through the cloud layer to a beautiful cloudless day. At one vantage point the clouds below looked like the sea in Oregon, crashing into the rocky shore of the lower peaks. It was as if it was all in slow motion and, of course, completely silent. Higher, the ridges were covered with hoarfrost. As the day warmed, the frost began to separate from the trees, causing all sorts of minor avalanches that lasted until dark. There were a dozen people in one section and the trail was well broken in the five inches of snow. This ended at Rocky Top Mountain. From there on I broke my own trail. I made it to Derrick Knob Shelter at 8:15. The night is cold. January 13 - Yesterday I hiked up Clingman's Dome and on to Ice Water Spring Shelter. It was a real flat day performance-wise. The legs seemed to have nothing in them. The day wasn't as brilliant as the one before, but the wind was whipping up, making the ridges unpleasant. The night was clear, very windy, and cold. I did ok in the shelter, nonetheless, and got a good rest. Today was brilliant again, but windy. Today’s hike took me along razor back ridges for many miles with huge soaring drop-offs on each side of the trail. At one overlook toward the east, waves of blue mountains seemed to stretch forever. The NOAA weather yesterday said 30% chance of rain tomorrow evening. I was unable to pull the station in tonight. Looking forward to getting to Hot Springs Thursday evening, the first trail town and some real food. My hunger is starting to kick in. January 14 - Today was spring-like, complete with even the smells. I hiked out of the Smokies, from 5000 feet down to 1700 in Davenport Gap. The snow disappeared as I descended and my shoes even dried out. That felt good. At the I-40 crossing I spied a little drug deal going on. I had to wait in the woods about ten minutes for the transaction to be completed and for them to be on their way. Much safer on the trail than in the real world. I climbed back up to 4500 feet and am camped near Max Patch. 23-mile day. Weatherman is saying rain changing to snow tonight, 1 - 3 inches predicted. Hard to believe. There's not a cloud in the sky. Figures the night I'm tarping it, it snows. Eager to get to town to eat and email/call people. Lonely out here. Haven't seen a soul in three days. January 15 - What an exciting night! About 10 pm the wind began to gust, big gusts that you could hear coming 30 seconds before they finally arrived. The tarp stood strong nonetheless, barely flapping and letting only a minimal breeze underneath. It’s a Jardine design and can really hug the ground when needed. Then about midnight it started raining. Later it turned to snow. By morning there was an inch of crusty, icy snow on the tarp and the ground. I crossed Max Patch by headlamp in the dark with the wind whipping and the clouds and snow blowing hard. Since it’s bald and the grass was matted by previous snow, it was tricky to find my way. The posts with the blazes were too far apart to see from one to the next, and the trail wasn't evident in the grass. And it was cold, of course, making the crossing urgent. Finally, I reached the summit and gained some warmth on the lee. Later, crossing Bluff Mountain summit was similarly cold. Though daylight, here the trail was obliterated by snowdrifts. I almost stopped to don the snowshoes when the drifts reached my knees. Once off the summit, it stayed cold and windy most of the way to the valley below. There the sun finally broke through and it began to get warm on the south facing slopes. I arrived at Hot Springs at 3:15 after a 20-mile day. There was no one at Elmer's, but it looked open so I dropped my gear, got my mail drop and ate dinner number one for the night. January 16 - I sure liked Hot Springs. The folks I met were interesting and fun to be with. I stayed at "Elmer's." It’s a unique hostel filled with Victorian furniture and various memorabilia. Squirrel was there running things in the afternoon. He did the AT last year. Elmer was in late and I got up to talk to him around midnight. I ate four times at the Smoky Mt Diner – yes, four times - early dinner, later dinner, breakfast and lunch. The food was great, needless to say. Daniel at Bluff Outfitters gave me the run of his computer for an hour. I saw my web site for the first time on the trail. Thanks, Nancy, for keeping it up to date. And the woman buying stamps in the PO was a hoot. She must get into town once a month because the mailing of two boxes and buying of ten stamps consumed 20 minutes and sounded like the social event of the year. She sure had lots of questions and conversation about the workings of the postal system. Lots of fun. I'm up on the mountain now, Spring Mountain, ten miles outside of town. It’s going to be clear and cold. I had Nancy's beef teriyaki this evening. She makes these meals from her own dried beef and veggies. They're much better than the store bought dinners. Tastes like real food instead of hiker food. My feet are doing so good, I can't believe it. I've done almost 300 miles without so much as dry skin. The credit goes to my gear. I use Montrail TRS Comps with a Superfeet Hiker insole and Ultramax socks. I've used this combination for about 2000 miles of hiking and have never had foot pain or blisters. January 17 - Today was a toughy. The weather forecast was rain in the afternoon, so I wanted to move as quickly as possible and make the shelter before it got going. But the terrain had other ideas. There were a couple of long steep uphills where the trail was covered with slippery snow. And there was the mile of exposed ridgeline consisting of blocks of limestone covered with ice and snow. But it all worked out. The rain started as ice crystals instead and changed to rain just as I reached Flint Mt Shelter. The forest here has been devastated by acid rain. There are places where all the trees are dead or dying. Very sad. And the trail’s littered with blow-downs and limbs. This section needs major maintenance. So the rain is tapping on the steel roof, Toby Keith is singing "I should have been a cowboy," it’s warm in the shelter, and I've just finished another of Nancy's scrumptious dinners. Life's not bad. Do wish for some company. Come on out and play in the woods, folks. January 19 - Yesterday was misery, last night was a little worse. The rain began again about 9 am and proceeded to get stronger and colder as the day went on. The day’s hike took me over appropriately named Frozen Knob, through Sam's Gap, and then over Big Bald. At Sam's Gap I met AT Weed as he was suiting up to try out his new pack. He asked if I was Barkeater, and when I admitted the error of my ways, he had to take my picture because he felt I was a trail celebrity. I'm really flattered by this sort of thing and hope I hike and act well enough to deserve such attention. At 3 pm, as I crossed the bald spot on Big Bald, the rain turned to freezing rain and wet snow. The wind picked up, and by the time I reached Bald Mountain shelter, most of my outerwear was covered with ice. I debated going further. This shelter's at 5000 ft so I knew I was in for a cold night. I decided to stick it out because the next shelter was 10 miles and the next road at 5 miles didn't seem to be a major one. It was cold, the coldest it’s been. By 7 pm my jacket froze solid, my mittens froze solid, my liners were frozen, my socks were frozen. I slept with my trail shoes in the bag, brrrr. I put one wet frozen thing on at a time and got them dry. I was cold in the bag all night. This morning was more of the same, cold with snow falling. My water bottle froze by 9 am so it had to move inside my coat. Pushing hard kept me warm. By 2 pm I made the Nolichucky River. I called Miss Janet and asked to stay the night in her hostel. A short time later I was sitting in her warm van heading into town. Boy, did that feel good. January 20 - Miss Janet is the type of person you immediately like. Her home is warm and friendly and very relaxing. I had such a good time. She fixed kielbasa and a potato casserole for dinner last night. Yum, my favorite. I went to the local medical clinic to get my pneumonia and bronchitis checked out. It wasn't getting better on its own. I guess there's some things hiking won't fix. Anyway, after a long wait, the doctor saw me and concluded I had a severe sinus infection which was causing all my breathing and talking problems. So she prescribed antibiotics and other things. I decided to stay another night since leaving today only resulted in arriving at Damascus earlier on Sunday and I have a maildrop there. January 21 - Miss Janet shuttled me to the trailhead early and I pushed 25 miles today to Clyde Smith Shelter. It was a cloudy day, which made the view from Beauty Spot sublime. Later I climbed Unaka Mountain, which has a relic spruce grove on top, a remnant from an earlier time when it was much cooler down here. I spotted a blue Thunderbird in Deep Gap on the snowy forest service road. It was sideways in the road with its front wheels dangling over the edge of the road in mid air. I'd love to hear that boy's explanation to his dad. Ha-Ha. January 22 - Last night was very cold again, about 5 degrees. The wind blew hard all night and the shelter faced it. I hope this isn't going to be the trend. Today I knocked off one of the sections I was worried about, the Roan Highlands. There was a stiff 2500-foot climb this morning in snow to the top of Roan High Knob at 6200 feet. The mountain was making its own clouds with the strong west wind, so the summit was socked in. The trail into and out of Carver Gap was very icy. At one point I was sliding down hill backwards for about 20 yards. Whew! The toughest part, though, was crossing Hump Mountain. Hump is high and a long stretch of bald. The wind was really gusting and very cold. It pushed me all over the mountain and off my feet twice. Once I thought it was going to pick me up and toss me over a rock outcrop. I sure was glad to get over the top and into the lee. I'm staying in Apple House shelter with another hiker tonight, Mr. Krinkle. Yes, Heather, you heard me right. The very same Mr. Krinkle you named in the Shenandoahs. He's out doing AT sections and is headed for the Florida Trail. He remembers the whole crew from 2001: Tom, Heather, Mr. Bojangles, Candyman. Small world. January 23 - I left Mr. Krinkle early this morning anticipating a long day due to the extra miles that rerouting added in the upcoming section. As it turned out, the reroute made the trail fast and smooth. Since there was no snow or ice either in this section, I completed the 24 miles early and arrived at Kincora Hostel around 4 pm. Bob and Pat were both there. It was good to see them again. Bob had helped us in 2001 with the logistics of moving the extra food down the trail after our Thanksgiving dinner at the Castle owned by Sutton Brown. There were eleven of us all hiking southbound. We spent the next evening in 2001 at Kincora eating leftovers so we sort of had a double Thanksgiving. This section of trail has been the center of much controversy over the years. The local landowners were very attached to their land, land that had been in their families for over a hundred years in some cases. When the ATC attempted to interest the owners in easements or rights of way in order to build the trail, the owners, suspicious of the government and interference from outsiders, resisted. Finally the ATC petitioned the courts for eminent domain and essentially took the land from the locals. Even though this occurred 20 years ago, sentiments still run high. Hikers and maintainers, being symbols of the trail, are often vehemently unwelcome. Since the trail runs near farms and homes, I made it a point to pass quickly through the area and be out of sight as much as possible. I had an incident with a local in 2001 and didn't want a repeat performance while I was alone on the trail. In the evening, as the wood fire slowly removed the chill from the log hostel, Bob and I discussed his trail maintenance projects, which are many, and the exploits of some of the hikers that have passed through Kincora. It was fun to know so many of the people that contributed lore to the AT. The weather forecast is ominous again. Rain, freezing rain and sleet for Saturday evening and Sunday. Since Damascus is 50 miles away, once again I'll be walking in cold wet conditions. January 24 - I lay awake from midnight till morning trying to figure what to do. The hostel never really got warm despite the ceramic heater and the wood fire near my bed. This lack of warmth probably contributed to the restlessness in my head. I've been on the edge a couple times during this hike. The day comes to mind when I crossed Big Bald in the freezing rain and wet snow and then suffered a miserable night as the temperature plummeted to 0 degrees and froze my wet outer clothes solid. Now again on Sunday I would be facing the same thing, more ice, freezing rain and sleet were on its way. Another risky day where I had to make everything work right. I wasn’t eager to face it. And the loneliness of the trail was starting to get to me. My friend Judith in Canada seemed so far away, isolated from me and slipping away into another world. I just couldn't see how pushing on made sense if I was risking our relationship. And yet to stop meant to put months of planning on the shelf and to disappoint those who were so generously helping. It was a hard choice with no easy answer. In the morning, I talked to Bob and told him I was going to take a break to regroup and reconsider what I was trying to accomplish. He was both sympathetic and supportive of my decision. We talked over possibilities. He found a way to get to a rental car in time to pick up the Damascus maildrop before the Saturday closing. From there I was heading north to mend what had been weakened by four weeks of absence. January 27 - I'm not sure what happens next. I've decided to stay off the trail for at least four weeks. This gives time for much of the southern winter to pass and allows me to help out Judith with some of the things that are pressing her. I'm unsure what happens after four weeks. I guess the answer will show itself when it’s ready. |
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