48 Hours After Finishing...

I wasn't gonna do any more posts but since the last one was immediately after finishing this will be more aftermath related.  To be honest there is a void in me now.  The trail, my home for 111 days is gone.  I long for the pitter patter of rain drops falling on a shelter roof, for the sweet smell of Christmas trees in Maine's alpine environment, for the daily routine of gathering water from cold mountain springs, for the sound of coyote's howling in the night, for the taste of wild succulent blueberries and apples, for the comradery and friendships among fellow hikers, for the freedom to take a leak wherever and whenever, for the rustling of leaves in a gentle mountain breeze, for the feeling of self sufficiency when surviving on so little, for the reward of an incredible view from a mountain top after working so hard to get there, for being able to eat 3 meals a day in different locations with different scenery, for the cozy warmth of my sleeping bag on a cool fall night, for the chance to go swimming in the frigid waters of Maine's back country, for the isolation from most of the bad stuff going on in the world today, and for the feeling of living on "trail time" by not having a clue what day of the week or month it is.

These things i all miss.  With time the void will fill as i readjust to my home off the trail.  The trail may be a love/hate relationship but it became a part of me.  I see why there are people that get sucked into trail life and just hike it year after year after year.  Even though i have hiked the entire AT and can identify every view in every picture i feel as though i have barely scratched the surface.  I very well might do another AT thru hike eventually; however if i did another it would be a NOBO so i could see it from a different perspective.  Right now everyone that sees me asks all these questions about my hike and i really enjoy telling stories about both the good and bad times.  But with every story the longing to get back out on the trail increases; it's one of the top things i think about.  Eventually this will pass as people will have heard the stories and this thru hike will become a thing of the past.  Its a long road of recovery but i will succeed and turn out just fine.

What I Have Taken From The Appalachian Trail

There is a saying "Leave No Trace." Part of that is, "take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footsteps." Or something like that. Well I think I took more than just memories. The trail gave me many things I believe. Number one, I am more confident than ever before. Number two, I was constantly reminded to always put everything before God first. Whether it is a blessing and you need to thank him; or a tough situation you are facing. An example with the tough situations were my foot problems up north. At first I worried about it and how I would deal with it. No sirrrryyyy that's not the way to approach problems. I remembered while on the trail that I shouldn't worry about problems just give it to God and ask for his guidance/help. When I fell and busted my knees up towards the end of my hike I was crying out as I was writhing on the ground in pain asking God to let me be able to finish my hike and not be incapacitated. I knew he would provide a way for me to finish if it was his will and guess what? I finished thanks to God who gave me the strength to get up off the ground, continue to put one foot in front of the other, and hike until I reached my destination. Another thing I took from the trail is being more comfortable in the woods at night. Let's face it the woods at night can be scary and you hear things that are spooky sounding. After having slept and especially hiked in the night so much I am very comfortable with the dark. It helps though that I have been shark fishing on the beach at night for 7 years and hog hunting at night for 3 years also. I am sure there are other things I have taken and maybe I will come back if I can think of any others and update this page. But at the point I am writing this my hunger is kicking in and I want to eat. I cannot think any more except about food so at that I am going to sign out for the last time. It has been a pleasure sharing my 2014 Southbound Appalachian Trail thru hike experience with you and thank you for sticking with it. If you continue to comment I will read them and I would enjoy hearing back from those that have read this blog. Goodnight

What's Next for Sharkbait

I have had a lot of time to think about future "bucket list" items I want to accomplish. My next BIG adventure, although not quite as crazy as an AT thru hike, will be to hike the El Camino in France, Spain, and Portugal (I think those are the countries it goes through). It is 500 miles long I believe and is a pilgrimmage sort of hike. There are different paths to take but I think the French way is the one I would do. I haven't done much research at this point I have just met a lot of people on the trail that have done it and it is right up my alley. I am not going to push it like I did on the AT and I will not do it solo. I will find a friend to hike with before I go. What I like about the Camino is you can essentially carry just a day pack with a sleeping bag, a few bottles of water, and that day's worth of food. Thats it. You hostel hop, I think they are called barista's over there, and get stamps for each place you go in a passport thingy for the trail. Being able to eat fine cheeses and fresh bread every day sounds really good after coming off an AT thru hike where i have eaten junk for the whole trip and I have to carry day's worth at a time. The Camino is not "woodsy" like the AT it is mostly road walks from what I understand and you go through a ton of small villages every day where you can see first hand the local culture over there in a different way than the normal "touristy" way. That sounds like a cool adventure to me. Other things I want to do is go out west and hike some out there. I don't have a desire to do a thru hike of the PCT or CDT at this time but there are some areas I would section hike for sure. I also want to complete the Bartram Trail in GA/NC. I hit a portion of that back in June on a shakedown and that is one gorgeous trail. I will be back to the AT for section hikes but not in the push it fashion I did on this thru hike. It will be way more kicked back and I will actually camp rather than eat/sleep/hike.

Post Hike Thoughts

I'm back in Florida and boy does it feel strange. Traveling in a car at 70mph was a total different sensation than having maxed out at 4mph hiking over the past few months. I want to give a big thank you to Courtney for coming and picking me up and putting up with my smell in a small car. It was great to have somebody to talk to for the ride home rather than being stuck on a bus. While I am thanking people I would like to thank everybody that sent me Mail Magic and also my Uncle Ford who sent me Mail Magic but the P.O. lost it or it was stolen who knows. To all of you who encouraged me, prayed for me, and commented on the blog or photo's I really appreciate it. Mark and Brandon thank you once again for stopping by the house last year and giving me pre-hike advice. My biggest thanks goes to our Lord and Savior for never forsaking me, always getting me through tough times, and for providing me the opportunity to do this hike. My parents need some help around their houses for a while so that will give me something to do for the remainder of the year and I will stay with them until January. Taking a shower felt great and to be honest I cannot sleep right now. It's gonna be strange adjusting to a life other than the trail. The Appalachian Trail was not just a hike, but a journey, and was my home for 111 days. I literally was living in the outdoors 24/7 breathing the fresh mountain air for majority of the hike... that's a crazy concept to fathom. I heard on the radio that the high is 79 and low of 56. That is sooo different than a low around freezing every night and a high in the 60s. One thing I have been thinking about recently is I have been wearing the same shirt and shorts every day of this hike. When I got to my folks house I put on some shorts and nothing fits at all. What do I do when I am so skinny. I dont want to go shopping and spend a ton of money when there are no sales going on right now you know what I mean? So I guess a belt cinched very tight will have to suffice for now. One of my biggest concerns is how my weight will change after this hike. I will no longer be hiking 20+ miles a day 7 days a week in the mountains. I want to maintain this physique but build up the upper body mass that I lost during the hike. So I guess I will start doing some running if my knees can handle it, maybe bike a bunch, get some bands to do muscle workouts, or whatever else I can think of. I'm not sure but I don't want to become a lazy bum and lose all this leg muscle that I have just worked so hard to build. I am 147 lbs at the end and I started at 159 lbs if I remember right. Another thing I hope will get fixed on its own is my bladder. Problem number 1 is it has shrunk because I have had my pack hip belt cinched down tight on it for a long time and that has reduced its size. Problem number 2 is I don't have much in the way of bladder control. You see whenever I had to take a leak i could go and I just went wherever it doesn't matter. Sometimes there would be a cool looking tree, or a sign post, or a cliff, uhhh maybe I should stop there. Haha. So learning to actually have to hold it and not being able to go whenever and wherever will be interesting. Hopefully I don't need my mommy to teach me potty training lessons like when i was a toddler. Getting used to being around people will be a challenge I forsee when in areas that are very crowded. To be honest though I am not concerned and should adjust fine with time. Loud music like at church will be tough too but with time I will be able to handle it again.

Day 111: The End of A Journey

I woke up this morning feeling great and ready to pump out some miles.  It was a crisp, cool morning with a slight breeze blowing... perfect for hiking.  When the sun came up there was blue skies and not a cloud in sight.  It was only 15.8 miles to the finish.  I did 14.8 miles to big stamp gap which is where i planned on meeting my friend Courtney.  She volunteered to come pick me up so i wouldn't have to get a bus ride back and i appreciated that a lot.  We met at big stamp at 12:30pm and hiked to the top of springer mtn together.  There were some other thru hikers up there that i have never met before but i had heard of via shelter logs.  Amazingly i didn't cry at all at the top i figured i would.  Courtney and i hit the road and went over to Amicalola Falls State Park at the base of Springer Mtn.  where i register as a successful thru hiker.  I am number 13 successful SOBO thru hiker for 2014.  To put that in perspective i was the 75th thru hiker to reach Harpers Ferry, WV.  I didn't get a number at Katahdin but they had 242 sobo thru hikers register there total this year.  Since i started late in the season i would estimate i was approximately number 215 to start at Katahdin.  Thank you for following this blog i have enjoyed sharing this experience with you and i hope this has inspired you in some sort of way.

Day 110: The Georgia Cakewalk

Today i did 26 miles.  I only have 15.8 left to do tomorrow!  I crossed over blood mountain today and went through neels gap which is a cool place.  There is an outfitter there called mountain crossings and the trail passes through an overhanging between two buildings.  So Georgia is really easy hiking and i highly recommend hiking the AT here in GA to anybody back in FL.  To be honest GA is one of the easiest states on the whole AT.  NC, TN, VA, NH, and ME are way way tougher.  Especially ME (Maine).  There is only one other person at Gooch Mountain shelter which is where i am staying tonight.  It will be a bittersweet end tomorrow but i am ready to be done with hiking 20+ miles a day 7 days a week.  Doing an AT thru hike aint easy and is something i am going to be glad to say ive accomplished.  I will be doing some more posts after i finish about things ive learned while out here or how ive changed.  Things like that.  It may take me a couple days but i will do them.  Tomorrows destination: Springer Mountain, Georgia

Day 109: 11/9/14

I woke up this morning feeling a lot better.  I slept great due to being on a comfy bed, i had 4 soft pillows, and sheets.  If you didn't know i dont carry any sort of pillow while on the trail.  Sometimes i use my fleece pullover or my clothes bag but not too often.  Its usually more tolerable to not use them.  My knees are still hurting some but are way better after resting and icing.  Any time i stop for 30 seconds or more they stiffen up but walking again helps them loosen up.  I did 26.4 miles and had to night hike 1.75 hours.  I didn't hit the trail until 9 am which hurt timing but at least i got a huge breakfast.  The holiday inn had top notch staff and probably the best continental breakfast ive ever seen.  They even had a lady making hot items like biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and cinnamon rolls.  Hitching out went better than expected it took about 20 mins.  Sunday mornings are tough because everyone is going into town for church not out of town.  Everyone else just sleeps in so not many people on the road.  But hey, this was the last time i had to hitch on this adventure.  Tomorrow is my last big day on the trail wooohooo!  Tuesday will be an easy stroll to the finish.

Day 107-108: The Longest Stretch

It snowed during movie night.  It was only a tiny bit and didn't affect hiking.  I hit the trail at 6:30 am from Wesser Bald Shelter.  I saw a total of 3 fire towers between days 107-108  which is a lot... but then again i did a lot of miles.  Sometime this afternoon i got to a road to hitch into Franklin, NC.  I went to the post office and got a mail drop from my grandmother.  Thank you granny!!!  I then ate Bojangles and hit the trail again around 4:30pm.  I had done 21-22 miles at this point but had to keep going.  I hiked through the entire night to get to Hiawassee, GA which i got here at 8:30am.  That is 61.8 miles of hiking total.  The reason i did that was to get to the post office on Saturday during the few hours they are open to get a package from a family friend named Patty.  It should have been here already and if i had waited to get here i would have to have done 56 miles between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon and thats not how i want to finish pushing it like that.  This package has been sent previously to 2 other post offices and each time it arrives late... like up to 6 days late.  So i got to the P.O. and guess what it aint here and wont be here until Tuesday.  Grrrrr i just killed myself for nothing.  But the postmaster said she would mail it to an address i gave her so hopefully i get it back in FL. 

Now back to last night.  I had a really bad fall around 11:30pm.  Both my ankles got caught on a fallen tree limb and i hit the ground hard.  I landed on my knees and both of them hit a big tree root simultaneously.  I was screaming in agony as i was writhing on the ground.  I thought my knees were broken they hurt so bad.  The mental challenge kicked in and i was concerned i couldn't hike any more. The left one was bleeding a lot with surface bruising and both were swelling up.  But the right one was hurting the most.  It took me 5 minutes before i could get up and barely hobble down the trail.  My knees were stiff as boards at first or any time i stopped moving the rest of the night.  But i still had 22 miles to do and i needed rest.  I decided not to stop at a shelter because i needed to use RICE and thats not available out here... at least the ice part.  Hiking the remainder of the night was agonizing and really cold but i made it.  Last night is the first time i have ever hiked in layers which worked great its just usually not that windy/cold i guess.  I crossed into Georgia last night also so thats cool, last state.  After going to the P.O. and getting breakfast i paid for a room at the Holiday Inn Express.  I haven't paid for a single nice place this whole trip so why not.  Plus they have tv's for college football, an actual bed with pillows, ice machines to ice my knees, as well as easy access to the grocery store for resupply.  I sat around most of the day sleeping and icing my knees which hurt bad.  It stinks i was finally in my prime feeling great with no issues and moving great and now i am injured with 69 miles left.  I aint giving up i have to finish even if its hard to walk i will make it to Springer on Tuesday.  I should take a zero and keep resting my knees but i want to finish and i have arrangements all made to go back to FL Tuesday.  Moving on is going to be hard mentally this trail is fighting me all the way to the end.  I have come so far, if i were to quit now even though i am injured i couldn't live with myself.  Its not easy doing this every day and i am looking forward to finishing.  There are aspects of the trail i will miss but i am ready for this thru hike to be completed.  If you read this before i finish please pray for my knees to cooperate.

I haven't been taking any pics recently i dont feel the need to.  There are no leaves on the trees and its very dull.  At least the snow pics were cool.

Day 106: 11/6/14

It rained last night and this morning for the first hour of hiking.  But i made it to the Nantahala Outdoor Center where i got a huge late lunch and packed out a sandwich to go.  The general store was closed for the season so i couldn't resupply.  I bought 4 cliff bars at the outfitter which i hate cliff bars but food is food and hopefully i will make it to Franklin, NC tomorrow without starving.  I wanted to go 26 miles but only made it 21 miles today with the restaurant stop.  The time change is really hurting me.  There were two section hikers that got to the shelter at the same time as me.  Well ive seen it all now here on the AT because we watched the new Godzilla movie on one guys iphone 6!  He had portable speakers to so sound quality was incredible.  He has a huge battery charger and extra batteries so they can watch a movie every night.  Pretty awesome if you ask me... movie night on the AT. 

Day 105: Da Smokies Part 5

I made it out of the smokies today, past fontana dam, and back up in more mountains.  It was a 26 mile day.  I am low on food so i will have to ration to get to the N.O.C. tomorrow.  There were only a handful of spots with snow today and eventually it disappeared.  I am glad to have survived it and i didn't get frostbite in my toes from the Appalachian slush puddle trail.  Boy that water under the snow is cold (it never turned to ice like i thought it would).  I killed my 4th mouse of the trail.  I stabbed it with my trekking pole.  The mice in the smokies shelters were insane!  They were everywhere and dont sleep at night.

Day 103: Da Smokies Part 3

The roads opened around 10 am and by the time i got back to the trail it was 11:15am.  Sunny and blue skies were the weather today.  I went to hike out of Newfound and holy cow the snow was deep.  Within 3 steps i was already waist deep!  I had been told by a trail maintainer before the storm hit that this section from newfound to clingmans dome holds the most snow due to elevation, the side of the mountain its on, and the sun doesn't shine there.  Well that snow was only going to get deeper so i decided to road walk to clingmans.  I normally wouldn't skip a section of trail but i felt this was a good reason to.  Plus the road walk is over 7 miles so its comparable to what the trail would have been mileage wise.  At clingmans dome i got some cool pics and set off into a winter wonderland.  By the way clingmans dome is the highest point on the AT at over 6600 ft!  No tracks were left in the snow before me so i had to posthole it.  I had no clue what was underneath where i was stepping.  Most steps were knee deep with some waist deep areas and my feet never hit the ground i was just compacting snow until it stopped me.  I wore my spikes but they didn't do anything in this mess i needed snow shoes.  I only made it 4 miles and i stopped at a shelter.  My feet were soaked and cold so i quickly got changed.  I was only able to do about 1.5 mph in the snow but i had a lot of fun hiking in fairyland.  Right before dark 3 overnighters showed up that had parked at clingmans.  They were from Wisconsin and had good cold weather gear but no snow shoes.  They had a hatchet and chopped wood and got a fire going in the chimney (all smokies shelters have chimneys) which really warmed the place up.  I killed my 3rd mouse of the trip.  I intentionally left an empty gallon Ziploc that had had food in it open so a mouse would crawl in it.  When one did i slammed my arm over it and zipped it shut.  I then threw the bag with mouse in the fire.  I reeeeaaally dont like mice. 

Day 104: Da Smokies Part 4

I hiked as hard as i could all day and only made it 16 miles.  Snow was deep and it aint melting.  But the last 3 miles it started to thin out and i felt solid ground for first time since clingmans dome.  Solid ground hurts and i had to regain my balance and how to use my feet.  My toes were cold and soaking wet today again.  As long as i kept hiking they were warm though.  You would think i would be wearing snow pants and a jacket and stuff but i still cant wear more than just shorts and a t shirt its too hot i push it so hard i sweat a lot.  I ate a ton of snow today.  There has been no water since i left newfound gap so snow will have to do but around 2pm i finally found water.  I have been expecting to find a dead body somewhere because of how cold it got but never did.  I met a guy tonight at the shelter that said i was the first person he had seen since Friday.  He got trapped in a shelter for 2 days then had only been shelter hopping since then.  He was only section hiking the smokies and didn't believe the weather forecast which is why he stayed up.  He was rationing food so i gave him a couple granola bars even though i am very low on food myself.  I had noticed a SOS stomped into the snow today at a shelter which had a clearing visible from the air and he said he did it.  That day he thought he was gonna freeze that night and had no cell service so he couldn't call 911. 

Quick update

Data and cell reception have been nonexistent until the point i am at now.  I am still hiking, its 3:15pm on 11/5/14.  The roads opened up on Monday and i hit the trail.  There was a ton of snow i was constantly hiking in 8" to waist deep snow for 2 days.  It was hard going but God gave me the strength i needed to get through it.  I am out of the smokies.  Rain is coming and i still have lots of miles to do so i will update when i get a chance.

Day 102: Zero day again

Today the temps warmed up but we can still see lots of snow up in the national park.  Newfound gap road is still closed on the TN side where we are and isn't expected to open until tomorrow due to snow, ice, and tons of downed trees.  My father taught me this saying as a kid, "adapt, improvise, overcome."  Well that is what i am doing and praise the Lord that Steve and Vicky were here to take me in.  I got to go to church today for the first time since being on the trail.  It felt great to be there but i will admit i was uncomfortable with worship music playing and lots of people.  If you think about it i have been listening to nature for the past few months and surrounded by trees.  Getting adjusted back to society will take a while so please bear with me those of you that i am around a lot during my readjustment period.  My end date wont be the 9th of November.  With this setback it will probably be the 11th but who knows until i hit the trail again.  Newfound gap crews that were clearing it said there are 4-5ft deep snow drifts up there.  Tomorrow it will warm up a lot more and rapid snow melt is predicted for the park.

Day 101: Zeroing in a Winter Storm

Wow what a day.  Thank God for Steve and Vicky's hospitality because they truly are lifesavers and the best trail Angel's ever.  I am not sure how much snow we had here but it was at least 4" but in the nearby town of Gatlinburg there was 7.5" of snow.  Make sure to check out  my picture account for cool pics.  I did get to have some fun today by chopping firewood (yes, i really enjoy that sort of manual labor a lot).  We also watched the UF game which was great to see UF win big time.  I sat around the fireplace and stayed warm most of the day.

Snowfall Update

I will update this probably a few times periodically throughout the day.

As of 10am Newfound gap in the smokies is reporting 17" of snow.  Where i am at we have 4" so far at the same point in time. 

3:00pm update.  22" of snow at 6000+ ft elevation!!!!!!!!!  Waist deep snow drifts in some areas.  Ummm isn't it November 1st?

Update at 6:30pm.  It snowed here until about 11:30am.  It was still snowing up on the ridge (where the AT is) until well into the afternoon.  It is expected to snow more tonight.  The weather forecast for Gatlinburg is a low of 26 tonight with wind chill at 13 degrees!  That means wind chill temps below zero on the ridge tonight because it is way colder and windyer up there.  All roads in the smokies are still closed except the ones just going to the visitor centers in Cherokee and Gatlinburg.

 To be honest we are playing it by ear and who knows what will happen.  My goal is to get on the trail tomorrow but if the roads dont open that wont happen.  The reason the roads are closed is snow, ice, and downed trees.  All the trees still have their leaves so the weather report said they accumulated so much snow there are tons of downed trees over the roads in the smokies.  

I appreciate those of y'all praying for me and please continue because if i do get out i will be hiking in some seriously deep snow which isn't exactly safe.

Day 100: Da Smokies Part 2 Run Away!!!

Today i got the heck out of dodge... or should i say the smokies.  I did 15.6 miles to Newfound gap where i met my grandmothers friends Vicky and Steve who offered to take me in.  It is a blessing from God that they were around to help me because otherwise I would have been in life threatening conditions.  We had this arrangement planned for about a month it just so happened to work out with this storm.  God sure does have a plan and if you put your faith and trust in him it is amazing how things will work out.  Vicky and Steve live about an hour from Newfound gap at a much, much lower elevation than the smokies.  They were kind enough to drive me to a local outfitter where i purchased some nano spikes to put on my shoes and a pair of heavy duty merino wool socks which i will need for sleeping.  They also took me to the grocery store for resupply.  Here is the reason i purchased spikes: there is rain coming before the snow hits.  That rain is gonna pool up on the AT like it does (aka the Appalachian River) and is gonna freeze solid then get a ton of snow on top of it.  Hopefully they pay off because they weren't cheap and there will only be a couple days i actually use them.  I cannot emphasize how grateful i am to Vicky and Steve for taking me in.  This really is a lifesaver and having a bed to sleep in and hot food to eat is soooooo much nicer than risking hypothermia at 6000 ft.  I will never forget Vicky and Steve helping me and this is the number one trail magic i have ever heard of.  It looks like i will be zeroing here tomorrow and hitting the trail if the road is open on Sunday.  I still have a goal of finishing the 9th but i will admit it will be a challenge because i will have to average 26 miles per day if i am able to hit the trail Sunday.  Here's one cool thing is i will get some awesome pictures of the Appalachian "Winter Wonderland" trail.  Also, i got some cool pictures at Charlies bunion today so check those out on my photo account. 

The weather forecast: 14 inches of snow

That's right folks, 14 inches of snow predicted between the night of 10/31 and the afternoon of 11/1 on the ridge in the smokies.  I don't know about what you are thinking right as you are reading this but that's a lot of snow.  Did somebody tell mother nature its only November 1st!  I mean what the heck this is gonna be a dad gum blizzard on the trail.  Can you imagine temperatures at night with that wind in the smokies?  Thats gonna be some insane conditions and i will be praying for all hikers trapped in the smokies during this storm.  I got to give a big shout out to Vicky and Steve for taking me in y'all are the ultimate trail Angels.  Here is another figure for you: the low on Sunday for Cherokee, NC is 18 degrees.  If you ever want to know the low for 5000+ ft on the trail drop that temperature 10 degrees from the nearest town.  That means single digit lows for the trail in the smokies.  In the smoky mountains the AT traverses about 70 miles of ridge line all from approximately 5000 ft to 6600 ft.  To be honest i do not have the equipment to tackle hiking or sleeping in the conditions that will be present for a few days. 

Day 99: Da Smokies Part 1

First things first, this morning, before i entered the smokies, i saw the biggest buck of my life.  It was a 12-14 point buck maybe even 16 point.  I have never ever seen anything like it the rack was so broad and massive.  I was able to sneak so close to it i could have shot it with a bow.  Uhhhhhh the torture the AT is putting me through.  Today was a fantastic day for hiking after that cold front passed through last night.  Last night got down to about 35 degrees and there were two others in the shelter.  To be honest that was one of the best nights sleep i have had on the trail.  It is hard sleeping on a pad every night in the open air but that 35 degrees and dry air was perfect.  It was a good day and i did 25 miles.  At mile 7 i hit I-40 which is a very low point at 1500 ft.  From there its a 16 mile climb to 6330 ft!  Holy cow thats a long uphill!  2 miles into the climb i hit Davenport gap which is the north end of the smoky mountain national park.  To be honest i kinda disdain the smokies because what started this year is they charge 20 bucks for thru hikers to hike through the park and i do not feel like the AT was designed to be a pay to hike system.  Its almost like the AT has its own personality that i have come to know (lets face it, its a love/hate relationship) and i do not feel like thru hikers should have to pay.  On the other hand i understand that the park needs to make money and you figure 20 bucks x 2000 thru hikers (est) = 40,000 bucks.  Thats a good chunk of change for the National Park Service.  My other issue with the GSMNP is you have to sleep in the shelters unless its completely full and if a section hiker shows up to a full shelter they take priority and can kick out a thru hiker.  I shouldn't have an issue because i am a SOBO and there aren't as many people out but that definitely affects NOBO's; many of which dont carry a shelter of their own.  Can you imagine getting kicked out of a shelter right around sunset and being told to sleep in the dirt or have to night hike to the next shelter?  That would stink.  What i do like about the smokies is the incredible scenery, impeccably well maintained trails, and good smelling forests that i think are spruce trees but i am not sure.  To be honest i could bust 40s no problem every day if the entire AT were as well built/maintained as the section in the smokies.  I was doing 4mph without even trying to go fast in the park today.  All shelters in the smokies are rated for 12 people but could easily hold 16+.  There are 4 others here tonight.  Its gonna be cold tonight with temps in the 20s. 

Day 98: 10/29/14

It was hard to leave the hostel when its raining but that's kinda life on the AT.  I did 26 miles.  The only noteworthy thing to mention was Max Patch which is a grassy bald that was cleared a long time ago of trees for cattle grazing.  Right as i was climbing to the summit the cold front passed, the clouds lifted a little, and the views opened up.  It was spectacular to see and my 4th favorite spot on the AT.  I felt like i was scuba diving with the solid gray cloud layer up top as the ocean surface, the mountains were like the reef sticking up from the ocean floor, and the little poof ball cotton ball looking clouds were trapped between it all kinda like schools of baitfish.  The picture here on the blog is that view. 

Day 97: Hot Springs, NC

I guess i never mentioned it but i have been straddling TN/NC since roan mtn.  Hot springs is a cool little town that the trail goes through.  I stopped at the outfitter where they let SOBO's use a computer to print out their smokies permit.  I ate at the smoky mtn diner a huge dinner.  I also stopped by the P.O. to get my 2nd mail magic from the Larkin family.  The last one they sent was in Fort Montgomery, NY.  I appreciate their support greatly and everybody that writes comments on the letters inside the package.  I did 20 miles today.  I promised myself from before i started that the one town i would stay in was hot springs so i am staying at the hostel at laughing heart lodge.  I am the only one at the hostel yet again.  Its nice not having a ton of other smelly thru hikers running around but it sure is a total different experience doing a sobo thru compared to a nobo thru.  There just is nobody ever around for the most part going south.  Its almost absolute isolation unless you are hiking with somebody.  One thing i would like to mention is that TN/NC is very tough.  The climbs are very steep and long with no switchbacks south of Erwin.  My black shirt is covered in soooo much sweat.  I haven't done laundry since kincora hostel.  Everybody south of there charges 5+ dollars just to do laundry which i dont want to pay.  Also, since i brought up the "mental challenge" of an AT thru hike everybody i talk to on the phone has been worried about me.  I said in that post that this is normal and unless you absolutely love living in the woods and hiking with a pack every day this is probably tough for you.  Yes, for me it is tough getting up every day and doing this because i dont have to be here i am choosing to put my body through this.  Yes, it has been mentally tough for majority of the hike and no i am not going to quit.  I never have been remotely close to the point of convincing myself that it i am going to quit.  I have hiked 1911.4 miles... 273.9 left to go.  That 2000 mile mark will be a sweet moment.

Day 96: 10/27/14

I slept under a blanket of stars last night.  The air wasn't all that cold but the wind was howling.  This morning i woke up with first light at 7:15 am and watched the sunrise at 7:45am.  That was a cool experience indeed cowboy camping up there.  Today was hot with a high of 78 degrees but it felt hotter.  My black shirt is turning white from all the sweat buildup.  It was a very tough day physically with hard terrain and i did 30.4 miles.  I had to night hike until 8:30pm to get to the shelter and when i got here nobody else was here which is nice.  I dont like being rude and waking others up by coming in late.  It just happened that i was on a very rocky exposed ridge that is 1 mile long when the sun was setting so i got an awesome sunset again.  The first picture below is the sunrise and second is sunset from the ridge.  Hot springs tomorrow!

Day 95: Life is short so live it to the fullest

I only made it 18 miles i think.  The town shuttle wasn't until 9am so by the time i got situated it was really late.  It was all uphills today and i got to the top of Big bald at 6:00pm.  I was gonna keep going and night hike but i decided to cowboy camp it up here.  I am on a huge grassy bald with 360 degree views at over 5500 ft.  How cool is that?  I dont want any regrets that i should feel the need to do something over and sleeping on top of this mountain was something i felt like i would regret if i passed up.  Its gonna be really cold though with this insane wind blowing.  I wrapped a trash bag around the foot of my sleeping bag as a wind blocker and set my pack and food bag up to block the wind at my head.  If it gets too cold i can always pack up.  The sunset was stunning and as good as it gets.  Im sure the stars will be cool tonight and the sunrise will be sweet to wake up to.  I changed plans and am going to finish on the 9th of November.

Day 94: Erwin, Tennessee

Blue skies and warm temperatures were present today.  The only downside was that at one point i noticed i had lost my buff, you know the thing i wear on my head.  So i dropped my pack and backtracked until i found it a mile back just sitting there on the trail.  That little detour cost me valuable hiking time.  I did 25 miles regardless and made it to Erwin, TN at 6:30pm where i am staying at Uncle Johnnies hostel.  I didn't want to stay here i wanted to just resupply and keep hiking on another 6 miles but that setback earlier held me up from getting here earlier.  The hostel does free town shuttles so they said they would take me to the grocery store in the morning.  Tomorrow will be a long day with basically all day being uphill.  The first forecast for winter is coming.  November 1-3 its supposed to rain and snow each day/night.  I am not concerned about snow its the rain mixed with below freezing temperatures at night that means ice on the trail and really cold socks/shoes.  Hopefully i can keep pushing the big miles and make it through the smokies before it hits.  I killed a mouse last night with a broom.  They were all over that shelter; i have had very few mice infested shelters so far but that one last night was one of the worst.

Day 93: Roan Highlands

Breakfast at Mountain Harbor is The Bomb!  Ohhh man was it good.  Today i did 25-27 miles i cant remember exactly how far it was.  Today i crossed over Roan mtn, round bald, jane bald, hump mtn, and little hump mtn.  All of which are grassy highlands that you have panoramic views and with partly cloudy skies it was a great day to be up there.  Roan mtns elevation is over 6200 ft and boy was it cold up there.  There is a shelter at the top which is the highest shelter on the AT.  The roan Highlands are officially my 3rd favorite spot on the trail.  1st is Katahdin and 2nd was Franconia ridge in the White's of NH.  Round and jane balds would be a great day hike if you are ever in the area you can park at carvers or carters gap cant remember what it was exactly and from there its about a mile to the summit of round bald.  Very cool.  You can drive to the top of roan i think.

Day 92: Hostel Hopping

Its always tough leaving a hostel especially when its warm and cozy inside and hovering around freezing outside.  But today i had to do 25.2 miles to get to Mountain Harbor Hostel so i had to get going.  If i would have gone past the hostel it would have been a 34 mile day and i needed to buy a couple things at the grocery store so the hostel was the best bet.  I hit the trail at 8am and did the 25 miles by 4:15pm!  Holy cow thats fast considering lunch break, snack breaks, water filtering breaks, etc.  The sun didn't come out until 11am and then it warmed up a little but a very nice day overall.  This is the firs time i have seen the sun in a few days.  The forecast is for sunny and warmer days for a while so that will be nice.  Mountain Harbor Hostel is also a bed and breakfast.  The hostel is situated on top of the barn which is cool.  There are 3 horses in the barn so i got to talk to them a little which was nice.  The main reason i wanted to stay here was because i have heard about the place since Maine because they are known for having the best breakfast on the trail.  So that has my name written all over it.

Day 91: 10/22/14

Yesterday evening the 4 of us staying in the shelter all agreed we were gonna sleep in because of how cold it was going to be and the wind didn't help.  I was the first up though and didn't leave the shelter until 9am which is really late.  Everyone else was just getting out of there sleeping bags when i left.  I was in no rush though because i was only doing 18 miles to Kincora Hostel which is a donation based hostel run by Bob Peoples.  He is famous on the AT for building switchbacks which i love switchbacks.  The suggested donation is 5 bucks and you get laundry, a shower, and bunk. I rode with some section hikers that just finished up there hike and had a vehicle so we went to town for dinner (i went to McDonalds and subway).  I bought a 12" sub and a burger plus sweet tea and milkshake for dinner and 3 more burgers to pack out for lunch tomorrow.  There is a wood burning heater so the hostel is nice and toasty compared to a shelter if i had kept going.  I saw a beautiful waterfall today called Laurel Falls.  Its not advised to go swimming around the falls because there is a whirlpool and people have died there.  I layed in my bed this evening and went through all my pictures i have taken while out here.  I can name almost every view or mountain like i was just there.  Thru hiking the AT may be a very big challenge mentally and the toughest thing i have ever done but has been worth it and i have enjoyed being able to live in the woods for so long.  The statistic i said in "The mental challenge" blog post about 2 out of 3 days are low moral days was wrong.  Yes, there have been a lot of bad days but its not 2/3 days except probably in NY/CT.  One thing i have learned about the cold is i dont like living in it 24/7 .  Its one thing waking up in a heated house with a hot pot of coffee and being able to carry lots of layers.  Its another living in an open aired shelter or tent and having to unzip my sleeping bag to freezing cold air, then pack my stuff up, then hike and i cant carry a ton of layers because clothes are heavy and they take up space in a pack.  That initial getting up and going is very tough in the cold.

Day 90: 3rd month the trail

It rained last night.  I hardly slept a guy had a dog and the thing was going haywire last night.  It would stomp its paws on the wood floor every 5 minutes and once every 15 minutes bolt out of the shelter then his owner would call him back and the process repeated all night long.  The owner said he had never seen the dog act like this and i mentioned that the shelter had a bear problem so maybe there was a bear around last night and the dog knew it but we didn't.  Today was a gloomy day with either being fogged in or overcast all day.  Plus a strong wind and being up on a ridge the entire day it was cold.  Moral was good despite the heavy pack.  My new diet of wraps i am making are delicious so i think that helps.  Easy day though for me and i did 22.7 miles.  Its gonna be super cold tonight the wind is blowing straight into the shelter with this cold front that is moving through.  I am really cold right now so i am going to bed and zipping up my mummy bag so that only my nose is exposed.  I wont leave my cocoon until morning except for when i have to take a leak at night.  Asleep by 7:07pm.  Hiker bedtime.  Ohh yeah check out the cool view from behind the shelter.  Its not often there is a view from a shelter.

Day 89: Entered Tennessee Today

Today i slackpacked the 18 miles from where i got off trail yesterday back to the hostel.  I grabbed lunch at Pork Bellies bbq joint.  Then i hit the trail with a heavy heavy pack.  I have enough food to hopefully get me to Erwin which is a long stretch.  I did 10 miles from Damascus to a shelter so 28 miles hiked today.  It didn't rain at all last night or today.  Moral was good especially since i got to slackpack and eat town food.  A few miles after leaving Damascus i crossed the VA/TN state line.  Thats pretty cool i only have 3 state's left. 

Shelter Life

I am doing this post to show you what life in the shelters is like.  Very first thing i do when i get to a shelter is inflate my sleeping pad and put my sleeping bag on it.  This reserves my spot in the shelter.  Then i go and gather water from the water source for the shelter.  Next i make dinner.  Then i brush my teeth and hang my food bag on a mouse hanger so the mice dont get it.  Then i curl up in my sleeping bag and study the guidebook for what is ahead of me.  Then i read the bible on my phone if i have enough battery.  Then i sleep.  I am usually asleep by 7:30pm.  Sunset at the moment is 6:45pm but gets darker sooner due to the mountains.  I personally dont want to live by an alarm clock while out here plus i turn my phone off at night so i dont even have an alarm clock so i usually wake up with first light.  I think this is around 7:30am.  The days are short right now and only getting shorter.

The Mental Challenge

This post is to discuss the level of mental difficulty an AT thru hike is.  There is a common saying that a thru hike is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.  I also once heard there are 2 kinds of people that successfully complete an AT thru hike: those that love living in the woods and could do it for the rest of their lives and those that are stubborn.  I am stubborn like most others.  It is not easy waking up each day and hiking day in and day out for 2,185 miles.  It doesn't matter if the terrain is easy or hard each day is tough.  In my case usually 2 out of 3 days are low moral days.  I just put my head down and do my best to make some miles.  When moral is low it is also hard to hike fast.  On good days 3.5mph is typical; on bad days (most days) just trying to do 3 mph is tough.  I also will admit it is tough to enjoy the trail on low moral days.  Like today i was in Mt. Rogers and Grayson highlands areas which are phenomenally beautiful but i had a hard time taking it all in.  I just kept moving pretty much.  There aren't many things that can cure low moral either.  Its like this pretty much all the time since the very beginning.  The constant battering and bruising on the body, wet feet (my nemesis), sweaty days, cold nights, loneliness, sleepless nights, fatigue, etc are all things that wear on us thru hikers.  To be honest I am just plain flat out tired.  Ive been tired since Connecticut that i can remember.  The trail has worn me out and I am ready to be done although i have less than 500 miles still to go.  Non thru hikers often ask me if i ever want to quit and the answer to that is every second i want to quit.  I feel that is a very generic response among us "stubborn" thru hikers.  But i wont quit.  I will keep putting one foot in front of the other as long as i am able until i reach Springer Mountain in Georgia.  I once had a dream and made a goal to thru hike the AT.  No matter what gets me down I am going to do my best to accomplish that goal. 

Here is an example of a really, really tough day i had mentally recently.  This was the day i got to woods hole hostel and Pearisburg.  There was a reroute in the AT this year and the guidebook didn't have anything to say other than mileages and locations of things between two points will be different than what is listed.  Well 1 mile into it there was a woods road and no blazes for SOBO's to know which way to go.  Great....  So i looked at the back of a tree and saw a NOBO blaze so i knew which way to go.  Meanwhile there were no blazes at all for SOBO's and no indication of where the trail got off the road.  I walked for 2 miles before i figured i must have missed it, i turned around, and i finally found where it was when i saw the NOBO blazes.  The trail was hidden out of sight for SOBO's along the road but marked impeccably for NOBO's.  Ohh yeah the roadwalk was only supposed to be for 0.2 miles i guesstimate... not 2 miles.  I broke down and cried my eyes out but continued to hike for about 45 mins to be honest.  I was so sick and tired of the trail and all the B.S. out here like the trail not being blazed for a southbounder that I put up with every day.  If you ask yourself though what in life is not full of B.S.?  Its usually really petty just like this situation and normally wouldn't bother me but i have noticed that things affect you more out here.  The AT is a rollercoaster of emotions and truly is a journey not just a 2,185 mile hike.  There is something about this trail.  One thing you have to think about is I am not getting paid or compensated or directly benefiting at the moment in any way to put up with this stuff i.am actually spending money to be out here.  Its stupid stuff like this that after being out here for so long makes me snap and I am only hanging on by a thread.  Ohh well i got through it.  Hopefully i return to normal after i am done with the AT because i dont like hanging on by a thread. I've come 1,701.0 miles so far and i have 484.3 to go.  I guess i will have to keep putting my feet in front of each other one by one a little bit longer.  Ohhh yeah here is my finish date: November 10th. 

Day 88: Ponies!!!!!!

It rained all last night.  By the way i dont mention this for you guys but so when i am done i can count how many days it rained while i am out here.  I may be in a shelter but with the rains it soaks the leaves, grass, mud, etc so my shoes/socks get soaked regardless of whether i was actually in the rain.  The mice were active too.  I had one crawl across my feet of my sleeping bag and one lady had her toilet paper chewed up.  I think they mostly stayed on her side of the shelter even though she had a dog that didn't do squat to chase them off.  It was cold too.  This morning a ladies thermometer read 35 degrees.  Brrrrr.  I reek and so does my mummy bag.  The sun didn't come out until 10:30am but it was perfect timing right as i entered Mt. Rogers recreation area and Grayson Highlands State Park.  I did get to see a herd of wild ponies.  Wooohoo!  That was my goal to see a pony.  But the Mt. Rogers area is gorgeous and i am glad it was a sunny day.  At 5:00pm i met a gentleman that said he owns Woodchuck hostel in Damascus and offered to drive me there and shuttle me back to the trail.  So i only did 22 miles but i got to resupply, a shower, laundry, and a warm bed.  That is much wanted since tonight in the mountains it will be below freezing.  In the morning i will get shuttled back to the road i got off at and will slackpack 14 miles back to Damascus then pick up my pack and keep going.  I really needed a town stay moral has been really low and i am tired.  Hopefully i feel better tomorrow.  I am glad i met woodchuck on the trail today because the way my miles were gonna work it would have been to short of a day tomorrow to stay in Damascus so i would have kept going which would have meant smelling horrible longer.  Plus i like slackpacking.

Day 87: 10/18/14

Today I did 24 miles.  It was a gloomy day with no sun all day and it was cold too.  My motivation levels were low today and it was hard to get my pace going.  Its gonna be cold tonight.

Day 86: 10/17/14

It rained yet again last night.  I sure was glad to be in that stone cabin shelter out of the wind it was blowing.  One guy had a thermometer and it was 40 degrees inside the shelter i would hate to imagine what it would of been outside.  Today I did 34 miles.  At 4:30pm i got to Atkins, VA and there is a restaurant there called The Barn that has a 16oz hiker burger for 7 bucks.  I ate it like it was nothing along with some sweet tea and a peach cobbler with ice cream desert.  I was hungry again within 2 hours.  I didn't get to the shelter until 10:15pm so it was a long day.  I met a man leaving sodas at a road crossing as trail magic today.  His name is lumbermack and he thru hiked i think he said in 06'. 

Bye Bye Minnow

I will see ya in less than a month Minnow!  It was fun hiking with you and zeroing in that shelter was cool.  I hope your feet and ankles heal up.  Thank you for teaching me how to change settings on my phone camera so that the pictures i take pick up the fall colors. 

Day 85: The Adventures of Minnow and Sharkbait Part 4

Minnow left today.  It rained all last night yet again.  We didn't go to trubrits like planned.  She called a friend last night and this morning that just happened to be in Tennessee and he said he would come pick her up from the road crossing 1.2 miles from the shelter we were at last night.  Her feet were killing her; i firsthand know what its like hiking with blisters in the spots she had them as well as having ankle pain.  So we agreed that this was probably the best plan even though she didn't get to hike near as far as originally planned.  I ended up doing 24 miles to a shelter on top of a mountain at 4400 ft elevation.  It was a rainy, dreary day but at least it wasn't hot.  The shelter is a stone cabin with bunks inside so i am not in the insane wind that i can hear howling outside.  It is clouded in up here so I don't know if there will be any views in the morning.  A-bomb caught me today.  It was really good to see him after i left him back in northern PA.  I figured with minnow joining me for a while and me slowing down for that some people would catch me.  He has a tent so he isn't forced to shelter hop like i am so I'm not sure how long we will see each other.  There are some weird distances in shelters coming up.  For example, tomorrow there is a shelter at 9 miles, 27 miles, or 34 miles over difficult terrain (lots and lots of mountains).  So i am planning 27 miles.

Day 84: The adventures of Minnow and Sharkbait part 2

(Minnow) didn't really do much today. Much nicer hike today then it was yesterday for my feet. Sharkbaits definitely the best older fishbro a minnow could ask for. Tomorrow will be my last day on the trail and ill be back on saturday. My ankles and feet make even the easiest parts painful every step.  Have i mentioned beef jerky tastes amazing?
Anyway I'm glad to have met all these thru hikers.
Dear Appalachian trail section....ILL BE BACK....eventually...

(Sharkbait) Today was a beautiful day with highs in the 60s and partly cloudy.  Last night that big front moved through and it dumped more rain.  We did 9 miles today and finished at 2:45 pm.  Tomorrow we will go 9 miles to a place called Fort Bastian which is a hiker hostel run by a guy called trubrit.  From there on Friday morning Minnow is going to be getting a ride to where her car is parked.  She is not in the proper physical condition to be able to hike through the terrain that is upcoming.  On a scale of 1-10 the terrain we have been on over the past couple days is a 1-2 but will get harder after trubrit's place.  It doesn't help her shoes dont fit right so she is getting foot pain, rubbing, and blisters.  Her ankles are a lot better after the zero but still hurt.  So unfortunately her hike is ending short but i have and will continue to enjoy the time we spend together.  She is tough and i think she is learning first hand at how hard life on the trail is.  She has expressed interest before in one day doing an AT thru hike also.  I am not sure if that interest still exists after this trip but i believe its definitely been an eye opener.  A cool thing we saw today was a cow horn buck.  I was stopped waiting for Minnow to catch up when i spotted the deer about 50 yds away in the woods.  When minnow got there i whispered to her and pointed out where it was.  I did some buck grunts and it came over about 50ft away and was looking at me like "what the heck that human is making a grunt like me?"  I could have shot that thing with my bow it was so close.  Us deer hunters use the grunt to stop a moving deer in its tracks so you can shoot a still target rather than a moving one.  Well i have gotten a lot of practice while on the trail because of how many deer there are so im pretty good at it now i must say.  I have been asked to do a post on what i have learned or will take away from the trail.  I am not doing that post until the end so you will have to keep following this.

Day 83: The adventures of Minnow and Sharkbait part 2

(Minnow) We zeroed in a shelter today. Its supposed to rain soon and there's a tornado watch but at least the leaves are pretty to look at. I messed up my ankles pretty bad yesterday so it was nice to zero. Sharkbait doesn't smell so great either especially his sleeping bag. My ankles are feeling a little better at least except for uphill. It sucks to have to leave early but its good to spend some time up here with sharkbait.
Minnows don't swim upstream and neither do i! Leave that to the salmon's!

Minnows words of wisdom: if you think you're gonna go swimming getting that water resupply....dont.

(Sharkbait) I never mentioned that i saved Minnows life yesterday she fell into a raging river trying to fill her water bottle.  The bank was clay and she couldn't get out so she called for me and i rushed down to pull her out.  She didn't have her pack on fortunately which would have been a bad situation.  She is a tough gal though i will give her that.

A Thru Hiker Diet

Ok, I know i said weeks ago I would do this post.  I am still changing my diet all the time so what do i write about?  I guess i will provide examples of things i eat.  My typical resupply is 3-4 days.  I actually eat so much i do not have enough room for more than 4 days food.  The picture is of a 3 day resupply

Breakfast:
Pop-tarts
Honey buns
Oatmeal
Example meal: 4 packets of oatmeal, a packet of pop-tarts, and another packet pop tarts or honey bun

Lunch:
Always 2-3 tortilla wraps with something in it, examples follow
Pb&j
One tuna packet per tortilla(if i have mayonnaise i add that to).
Summer sausage, pepperoni, and sharp cheddar cheese (mayonnaise also)
Another thing i am going to try is a mix of hummus, spinach, smoked turkey, pepperoni,  peppers, and anything else that sounds good

Dinner:
2 packets ramen
Pasta side

Snacks:
Granola bars (nature valley are my favorite)
M&M's
Werthers caramel candies
gum
NO protein bars (ex: cliff bars) they are disgusting.  After eating a bunch in Maine because i figured i would need the protein i want to puke if i see one

I am going to be changing again by eliminating my stove and cook pot which i am sending home with my sister.  This will save me weight and space.  I will have to eliminate oatmeal and noodles but thats fine.  I am going to be switching to gourmet style wraps using tortillas and anything i can think of.  Like that veggie, hummus, turkey wrap.

Just to clarify something i do not do hot chocolate, tea, or coffee.  This is a thru hike not a camping trip.  This may sound like a shock also: i have not made a single camp fire this whole trip.  After hiking all day the amount of miles i do the last thing on my mind is gathering wood and tending a fire.

Day 82: The adventures of Minnow and Sharkbait Part 1

It rained all last night and a little this morning while we hiked but other than that it was a nice day to hike.  Minnow chose a good section to come hike with me because the terrain is going to be the easiest i have seen in all of Virginia.  We made it to the first shelter 7.5 miles into the day at 11:45 am.  Minnow felt like she could keep going 14.5 more miles to the next shelter and the terrain was going to be literally flat for a long time so we pushed on.  One thing any hiker does is roll our ankles a lot every day.  The AT isn't a paved path and i had warned Minnow of this beforehand because she has had ankle problems in the past.  Well she rolled her ankles and fell a few times today and was really hurting.  I helped her out as long as i could (about 14 miles) by frontloading her pack.  It felt miserable and eventually i had to stop carrying it because old injuries like shin splints were hurting so bad.  It was slow going with Minnows ankles hurting but we finally made it to the shelter at 8:45 pm.  I actually have cell service and data at the shelter so i will keep working on blog posts as well as uploading pictures.  I am aware of this nasty cold front coming and i dont think we can make it to the next shelter before it hits tomorrow with how bad minnow is hurting.  We will double zero at this shelter and hike out Thursday the 16th.  I brought a little extra food in case of emergency like this so we should be fine for now.  From where I am at now i have 599.5 miles left.

Day 81: Family Visit Day

Today was October 12th, 2014.  This morning the group of us SOBO'S got shuttled back to Pearisburg and we slackpacked 10 miles to the hostel.  The hostel is half a mile off the trail way up in the mountains so its a very secluded spot.  It poured rain all last night and this morning again.  There has been so much rain i was walking in shin deep water on the trail today in some spots.  Thats why the AT is often referred to as the Appalachian River.  When i got back i warmed up with a hot shower and sat around for my family to arrive.  Thats right i got to see my mother, grandmother, and sister today!!!!  This was the first time in months i have seen a familiar face.  My sister is joining me for 11-14 days to Hampton, TN.  She parked her car there and my mother drove her car up to Woods Hole to drop Summer off.  My mother and grandmother also went to visit family in NC so thats why they came all the way up here from Florida.  We then went out to eat for lunch and they took me to walmart for resupply and to get some shoes.  My last pair fell apart in the past few days i believe because of how wet its been.  The padding in the heel just disappeared so my heel got scraped up.  I paid 30 bucks for some shoes so we will see how long they last.  One of the SOBO thru hikers here at the hostel named Twinkle gave my sister the trail name Minnow so that is Summers new name while with me.  We will hike out in the morning.

Day 78-80: Four Pines to Pearisburg

Rain, rain, and more rain has been happening.  Sorry it took me so long to get posts up.  With rain and poor cell service when not raining its been tough to find time to do this.  The stretch of trail from four pines hostel to Pearisburg, VA was very difficult and the toughest i have seen in a long time.  On day 78 i did 22 miles, day 79 i did a mid 20 mile day, and on day 80 i did 20.  I passed some cool things such as the Dragons tooth which is a giant rock that sticks out of the top of a mountain like a tooth.  I also stayed at a shelter called Sarver's Hollow shelter.  In the vicinity of the shelter is an old community.  Im not sure how old it wasn't but the big chimneys weren't built with stone and mortar; just stone.  So i figure it must have been very old.  There were a few kinda intact derelict  buildings left that i peeked around in but no pictures because it was getting dark.  The shelter water source was one of the many old wells in the small village which is cool they are still serving their purpose after hundreds of years.  I ended up meeting a group of 5 SOBO'S that caught me on day 80.  Most of them i had passed back in PA but one girl started on August 1st.  She is the first true unsupported thru hiker to ever pass me.  I guess she is on a time crunch though and has to be done November 10th to go to Africa on some internship deal.  She admitted she wasn't getting to enjoy the trail like she would like due to the time crunch.  She has only taken two zero days this whole time.  Thats where i am going fast but still not too fast so that i dont feel any regrets about not hiking this trail right the first time.  I dont want to feel the need to come back one day and do this again.  But the group of 5 and i got shuttled to Woods Hole hostel which is a really cool place.  It's a working farm, bed and breakfast, and hostel deal.  They do community style dinners and breakfasts that everybody pitches in to help prepare.  Everything from the bread to ranch dressing is homemade and/or comes from there farm which was cool to see.  Plus the food tasted amazing.

Day 77: 10/8/14

Today I did 16 miles to Four Pines Hostel.  At the hostel was a mail drop aka mail magic from my aunt kitty and uncle jim.  Thank you so much the goodies inside are great!  I passed several noteworthy areas including tinker cliffs and McAfee's knob.  This hostel is a donation based 3 bay garage a guy converted into a hostel with beds, cots, couches, a stove, microwave, toilet, and shower.  The hot shower felt great.  I did laundry in the utility sink and hung everything on the fence to dry.  I got here around 2:45 pm so i got to dry my sleeping bag and shoes to in the sun after that downpour last night.  The hostel owner even has an old Chevy Astro van that he lets hikers take 0.7 miles each way to the local convenience store to resupply.  Convenience stores stink for resupply because they are super expensive and have limited options.  Driving for my first time since i started this trip felt awkward i must admit.  Its so much different than hiking i actually have to pay attention to other drivers, watch for deer, watch my speed, and stay between the lines.  On the trail all i do is look at the ground in front of me all day and just make sure i don't trip on anything.  Adjusting to life after i am done with the trail is going to take some time i think...

Day 76: 10/7/14

Today I did 20 miles.  It rained all last night and I got a late start out of the shelter.  Around the 11mile mark the trail passes through Daleville, VA where I ate lunch at Bojangles.  I then did 9 more miles to a shelter.  But 6 miles before the shelter rain started falling and eventually it was outright pouring on me.  This was the first time since Vermont that there has been so much rain recently that the trail was a stream or should i say a lake.  But getting soaked wasn't the issue.  It was the lighting, it was everywhere.  With nowhere to hide or take refuge i just hauled butt to try and get out of the storm asap.  At one point the lighting was so close that i was hiking bent over in an attempt to make myself shorter and less of a target which i'm not sure if that works or not but hey im still alive.  One lesson I learned today is this: when stuffing your sleeping bag into a garbage bag in your pack to keep it from getting wet make sure you stuff it in the garbage bag and not to the side of it.  My down sleeping bag got wet with the rain.  Thats not good because down has no insulation value when wet.  So i layered up and hoped that by zipping the sleeping bag all the way up my body heat would dry the bag and sure enough by the morning of day 77 it was dryer. 

Day 75: 10/6/14

I did 21miles today.  I got to a shelter just before the first wave of a cold front hit so i didn't get wet.  So for the people that i talk to on the phone and are commenting on the blog where did you get the idea that i want my tent back?  I have no desire to have it back.  By not carrying it i am saving myself the misery of carrying 1.9 extra pounds.  I like sleeping in the shelters and will do this until the end of the hike.

Day 74: Enjoying the Trail

Today's mileage was 26.  It was a beautiful day with a high of 60 and low in 30s.  This morning i got a ride going out of Glasgow in the bed of a little Toyota pickup and froze my tail off during the 5 mile ride down a windy, mountainous road.  It was in the 30s during the ride; i wonder what the wind chill temperature with a 45mph wind would be?.  I guess its just another part of this adventure.  If you look at my photos you will see a boulder wedged between two big rocks.  That is the guillotine and the trail goes underneath which is purdy cool.  I've really been enjoying Virginia a lot.  It is a beautiful state although it seems to be the same terrain throughout it.  I enjoyed New England a lot (except Connecticut).  I did not enjoy the Mid-Atlantic states much.  But Virginia southward i feel i have been and am going to enjoy.  These mountains are fun to hike through and beautiful in my opinion.  The people here in the south are so much nicer than those in the Mid-Atlantic and New England too.

Day 73: 10/4/14

Today was another quick day with only 20 miles to Glasgow, VA.  There was a ton of uphill but i was flying at like 3-3.5mph consistently.  It felt good to have my full strength and the burning fire inside me these past 2 days which is what helps me hike really fast all day long.  Its days like today i could have done 30 miles no problem.  When i got to the road i hitched into Glasgow.  It was kinda funny a guy in a nice pickup truck went by without signaling with his blinker he would pull over like most do.  He ended up driving past and stopped 150 yds down the road and i just happened to look behind me to see him do this. Then he reversed all the way back to where i was and gave me a ride.  He said he picked me up because of my buff and he figured i had to be a fisherman from Florida because you dont see buffs up here.  He was going to set up a deer stand but he said he designs rod holders for boats so he is fishing in FL all the time.  Here in Glasgow i resupplied and am staying at a free town long distance backpacker camp.  It was created as an eagle scout project in 2010 and has a shelter with some bunks, power to charge stuff, a hot shower (it was too cold to take a shower without a towel so i didn't use it), and a porta pody.  Thank you to the town of Glasgow for maintaining it.  That cold front last night is the first big cold front of the season and its supposed to frost tonight!  Brrrr its gonna be tough to get moving in the morning.  But it should be another incredibly awesome day to hike tomorrow. 

Day 72: 10/3/14

Hmmm i wonder how often i am going to say this.  It rained again last night all night long... actually until 8am.  There was no chance of rain either.  Thats 2 nights in a row the meteorologists didnt forecast rain and it rained all night.  But this afternoon and night it is supposed to rain with a big cold front coming.  So my choice for hiking between storms was 10 miles, 15 miles, or 25 miles.  I originally wanted to do 25 but because it rained so long this morning there was no way i could leave the shelter until it stopped so i didn't have enough time before the front to do 25.  So 15 miles it was.  I cranked them out really quick and got to a shelter at 1:54pm.  I ate lunch, gathered water, took a nap, it started raining at 4:00pm, i ate dinner, and went to sleep in that order.  The nap felt awesome!  With all this rain that should really help at least the streams flow.  Or at least provide some puddles to scoop water from. Tomorrow i will get to the town of Glasgow, VA for resupply.

Day 71: 10/2/14

Last night it poured down rain all night even though it wasn't forecasted to rain.  Weird, but hey i am glad i was in a shelter.  Plus maybe it will help create some puddles to drink from.  Today I did 20 miles.  These were the toughest 20 miles in a long time.  This morning i started with a steep climb up Three Ridges Mountain and then a huge descent all the way to 970 ft of elevation.  Then there was a 4 mile climb up to over 4000 ft of elevation which brought me to the summit of The Priest.  That was one hard and very, very sweaty climb.  The views from the top were incredible and in my opinion the best since New Hampshire.  I figured out how to do a panorama picture too now so you will start seeing more of them.  I wish i knew how to do that back in Maine and The White's i would have some incredible pictures if i could of done that.  At the top of The Priest is a shelter and it is tradition to write a confession in the shelter register.  If you look at my picture gallery you can read mine and a couple other people's.  Sorry, i couldn't hold it any longer... (read my confession to understand).  I carried 2 liters of water today and didn't get dehydrated so thats good. 

Day 70: Hiker Monday's

Hiker Monday's are the day of/after a resupply.  Going into town your food bag is so light which makes your pack light it is nice.  Then i go and spend money on food and the pack is heavy again.  Grrrrrr.  I usually do a resupply every 3-4 days.  This morning I called a local trail angel and got a ride back to the trail after spending some time unsuccessfully trying to hitch out of town.  According to the guidebook you would think Virginia was the land flowing with milk and honey there are so many water sources listed.  Well almost every spring and stream was dry today.  It was like being back in New York.  I was able to do 20 miles though to a shelter and God answered my prayers because there was a spring barely trickling with a puddle just big enough for me to fill up.  I did get dehydrated today but i survived.  Tomorrow I will carry 2 liters rather than 1 so I decrease my chance of running out of water again.  Last night at that long distance hiker camping area i slept on a picnic table which is another first that i have done during this adventure.  I didnt want to sleep in the grass which gets wet at night and i dont have a tent so the picnic table worked.  Tomorrow I get to climb this giant mountain called The Priest.  It is gonna be one heck of a climb with 4 miles of uphill. 

Problems with Blogspot

Ive heard from a few people that they have been having trouble commenting on the blog.  One such issue is pressing the backspace key and it freezes the webpage.  I am having similar issues also.  One issue i have is posts not publishing and everything i am writing while making a post just randomly all getting erased and i have to type the entire thing over.  I believe it is a Google issue since they operate blogspot.  One suggestion i was told to say is if you are commenting from a computer type the comment in a word document and then copy/paste the words into the comment box.  Thank you for bearing with the issues and i hope you are enjoying reading about my AT thru hike experience.

Day's 66-69: The Rest of the Shenandoah's

I have finished the Shenandoahs and am in Waynesboro, VA as I am writing this at the end of day 69.  In the Shenandoah's cell service was virtually nonexistent so I wasn't able to keep updating this blog.  I wasnt even able to get a call to go through on my sisters birthday to talk to her.  The Shenandoah's are gorgeous though and it was really an enjoyable spot.  I am adding this to my list of "come back in future list."  When i do come back I am going to drive skyline drive which is 105 miles long and goes through the park.  I will also plan on actually camping in the nice campgrounds they have rather than being a hiker like i am doing now.  I only saw 2 bears and neither let me get close enough to take a picture.  I did get about 20ft from both a 7pt and 8pt buck which was cool.  On day 66 i did 28 miles, day 67 i did 23, day 68 i did 21, and on day 69 i did 21.  The leaves have started to change to the point its becoming noticeable.  Here in Waynesboro i am going to sleep at the YMCA hiker campground area.  It's free and has a little pavilion.  The YMCA also offers thru hikers a free hot shower with soap, shampoo, and towel so I took advantage of that.  After that I walked down to the laundromat to do laundry which is where i am at right now.  After this i am going to go to Mings Buffet which is a famous Chinese buffet among thru hikers.  NOBO's have been telling me about Mings and how good it is since Maine so if it has that good of a reputation it must be good.  One issue that i am facing and will continue to face is hostels are closing for the season.  90 percent of thru hikers are NOBO's and there are so few of us SOBO's that hostels close after the northbounders are done.  The next hostel that is open still is 160 miles from here so that will be my next stop. 

Day 65: Shenandoah's Part 1

Let me begin with an interesting  story from last night.  So I was at a shelter by myself and in the middle of a crazy dream.  Its around 2am and next thing I know someone is waking me up shining one of those big super bright mag lights right in my face.  Thats the last thing i was expecting at 2am when in a shelter by myself on a rainy night is for somebody to be waking me up like that.  It scared the stew out of me coming out of that intense dream.  I sat up in the blink of an eye and was like Huh? Huh? Huh? as i looked around.  Man i haven't been that startled in a long time.  But it ended up being a game warden asking if i had seen a squirrel hunter that had gone missing on the trail yesterday in the area i had hiked through.  I hadnt but with all the rain yesterday i could definitely see somebody slipping and breaking a bone or having a medical issue.  Plus it was hypothermic conditions last night so hopefully they found him.  Poor guy.  But anyways today I did 23 miles and entered Shenandoah national park.  I already saw a bear which was cool; there are supposed to be tons of them here so maybe i will see one that lets me take its picture before it runs off.  This afternoon i hitched into Front Royal, Virginia which was easy i got a ride within 5 minutes and somebody came up to me after i got done shopping at the food lion while i was packing my backpack and offered to take me back to the trail.  Plus i ate lunch while in town at KFC and drank sweet tea.  There aint nothing like southern hospitality and sweet tea.  It sure feels good to be back in the South.  There was a park ranger hanging around the shelter earlier.  There has been a problem bear here that has ripped open 2 tents, stolen people's shoes, and walked right up to the shelter during the day while everybody is there.  So the rangers have to "haze" the young, juvenile bears when they do this.  First they blow an air horn to try and scare it, if that doesn't work they shoot it with a paintball gun, and if that doesn't work they shoot it with a 12 gauge shotgun and rubber pellets.  I want to get paid to shoot a nuisance bear with a paintball gun that would be sweet!  I would aim for its balls, i guarantee you it would never come back.  But the bear didn't show up this evening... i was hoping it would just so i could see it get shot with something.  I guess the people tomorrow night will be the lucky ones.

Day 64: September 25, 2014

Lots of rain last night and today.  It was forecasted to stop around noon but it never did.  I didn't leave the hostel until 9am trying to wait out some of the rain but i had to get moving so i hiked in the rain all day.  I did 22.8 miles today.  Good news though is the terrain was great today.  There is constant elevation change in the form of mountains and there is actually a trail rather than rocks everywhere.  Other good news is my shin splints i had had pop up again the other day didn't act up at all today which is a very good thing.  That zero paid off.  Tomorrow i enter the Shenandoah National Park which is something i have been looking forward to since before i started this trip.  Maybe the weather will clear up and i will see some nice views. 

Day 63: September 24, 2014

Today I am zeroing at Bears Den Hostel in Virginia. I am going to stay off my feet all day, hopefully take a nap, maybe watch a dvd, and rest those shin splints. I am also going to stare at my guidebook for a few hours trying to figure out where I will be each night for the next few weeks. All I have to go off in the guidebook is how many miles I think I will be able to do each day, what I think the terrain will be like each day based on elevation profiles, when I will need to resupply on food and how long I think it will take to do that each time, and the next hostel I hope to shoot for. This will hopefully allow me to figure out some mail drop locations for those of you asking me for them.

Day 62: Three States in One Day

This morning I started out in Maryland. I then moved onto West Virginia (only 8 miles of trail in WV) and ended the day in Virginia. I hiked a total of 26 miles. While in West Virginia the AT goes through the historic town of Harpers Ferry which was really cool to see. In Harpers Ferry is the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) headquarters. The ATC oversees the entire trail so it was kinda cool to visit there. While at the ATC headquarters they took my picture and placed it in the album of all thru hikers and section hikers this year that made it to harpers ferry. I am the 75th SOBO thru hiker to make it there. In comparison there have been 1,267 NOBO thru hikers this year to pass through Harpers. Just shows how big of a difference it is doing a SOBO vs NOBO thru hike. If you look at the ATC website they list the total number of completed thru hikes by year and about 50% make it to Harpers and only 50% of those people finish. On average each year only 1/4 people that start as a thru hiker actually finish. I actually read a few signs about old building and whatnot today but I still had to keep moving. One particularly interesting thing to me was Jefferson Rock which you can see in my photo's for today. Thomas Jefferson thought the rock posed a hazard to the townspeople below so he had 4 pedestals built underneath it so that it would never fall. It wasn't even that big he could have just moved it away from the cliff edge but then again I wasn't around back then so I'm not sure what the circumstances were. I ended today at Bears Den Hostel in Virginia. I am going to stay here tonight and zero here tomorrow. BIG news though, I have 999.7 miles to go!!!! The countdown has begun. I never knew WV and northern VA were going to be as rocky as they are or I would have bought more food and planned for lower mile days. I heard Rocksylvania was the worst of it, Maryland has some bad spots which it does, but nobody ever told me they are just as bad in WV and northern VA. My shin splints came back today making it very tough to do the miles. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned the shin splints before in the blog but I have been battling them since the Whites of New Hampshire. Any place that is super rocky and I do big miles or long stretches without zeroing I get shin splints. I describe the feeling as with every step it feels as though my shin bone is just going to snap in half thats what it feels like. Some days it affects me so much mentally I hope it snaps in half just so I can have an excuse to quit but I try not to think like that. The absolute worst days for me mentally and physically were back in Connecticut and New York. Between the insane heat, humidity, shin splints, blisters, lack of water situation, digestion issues I was having due to using Aquamira (don't think I ever mentioned that one before), and all the other stuff going on in those states I was sooooo ready to quit. Just in case these rocks continue to be bad I am going to plan low mile days for a long time. Maybe try and stick to 18-23ish miles a day. I am not concerned about the shin splints though they have gone away each time in the past I just need to not do big days on rocky terrain and they will go away again. To answer questions to some comments my favorite flavor pop tarts is Brown Sugar Cinnamon. With regards to my shoes I would like them to make it to the end but most likely I will have to buy another pair in about 500 miles.

Day 61: Keepin them big wheels a turnin

29 miles hiked today.  I'm not sure how long i will continue to be able to do these big days with less and less daylight but I will continue to try and keep pushing myself.  Maryland for the most part is a relatively flat state with easy hiking but there are portions that are very rocky.  Every now and then I came through historic areas which was cool.  One was the original Washington monument.  There was another cool one which was the War Correspondents Memorial.  There were also some old battlegrounds and stuff.  I was in such a big hurry today though i didn't read any signs just took pictures.  The weather today was phenomenal with highs in the 60s and a nice breeze.  Probably the nicest day yet and its only going to get better with fall coming.  Time for bed i'm whooped.

Day 60: Back in the South!

Thanks to those dumb boy scouts last night I had to cowboy camp it.  I hardly slept at all and here is the reason: rattlesnakes mainly but also bears and porcupines.  Pennsylvania is slap full of timber rattlers and copperheads.  Guess what?  They hunt at night.  They are also cold blooded and i was a huge warm spot on the top of a very rocky ridge (rattlesnake friendly area) that had no protection between me and a snake.  So i was on full alert but i eventually fell asleep around 1am.  I set up booby traps around me so in case a snake did come in my proximity i might hear it coming.  The traps consisted of garbage bags and plastic grocery bags lying around me.  I'm still alive though and never saw a snake so that's good.  Today i did a total of 20 miles.  I wanted to go farther but i had trouble hitching into town for resupply.  I spent 30 mins trying and needed to take a break to eat and get off my feet and right then Redbeard and Sardine walked up so they stuck their thumbs out.  15 minutes later a guy in a jacked up diesel f250 pulled over and I was like "heck yeah this is my kinda hitch."  He gave us a ride to Walmart.  After resupply we went to Applebee's for lunch and to watch football.  Sardine and Redbeard are huge football fans and every sunday they nero or zero in a town to watch football.  So after lunch i said my farewells to my two buddies i had just spent the last however many days with which stunk to leave them but hey we all hike our own hikes.  I was able to hitch out of town within 5 minutes of putting my thumb out so that was nice.  My goal was to do the 20 miles and hopefully get to the shelter before it rained but the rain came 2 hours earlier than predicted so i got soaked.  Whatever i'm used to it i guess.  Speaking of weather though i feel very blessed in that i have had mostly phenomenal weather in terms of rain since leaving Vermont.  This afternoon i crossed the Pennsylvania/Maryland border and the Mason/Dixon line.  Thats right, this boy no longer has a Johhny Reb target on his forehead.  I am on home turf now.  Hahahaaaa just kidding i dont care about that sorta thing.  But I do look forward to actually being able to order a real glass of sweet tea again.  No more waitresses looking at me and saying in their best southern accent imitation, "now Darlin, we aint a servin that sorda thang round hare."  Ahhh its gonna be nice to be in Virginia in 2 days i really look forward to that state especially after how boring PA was. 

Day 59: Halfway Done!

Ok i'm gonna skip to the end of the day first.  So Sardine, Redbeard, and I rolled into the shelter which was slap full of boy scouts.  I asked if there was room because i dont have a tent and there is a chance for rain and they said no and i needed to go somewhere else and we got there right as it was getting dark so that means headlamping it.  So we just left because we were ticked.  They had zero respect for thru hikers and thats not the way i remember being taught when i was in scouts.  The ATC runs the entire trail and posts at every trailhead the rules of the AT.  A couple of those rules are if an AT thru hiker comes to a shelter that is full of non thru hikers somebody that has a tent must leave to make room for the thru hiker because we take precedence.  The next rule is if you have a group of like 6 or more you aren't supposed to use the shelters so that others can have room.  That boy scout troop had a lot more than 6 people thats for sure.  A lot of us thru hikers like me rely on the shelters for sleeping which is why they were designed in the first place is for thru hikers and when a group of scouts of all people dont follow the rules of trail that ticks me off bad.  That boy scout troop had tents also so its not like they were tentless also.  So we moved on to the first stealth site down the AT and i am cowboy camping yet again.  Other than that it was a great day.  We only did 19 miles today.  At lunch time I was stopped at a shelter taking a break and there were two overnighters eating lunch also and this was their first day out and they had packed in wraps from a store.  The lady only ate half and gave me the other half because she was full!  It was delicious and I really appreciated her offering it to me.  It was full of all sorts of veggies, ham, salami, and a ton of other good stuff.  After that we went through Caledonia state park and sat around the soda machine like the hiker trash we are but a soda sure tasted good.  Immediately after that there was a road crossing that said free hot meal 2 miles down road at church for hikers and church staff at 5:30pm.  It was only 3 miles more to the shelter so we figured we would get a meal and still have time to make it to the shelter before dark.  Well we tried hitching into town for 20 minutes without success.  At one point two of us had our thumbs out and one person was waving my American flag and people waved or honked but nobody would pull over so we walked it.  We got to the church at 3:30pm which was way early but they had coffee and snacks and a sub for us while we waited for dinner.  Then one lady drove us down to a store where i was gonna get a pack of gum and a pack of pop tarts and Sardine and Redbeard had some Gatorade and the lady bought it all for us!  We then got a huge hot meal at the church.  Dinner was meatloaf, cake, pasta with gravy, and salad.  Then a lady gave us a ride back to the trail!  So it was a pretty awesome day other than that dad gum boy scout troop.  Plus I passed the halfway mark for 2014 several miles into the day.