Woke up around 10AM Friday morning at the Motel 6 in Gatlinburg, Tn and walked to Walgreens to get thongs for camp shoes. Passed a few hikers I came in with on the trail, but today I wasn't going with them. They were doing fifteen mile days and I needed to slow down.
Bought some $2.00 thongs and walked to Subway and ate a roast beef sandwich. Then called Ravi, the Uber driver who took me into Gatlinburg, and told him to pick me up at the NOC store, the hiker's outdoor store--like REI without the great return policy.
Met Lonewolf sitting on the outside deck of the store. Hadn't seen him for a few weeks. He said he was leaving the trail; his wife was picking him up because his Achille's heel and hips were sore.
Who doesn't have sore hips after climbing over roots and rocks and sleeping on an air mattress or a pad for week I thought. But he is not the first to leave or won't be the the last.
He handed me a large freezer bag of peanuts that someone had given him. Thanks I said.
Two days later I gave the bag of peanuts to a hiker at a shelter who said he was low on food. I expect the bag will make it to Maine and will be on the lookout for it.
Ravi took me up to Newfound gap where the usual tourists were milling about. As I said I wanted to slow down and left at 2PM so I would only do 3 miles to the next shelter.
I bolted up the hill. I felt great. Probably due to a combination of good rest and pizza and steak. Whichever it was, I covered the ascent out of the gap and to the shelter very sprightly, passing hikers along the way in long strides.
At the Icewater Shelter I met 72 year old Huckleberry and his 65 year old wife Finn who were setting up a tent next to a Christian couple nearby, In another tent were a small family, Papa Choo-choo and his wife Else and their 14 year old granddaughter Spring Dancer. And Hardy and Small were in the other tents. I knew Hardy from Fontana Dam when he got drunk and I had to tell him to cut out the yelling.
Well Ol Hardy got drunk again that night. At about 10 PM I heard from my bag in the shelter some yelling and yelping like a guy in pain. I listen again and it was like a long howl from a dog. Then about 10 minutes later I heard, I'm Cold, I'm Cold. This went on and on.
Jesus, I thought, how long is this going to go on?
Then I heard some retching and some talking and then quiet. About 15 minutes later I heard a "hooweeee" and then another "hooweeeee" fifteen minutes later. I couldn't decide whether to get out of my nice warm bag and stop it or just jam my earplugs further in my ears. I felt sorry for the Christian couple in the tents next door to him and at the same time I was grinning with every "hooweeee" coming out of the darkness.
Then I heard a voice saying If you don't shut the f.... up then I am not going to hike with you anymore. Shutup! We got to get some sleep!
That seemed to have some affect and after listening to a couple more "hooweeee's" I fell asleep.
April 1. Tri-Corner Knob Shelter 222.2 Miles
This morning at Icewater Spring Shelter: Was that you last night Hardy?
Sorry he apologized. Apparently he drank too much moonshine he said.
Sorry doesn't cut it man I said. People are out here trying to get some peace and quiet. They can go to town for stress.
I know.
You know this is the second time you've done this. The way you drink reminds me of me. You may have a problem you know. You ought to consider googling Bill Wilson. Get help.
You know Bill Wilson? said Goodyear who was packing up his gear at the shelter.
Yeah I do. You?
Yeah I do. He's right Hardy. If you have a problem then Bill Wilson might help you. He helped me.
I didn't expect Hardy to listen to me or to Goodyear. He had to hit bottom first. And I knew from experience that he would eventually. Hopefully he'd hit before something terribly bad happens.
Walked with Goodyear for most of the day, speeding along with some good energy. We talked about growing up in the military and the culture of drinking that we grew up with. We had a lot in common. He also had a hard time settling into a career, dropping out of law school because it wasn't him. I fortunately didn't get accepted into Law School.
We stopped for lunch at Pecks Corner Shelter and walked the wrong way out of the shelter down another trail. Fritz, a German with a walrus moustache, stopped us about a mile down and told us that we were going the wrong way. We'd forgotten that we turned twice off the AT in going to the shelter and were too caught up in talking to see that there were no white AT blazes on the trees.
But even though it was gonna be a longer day, we agreed it was some good talk.
Halfway into the hike I began flagging and this thirty-something ex-Marine had hitched up with another vet and walked over the hill. I saw his name in a shelter book (most shelters have notebooks in them so you can keep track of folks) a couple of weeks later. He was about 3 days ahead of me.
By the time I got to Tri-corner, I had had a fourteen mile walk, including my two mile mistake, and I was bushed. What happened to the idea of taking it easy, below 10?
But I was there early enough to enjoy some sunshine and hang my sweaty shorts, shirt and socks on a tree and air out my trail shoes. A young couple were doing yoga poses and the downward dog. Another guy was in a yogi position, feet on thighs, knees on the ground, writing in his journal.A few good O'Boys were rolling cigarettes and talking about fishing.
.
You're not supposed to tent in the Smokies only use the shelters. But it is impossible to do that because you have dayhikers and section hikers in there too, and they expect to have a shelter because they paid the rangers and many came with no tent. So if you are a thru-hikers you have to tent even though there's little space for it.
At Tricorner I crammed into a shelter for 12 that had 16 bags lined up.
Through hikers complain about the regulations, the Smokies are amazingly beautiful with misty mornings and bright evenings in blue mountains that recede gracefully into the distance.
April 2 Cosby knob shelter 229.9 miles.
Left Tricorner still asleep and walked the wrong way for about a mile. Then I saw a NOBO, a northbounder, and realized I was going the wrong way. Again. I need a GPS Appalachian app on my phone I thought; going the wrong way could be exhausting.
It was a pretty day however. I walked uphill about two miles and downhill about 4 miles. Then 1 mile over Camel Gap.
Huckleberry and Finn came in late. They walk slow and 72 year old Huckleberry carries most of his wife's weight. I really like him. And he put up his tent on a slanted hill, the only space available, with a happy attitude that I respected.
April 3 Standing Bear Hostel 240 miles.
At about 6:30 AM I left for Standing Bear because it was supposed to rain that morning and I wanted to miss it. But it didn't turn out that way.
It began to drizzle at 10 and I still had about 4 hours left to get there. I ignored it and just started walking faster in my light wind jacket.
Then it began to pour down rain at 11. Soon I was drenched. And because I didn't take out my poncho early, I couldn't open my pack to get it without risking getting all my stuff inside the pack soaked.
So I kept on walking. Finally, after dodging in and out of rhododendrons for shelter for a few miles, I came into a paved road and a freeway beyond that. But I couldn't pull out my guide book because of the rain and there was no sign of the AT blaze. So I walked to the graffiti-ridden underpass where it was dry. I took out my book to figure out where I was supposed to be.
Then, smartly, put on my poncho and started walking over the overpass toward the hostel.
I wasn't use to the poncho and it kept turning in the wind and rain. After crossing the overpass, I saw the blazes marked along the guard rails and followed them to a dirt trail hopefully leading to Standing Bear.
Walking and adjusting my poncho and stepping across some slick flat rocks, I slipped and fell on my side and jammed my elbow into a rock and slid down into a creek drenching my already soaked shoes. F.............! Stupid poles! Stupid poles. God my elbow!
God I was angry and pissed that I did that. And my elbow hurt.
I got up and started walking thinking that if I couldn't find this stupid hostel I would continue walking the seven miles to the next shelter. I was really mad.
I finally came to a gravel road made a left and saw the hostel there on the right. Perhaps three or four cabins and a house next to a creek.
I was greeted by a guy in a long beard who told me that they were full up but I could stay in the loft, rooms under construction.
I didn't care. I just wanted to get out of the rain at that point.
In the loft there were some mattresses and I was more than happy to lay down on the mattress. They had no washer there but they had a dryer. A few people in the loft were bitching about the lack of a washer and the wires poking out of the walls. I was glad to have a twin mattress on the floor. I hung a line across the room and we all hung our clothes up.
The little room commissary had a $10 pizza and with that and a few beers I was in good shape. I took a shower and the rain stopped.
That night a bunch of us got around the fire and sing our hearts out and banged pails; then I took off early and crawled up to the loft and fell dead asleep with cowboy writer Louis L'Amour around 8PM, hiker midnight.
April 4 Groundhog creek shelter. 247.5 miles
It was 5 miles up a long ascent and 2 miles down to the shelter. After yesterday's rain, it turned out to be a very pretty day. On the way I met up with the grandparents and the granddaughter family, Spring Dancer, age 14, and Papa Choo-choo, age 72, and his wife, age 70. They were going in a nice slow pace and I decided to join them in that slow pace and enjoy the day. Spring Dancer and I had a similar pace and before long we were a mile ahead of the grandparents and waited for them to catch up. Great easy going day.
April 5 Kale Gap campsite. 261.3 miles
Left with the family about 9 o'clock. Late for me. The plan was to go to Walnut Mountain Shelter, about 13 miles away, and then from there go into Hot Springs so I can meet my wife. Yea! Miss her and ready for a little change too.
Spring Dancer is a cute fourteen-year-old girl with red cheeks and pigtails. She's a chatty creature and home schooled and we discussed the Hobbit and The Ring and Pippi Longstocking and other books we had read. She is quite well read and knows the stories and authors very well.
Well, you know, she said, Tolkien invented a number of different languages.
That's what I heard. A Medieval scholar who knew Anglo Saxon very well.
Yes. And lots of different languages that he put together. He was enormously resourceful and that is why he invented the Hobbits.
So he could put his invented languages together?
Yes. He wanted to use his languages and then thought Oh dear I have no place to use them. So he developed the idea of a novel.
Sounds like you know your Tolkien.
Yes, I like him very much.
About 3 miles in we hit trail magic.
A heavy set man and his son had set up an umbrella and were cooking hotdogs and handing out potato chips, apples and bananas. I was on my third dog when lightening struck in the distance.
I told everybody to button up and we put on rain gear and five minutes later it began to pour. We thanked our benefactors and set off into the forest again.
6 miles in we hit Max Patch Summit.
I was looking forward to Max because I had heard it was Sound of Music territory.
But when I finally reached the top of pastoral Max it was lightening overhead and raining and a huge wind was pulling Dancer and me off the hill; my poncho was flying from my neck and the rain was pelting me with hail; it was like walking in taffy with each step up the summit.
When I turned around to see if Spring was OK, I heard Spring Dancer laughing her head off. This is fun! she yelled. She was taking a Selfie and then came up to help me with my tattered poncho.
We climbed over the hill, amazed by the Spring hail, took some pictures of my flying poncho, then descended down into the still forest.
Max Patch was pretty, we both agreed, but mostly it was fun.
About 7 miles later Dancer and I climbed up to Walnut Mountain Shelter. It holds six people put their must've been 12 in it. So we went down another mile to Kale Gap. It was windy at the gap and I set my tent up behind a huge fallen tree so the wind wouldn't hit me too hard.
When the grandparents arrived I had them set them up in a wind protected place out of the draw.
April 6 Hot Springs 273.3
It was below 32 when we woke up in Kale Gap but not snowing thank God. Still, my fingers were frozen and I had a hard time putting my tent up because my fingers kept locking up.
The family was ready to go as well and we packed up and we were out of there by 8 o'clock.
We hiked 13 miles into Hot Springs, which is an AT trail town, the AT is the sidewalk, and I put Dancer up at Elmer's hostel.
Then I caught a ride at the only Outfitters in this small village from a guy named Elliot, who drove me into Asheville so as to meet Terrie the next day, saving her a trip to Hot Springs.
Elliot was a nice guy and gave me a great tour of the Hot Springs area and Asheville as we went along. I bought him a beer at his favorite beer place and then we went into Asheville where I walked into Sweet Pea hostel.
When I came in the manager was taking a German lady out the door with the police. The accommodations had not been good for her all day apparently.
I was glad she was going before I got settled in. I was tired and didn't want to deal with any drama.
I was sent to the local bar and ate a couple of burgers and salads and had a few shots and went out dancing in my rank hiker clothes.
While out in the local Asheville hip scene, I ran into a thru-hiker who recommended that I Aqua blaze, go by boat on the AT. I found out where in Virginia. Didn't know about that.
Came back in around 12:00 and took a shower and went to bed.
April 7 Asheville, NC
Ashville is a charming town with plenty of trendy shops. I took my time checking out of the hostel, doing some laundry and throwing away food wrappers from my bag. When I hit the sidewalk, I was tired and not much into window shopping, especially with a backpack.
I had a lousy double velvetta cheese sandwich at Woolworths, but a tasty malt, and went to the public library where I snoozed on top of a copy of Scientific American, waiting for my wife Terrie to wisk me away into the land of the Vanderbilts.
I was happy to see her when she pulled up, and even happier when we made it into our hotel room and we could...nap.
April 8 Asheville
What can I say? Played tourist at the Vanderbilt mansion, the Biltmore, and walked and shuttled with groups of tourists around the estate. It was hard going up and down the stairs of that place even as a hiker.
Those rich folks in their large brocaded dresses and fine tuxes must have had some enormous calves!
April 9 Rich Mtn Lookout tower 282.0
I did a resupply for five days on the trail, which included 6 doublecheese burgers from McDonalds. figured they would last a few days (probably years!). We'd see how it works.
Left at 2 from Hot Springs. Warm and clear day and a beautiful view of the river as I went up the mountain. A little tough going towards the end of the hike. A few days off really affects how you feel and my calves were not in the best of shape after all that great pampering.
April 10 Little Laurel Shelter 293.3
Met the family on the way down the mountain. It was a fine day and it felt good to be on the trail again, stretching my legs.
At the shelter I met Train Wreck, a 60 something old man who said he was walking 20 miles a day so that he could get back to his bride.
Bride? Married recently?
37 years he said proudly.
That's cool.
April 11 Jerry Cabin Shelter 300.1 miles
A fine day to Jerry Cabin and I took the usual rocks and roots walk with Dancer under a nice blue sky. Over 300 miles since Springer! Yeah!
April 12 Hog Back Ridge Shelter 315.2
Damn today had some hard rocks. Large jagged slabs of rock jammed into earth like shattered glass piles on each other for a mile or so. We literally handed our poles to each other to climb over them. It was quite challenging. The rocks and the elevation, 4500 ft., were high enough that we saw patches of snow tucked to the back of the rocks in 73 degree weather.
When I got to camp, I was tired and just wanted to get in my tent and take some notes and read some.
When the grandparents came in, they went off to camp at the top of Big Butt Mountain. I was surprised they had the energy.
Then Huckleberry came in that afternoon. His wife must be off the trail now.
April 13 Whistling Gap campsite 328.8
Today I saw some of the most beautiful views on the trail near Big Bald mountain.
I left Hog Ridge Shelter behind Momentum and Chicklets and climbed 1000 feet to Big Butt and then crossed some nice meadows full of newly blooming white wild flowers. Spring is here! Also noticed the butterflies were out and dancing among the flowers.
I met up with The Family and after a few miles they went out at Sam's Gap to be with a Christian couple they had met a few days ago to talk about a hostel venture.
I continued on over some newly green forests and while riding along the ridge I came across two hiking poles lying against a trail sign. I use one pole because they both were too tall and so I sent one back.
I waited around for ten minutes but no one appeared to be on the trail. Usually if somebody is doing their duty somewhere, they leave their pack and their poles, not just their poles. Nice Black Diamond poles they were and they fit me perfectly. So I took them and thought if I came across the owner I'd return them.
After a while I learned to really like them. Another hiker called that trail magic.
Hiked about 5 miles uphill in semi-overcast weather to the top of Big Bald Mountain where
Chicklets and Momentum were stretched out enjoying the sun.
The bald had beautiful 360 views of meadows and receding blue mountains. I seem to never tire of seeing these views, especially after miles of trucking through pine trees and rhododendrons.
Chicklets said he saw the poles on the trails about forty-five minutes before I did. That made me feel better. That I wasn't stealing some poor hiker's poles who was making a deposit in the woods.
They left and I took a short nap and Papa John and Princess had come up. But I wanted to walk alone and was happy I did.
I walked through some rolling meadows that seemed what an Irish hill would feel like and then over a hill I came down into a magical Snow White forest flooded with those white flowers and green logs and very mysterious older trees branching about. Loved it and stopped to just take it in for a long while.
I skipped the dusty old shelter and walked down to a Gap to camp out. Huckleberry was there. It had been a wonderful day.
April 14 Erwin, Tn 342.4 Miles
Huckleberry and I left camp this morning together. We took a 1500 foot descent into Erwin, over three miles, and took in some great views of Erin along the way, these old Sears-Roebuck prefab houses coming into view down in the valley. Very charming.
The Nolichucky River was an elegant winding snake from the ridge where we stopped to take some pics.
Huckleberry is a good hiking companion for me. Easy going and down-to-earth and an ex-photographer, we both enjoyed taking photographs. He is a lot uglier than I am, though I am sure he would adamantly disagree.
We stopped off at the popular Johnny's hostel but I could tell it was a party place for twenty-somethings. Huckleberry and I wanted quiet so I suggested Cantarroso Farm which, as advertised in the guide book, was a place with a clean and quiet setting and personal service.
It was quite a nice and charming farmhouse.
Mike and Peggy ran their home and hostel while tending to chickens, dogs, and ten or so bee boxes, producing their own honey. Mike is a retired school vice-principal and Peggy is a psychologist. Nice folks.
Our first night they invited us to see Fast and Furious 2 which was an all action flick. It was a riveting movie I'm sure, but I kept getting a Charlie horse and was up and down a lot. Need to drink more water I guess.
April 15 Erwin, Tn 342.4 miles
Huckleberry and I spent most of the day in a hammock or in a reclining chair with bags of Fritos, oranges and beers watching rafters raft and fisherman fish and the white puffy clouds drift by. Then Huckleberry and I went into town and gorged on some BBQ and iced tea.
Then we went back and he got a room upstairs and I got one in the basement in the room next to the newly hatched chickens. Nice to be in a hostel where you can sleep with chicks.
April 16 Erwin, Tn./Beauty Spot Gap 353.9 miles
Well we were not ready to leave but we didn't want to waste time so we slack-packed South eleven miles.
Unfortunately, we ended up hiking alone because Huckleberry took a deposit in the woods at the start of the hike, so I decided to take one too, and when I came back to the trail he was gone. Where was he? I waited around. Nothing. Some hiking partner he turned out to be I fumed down the trail.
Later I found out that after he had come out of the woods, he had run down the trail trying to catch up with me. Then Peggy, who picked up Huckleberry an hour before me, got a little worried at my whereabouts.
Oh well. It was a nice day and mostly downhill and it was fun meeting NOBO's whom we knew that wondered why we were hiking Southbound.
Later, Huckleberry and I got a good laugh about our hike-together-that-never-happened.
April 17 Erwin, Tn/Iron mountain Gap 362.3 miles
Today we decided to slackpack North because the terrain looked a little easier, with less uphills. Even though it was nine miles I noticed that my legs had changed.
I was walking faster today and going easier up the hills, not having to stop for breaths so much.
I realized today that I had finally got some hiker legs! After 350 miles and a month and a half on the trail I could finally climb up ten or so flights of stairs without stopping for breath! Yeah! Yea, Erwin, Tn!
April 18 Ash Gap Campsite 374.7 Miles
Mike took us to a nice country restaurant for breakfast and shuttled us dropped us to Iron Mountain Gap to pick up the trail.
Huckleberry and I had a nice walk through a drizzle that turned into a nice warm afternoon.
After nine miles, we came across a beautiful flowered spot next to the trail and decided to tent there. We were tired and the wind had picked up. A sign of rain. And an hour later we were in a downpour and what is it with this stupid tent I thought watching the moisture collect inside it.
April 19 Overmountain Shelter 383.9 miles
I woke up to a tent of dripping water inside my tent. Last night I saw the holes in the tent but didn't think they were big enough to be a problem. But this morning the bottom of my bag was like a wet sponge.
Huckleberry came over about 7:30 and said there was more water in my tent than out.
I felt crappy because I didn't sleep well in the cave. I told Huck to go without me while I shook out my tent in the drizzle and munched on pumpkin seeds and a honey bun.
I caught up with Huckleberry after a few hours and by the afternoon the sun had come out and dried dried my shoes a bit; I was feeling very good by the time we came across a slanting red barn in a pasture, the biggest shelter on the trail.
Huckleberry tented. He hates dark and dirty shelters. I climbed the ladder to the loft and hung my tent out of the loft window to dry.
Then I took out my tent repair kit and glued some patches to the holes.
Downstairs I sat with a group of hikers eating macaroni and mashed potatoes and such and watched as two rainbows magically appeared in the valley and leaped over the mountains. We all were transfixed by the glorious colors and the double rainbow in front of the receding blue mountains. A few said it was the prettiest view they had seen since Springer. It was definitely wonderful.
On the way to my bag I met Priest who was reading the poet John Ashberry. Don't see much poet reading folk on the trail. He looked like a young brooding Bob Dylan. We talked poetry for an hour or so over a Camel and I went up the ladder and hit the sack. It had been a nice day.
April 20 Doe Hostel/ Roan Mtn. Tn. 393.1
This morning The Family walked in and Jersey Gerbil was there too. With Huckleberry we walked to US 19 which crossed both NC and TN. At the highway Huckleberry took off with his brother for a week and the Family had signed up to a B&B and had a shuttle pick them up.
I jumped into a truck that was at the road when I arrived and was taken to Doe Hostel, a small rundown farmhouse where the top floor was cut up into small rooms. Outside, chickens and goats were milling about inside a pen with a sheepdog.
The owner, David, an entrepreneurial go-getter, resupplied Sherpa and Bulldog and I and a few other guys at the one and only grocery; and then we devoured pizza and drank iced tea and Cokes at the bread store.
When I got back to the hostel, I got into the well-used bed downstairs, wrote some notes and slept like a dog.
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