The Delayed yet Verbose Update

I realize it has been a while since my last update. Every night I check to see if I have signal, don't, and then don't bother write an update since I can't post it. I think I will try to take a page out of Nitrous' book and write the update anyway and post it when I get signal in the middle of the day, which I always do. We will see if I am that motivated.

I am going to try a bit of a different format for this post. I will give a pretty quick outline of where I was and then go into more detail on a few things. I don't know if it will be better but I just wanted to try it.

So from the day after the last day I wrote about we did a 15 mile day to Siler bald shelter. It wasn't a bad hike, it seemed like I was starting to get my hiker legs. The next day we did another 15 mile day to Icewater shelter (I think that was its name). This involved hitting the highest point on the trail, Clingman's Dome. The day after that we took an "easy" day of 12.7 miles to tricorner knob shelter. The hike was pretty easy that day but man was it cold, as well as crowded. We fit over 20 people in the supposedly 12 person shelter. This worked out since it got down to 20 degrees that night so warmth was needed. The next day we did an 18 mile day to get to standing bear hostel. It was the easiest terrain we had done yet and did the 18 miles in under 6 hours. Out of standing bear we did 13 miles to max patch mt. Nitrous went on to the shelter but me and UV cowboy camped on the very top. From there we did 20 miles (first 20!) to a hostel in Hot Springs.

So we come to the more stream of consciousness part, here it goes. This week seemed to be a week of milestones. First we hit Clingmans, the highest point on the trail, then a mile later we hit the 200 mile mark. The day after that we hit mile 218 which marks 10% done which was an odd feeling since it feels like I have been walking forever. Lastly when the whole week was put together it makes for the first time we have done 100 miles in a week. We did roughly 108 miles in the last 7 days which is pretty insane. It feels good to have these all done but at the same time it almost feels inconsequential. None of them really mean anything.

I guess I will go through some events that stood out over the last week, this will be much easier when I buckle down and write these more frequently, I have a feeling this is going to be a very long post. When we reunited with Peach she gave me a skirt she had found in Franklin, knowing that I had issues finding a kilt. Somehow she knew I would be a size 8, which I still don't really know what that means because female clothing is stupid, and it fit! I tried it out for a day and it worked fairly well, the breezes were great and there wasn't any chafing. The big downside was it was silk. While the lightness is often looked for by hikers it makes skirts a bit billowy in the breeze. I decided commando in a silk skirt on narrow mountain trails was nice for me but not others. It all works out though because my Mountain Hardware Elkommando hiking kilt is less then a week away! If you want a picture of this I think Nitrous put one on his blog.

(This new method does not necessarily use transitions it just jumps topics, hopefully it isn't too jarring. Let me know if you find it so.)

Clingman's Dome was a bit disappointing. The hike up to it was pretty easy and the peak itself was nothing special. I will include a picture of myself on the top just since it is such a milestone. The most interesting point of Clingmans was day hikers chatting with me. Some old ladies said "Wow, your calf muscles are huge!" It made me chuckle. They all seemed impressed that we had come from Georgia while all I could think of is how small that distance is compared to what we are all planning on doing.

The night after Clingmans was nice though as it was the first time it got below freezing (I think). The next night was even better, it got down to about 20. This was memorable because we crammed more people into the shelter then I had seen up to this point. On the top row alone we had (in this order) two section hikers, Peach, UV, me, Whistle Tits, Kennedy, Sheep, Rampage and the Georgia Boys. Not bad but it did require some serious cuddling to make it all work. Whistle Tits decided my mat was much more comfortable then hers and used her self proclaimed magical and aggressive sleeping butt to conquer it as the night progressed. All in all though it was a good night.

During that day we hit some trail magic at davenport gap (I think). It had been a kinda tough day and the trail magic was really close to the end of the day so loved it. (Photo below) While a bunch of us sat on the curb eating candy and drinking soda we discussed how odd this aspect of the trail was. The note with the candy said "Happy Easter Hikers." Easter was the day before... So the "normal" people at the gap taking pictures witnessed a small group of dirty, smelly people wander out the woods, find some day old food on the sidewalk of the parking lot and scream with joy as we dove into it. We then proceeded to take out stoves and cook first dinner. The normal people either ignored us or came and chatted with us and wished us luck. If this exact same thing happened anywhere else in the country other then a very narrow corridor along the AT we would just be bums and would be quickly dispersed. It's kinda funny, yet AWESOME!

The 18 mile day out of the smokies was surprisingly easy and ended with trail magic which was pretty awesome. It also ended with Standing Bear Hostel, which was... Odd. All hostels along the trail have their own vibe and feel but this one was the most unique yet. To give some idea I will explain how paying works. Below is a photo of the resupply pantry, you take an envelope and write down your trail name. Then you write down everything you take and how much it costs. This includes services like bunks and Internet or phone use. You then total it up, make sure it is all written down correctly, put the requisite money in the envelope and put it in the money box. No employee handles money, or checks in people for the bunks except to give a quick tour if you ask. There is no check in or check out time. Can a place get more laid back or thrive completely on the honesty of others anywhere else in the world? If so I haven't witnessed it. This is a great example of the AT hiking community. Everyone tries to pay it forward and help the community as a whole. Even the party hikers are like that for the most part, just got to watch for weekenders and some section hikers. They aren't always the same, but they can be.

The day after Standing Bear finally got me to some actual "balds." Balds are mountains that are naturally treeless but not rocky or above tree line. At the first one I stopped for two hours and had some lunch (photo below). It was pretty good, a wrap with a cheese danish and crushed Oreos sprinkled on it. This is not usual fair but I had stocked up on junk food in Standing
Bear since it was two days to hot springs and I was going to enjoy it. The second bald was Max Patch. This was the first truly awe inspiring sight that I have had along the trail. It is so alien to anything that we have in new England. I am including quite a few photos of this one so I'll try explaining them in more detail. I got there at roughly 4 in the afternoon with the plan of going to the shelter 2 miles past it. Nitrous suggested waiting until sunset and then night hiking the final 2 miles so we get a great view. One photo is Nitrous at the other side of the peak which shows the size of it. You have to look pretty hard to see him. As we all cooked dinner waiting on the sun the temperature dropped quite a bit and the wind picked up. To stay warm I decided to just hang out in my sleeping bag. It was worth it for the awesome sunset pictures (sunset pictures all have a post in them, this distinguishes them from sunrise that have a bush). UV had also decided to hang out in her bag for this and we both decided it would be nice to cowboy camp here. Cowboy camping is when you just use sleeping bags, no tent or other form of shelter. This would make the sunrise and the stars amazing. We just shifted roughly 200 feet to get out of the direct wind and flopped over. The stars were absolutely amazing. Laying there looking up with no lights within miles, at almost 5000 feet, just beautiful. The night was a bit chilly, probably 25-30 judging on the amount of frost, but between our 15 degree bags and what shared body heat could get between two 15 degree bags it was great. The sunrise was completely worth it too (remember bush is sunrise), these were taken while I was laying in the exact position I slept in. I took my phone into the bag so I didn't have to do anything but take some shots. Eventually we had to get up, 20 mile day and all.

Well, we made it and we are zeroing here in hot springs. It is strange to think tomorrow I will wake up and not have to hike. For over three weeks every single day has involved hiking. I think my body could use one day of rest. It is adapting pretty amazingly though. My hiker legs are pretty much here, I never stop on ups now. Even if it is a 4 mile uphill section I usually just pause momentarily once or twice for a quick drink. My legs can pound it out now. Unfortunately my feet are not quite at the same point. They hurt, constantly. I am also eating a rather absurd amount of food. For example, tonight we went to a bar that sounded decent. I got a pretty good sized burger with a side of jalapeño poppers. By the time Nitrous had finished applying condiments my burger was gone, along with the chips that came with them and some of the poppers. I asked the waitress where in town I could get some ice cream, she said some store but I should run since it closed soon. I ordered another burger entree to go and ran. No ice cream! Back at the restaurant I finished the second burger entree while she was running our cards. I sheepishly handed her the to go box and said that I guess it wasn't needed. On the way back to the hostel I noticed a place that looked promising. It didn't have pints but it had an M&M ice cream sandwich. I got one of those, skittles, an almond joy and a Cadbury cream egg. When we got to the hostel only the skittles were left and not for long. That is an example of a town meal for me these days.

Alright this has taken me like 90 minutes to type on my phone and my fingers are sore now. I will really try and write more frequently! Tomorrow I'll be in town all day so if you actually want a response comment, email, text or call me that day (14th). Otherwise it's back to the woods.