So sorry everyone for the lack of an update! 3G access with Sprint is limited on the trail so it's hard to post frequently.
So I did decide to stay the night in NOC after having all my troubles going into the center. Unfortunately all 65 bunks were full, which included their overflow area. I was luckily able to find a cabin just outside of the NOC that was $20 a person for 4 people. Turtle and myself got together with a guy trail name Nebraska (named for his home state) and Mike (no trail name). It was awesome to have a somewhat private place to stay for not much more than the cost to stay at the NOC! We were also able to purchase and cook Digiorno pizza! It tasted so good!
The next morning I got a late start. I met up with a group of about 12 people for breakfast. Sunshine, Six Slash, Pockets, Turtle, Jake, Sunshine's Mom, Wing It and many others were there. We all ate and had great company! The best part came at the end of the meal when Sunshine's Mom told us she had already paid for everyone's food! It was the best trail magic so far!! After a late start, I hiked another 15 miles and met Mike at a shelter.
Mike and I started hiking together after that. We took and easy 12 mile day into the Fontana Dam Shelter, also known as the Fontana Hilton. It sleeps 24 people with a running bathroom and shower available, LUXURIOUS!
The Fontana Hilton is about 1 mile before the start of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park (GSMNP). The next day we entered the park and hiked a strong 16 miles into the park and stayed at Spence Field Shelter. It was a grueling hike starting out with 7 miles straight up hill for over 3,000 feet elevation change. To top it off, the first half of the day it was raining! I made it to the first shelter which was 10 miles in the Smokeys and decided to put on my rain jacket. After about 5 minutes the rain stopped and I continued on in my hot rain gear...very annoying. Two other people from the Hilton made it to the Spence Field Shelter. Animal and Cat both hiked in with Mike and I. We all decided to continue through the Smokeys together.
The next day we planned a 13 mile day to the Double Gap Shelter. When everyone arrived by 2PM, we all agreed to push on to the Mount Collins Shelter for a 19.9 mile day, the longest day for any of us! We arrive by 5:00 and each had a nice dinner. We also had a "hiker's high" by that point and we were all just laughing so much. Such a great time! From Mt. Collins, we hiked on to Tricorner Knob, a 20.1 mile hike, again surpassing our longest day. Three straight days of increasing mileage!
On Tuesday we all agreed to take an easier day. Animal, Cat and Mike all stopped at Davenport Gap Shelter for the night for a day that was just shy of 15 miles, also the last shelter in the GSMNP. I pressed on about 3 miles further to a hostel outside of the park so that I could get some food, as I had planned to stop in Gatlinburg, but was convinced to skip it by my hiking group. Most of the team had a little too much food and did not mind giving me some of their overage to reduce their pack weight. I had enough food, but I haven't been getting enough calories lately, so I was hoping to get another pizza! I weighed myself at the Hostel before dinner and it said that I had lost 30 pounds since I left for the trail barely over 2 weeks ago. That is too much. I am working on increasing my calorie intake. Eating a full pizza that night helped!
From the hostel, I planned to hike a decent 20 miles to Walnut Mountain Shelter. The day was amazing. I went over Max Patch in NC which is a mountain top that had been cleared many years ago to allow cattle to graze. The views from the top of this mountain were breathtaking. The views of the Smokeys were particularly great. I arrived at Walnut Mountain about 3:30 in the afternoon. I was feeling great. I did the math and found out that if I could hike an additional 5 miles, I will hit on of the best personal milestones on the trail very early. 100 miles in 5 days is a feet most people don't even dream about getting and those who do usually don't hit that kind of mileage until Virginia. I made a quick dinner for myself and chatted with JD (JD = just Daniel aka Daniel), Archangel (aka Gabriel) and Motown (aka Kris). They were also considering going on to the next shelter that was 10 miles away. At that point it was settled, we were hiking on together. The four of us left Walnut Shelter with the intent to stop 3 miles outside of Hot Springs, making it a 30 mile day for JD and myself and a 24 mile day for Archangel and Motown. A 30 mile day is also something unheard of for most people before Virginia, but JD and I were feeling pretty good about it.
We neared Deer Park Shelter and realized that the shelter was full. Additionally with the coming rain we knew it would be miserable to wake up and hike into town the next morning. Without much thought or discussion we all put on our head lamps and hiked the additional 3 miles into town hoping to stay at the hostel just off the AT at the southern edge of town. We arrived in town around 9:30PM to find out that every hostel bed in town was full as over 100 hikers were in town. The four of us hit our first "bubble" of hikers. After some frantic searching, we were able to find a cabin that sleeps 4 on the other side of town, a full 1 mile down the AT. The day was finished! JD and I hiked 34 miles that day, we both left the Fontana Hilton at the same time making our 5 day total 108 miles and a 2 day total of 52 miles. Archangel and Motown also had a 2 day total of 52 miles and were just shy of the 100 miles in 5 days as well.
Hot Springs is a small town. It is beautiful, but on a Wednesday night everything is closed by 10PM. We all had to cook our last hiking meal and then crashed. Today all of us took a zero day. No hiking at all! It has been nice to let our bodies heal. Breakfast was at a local diner and was probably one of the best, most filling breakfasts I've ever had. After that we did our laundry and sat in the Hot Springs for which the town is named for. We plan to finish resupplying and exploring the town for the rest of today. Later this evening the town offers a free dinner for all Hikers. It is a potluck thing they do every Thursday rain or shine, such amazing trail magic!
Tomorrow the plan is to have a nice breakfast and take off mid morning to early afternoon for a nero day (nearly zero). It'll be good to have one last meal before leaving, but also to get a small hike in!
Sorry for the long post today! It's been such a busy 8 or so days since I updated. I'll try to update more frequently! Enjoy the pictures!
Pictures below, 1. Cheoah Bald, 2. View in the Smokeys, 3. Sunrise from the famous Rocky Top Mountain, 4. Max Patch, 5. Areal view of Breakfast in Hot Springs!
So I did decide to stay the night in NOC after having all my troubles going into the center. Unfortunately all 65 bunks were full, which included their overflow area. I was luckily able to find a cabin just outside of the NOC that was $20 a person for 4 people. Turtle and myself got together with a guy trail name Nebraska (named for his home state) and Mike (no trail name). It was awesome to have a somewhat private place to stay for not much more than the cost to stay at the NOC! We were also able to purchase and cook Digiorno pizza! It tasted so good!
The next morning I got a late start. I met up with a group of about 12 people for breakfast. Sunshine, Six Slash, Pockets, Turtle, Jake, Sunshine's Mom, Wing It and many others were there. We all ate and had great company! The best part came at the end of the meal when Sunshine's Mom told us she had already paid for everyone's food! It was the best trail magic so far!! After a late start, I hiked another 15 miles and met Mike at a shelter.
Mike and I started hiking together after that. We took and easy 12 mile day into the Fontana Dam Shelter, also known as the Fontana Hilton. It sleeps 24 people with a running bathroom and shower available, LUXURIOUS!
The Fontana Hilton is about 1 mile before the start of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park (GSMNP). The next day we entered the park and hiked a strong 16 miles into the park and stayed at Spence Field Shelter. It was a grueling hike starting out with 7 miles straight up hill for over 3,000 feet elevation change. To top it off, the first half of the day it was raining! I made it to the first shelter which was 10 miles in the Smokeys and decided to put on my rain jacket. After about 5 minutes the rain stopped and I continued on in my hot rain gear...very annoying. Two other people from the Hilton made it to the Spence Field Shelter. Animal and Cat both hiked in with Mike and I. We all decided to continue through the Smokeys together.
The next day we planned a 13 mile day to the Double Gap Shelter. When everyone arrived by 2PM, we all agreed to push on to the Mount Collins Shelter for a 19.9 mile day, the longest day for any of us! We arrive by 5:00 and each had a nice dinner. We also had a "hiker's high" by that point and we were all just laughing so much. Such a great time! From Mt. Collins, we hiked on to Tricorner Knob, a 20.1 mile hike, again surpassing our longest day. Three straight days of increasing mileage!
On Tuesday we all agreed to take an easier day. Animal, Cat and Mike all stopped at Davenport Gap Shelter for the night for a day that was just shy of 15 miles, also the last shelter in the GSMNP. I pressed on about 3 miles further to a hostel outside of the park so that I could get some food, as I had planned to stop in Gatlinburg, but was convinced to skip it by my hiking group. Most of the team had a little too much food and did not mind giving me some of their overage to reduce their pack weight. I had enough food, but I haven't been getting enough calories lately, so I was hoping to get another pizza! I weighed myself at the Hostel before dinner and it said that I had lost 30 pounds since I left for the trail barely over 2 weeks ago. That is too much. I am working on increasing my calorie intake. Eating a full pizza that night helped!
From the hostel, I planned to hike a decent 20 miles to Walnut Mountain Shelter. The day was amazing. I went over Max Patch in NC which is a mountain top that had been cleared many years ago to allow cattle to graze. The views from the top of this mountain were breathtaking. The views of the Smokeys were particularly great. I arrived at Walnut Mountain about 3:30 in the afternoon. I was feeling great. I did the math and found out that if I could hike an additional 5 miles, I will hit on of the best personal milestones on the trail very early. 100 miles in 5 days is a feet most people don't even dream about getting and those who do usually don't hit that kind of mileage until Virginia. I made a quick dinner for myself and chatted with JD (JD = just Daniel aka Daniel), Archangel (aka Gabriel) and Motown (aka Kris). They were also considering going on to the next shelter that was 10 miles away. At that point it was settled, we were hiking on together. The four of us left Walnut Shelter with the intent to stop 3 miles outside of Hot Springs, making it a 30 mile day for JD and myself and a 24 mile day for Archangel and Motown. A 30 mile day is also something unheard of for most people before Virginia, but JD and I were feeling pretty good about it.
We neared Deer Park Shelter and realized that the shelter was full. Additionally with the coming rain we knew it would be miserable to wake up and hike into town the next morning. Without much thought or discussion we all put on our head lamps and hiked the additional 3 miles into town hoping to stay at the hostel just off the AT at the southern edge of town. We arrived in town around 9:30PM to find out that every hostel bed in town was full as over 100 hikers were in town. The four of us hit our first "bubble" of hikers. After some frantic searching, we were able to find a cabin that sleeps 4 on the other side of town, a full 1 mile down the AT. The day was finished! JD and I hiked 34 miles that day, we both left the Fontana Hilton at the same time making our 5 day total 108 miles and a 2 day total of 52 miles. Archangel and Motown also had a 2 day total of 52 miles and were just shy of the 100 miles in 5 days as well.
Hot Springs is a small town. It is beautiful, but on a Wednesday night everything is closed by 10PM. We all had to cook our last hiking meal and then crashed. Today all of us took a zero day. No hiking at all! It has been nice to let our bodies heal. Breakfast was at a local diner and was probably one of the best, most filling breakfasts I've ever had. After that we did our laundry and sat in the Hot Springs for which the town is named for. We plan to finish resupplying and exploring the town for the rest of today. Later this evening the town offers a free dinner for all Hikers. It is a potluck thing they do every Thursday rain or shine, such amazing trail magic!
Tomorrow the plan is to have a nice breakfast and take off mid morning to early afternoon for a nero day (nearly zero). It'll be good to have one last meal before leaving, but also to get a small hike in!
Sorry for the long post today! It's been such a busy 8 or so days since I updated. I'll try to update more frequently! Enjoy the pictures!
Pictures below, 1. Cheoah Bald, 2. View in the Smokeys, 3. Sunrise from the famous Rocky Top Mountain, 4. Max Patch, 5. Areal view of Breakfast in Hot Springs!
Yes I agree, more frequent posts! I look forward to reading these! Sweet pics too. Hope with all the weight loss your dress clothes don't fall off you during the wedding haha
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