surviving the weather- Saturday, April 30th

Everything ok.  Surviving the weather.  More details to follow.

Quick Update - 600 Miles Milestone Yesterday!

Little time on a computer - so not much to say at this point, other than I am back on the trail after my two day journey to Detroit for a board meeting.  Trail has been pretty good to me of late...put in 23 miles on Friday and 24 miles on Saturday to try to catch up with great cast of characters that I was hiking with about 3-4 weeks ago.  Walking into the shelter in the fog late at night and coming across the old gang was like coming into a high school reunion!  Also, have met some great new (and young) kids on the trail that are marching through the trail like there's no tomorrow...and having the energy to have a good time around the fire at night.

Had a terrific night at Dismal Falls last night...camping right against the falls and took a very refreshing and needed dip.  Came across a hiker that just caught a trout and was running a stick through it (still alive) to grill it for supper...now that's living the life!

600 miles crossed yesterday...long way to go...but pretty cool.

Thanks everyone for your support...wish I could get pictures to you...but technology in the woods is tough!

Crank

Hiker's Dilemma...

So here's a good one...after two days of very difficult weather we decide to get off the trail to regroup at the next crossroad and hitch hike to Jerry's Kitchen - a hole-in-the-wall place in Troutdale, VA.  We stick our thumbs out only to get picked up by a very nice lady by the name of Jennifer Rogers, who is just getting off work from a hospital 22 miles away.  She is a RN and her husband is a doc.  As she begins to drive us up the steep road to Jerry's she offers up her two bedroom cottage, fully furnished - with a hot shower - to us for free - and she will take us back to the trail the next morning.  The only problem is that we would have to fix trail food.

Wonderful hospitality, comfortable bed, hot shower vs. one of the best bacon cheese burgers in the county?  What's a thru-hiker to do?  No brainer...we graciously decline the hospitality so we can stuff ourselves at Jerry's.  The topper was that Jerry had just pulled a peach cobbler out of the oven.  One great salad, a 1/2lber, fries and 2 peach cobblers with ice cream later the decision was clear...but, boy it was hard to turn down a free cottage for the night!

Did I Tell You About the Hiker Doing it With Five Fingers?

Can't remember whether I mentioned this, but a couple of weeks ago I started noticed prints in the mud on the trail that made it look like someone was doing the trail barefoot. It was driving me crazy! Finally, in Erwin, I was standing under the awning of a store waiting for a shuttle and staying out of the rain (re: 18 hikers in a van) when I looked down and saw that a girl was wearing a pair of five fingers. I said, "are you the one?" and she said yes, she was.

That's when I met Sprocket (23yr old man) and Inch Worm (25yr old lady). Have bumped into the two of them over the past couple of days and she is still at it and they plan to do a yo-yo (up and back). They will not be able to complete the yo-yo even though they started in January b/c the weather was so bad when they started in January they had to hop off the trail for a while.

Both are incredibly knowledgeable about the outdoors, hiking, etc. so it's been most interesting talking to them...but I can't imagine doing this painfully hard trail essentially barefoot!

540 Miles...and Counting!

As noted in previous posts, I am now hanging out in Aitkins, VA getting ready for a quick trip to Detroit.

Big milestone because I am now 540 miles into my journey - that's one-fourth of the way to Maine! Personally (and I can only speak for myself), I sit back and think about this. 500 miles is a long way to walk; especially up and down mountains with 35-40lbs on your back.

I have a long way to go before I complete this journey, but I notice that people look at me and peg me as a "thru-hiker". I feel pretty darn proud about that. Of course, it just might be more related to the way I look than it is my capability.

On the age front, I know of one guy that is 65 that is older than I am. Most are in their 20s...so feel pretty good about that as well.

Long, long way to go...but so far so good!

Be Sure to Check "Comments" and "Older Posts"

Just a heads up - I tend to update in spurts due to limited access to a computer - so if you are interested - know that I post multiple posts and try to add comments....so drill down...AND THANKS FOR TRACKING MY PROGRESS!

Off the Trail for a Board Meeting?!

Yes, it's true, I am headed off the trail to get into a suit and tie and make my way to Detroit for a mutual fund board meeting. It's the Annual Meeting as well so I need to be there for it.

I told them that I was not going to shave or get my haircut...so we'll see if they take me for a crazy shareholder and don't let me in.

It's been a real challenge to arrange my trip to Detroit. Dropping off the trail in a little tiny town, Aitkins, VA. Hitch hiked to a hotel (got a ride in the back of a pickup truck). Have some guy (hope he is dependable) giving me a 1-1/2 hour ride back into TN (wasn't I just there?) to a small airport to catch a flight through Atlanta in time for a dinner Wednesday night.

If things go right, will reverse the order and be back into my stinky clothes and gear by mid-day on Friday headed toward Pearisburg, VA. This is somewhat of a mental challenge and sure to be a shock on the system!

Hell Freezes Over For Two Days

So you guys might have heard about the weather that blasted through the Southeast a few days ago. I suspect we didn't get the worst of it but it was the strangest two days I have had on the trail thus far.

It all started on April 15th at about 12:30 at night. There was a bunch of us crammed into Lost Mountain Shelter at 3,400 feet right out of Damascus. Some of us debated whether to stay in Damascus for another night but decided that if we let weather dictate our hike we'd never be on the trail. Bad decision.

Rain was steady at first then started coming down hard as the wind picked up. Of course, the shelters are structured to take advantage of the wind in the summer. Winter and Spring is a different subject. As the wind increased we heard the trees started to come crashing down...a few branches on to the roof of the shelter. There were about five tenters around the shelter and I have know idea how their tents held firm.

By morning the rain and mitigated but it remained very windy. Again debated whether to stay in shelter or press over the highest point in VA, Mt. Rogers. Of course we decided to press on. Another big mistake.

As soon as we left, the clouds opened up. For a while, it was like the end of the world because the wind was blowing us sideways (my rain jacket hood wouldn't stay on my head), the rain was driving hard and water was literally gushing out of the mountain and of course the trail became a raging stream we had to slosh through. Since I am wearing boots, my feet stayed fairly dry, but the others are wearing trail shoes so feet were soaked.

As we got up to Brier Ridge things actually settled down a bit and it seemed like the worst was behind us. Tree Frog, Fire Fly and I stopped at Thomas Knob Shelter (on top of Mt Rogers) for a late lunch and met up with Crazy K and Austin. Just before that we saw our first wild ponies so we thought that life was looking up. After a hot lunch we decided that it would be smart to get off the top of the mountain and shoot for Wise Shelter. A wise decision.

On the way down Tree Frog came around the corner and bumped into a big black animal and freaked out. Thought it was a bear. In fact, it was a wild pony on the trail - apparently pregnant. After things settled down, we got some great close up pictures and even pet the darn thing.

Anyway, outside of the trail still being completely flooded we thought that life would be good again once we got to Wise Shelter. Silly notion.

Had dinner and set up our bags in the shelter thinking we might be good for the night. As the evening progressed the wind picked up (of course right into the shelter) and it began to sleet at around 2:00 am (I know b/c I had to go out and pee). As the evening progressed I got colder and colder, had my long johns on and put by fleece and wool socks on - even with a 15 degree bag. At about 4:00 am I peeked out of my bag and noticed that it was all grey on the ground. Didn't think much about it until 6:30 am when we got up and realized that the bottom of our bags were dusted with snow and there was two inches of snow on the ground (remember, this is mid-April in VA). My little temp. thing said it was about 23 degrees - not too bad, but with the wind, it had to be in the low teens.

We scrambled to get dressed - wet trail shoes frozen solid - but boots fine. My "camel back" froze and the connections would not come together so I had no water.

So...on top of all of this we had to hike across Stone Mountain - a wide open plateau where the wind compresses into a narrow gap. I swear it had to be a 60 mph blast moving sideways against us as we made our way down to The Scales. I have NEVER experienced such wind in all of my backpacking - ever step had to be forced into the wind and I nearly got knocked down several times. The good news is that it was sunny (but very, very cold).

Made it down to a decent elevation and then it was like we went from Mars to Earth! No more wind, the sun was hot, no more flooded trails and I ended up stripping off all my clothing to my running shorts and shirt - all within about a five mile stretch!

The AT presents a tremendous variety of terrain, wild life and weather over the course of one day. Pretty amazing!

Anyway...sorry for long message - but this was the most challenging two days of the hike thus far...and I thought it would have been in the Smokies!

Message for Ben (Tree Top)

Ben,
If you happen to bump into a senior at Grinnell by the name of Charles Netzer be sure to let him know that his 19 year old little brother drank me under the table in Damascus. His trail name is "Shorts" but I guess he began with a trail name of "Sh%t Huffer"...weird...no one knows the story but he has told others that if you search on U Tube you'll know why.
Love,
Dad

P.S. Everyone disagrees with you re: me being cranky

Bob Timberlake Where are You?

Clobbered by a Tree and Slipped in a Creek

But for me being incredibly clumsy, the trail has been pretty good to me. My original blisters are sort of healed, my heels are very tender and my legs overall seem to be holding up. I have lost another few pounds - down to about 171 so I decided to have a large hamburger steak with gravy and mash potatoes last night along with a double brownie dessert with ice cream. Had two shakes today with a half of a large pizza.

Was minding my own business about a week ago on the trail, looking down to make sure I don't step on any ankle biters (rocks, roots, slippery leaves, snakes, etc.) when I happened to due battle with a "leaner" - a tree that is across the trail and perfect "head height". Lovely encounter in which I lost the first round to a whack in the nose straight on, causing my favorite Grinnell baseball cap to go flying and vast amounts of blood all over my face. It was good fun trying to get it to stop bleeding with my bandanna. Fortunately, it's red.

Everything seems to be fine, might be a small fracture and my nose might be leaning to the port side a bit. Given my scraggy beard and my greasy, stringy hair and the scar on my nose I am beginning to fit right in down here! Which I could send a picture...but wound is healing nicely.

Creek episode is related to my wonderful Grinnell baseball cap again. It's a great tool to scoop up water from a stream on the fly to plop on my head to cool me off. Thought I had the technique down pretty well until I decided to get a little too cute on a rock in the middle of a stream, slipped backward, landing on my very expensive hiking stick (truth is, I stole Ben's hiking poles) and snapped it right in half twisting my back and poking a hole in my pants. Have to thank Dr. Middleton for subscribing those wonderful muscle relaxers when I was a professional bull rider - brought them along for just an event and they loosened me up to a very pleasant state in no time.

And, to top it all off, for once got AT&T service on my phone, called Carolyn and she shipped me my hiking pole to replace the broken one. Picked it up today...life is good again!

18 Thru-Hikers in a Van on a Rainy and Stormy Night - We're All Going to Die!

During my last zero I stayed in Erwin and decided to stay away from Uncle Johnny's because it was hard to tell whether the bunkhouse floor was wood or mud. However, it didn't preclude me from taking advantage of their wonderful shuttle service to beautiful downtown Erwin to catch a meal at a Mexican joint. Turns out I felt like I was doing a little border crossing manuever myself on the way back as about 18 of us piled into an old beat up van back to Uncle Johnny's in a driving rainstorm. The driver is from TN (you know what I mean) and likely had a good liquid dinner before the drive. I was the last in and was crouched between the door and one of the bench seats; behind me a few others were crammed into a similar position around the wheel well that no longer existed (as water was spraying up their butts). I am glad that all the windows were fogged up because I really did not want to see how we were going to die. Driver wiped his side of the windshield just enough to get a peak at the road as we were sliding down the windy highway at about 70 MPH.

Made it back alive...but was thinking of the Mexican meal I had and did everything I could to keep it down!

One Bear, Five Snakes and Two Dead Lizards in Peoples Paradise

I am running out of time on these posts, but the stretch between Kincora and Damascus (outside of the awful weather at the end of it) was the best ever so far. Huge waterfalls, rivers, beautiful lake, great pastures and gentle hills.

In terms of wildlife, I happend upon a duck and a Canadian Goose while Tree Frog came across a bear that he watched for about 15 minutes and got great pictures, a copperhead on a very narrow ridge along the river, and a bunch of black snakes...and two dead lizards right in the middle of the trail.

Why does he get all the good stuff?

People's Paradise!

Bob Peoples is a legend on the trail. He operates Kincora, a hiker hostel that you can stay at for a donation of your choosing. Carolyn did not want me to stay there because a friend of Bird's had experienced bed bugs last year.

While the place clearing needs a "women's touch", there were no other alternatives (yes, I checked around for bed bugs). The great benefit of staying at Kincora was to meet this true legend of the trail. Bob is a retired military man, is about 70 and is as strong as a horse. He maintains about 135 miles of the trail and does a wonderful job. He is out there every day clearing fallen tries, moving boulders, building stone steps, saving hikers. You name it, he's done it.

The trail is full of "Peoplesisms" such as "Bob Peoples loaned out his ax to Paul Bunyan", "Bob Peoples gives his boots blisters", etc. This guy with a full pack can hike casually at a pace of almost 4 miles per hour. And he is the kindest man you could ever meet. I was short of fuel and he gave me a free cannister. He drove us into town to resupply and have dinner. While his place was far from clean, it had a lot of character and his showers, bathrooms and bunkhouse was there for whatever the price was that you wanted to pay.

You can probably tell, it's the people thus far that are making this a very interesting trip for me.

John Wayne & Maniac Live Up to Their Name (Almost)

So, there is a point on the trail between Kincora and Damascus that is 54 miles long. I can't remember what they call this challenge, but some hikers have this notion that wouldn't it be cool to try to hike this stretch non-stop over a 24 hour period.

Two young and ambitious thru-hikers decided at the last minute to do just this when we were heading out of Kincora. John Wayne and Maniac had helped out Bob Peoples the previous day in trail maintenance and got all caught up in the whole aura of the trail.

Most of us started out on this 54 mile stretch early in the morning assuming that it would take us three days - maybe four. We started out at about 8:00 am. John Wayne and Maniac ended up getting a late start that morning and we did not see them all day until we were finishing up our dinner at Vanderventer Shelter...17.4 miles - a good day for me. They ate a huge meal at the shelter and left I would say at about 7:00 pm to complete the remaining 35 plus miles of their journey. Figured no way would they be able to pull this off given their late start. Of course, it rained all night as they were hiking through the night. When we woke up (did we sleep that night?) the next morning we wondered whether they even survived.

Ended up bumping into them in Damascus yesterday as we arrived. Turns out they didn't complete it in a legit way because they were so soaked and tired they had to stop at a beat up unused log cabin shelter for about three hours with about 14 miles to go.

So John Wayne was talking over dinner about this notion of hiking in a more "consistent" manner - instead of doing a bunch of zeros coupled with a 40 mile hike (attempted 54).

Hirsh - Is He for Real?

Another interesting character on the trail is Hirsh. Hirsh is a 28 year old man that seems to have already lived about three lives. He first hiked the A/T when he was 15 years old, took a 5-1/2 year bike ride around the world, did the PCT, did a stint in the Peace Corps and while he was at it did his undergraduate work and graduate work. While it's too crazy to be true, it seems as though it might well be.

Hirsh also does not choose to live in mainstream society. Does not have or carry money. For instance, for food, he has become an expert at "dumpster diving", knowing all the great spots (grocery stores, bakeries, etc.) to get the best assortment of foods. He is always on the move and can really put the miles out when he wants to...and when he is not moving, he is eating...like you wouldn't believe! It seems like half his pack is made up of a wide variety of stuff that it picks up along the way (he is vegan). He'll mix a bunch of stuff together (never cooks) and if it's the right combination will do the mixing of the food in his mouth to get the right texture for a torilla and spit it out again (he says, just like a mother bird does).

For Ben's sake - he is a huge Karouac (sp) fan and reminds me of the guy in the book "Into the Wild". Quite a character. It's funny, because after he describes all his life threatening adventures on his bike through the third world, he asked me what I did. I told him that I was just a mucky muck executive in the mutual fund business. His response: "Awesome, I would love to have you teach me what a mutual fund is and how they work". I thought, yeah, right, boy is my life interesting! Seeing him on the trail a few days later, he still wanted to know what a mutual fund was.

Interesting folks on the trail!

Do You Need to Kill a Rabbit With Your Hands, Skin and Gut it and Cook it to be a Real Thru-Hiker?

Here's a good one for you...I did not experience it first hand because I was one shelter up on the trail, but heard about it from the hikers the next night.

So Tree Thug, Giggle, Calculator, Schmuck and a few others bumped into this guy called Valcor the night before. As everyone was finishing up dinner and stoking the fire, Valcor goes off into the night with a rock and his headlamp. Ten minutes later he comes back holding a dead rabbit by the head asking if anyone would care for rabbit? About another ten minutes later he had it gutted and skinned, placed on a stick, rubbed with olive oil and herbs and was roasting it over the fire. An hour and a half later everyone had a little taste of a very fresh rabbit.

Sorry I missed it, but the news went up and down the trail. I have hiked a couple of days with Valcor and found it to be the real deal. Quite an interesting character! We can't wait for him to kill a rattle snake or break the neck of a wild boar for a pig roast!

Tornado, Wind Sheer or Micro Draft?

Don't know what it was, but several days ago we were hiking throughout the day and began to hear the thunder rumbling. As the afternoon wore on, it became clear that we were going to get some weather. I was lagging behind so figured I was probably going to get a soaking. I did make it to the shelter as it turns out, got my sleeping bag set up and began the process of fixing a beautiful meal of stovetop stuffing and tuna fish. Just as I almost got the water boiling, the storm broke. I had to leave my "kitchen" where it was as I scrambled to protect my sleeping bag sitting in the shelter because the wind was blowing directly into the shelter (they are three sided). There were five of us in the shelter. I took my tyvac (sp) and wrapped it around my pad and gear and we all sat with our backs to the back of the shelter and the storm came riping through in three huge waves. The wind was hurricane force directly at us and completely soaked the inside of the shelter. One of the hikers was convinced we were in the middle of a tornado and huddled into a fetal position and was in a pure panic. Being close to tornados I knew that was unlikely but we all kept our fingers crossed that none of the trees around the shelter would come down on us.

It was a horrific experience with the wind, rain, thunder and lightening but after about an hour it began to die down and we were able to try to reclaim our things. My stove and all my gear was scattered to the winds but I found most everything I needed (though nothing worked until the next day).

Late into the evening as we were getting settled, Sailor comes strolling in completely soaked to the bone. He had gotten got right in the middle of the storm and had nowhere to go but forward.

Was it a tornado? No way, but the guy thought so. I think it was a major storm with some wind sheer thrown in for good measure. Was it exciting? You bet! Do I want a repeat? Hell NO!

Drive to Damascus - Made It In Yesterday!

It's been a long and interesting slog since I last checked in but I am pleased to report that I made it to Damascus yesterday morning at about 11:00 am. Will provide some updates in some additional posts, but here are some headlines:

- Damascus is in Virgina! So I have left behind GA, NC and TN. Great country along the way but thrilled to make it into VA. Damascus is a huge town for the A/T...hosting a very large and popular trail days event in May. Thousands of hikers (current and past) come into Damascus to celebrate and get in all sorts of trouble. The town is very hiker friendly.

- Crossed the VA line about 5 miles just before Damascus. We were all told that there is no marker on the trail to announce our arrival so I tried my best to estimate where it would be. Bird (Jay Tews) had requested that I take a picture of the state line since that's the only one he missed when he did the AT last year. So I made my best estimate and then took a bunch of sticks and made my own sign on the path "VA...TN", took a picture of it for him. Thought it was pretty cool. Went on my merry way and about 25 meters down the path was a beautiful sign post noting that we are entering VA. Who would have thunk? Anyway, BIRD - I have two pictures I will email to you via iPhone if my AT&T coverage ever works. Thought it was a pretty darn good estimate.
- Did my first "over 20 miles" day two days ago, covering 23 miles on what they call the "TN Turnpike". Nice and flat and since it was a miserable, rainy and foggy day we decided to "crank out" the miles to make it possible to maximize a "nero-zero" in Damascus. It gave us a short 10 mile day into Damascus and we were here by 11:30 am yesterday, just in time for a big chicken fried salad and a half pound cheese burger with onions and bacon (and two dark beers).
- Weather over the past couple of days on the trail was what I was expecting all along. The 23 mile day fully tested my rain gear. Only failure was my pack cover...soaking my gear at the bottom of my pack. My Marmot Oracle and Marmot rainpants held up very well but, man, it was a tough day. My boots were absolutely soaked on the outside, but socks were dry. When we got to the shelter, Pilot and Shira were huddled in the bags trying to warm up. Shira and lost her raincoat and Pilot's gear and gotten soaked the night before so they jumped into the shelter and in their bags trying to get warmed up. Fire Fly's waterproofing failed so her sleeping bag was soaked and her feet as well so she jumped in her sleeping bag right away in an attempt to have her body heat dry the bag out. It was my first experience of being in a situation where someone might have been in harm's way but the rain stopped late in the evening and while nothing dried out, we didn't get any rain blown into the shelter. The next day, we packed our water logged gear up, Fire Fly used some ziploc bags for socks and we took our ten mile hike into Damascus.

Hiker Weight Loss Program - Don't Try This at Home

What do you get when hike 15 miles a day and eat instant oatmeal, instant mash potatoes with tuna and trail mix for five days, blending in a one day gorging session on cheese burgers, pizza, biscuits & gravy, etc.? A quick way to lose 10 pounds! I started my hike at 183 (right out of the shower) and now weigh 174 with clothes on.

So, if you are interested in losing a few pounds...would love the company!

On my way into the hills after a day of avoiding some pretty bad weather. On to Hampton, TN!

Crank

Springer to Erwin: 340 Miles and 25 Days Later...

Milwaukee to Grinnell: 335 miles and 5-1/2 hours by car, about one hour by plane through Des Moines.

How things have changed! I've been thinking about this alot...this notion of walking out the door of my home in Shorewood and begin a hike to go see Ben in Grinnell, Iowa. That's how far I have gone at this point and it's taken me 25 days to do so.

Thank goodness for transportation advances! But it says a lot to me how significant of an impact transportation has made in this world. Everything moved much slower 100 years ago!

It's also been interesting to get glimpses of history in the woods. We've hiked past several grave stones deep in the woods from the late 1800s. It's unclear of why they are there, but one in particular got my attention...of a 13 year old boy that died in 1863. Was he a fatality from the Civil War? Was he a young soldier? A drummer boy?

Also have seen remnants of old log cabins. Reminds me of growing up in the outskirts of Atlanta when Billy Bartlett and I use to hike into the woods and sneak up on some old shacks where black families were living in the woods. Made me also thing that maybe some of these grave stones were for black people that could not afford a cemetary (or weren't welcome?).

Interesting, huh?

Injuries Taking Down the Best on the Trail

Entering this phase of the journey, I get the impression that those that remain on the trail have figured out the equipment, have the mental strength and the physical conditioning to make it at least this far. What seems to be happening now is even some of the strongest are having to step off due to physcial aligments or injuries.

Rocket Rick is probably the most surprising fatality. Rocket Rick is a nationally ranked marathoner that was in great shape and making huge mileage but ended up having to take two days of zeros because of a knee injury. It didn't get any better so he ended up heading home to Ohio only to discover it wasn't his knee, but rather a stress fracture in his upper tibia (sp).

I believe that Moonshine might be off the trail as well but I am not sure. She caught a really bad case of poison ivy and had to get on steroids...that seemed to take care of it for the moment, but she had to drop into town again and I haven't seen her since. She was young and mentally tough.

Mountaineer came off the trail a couple of days ago due to a very strange allergic reaction to duct tape. He had it wrapped around his feet for blisters only to find that he is allergic to latex and it started melting his skin around and between his toes. It was an ugly thing to see and he suffered through two long days before he could get off the trail. His wife was coming to pick him up at Standing Bear.

Ginger Snap is another young tough women who has been fighting a series of injuries, the latest a real bad case of shin splits. She thought she could nurse her way back to health by limiting her hiking from one shelter to the next - about 7 miles a day. It didn't work so she hitched a ride from Standing Bear to Hot Springs so her mom could pick her up. She hopes to get back on the trail within a week or so.

Lizard may be a success story. She had knee problems but after staying at Standing Bear for a few days she jumped back on the trail and I saw her and Thin Mint last night here in Erwin.

Those are just some examples of people having to bail out due to injuries. I'm not sure whether there is truth to my initial observation, but it seems like at this point, it's not about the gear, conditioning or focus but it's about the luck of the draw.

What's the next phase?

Day 25 - Quick Update

Just dropped into Erwin, TN after a four day trek out of Hot Springs. Did just a tad over 70 miles during this section...some very challenging tough miles! Big weather coming in tonight so will do a "nero" or maybe even a "zero" since I am ahead of schedule.

Bird - you are correct about Uncle Johnny's - a rat hole but lots of character!

Everyone else - keep your comments coming! I love them and are HUGE for me...just can't respond to them all due to limited internet access.

Will try to update later!

Crank (formerly known as Crankdadd or Don Tyler)

Day 22 - Trek Out of Hot Springs

Tough to leave the hospitality of Sunnybank and Hot Springs and do the long trek to Erwin. Got off at about 10:30 after consuming two breakfasts at the Smokey Mtn Diner. After a full day of relaxing, hike up the mountain from 1,350 feet was not as bad as I thought it would be...cold, windy and icy but not too bad. Had some great views of the frozen ice on the trees - like God frosted the mountain especially for us.

Goal was to get to a shelter 11 miles out...got there at about 4:00 pm and decided to add another 5-1/2 miles by the end of the day rather than sitting around in a 1938 shelter in the cold.

Great start on the long trek to Erwin as a result. Have 288 miles logged thus far and should break 300 by the end of today. Weather may break for the positive today.

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND TRACKING! Hard for me to respond though...

Crank