Days 7 and 8

Stayed at Standing Indian Shelter in North Carolina last night. (84.2 miles from Springer Mountain).  Weather still good.  Couldn't catch up with Irish Andy last night so no partying for St. Patricks Day.  Had a last sip from flask instead.  Very windy last night but tent held up well.  Fewer people on trail now.  Saw no one on trail yesterday and only 4 at the shelter.  Carolyn said to mention that I have only tented every night so far - no sleeping in the shelters yet.

Reflections

These are just some reflections on the trail, particularly as it relates to some of the interesting people that I have found so far. What I'm finding is that one of the most interesting things on the trail is visiting with the amazingly diverse people. On my first day, as I got off at Marta <sp?> in Atlanta to get picked up on the shuttle, I bumped into a woman by the name of Gypsy Girl. This was a 62-year-old Australian that had started the AT last year. And about two weeks into her hike, ended up breaking her leg. She stayed I think in Franklin, North Carolina for six weeks to have her leg recover, and then she went on the trail again and made it all the way to Mount Washington, but her Visa ran out. So she's back again this year to start all over, because she didn't get it done last year. So that was my first introduction to someone that was planning on doing the hike this year. My second introduction was a New Zealand woman named Karen, who seemed to be an avid hiker, has hiked all around New Zealand and ended up wanting to do the AT, so she's here to do the AT. My third introduction was with a guy by the name of Freefall, who lives in Portland, Oregon, and he has done the AT and the PCT, and the continental divide hike, and he's planning on just knocking out a quick three weeks because he's headed back to Sacramento and hoping that he can get a job with the PCT organization. So that was a really first great experience meeting those three people. We went to the hiker hostel and met some additional AT wannabes. There's a huge washout of rain the night before. There was three inches of rain on the trail, so there's a lot of people that ended up at the hiker hostel off the trail drying out. There's two individuals, two characters let's say that I would not want to meet on the side of the street that were from Louisiana and had all sorts of piercings and had barely enough teeth to take down a meal. And I've seen them a couple times off the trail. They're kind of working their way slowly through it. But they are a real mess and a real interesting group. Met Comanche on the trail first day, same age as I am. And just something that he has aspired to do for a long time. So we hiked together for a while. Hooked up with Luke. I've mentioned Luke in my trail blog already. But Luke and I bumped into a mother/daughter team and you could tell they definitely were not experienced hikers, had way too much gear, and had packed it the exact opposite way you should. As Luke started talking to them and giving them a little advice, discovered that they had been on the trail for one and a half weeks. Now this was day two for me, and they had been on the trail for one and a half weeks working their way. I've got say perseverance I guess. But they keep working at it. And then the last interesting character <Lost Signal>. I think that's -- I'll have to tell you about it later because I'm running out of space.

Dictation made on 3/16/2011 10:00 AM EST.

New blogging technology.

This is Don just trying a new technology that I think might work while I'm on the AT and I want to just try to experiment with it. It's called Copytalk and the idea came up when I was visiting with Max Schneider from Northwestern Mutual on day zero of my hike. I am now in day six at the Holiday Inn Express taking a nero <?> day, somewhere between a zero and one day off, and I think I'm going to hit the trail this afternoon, but just wanted to test this out and see if it works. If it does work, then Carolyn will be able to kind of simply cut and paste the message onto my blog. Hope things are going well with everybody. I'm having a great time and we'll see if this gets on the blog. Thanks a lot.

Dictation made on 3/16/2011 9:57 AM EST.

Day 5 - Gang Bails at Hiawassee - Thank God!

We decided last night that it might be good to do an overnight in town...a 11 mile hike on the trail.  This was fine with me, making for an easier day.

Night before (last night) started to rain at about 3:30 am...very steady and hard.  Tent remained in tact - no collapse - and got about 3 tablespoons of water in...not bad!  Hoping rain would stop...but didn't so got up at about 8:00 am, scrambled to keep everything dry...collapsed the tent - very soggy, rolled it up, strapped it on my pack...put my rain gear on and was on my way in the rain at about 9:05.  Was not the first one out this time...and I took my time in the rain...even stopped at a shelter midway to have lunch (my summer sausage and Starbucks coffee!).  That really charged me up!  Hooked up with Dave along the way and we kept trading places.  A great and quiet guy from Portland, OR.

Ended up making pretty good time considering the rain - fell on my butt for the first time.  Got to the highway at about 3:00 pm with Dave, stuck out our thumbs and a guy in a pickup truck pulled over.  We threw our packs in the back and jumped in the back with him and he drove us to Blueberry Patch - a hiker hostel.  Caught up with the gang - but was full.  Owner drove Dave and I into town - I checked in at the Holiday Inn - best place in town for $79.00.  Had dinner with the group at Dave's Steakhous - a pretty bad all you can eat place but it tasted great.  Later tonight went to a BBQ place to get a sandwich and Fosters.

Plan to play it by ear tomorrow depending on weather and blisters.

All for now...have to get off the computer.

Thanks for comments, etc...and THANKS CAROLYN for keeping track of me as I call in!

Day 3 - Longest Day So Far - A Tough One!

Had a great time at Low Gap Shelter Last Night - very nice shelter and interesting people.  Got to bed pretty early - probably around 8:00 pm.  Slept great - best night so far for me.  Started to get up shortly after 7:00 am and was off on the trail - first one out again at about 8:00 am.  I knew this was going to be a long day and wanted to make the best of it.

Weather was great and some spectacular views as a result.  Before I knew it I was at Unicoi Gap (sp), having blasted 9.7 miles with 5.4 miles to go.  Luke had passed me along the way (reminds me of my son, Ben - lanky and can move on the trail) but ended up catching up with him at Unicoi Gap as he was chowing down on a stash of trail magic.  I helped myself to a Snickers bar and a P&G sandwich (my lunch!).  Everything was going great until I had about 2.7 miles left and absolutely hit the wall...straight up the hill.  Promised myself I could have the Snickers bar at 3:00 pm but never got around to eating it until the next morning for breakfast.

[This internet connection in this town is not working well...lost most of this entry - have to shorten]

First into the shelter, got my tent set up and made dinner - Ramen (yum) and Pizza Pasta.  Made me feel much better.  Met a young boy and his father doing a section hike and a new thru hiker called Tater.  Tater weighs in at least 300 lbs and is packing about as much, including tons of food and a laptop.  I think he has been on the trail for about two weeks!  Quite a character.

Big surprise to see Raspberry because he was going to bail at Unicoi Gap (sp) with Sam and her girlfriend.  He decided to keep going.  Luke came in next.  I have learned much from Luke and will apply the lesson tomorrow - slow down and enjoy the scenary along the way.  I would move out ahead of him...he would pass me...and then I him - when he was resting.  More breaks!  Dave came rolling in as well as Charlie Brown.  Rumor had it that Andy had bailed at U Gap but big surprise - he showed up.  This is critically important because he is from Ireland and is packing some great whiskey for St. Pats day.  So everyone is trying to stay close to him.  Jake and his girlfriend showed up as well.  Ended up having a nice campfire that night.

Inspected my feet and got depressed.  I have never had blisters before but have developed one on each side of my ankle - wierd.  Frustrating and bit worrisome.

Anyway, got to bed at about 9:00 pm happy with the great weather we have had - great company and lots of fun overall.  I love my sleeping bag and sleeping pad and seem to be getting a good night sleep.

One last thing - the group decided that I should change my trail name to "Crank" - been giving me a hard time about getting going so early and thought short and sweet is better.  So I am now Crank, formerly known as Crankdaddy in the shelter journals.

Thanks everyone for tracking progress - thanks CAROLYN for helping me with the updates when I call!

Day three and morning of day four.

Travelled uphill and hiked into Low Gap Shelter last night.  Long but productive day - about 14 miles.  Weather still holding out.  Great group at shelter.  In addition to Luke and Andy, who I had met before, I met Rasberry from Wells College, Jake and Snail, Rainbow, Dave, Sam and Turnaround.  I'm now 9.6 miles into my hike today at Unicoi Gap near Helen, Georgia - shooting for 15 so that tomorrow I can end up at a hostel in Hiawassee.  Tom, I'm enjoyng the flask you loaned me and am taking good care of it.  Thanks to Carolyn and Ben for your texts.

Day two and morning of day three.

St:arted out from Justus Creek at 8: 30.   Got to Woods Shelter around 4:00 - a 13 mile day.  Much hillier, up and down all the way - more typical of what was expecting.  Weather great.  Got trail magic at Woody Gap - grilled hot dog and an apple from Donny, a middle school principal.  Got more trail magic (snicker bar and apple) from Bill along the way.  Met Luke (student from University of Vermont), Swift (on his third AT hike), Darken, Andy from Ireland and two guys who have been hiking sections for the last 15 years.  One of them just celebrated his 67th birthday.  Had a camplfire last night.  The Steripen water system sucks - failed on the first try.  Thank you for your advice Bird on getting the Sawyer. Got up in the dark at 6:30 this morning and broke up camp at 7 in the dark.  Hiked 1 and 1/2 miles to top of Blood Mountain and watched the beautiful sunrise.  Now am at Neals Gap and plan to hike 6 or 7 more miles before I set up camp again near the trail.    Weather still great and sunny but rain expected.