Best View Yet

We got up from a restful night. It had started off calm and turned to a typical windy fall morning as if there was some deadline to get all the colorful leaves to the ground before a certain time. The alarm went off at 7:20am and finally we listened to it and got moving. This was our earliest morning yet on the trail which is funny since we never stayed up past 10:00pm. It is amazing how long you can sleep when you have been walking over mountains all day long with a heavy pack. I got our food bags out of the tree, Abigail cooked breakfast and I tore down the tent. After eating breakfast we headed out.
Since the trail was downhill, we soon reached Indian Grave Gap and started the climb to Beauty Spot. This turned out to be our best view yet on the trip. While heading up to the top we also found a cell phone. We are still in the process of finding the owner. Limited service and the lack of determination on the part of the people we have called on it has made the reuniting of the phone and owner proving to be difficult. All I can say is that Beauty Spot was rightly named with nearly 360 degree views of the surrounding area. It was clear and we met a group of four folks around our age from Ohio that took our picture. They were interested in the trail and had a few questions. Mostly the norm like
"How do you carry a months worth of food with you?" and
"What work do you do that allows you to take that much time off?".
(For the food we resupply in towns and have planned ahead and ship boxes to ourselves thanks to my parents. We never carry more than a weeks worth of food at a time. As for work, we are between jobs)

It was nice company and we ate lunch, chatted and just appreciated the view.
On the way down the other side we soon reached a nice little spring, pumped our water and continued for the climb up Unaka Mountain. Unaka in Cherokee means White. The top was amazing not because of the view but because of the fir trees. Even this far south at over 5000 feet the fir trees prevail. It reminded both of us of the mossy, evergreen forests of Alaska and Maine. We passed a pleasant thru hiker named Bobcat and continued on to Cherry Gap Shelter where we ate dinner and again resupplied water.
At almost every shelter on the Appalachian Trail there is a nearby spring or stream for water. They position the shelters that way for the convenience of the hikers. We also like to eat in a different location than where we camp so that there is even less of a likelihood of attracting bears and other animals. It is unlikely that they would bother us but why not take the precautions?
It was getting late but we managed a few more miles and finished up on the other side of Iron Mountain on a small side trail that was reasonably flat. It is amazing because as short as our history is here in the U.S. we have managed to make quite the impact on our landscapes. By this I do not mean to relate to the mass deforestation of our lands or draining of swamps but the changes we have made and forgotten about like in these eastern woodlands we are hiking through. Everyday over every mile we hike through mostly National Forest and all of this area was once logged and probably clear cut. However, today you would never know. Fairly often we come across old logging trails that cut into the hillside but have been grown over. An old fence line that is falling down from old age, an overgrown apple orchard or an old bootlegging trail back from the days of prohibition.
So there we set up camp on the old side trail cut into the hillside by the hard work of some mountain men and forgotten about so many years ago now to be used as a convenient place to set up a tent. We soon found ourselves snoozing in our sleeping bags ready for a new day of hiking and adventure.

Chris

Back on the trail again!

Alright, so Abigail’s feet were finally healed and we got her new shoes and socks and were ready to go.

Tara dropped us off at Uncle Johnny’s Hostel in Erwin, TN. and off we went. We got on the trail around 3:00pm and were only hoping to make around six miles so there was no rush. We hiked along the Nolichucky River and up a side valley to the Curly Maple Gap Shelter.

There we ate a dinner of cheese and zopf bread I had baked in Asheville and resupplied our water so that we would be good for that evening and the next morning.
We continued on until it was just about too dark to hike without a headlamp and we came upon a nice camping spot on the right side of the trail at the top of a ridge. It had a fire pit that had been built up by previous occupants and even had some wood left over. Because of the ridge top, the trees were sparse and you could see all of the fall colors and when it became darker, the lights of Erwin bellow us.

We quickly put up the tent, brushed our teeth and hung our food in a nearby tree(Hanging your food is necessary to ward off bears, raccoons, possums, and other creatures of the forest from visiting your tent). I started a fire and it turned out to be quite a cozy little spot.

It was also very still so you could hear every little thing in the woods. Every leaf or small branch falling from the trees sounded much louder than normal.
So that leads me into what happened next. The two of us were sitting next to each other at the fire, the surroundings dark full of potentially scary things. It is amazing how uninviting a place becomes once all the light is gone. Then something started scurrying up the ridge behind us. It sounded a little far off at first and it was apparent that it was coming straight up to us quickly. We jumped up, switched our headlamps on and turned towards it. As it got closer, it got louder and was obviously not deterred by the light. I told Abigail, “Get behind me” figuring maybe it was a rabid raccoon or something. It’s beady little eyes would be terrifying if you were a grain of wheat maybe. Then we finally saw it, our tormentor, a tiny forest mouse.
After that we slept pretty well assuming everything we heard must only be the size of that mouse.

Chris

Asheville has been good to us…

What a luxurious break from our hike! We have loved seeing a bit of Asheville as well as meeting up with old friends and making new ones! With new hiking shoes and healed feet, we are ready to hit the trail again tomorrow. The gluttony involved in spoiling ourselves the last 5 days is catching up with us and though before our excuse was that we had just hiked 72 miles, now the glutton feels like the perfect excuse to push onward as a rewarding penance.

Seeing friends I haven’t seen in years makes me want to continue hiking but make an effort to stop at all my dear friends’ houses on the way, but all over the world! How fast time flies and before I know it, years have gone by since reconnecting with some but luckily picking up where we left off is just as easy as realizing we are in the same geographic location.
How sweet it is.

Chris making apple butter in Ruth and Tara’s kitchen

Meeting up with MK and Kevin at Barley’s in downtown Asheville (I worked with MK on the Regent Mariner cruise ship in the summer of 2009!) “Did we all just become best friends?”

Staying up with Ruth and Tara swapping stories and enjoying each others’ company

Certainly didn’t think I’d say this while in extreme pain at every step, but I’m so thankful we had an excellent excuse (and invitation) to spend so much time in Asheville. Thank you, friends.

oh hey Asheville, North Carolina

Well, ready to blog again, this time from Asheville, North Carolina. Yesterday morning after waking up to a cloudy, albeit dry day, we packed everything up and were ready to hike just as it started to rain. Not really ready to face that for another day, we hung out in the shelter with two thru-hikers, Chesty and Roadhouse who told us tales of the trail until about noon. Apparent that the rain wasn’t about to stop, we decided it was time to press onward regardless. After walking about 30 yards from the shelter, I (Abigail) decided my feet were really in pain and I was not about to make the 32 mile walk over the next few days to get to Erwin, Tennessee. Well, if I’m honest my eyes did the talking and as they teared up from the pain they told Chris enough to decide for me that we would be calling for a pick up from the local hostel in the next closest stop. Determined to not put my hiking boots back on, my pink crocs did nicely for the 2.7 mile walk down to the road, even with the muck, rain, and steepness!

After hanging out in Erwin for a couple hours, our friend Tara rescued us again and picked us up and took us to her house in Asheville. We have been able to rest, soak our feet, shower, and watch a movie with a blanket over us with a beer in our hand! It has been very luxurious and is much preferred at this point!

contra dancing- a new thing for us to observe!

Tara even got Chris to dance with her!

After a few days (as long as the weather clears and the blisters heal and new hiking shoes are bought) we are hoping to hit the trail again and our goal is to get to Damascus, Virginia.
In the meantime, we are appreciating Asheville, becoming educated about contra dancing, great bookstores, eating good food and relaxing!

Super Storm 2012

Well, we woke up and it was just as cloudy as the day before but 90% chance of rain. Well, at least we stayed dry the night before. We got a good start and headed out for our first climb of the day. It was one of those days on the trail where you felt the imminent oncoming rain all day. We made it to Max Patch and were hoping for a view but instead could only see about 20 feet in front of us. At the summit it was 35-45mph wind gusts, mist and eventually some rain. As we continued, it sprinkled on us lightly until we made it to Roaring Fork Shelter. It was only 3:45pm and so we got water, ate a snack and made the decision to continue to the Walnut Gap Shelter.
Ok, so this is when our day turned more interesting. Of course we wanted to make some more miles and about 45 minutes out of Roaring Fork it started to rain harder and the wind started. We hiked a bit harder and as we were hiking up the mountain the gusts of wind reached around 50-60mph and we spent just about as much time looking up for falling debris as we did watching our feet. Finally we made it to the top of the mountain and it was cleared of all trees and it was a large meadow with wild flowers and tall grasses. There were even some spots of sunshine and blue sky, what a relief.
Just outside the meadow was the shelter in a narrow gap and the wind was howling. The shelter that fits 5 people already had 3 in it. We talked to the guys and said we thought we would find a low spot farther down the mountain and that is what we did at Kale Gap. It was a funny turn of events because we were looking forward to getting to that shelter more than anything with sore and blistered feet. Regardless we carried on. I found us what looked like a safe spot under a giant white pine tree and just five minutes after we put up the tent the rain started and didn’t stop for 14 hours. Lots of sleep and rest for our feet was what we needed and forced to have considering the circumstances. I will say that that night was probably the worst weather Abigail or I had ever experienced in a tent. The wind was higher in the tree tops but it roared all night and what a downpour. Not what I would call restful but we had time.
The next day we got up and slowly started to dry all of our things. It stayed almost completely dry in the tent but still kept us till noon drying everything out. Even though we didn’t get a start till noon we pushed on excited to make it into Hot Springs NC, 14 miles later looking forward to a delicious beer. Ha, well not gonna happen. Our showers kept us a little too long and by the time we went out to a fun night on the town even the town bar was closed at 9:30pm!!! Ahhhhhhhh, well at least we had Dollar General and some tasty snacks.

- Chris

Davenport to Groundhog Creek Shelter

Hiking out of Davenport Gap and pushing on to the Groundhog Creek Shelter we hiked 9.8 miles on our first day by ourselves on the trail. This day was complete with two luxuriously long breaks, one at Pigeon River to wash clothes and ourselves (even after just a few days this was a welcome stop!), and one at painted branch to filter water and treat ourselves to a Nutella infused lunch.

It was a beautiful day and we were happy to have Groundhog Creek Shelter to ourselves. We set up our tent inside the shelter as we knew rain was imminent. This was a great idea as it rained through the night, and we had the added benefit of not adding 2 pounds of water weight (with the tent being wet) to our packs (well, really to Chris' as he's carrying the tent =) )

As we arrived with sore feet to the shelter, it was becoming very apparent that my feet had no less than 6 blisters, three on each foot, on different spots... the next few days were bound to be a bit slower??

Smoky Mountains, the beginning

We spent our first night in Smoky Mountain National Park with friends Mike and Tara from the island. It was a great warm up as it was only 4.6 miles in, and Mike and Tara sure know their local flora and fauna so we learned a lot from them. Mike is an expert salamander spotter, and with four naturalists on a hike, no rock went unturned!

It rained throughout the night and until about 9am, though luckily we were in our tent safe and sound when it started and used it as a great excuse to sleep in!! We got going late and made the 9 (ish) mile hike up and out. Luckily the clouds cleared just enough to get a few good views of the fall leaves at the top. After a quick stop in town and a bite to eat at Subway (easier than cooking!), Mike and Tara dropped us off at about 8:30pm to hike the mile into Davenport Gap Shelter on the border of the Smoky Mountain National Park. Thanks to Mike and Tara for the company and making the trek out to see us! We learned a lot.

Chris filtering water right next to our campsite at Cabin Flats.