Trail Moments

The Start of the Approach Trail at Amicalola Falls.

Me on the summit of Springer Mtn trying to unfold my Thank You Andie, or Thank You Accenture sign in the rain.

At the summit the next morning after the wild thunderstorm in the snow.

Crossing into North Carolina. One state down!

"The Professor," "Superman," "Cope," "Whip-poor-will," and "Sockeye" at the border.

The view from Mt Albert fire tower.

Spokes-model Sarah from the River's End cafe stylishly displaying my hiker calling card. Thank you Sarah for everything you do to help hikers!

A lazy zero day at the Fontana Hilton. When thru-hikers are not hiking, they lounge, eat and sleep. i have many pictures of thru-hikers sitting perfectly still :-).

Thanks to the youth group from Sulligent Alabama baptist church (I hope that's the right town - please let me know if it's not - We thought afterwards we should have taken a picture of your bus so we could remember. If you could send your names for picture that'd be awesome.). These great folks picked us up just outside of Gatlinburg and drove us back to the trail. They had great questions for us. They even turned around and came back because they found something we had dropped. hope you had a good hike at the falls and a blessed retreat! You are all Trail Angels!

The Noisy Boys on Charlie's Bunion. They have been dubbed the Fraternity. "Sockeye, Superman, Grizzly and Cope" Truly a great bunch of guys most of whom I have hiked with off and on since the beginning.

Me looking down from Charlie's Bunion. (Thanks Sockeye for the camera work).

A party on Max Patch with several groups of Trail Angels and many thru-hikers.

Trail Angels - Tracy Williams, Harrison "Mousetrap" Williams, Andy and Lesley Walden and Sara "Dragonslayer" Keister. Thank you so much for your marvelous generosity. You Rock!

"P.B., Climber, DragonSlayer" and another Trail Angel (I'm sorry I forgot your name) who met us on Max Patch with fruit, vegetables, soda, wine, beer, hotdogs, and cheese puffs! We never made it any further that day.

Hot Springs N.C. !!!

First Trail Town. Hot Springs NC

It has been a fantastic few days. I left Standing Bear Hostel, a funky homestead in the Tennessee woods just outside of the Smokies after a night that included a full on Pete Townsend style guitar smashing incident, and began the climb up and over to Hot Springs. There are several balds in between. Balds are these funky mountains that are surrounded by forest that suddenly near the summit become a massive lawn of kentucky blue grass. Max Patch is about 4 football fields across on top with a staggering 360 degree view of the Smokies and North Carolina mountains. As we climbed our way toward the summit we came across a couple of thru-hikers from years past giving out hotdogs, pastry, beer, soda, Little Debbie snacks and fruit. Thanks "Hotpants" and "Ramblin Man". Fresh fruit is a serious treat. As we walked away from that and got to the top of Max Patch we found "PB" and "Climber" giving out fruit and soda. We sat there for a few minutes and "Dragonslayer" and  "Mousetrap" and their friends and family showed up with a grill and beer. So needless to say, about 15 of us never made it off Max Patch that night. We watched the sunset over the Smokies and woke to an equally brilliant sunrise after a chilly night under the stars.
Today I strolled into the first true trail town. The AT walks down main street and they have custom markers embedded in the sidewalk. There is a spa here and I plan to take a zero tomorrow to enjoy the town and rest up a bit. I was lucky enough to get into the hiker hostel - Sunnybank Inn, where Ellmer is a legend who makes an organic vegetarian 4 course dinner and a breakfast that sticks to the ribs. Can't wait!  I have access to real computers at the library so pictures and thank you's to all the trail angels will be coming in the next day or so.

When are The Great Smoky Mountains not smoky?

When you get a week straight of beautiful blue skies. The long walk through the Smokies was absolutely breathtaking, both in the amazing vistas that spread out all around and for the leg staggering amount of climbing. The south side of the park featured about 10,000 feet of climbing as I clawed my way to the highest point on the trail at Clingman's Dome (6,643'). The picture below is from the observation tower at the top. To make matters more difficult, the climb into the park follows a grueling 5 days when you climb out of Winding Stair gap up and over a series of beautiful balds, dive 4000' into the Natahala Rvier Gorge. I have a picture of Sarah from the River's End restaurant there modeling my blog address. (The previously promised spokes-model - She is a serious friend to hikers, often bringing supplies from the town where she lives to the NOC to resupply thru-hikers. Thanks Sarah! I'll post some pictures when I get to Hot Springs and have access to a library. After the NOC comes the knee busting climb out of the gorge up and back down 4,000 feet to Fontana Dam. So climbing into the park happens on some pretty weary legs. I actually took a 0 (no walking) in the Fontana Hilton - the name of the quite fancy Trail shelter near the dam - and sat and did nothing all day.
I sadly did not get to see any of the famous bears in GSMNP but did see a Boar while Captain Radish and I were chilling by a water source. Our shelter was also buzzed by some Ninja Attack Deer that scared the bejeezus out of River - the shorter blonded in the summit picture. Other than that in 250 miles the largest thing I've seen is a Grouse.

Smoky Mountain High

Long days and wonderful people!

I was fully prepared for the range of characters I would meet who were themselves doing the trail. The ghostly fast packers you only meet once. The gearhead, the social organizer, the contemplative recluse, and the endless joyful walkers. They have all been as delightful as expected. The people, for whom I was not prepared, are the constant stream of extraordinarily hospitable and helpful people off the trail; providing rides, offering food, planning parties and generally doing everything they can think of to help a perfect stranger fulfill their dream. They are known as "Trail Angels" and so far they are everywhere.
The walking in North Carolina has been more varied and often more reasonably graded than Georgia. There has even been some flat walking. I am starting to ramp the mileage up a bit and my body is adjusting to the rigors of the trail.
This past weekend there was a hikers fest and I had a chance to catch up with some early friends. We have started to spread out a bit. A few days ago, I had to strike out and leave pretty much everyone behind, but soon met some great new folks. I should be in the Smokies pretty soon, which includes the highest point on the trail.
I have many great pictures to add when I get a bit of PC time on a reasonable computer, including my first ever spokesmodel.