Category: 2018 Appalachian Trail

Bunny, I repeat, Bunny woke up at 6:30 and started getting ready. We had already gotten about everything done to ready to leave the hostel at 7:45. I worshipped at the porcelain throne then went out to the kitchen for some coffee (I didn’t need the usual coffee primer to worship). Zen was already up cleaning dishes and said he would like to interview Bunny and I for a UTube channel he is starting about vagabonding. We had talked a bit on the drive down from the mountains yesterday and he was very enthusiastic about the life choices we have made in the last year.

We waited a bit to allow him to take care of some chores to get people up and going, then we headed out to his front porch for a video interview. He gave us a few ground rules and then started the video. We talked for about 15 minutes before he felt he had enough material. By the time we went back in and loaded up the car to head back to the trail, it was already 8:30. The original plan was for Hot Legs, Madlib, Bunny, and I to all head back to Rock Gap the first run. Instead, Josh and Sunny were outside with their packs. I thought maybe all six of us might cram in. Instead, just the four of us took off.

Zen headed to drop us off first at Rock Gap. Zen is a little overwhelmed with the early rush of hikers he has. It’s been predicted this will be the biggest year for thru-hiking the AT and the bubble is actually going to begin on March 1 instead of the 15th. We’ve heard 60 people will start this Thursday. Zen tries to enjoy the moment even though his mind is running at 100 mph. As we climbed in the mountains, we could see that the clouds were below us. He pulled over to let us get a good look at the beautiful morning. He also told us an idea he had to produce an annual AT Hiker music album featuring music written and performed by thru-hikers. It looks like this might actually happen this year.

We made pretty good time once we got dropped off. A large part was that we knew we could expect some trail magic from Fresh Grounds and his Leap Frog Cafe. We made the 4 miles in about 2 hours which is pretty good time for us. When we got there, Patches was still there talking to Fresh Grounds. She had 3 cheeseburgers yesterday which is how we knew he was around. Today, she had 4 banana pancakes and was sitting wearing his insulated pants. Fresh Grounds loves to feed hikers and he calls Patches his best customer.

He started us out with 2 cheeseburgers each. I thought Bunny might protest, but she had wanted a burger in town yesterday when we ended up with Chinese Buffet instead. She was up for the challenge. In the end, I felt compelled to eat three cheeseburgers just to keep pace with Patches. She stuck around for two hours today (1 before we got there and the hour we were chowing). Fresh Grounds is easily the most popular person on the trail right now. He came out early to make sure us early starters got some magic. Apparently, he is the front man for a group of past thru-hikers that are donating money to feed this years’ hikers. The cheeseburgers are a first time menu item and a great success.

Before we left, Hot Legs and Madlib showed up, but poor Aleia left the trail yesterday, so, once again, she missed the trail magic. Fresh Grounds says the Forest Service calls what he does a “hiker feed” and they define trail magic as rides to town. I can say that hikers define trail magic as anything anyone does to help us out on our journey, and free food is Big Time Magic.

We just had the goal of Siler Bald Shelter today, but Patches, Hot Legs, and Madlib intend to push on to ditch the old folks whose aches and pains are bringing them down. Bunny and I had difficulty hiking after all the food we downed (Fresh Grounds warned us about the climb and said the effects of the third burger and second plate of fries were on me). We kept expecting Hot Legs and Madlib to catch us as we were making our way to Siler Bald, but they didn’t. We figured Hot Legs must have really chowed down.

Patches, Bunny and I all dropped our packs and made our way up the side trail to the bald since it was a sunny day (we haven’t had a lot of them to date so we need to take advantage when we can). The views were astounding. I had no idea the Appalachian Mountains were so expansive. After we had been up there four a few minutes snapping pictures, we saw Hot Legs and Madlib drop their packs and head up our way.

It was great to have such an inspiring spot be the last place we will all be together. Bunny and I can’t keep up with the kids. It’s time for us to become empty nesters once again. We said our goodbyes and headed downhill to the closest shelter while the three of them headed to the next shelter 7 miles away. By the end of the week, they’ll all be a couple days ahead of us (unless there’s more trail magic in the form of food in which case Patches will slow up quite a bit).

The shelter was a bit further than advertised. We got down there around 4:30 and there was already someone down there whom we hadn’t met yet. Mizman was cooking supper when we arrived. He’s someone I have been following in shelter registers since our first day on the trail. He’s a retired postal worker and has a very upbeat outlook on trail life and life in general. We talked until sunset, but it was getting cold and forcing us all into our bags. It was well below 40 at 7:00. Our new sleeping pads feel great.

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The best of plans often change. It started raining pretty hard around 4 a, but we didn’t care. We were warm and dry in our slanted shelter. I was having a crappy night for another reason. No, Bunny wasn’t up to her usual pad/sleeping bag hogging antics. It was much worse. The sleeping pad “tubes” were coming unglued so I was sleeping on a bulging ridge in the middle of my side (Bunny was generous enough to grab the good side). All night long, I either rolled towards Bunny and got an elbow, or towards Patches and got a knee. I tried sleeping on top of the ridge but just kept dreaming of the theme to “the Jeffersons”—it took a whole lot of trying, just to get up that hill. Add in the slide to the back of the shelter and pulling myself back towards the front and I didn’t get a lot of solid sleep.

We took off the same time Patches did, but I insisted upon back-tracking up the same trail we came into the shelter on so we wouldn’t miss any of the official trail. My reasoning was that if they wanted the trail to run by the shelter, they would have white blazed past it. Perhaps, just perhaps, I might have some OCD issues. By the time we got around to the other end of the trail, Hot Legs, Madlib, Aleia, and Zulu caught us and passed us. Patches was already climbing the hill on the other side of the gap and we lost sight of her.

By the time we progressed all the way to the road, a whopping 0.1 mile, a guy in an SUV pulled up and offered us a ride to town and a night’s stay at his hostel with the promise of a return ride to our location in the morning. Since it was raining steadily, we quickly agreed, but Patches was already too far gone to catch. We got Zen to agree to go back and pick her up when she finished the 4 miles we all had planned to do. Bottom line, we were in town and showering by 9 while Patches was hiking.

Aleia is the only one of us who hasn’t gotten trail magic and her luck held again today. As we passed Winding Stair Gap, where we had planned to hike to, we saw Fresh Grounds’ car. He is set up providing magic for hikers in our area once again. We should be able to get some from him tomorrow since we know where he is. Aleia will miss it again because she is leaving the trail for a few days to visit a grad school in California.

Today, we showered, did laundry, shopped for more gear (we had to get new sleeping pads because I refuse to “hump” it another night. Arnie 1 Mile agreed to drive us to the outfitter and then to an AYCE Chinese/Sushi Buffet. While we were showering and blogging, Zen went and picked up Patches who had found Fresh Grounds and partook of 3 (count them, three) cheeseburgers and French fries before getting to the

hostel. After she showered, she came along with us to the buffet and made a nice dent in the sushi bar. We’ll find out how safe that turns out to be later tonight. After supper, we headed to the armpit of America (aka Wal-Mart) to get enough supplies to last until Pam and Joyce join us next weekend.

We are all set to be dropped back where we were picked up this morning. We will resume hiking around 8 in the morning in what should be our earliest start to date made all the more possible knowing that we will get some free food after less than 4 miles of walking. Life is good.

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We managed to be the first ones out of the shelter, but it didn’t take long for Madlibs, Hot Legs, and Aleia to catch and pass us. We made the rookie mistake of dressing for the weather at the moment instead of dressing for how we will feel after hiking a few minutes. In other words, we way overdressed and had to stop a couple of times to take off clothes. Even though it was a little drizzley and cold, we quickly overheated when climbing.

Another milestone today, we passed 100 miles. Even though we had a longer day of hiking (for us), it wasn’t bad except for about 3/10 of a mile right before the summit of Mount Albert. Today was the first day I didn’t use any vitamin I, but I did rub a little Voltaren on my feet after 11 miles. I might have been a little tired because Bunny Tracks was leading the way most of the day.

When we entered North Carolina two days ago we thought we were starting to get a little stronger, but then we started climbing and felt like we had zero cardio. Fortunately, this was a similar experience for everyone when we started talking about it. Lucky 59 told us that the trail was originally supposed to end in NC and the trail designers weren’t happy about extending it down to Georgia. The end result was that they decided to make it tougher if they were extending it.

The first 5,000 peak we hiked over (Standing Indian Mountain) was such an easy walk that we barely noticed when we went over it, but Albert Mountain was a different story. The Nantahala Trail Club decided to import French trail designers to stick it to the hikers. Some might say that sometimes, there might not be room for switchbacks. To those I say “Pyrenees.”

Up to this point, I have forgotten to mention the trail clubs along the AT and all the work they put in every year to even make it possible for us to attempt the thru-hike. For every thru-hiker that finishes, I would imagine there are at least 100 trail maintenance workers who spend thousands of hours of volunteer work maintaining the trail. These are the true heros of the trail. No one actually hikes the trail alone. Throw in all those at home monitoring progress, sending packages, worrying about their babies out hitchhiking into town, etc and we each have support teams of a couple hundred people.

Some day, I hope to NOT have peanut butter poop while on the trail. (What? You didn’t think I’d stay serious for two paragraphs in a row?). What I wouldn’t give for a good ghost poop. Currently, I only allocate 9 sheets per visit and the peanut butter makes it a challenge to keep my quota. I was so proud of myself that I managed to extend a single roll all the way through Georgia and I am on track to extend it all the way to Fontana Dam. I didn’t want to have to resort to the one sheet per visit rule we used to do in Boy Scouts. How is that? Cut a hole to allow your finger through the sheet (don’t throw away circle). Use your finger to clean and then wrap the sheet around your finger to clean the finger. Use the hole to clean under your nail. Mission accomplished—one sheet.

We made it to the shelter before 5, but I was beat. Bunny did most of the work and even tried to help me cook. She does everything different than I do which interrupted my routine, so I didn’t appreciate the help with the food. I didn’t mind at all that she fetched water. I just wasn’t thinking clear. I even managed to mess up hanging the bea bags which resulted in me cutting the rope and loosing a carabiner up a tree. My future bags will now have to hang 5’ lower.

Hot Legs built another fire tonight—his finest to date. Why is every male a pyro at heart? Bunny and I just couldn’t take another late night, though, and were in bed by 7:30. Still way past hiker midnight.

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The world has returned to normal—we were the last to leave the shelter at 9a. Still, a respectable time for us considering that we had more to do today since we had gotten in so late last night. We had intended to “split” a large breakfast of biscuits and gravy, but Bunny decided sharing was just a suggestion and not a requirement. She did let me taste them at least.

I’m disappointed with the number of people not packing out their trash. Dirty R carried a bag of garbage that he picked up from Plumorchard Shelter. Back in my day, we didn’t call it “no trace” camping, we just had a nice little saying: “Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures, waste nothing but time.”

Yesterday, Bunny was leading the way down the trail when she just stopped. She looked confused (much more so than usual). She turned around and said the trail just disappeared. It is pretty obvious to me now that Bunny is VERY right dominant. The trail took a hard left and she couldn’t see it.

It was a pleasant day of hiking. It was cool, but foggy once again. After we stopped for lunch, the sun burnt off the fog and we had some sunshine. Lucky 59 and Pepper Pot caught up to us as we were finishing our lunch. We hiked with them for a couple of miles and plan to catch up with them Sunday evening in Franklin, NC. Not too surprisingly, our political views coincide quite nicely (but then there are a tremendous number of intelligent hikers in the world).

We were the first in the shelter right at 2. Lucky and Pepper went on so they can get into Franklin tomorrow evening and take a zero day on Sunday. Several more hikers came in and left. Madlibs is staying in the shelter with us. She decided to take a year off from school and hike the AT. She will begin her career this fall. Another couple hikers (Hot Legs and Aleia with her dog, Zulu) came in that we met as we were leaving Top of Georgia Hiker Hostel; they are camping and have a dog with them. It’s a cute little gal but is having some problems with her shoulder.

Here it is only 4 and we are all organized for tomorrow. I’ve got all our meals lined out until we get to town. My goal is to run out of berroca as soon as we can. This is an energy drink supplement that Richard and Craig got us hooked on last year when we stayed with them in London. The only problem I have with it is that every time I pee, I get afraid that I’ve ingested some sort of fluorescent yellow radioactive tracer. I’ll spare you the actual picture.

A great advantage of camping with youngsters is that they get in so early and have energy to burn. Hot Legs built a fire and we all sat around and talked until the late hour of 8. I know it’s a little extravagant to stay up so late, but a fire is worth it. After I learned Hot Legs’ name, I had another ear worm that took me a while to identify—“Hot Legs” by Rod Stewart. I can’t look at Hot Legs now without picturing Rod Stewart in red leather pants.

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We had several accomplishments and amazing events today, not the least of which is that we were the first ones packed up and out of the shelter. Granted, it wasn’t an early time (8:20), but we were first! Dirty R and Grape Stomper were almost ready, but hiding their food helped to slow them down. Lucky 59 and Pepper Pot got rained on and muddled up the night previous night and had to clean up their tent so they were never in contention (not that anyone other than me knew it was a competition—those are the easiest to win).

Another major event was that we have officially entered the top 75% of through hikers this year. Yes, we have successfully hiked out of Georgia and are still on the trail. 25% will fall by the wayside before reaching this point.

Not too far after entering North Carolina, we found another hiker sleeping on the side of the trail. Yes, it was a beautiful day; the temperature got all the way up to 75F and we had sun shine and blue skies all afternoon. Lion King has thru—hiked the AT three times so he just hikes the sections he likes. He has no pressure to complete the trail, so if he feels like resting, he does. That’s hiking experience. and ease.

It took us 10 days to hike the 77.9 miles of Georgia AT and another day to hike 7.8 miles of the approach trail. We had no major incidents or injuries. I would have liked to go a little faster, but Bunny Tracks keeps riding the breaks to keep me in line so we go slower and don’t injure ourselves (at least she claims that’s the reason she’s behind me whining and complaining so much). Our only goal is to make it to Fontana Dam by next Friday to meet Pam and Joyce who are going to hike the Smokies with us. We will not try to do any long days until after we get through Hot Springs, NC—that will put us in the 95% successful category for our age group.

We kept leapfrogging with Dirty R and Grape Stomper all day with them getting to the shelter about an hour ahead of us. Our bodies kind of rebelled the last 3 miles. This was our longest day to date and our first 12+ mile day. We will take a lighter day tomorrow to allow our complaining bodies to recover.

I did manage to answer an age old question while in Georgia—If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? It was a very foggy day about a week ago and, surprisingly, Bunny was way behind. I was standing in the mist and fog having a religious moment expecting something momentous to happen. After about 5 minutes the forest had forgotten I was even there. That was when I heard the crack of the tree. It didn’t make the “whoosh baaaam” that you would expect, but it did make a noise. I distinctly heard “this suucks”. It’s comforting to know trees feel the same way about old age that we do.

Overhill and Steady Eddy both passed us while hiking, and with gusto. I wish we could hike that fast—maybe in time, but we are more than twice their ages, so doubtful. Overhill was at the shelter when we got there and we talked with him quite a bit last night about hiking experiences. He has already done the PCT and travels significantly lighter than we do.

When you are hiking all day, you have a lot of time to kill with your mind. I’m not one to brag, but I have solved all of the world’s problems several times over. But when you have the chance to spend time hiking, why would you want to get into politics to implement the solutions. Everyone will just have to suffer through until our legs are done.

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Sir Packs-a-Lot gave a nice presentation about thru-hiking this morning over breakfast. Over 25% that start don’t even make it out of Georgia (we will be leaving Georgia in the morning). Another 25% will quit between Georgia and the end of the Smokies. If you complete the first 275 miles, you have a 50/50 chance of completing your thru-hike, unless you are a senior. If a senior completes the first 275 miles, there is a 95% chance of completing the trail. We both have AARP cards (compliments of my wife). Furthermore, my wife can order off of the senior menu at Denny’s—we are golden.

The Top of Georgia Hiker Hostel has been called a cult by some. Mainly because hikers come in just in time to drop their packs and catch a shuttle into town. One of the main reasons to stay at a hostel is to shower and do laundry. When you come in just as the shuttle is leaving, the only choice is to strip off your dirty clothes and put on the scrubs the hostel gives you—you don’t have time to shower until you get back after dinner. The end result is that there are a lot of smelly, scruffy people wondering around town asking strangers for a ride to the other end of town to get to a restaurant, etc. Most up these people are stiff from carrying a pack for the last 70 miles, are sleep deprived, and smell to high heaven. The hostel just needs to give them some plastic flowers to sell to have a “moonie” flashback to the 70s.

Once we got all of our internet business done including permits for the Smokies, we had already missed both shuttles back up to the trail so we had to hoof it. It was only 3/4 of a mile so we didn’t even try to hitchhike, we just sucked it up and took the additional mileage without complaint. When we got to the parking lot, Snap was already there doing trail magic. Bunny and I split two Krispy Kreme donuts (true, I had one and a half to Bunny’s half, but technically, we split two donuts). Bunny also grabbed a bag of chips which she DID NOT SHARE with me. I routinely give her an M&M out of every package to share the bag. I guess I’m just much more generous than she is.

We barely got on the trail before Steady Eddy and Patches passed us up heading sobo. They had made the decision to stay another night at the hostel and chose to slack pack today. Slack packing is walking a section of trail without carrying your pack. Someone either carries it forward to where you are going to end, or, in the case today, Sir Packs-a-Lot took them north and dropped them off to hike back to the hostel.

The weather today was like an ex-girlfriend. “I love you so much.” Bright skies. “Why didn’t you compliment my new blouse?” Dark skies. “Let’s go out to eat.” Clearing up a bit. “Where do you want to go?” “I don’t care, you choose.” “OK, pizza”. “You know I hate pizza, NO”. Heavy winds. “Mexican?” “I love you” brightening skies—That’s what the weather was like today. Schizophreniac!

At one point, I was standing in the fog with the rain starting and stopping ( a “why don’t you love me anymore?” Weather phase} and I realized I was happy. There weren’t great views, but it was so mystical and serene standing in the rain. I was just happy and anticipating something magical to happen like a deer pop up and stare at me face to face. It didn’t happen. Even the deer are smart enough to get in out of the rain; only people are crazy enough to be out in this.

One young couple from Connecticut passed us up. They started just a couple of days before us. Dirty R and Grape Stomper talked with us a bit and then we passed them again. We didn’t see them again for a couple of hours until the showed up at the same shelter we are staying at. Dirty R has hiked most of the trail in 2015 but had some health issues that caused him to stop in New Jersey. He had some good advice for us about what to expect.

As we were finishing our supper of Mexican Rice and some sort of powdered meat substitute (that wasn’t soy, wasn’t meat, and wasn’t dirt but some happy medium in that food triangle), Lucky 59 and Pepper Pot showed up. They camped out in the downpour last night and all of their gear was soaked. As is the norm with everyone out here, they were still happy and talkative. We all know we are lucky to have the opportunity to be out here and nothing will dampen our hiker highs.

We watched some of Jake’s videos on UTube before going to bed. I highly recommend subscribing to his UTube Channel—Jake Hikes. We found out during the course of the day that he has finally gotten a trail name; Hot Sauce. And we get a cameo in his video from Neel Gap to Tray Mountain. He even said we were good people. I like this alter ego that comes with a new trail name.

We got our earliest start of the trip at 8:15. We were motivated because we have decided to spend the night at Top of Georgia Hiker Hostel at Dicks Creek Gap. It’s a good thing we had that to look forward to because today was another heads down hiking day. As has become usual for us in Georgia, it was raining and cold after an all night rain.

We did meet one hearty guy out for a short 20 mile run. He’s just getting his legs warmed up for a 60 mile run this weekend and a 100 mile run later this spring.  We both said the same thing as we parted each other—“what you’re doing doesn’t look fun to me.”

There were a couple of decent climbs today but none more than 1,000’ so I don’t understand why Bunny and I were dragging so bad. I guess we still haven’t lost all of our winter fat stores. I tried toughing out the day without “vitamin I” but gave in rather early on and took 600 mg. The rest of the day I had no problems. I wish I could say the same for Bunny. She struggled all day until Squirrel lapped us.

Squirrel put in at Dicks Creek Gap to hike back 5.4 miles to make up a section he missed earlier in January. He started hiking January 5 but got froze out after 11 days. He is just returning to the trail now. He walked with us the final mile and a half and then gave us a ride to the hiker hostel. As luck would have it, we had just missed the last shuttle into town so Squirrel stuck around while we got checked in and gave us some more trail magic in the form of a ride to town.

We had a little over an hour to eat, get a USB battery pack, and get groceries before meeting the return shuttle. Once back, we showered (glorious hot water falling from the sky) and laid everything out to dry overnight. We are sharing a room with Indianapolis Lindsey and a woman from Bavaria, Germany that goes by Packers. There are already 15 hikers in the hostel so the season is beginning.

We got a bit of a shock tonight once we got connected to Wifi. Bunny’s Aunt Joanne died yesterday morning. She was a very sweet lady and we are feeling a bit down. Our hearts go out to Uncle Harvey, Carol, Charles, Wendy, and all the grandkids. She will be missed by all.

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There were only 5 of us in the shelter last night and Jonathan slept in his tent beside us. Troop 400 was also staying in the flat area further out, but they were pretty quiet all night so we almost forgot they were there. Otis and Stogie were the first to stir. Otis had shared some Tennessee bourbon with us last night and he continued to offer this morning. But he was also offering food since they were heading home as soon as they got to Unicoi Gap in a couple of miles. We all got protein bars for trail magic this morning. Even more magical, he made all the mouse holes in my bag liner disappear by giving me a new trash compactor bag he was through with.

I had the most annoying ear worm this morning—“I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, Nothing but a hippopotamus will do.” I have no idea where that came from, I didn’t dream of hippos. I did dream about getting attacked my a female lion but she ended up falling in love with me and killed everyone else. I got off with just a few love bites.

The shelter was empty by 8:30. We made plans to catch up with Lindsey at a hostel at Dicks Gap tomorrow evening and then go into Hiawassee to eat and resupply. She and Jonathan took off and we followed shortly behind. The Boy Scouts were almost ready when we left.

It was another cold, drizzly, and foggy morning. We just hiked with our heads down because there wasn’t really anything to see. It’s hard to believe that it was just a week ago today when we said our final goodbyes. I remember feeling like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz saying goodbye to Tin Man—“Goodbye Porcelain, I’ll miss you most of all.”

We hadn’t caught up with Otis, Stogie, Lindsey, or Jonathan by the time we made it to Unicoi Gap. There was a contingent from Savannah waiting to pick up the Boy Scouts. They offered us some fresh fruit and took our trash so we count that as additional trail magic. One of the leaders had section hiked this area last year so he gave us some things to look for including a couple of three story shelters. We will pass the first one tomorrow and stay in the second one in another two nights.

My knee was bothering me a bit again early on. Bunny told me I had just probably irritated my hibiscus. She knows I haven’t had any plants for years but I’ve learned enough in my 13 months and 2 days of marriage to just agree and say yes honey. I may have discovered a bigger problem than my knee which could be a hike ending problem—dark chocolate may be giving me indigestion. I’m going to try cutting my portion size back from 1/2 pound and see if that helps.

It never really cleared up all day. It did stop drizzling for a bit around 2 and the sun tried to peek through, but that was short lived. We met Jake while we were heading to the shelter and caught up with Patches again. She saw us and decided to pack up and head on in the potential rain but said she’d probably see us tomorrow night at the hostel. Jake hung a tarp across the upwind side of the shelter which helped stop the drizzle blowing in. We filtered water, ate, stretched, hung bear bags, and did all the chores we needed to get done and were ready for bed by 5:15. What are the odds I can get Bunny up before 7?

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The torrential pour we were expecting never materialized, not to say it didn’t rain. It did. As long as the rain was dropping on the tent, I had visions of Ayla and Jondular running uphill to avoid the onrush of the raging storm induced river. From Bunny’s snores, I don’t think she was bothered much by the rain.

The plan for the day had already been decided to be a light one. We only did 11 miles yesterday to prove that we were improving but we don’t want to push too much too soon. With Bunny’s tight calves on uphills and my tight knee on downhills, we are still just two hikers short of a good hiking couple. We left camp a little before 10–back on schedule.

There were still a couple of section hikers hanging around; Wounded Knee and Daddy Long Legs. We talked gear and hiking plans. They will be doing the Smokies when it gets warm.

Also, troop 400 from Savannah was still getting ready so I talked to them a little bit and shared some of my Philmont experiences. We ended up playing leap from all day with them. They were supposed to hike out to Unicoi Gap but ended up staying at the same shelter that we did tonight.

What a difference a day makes. Today was a gorgeous , sunshiney, blue sky, mid 60s, ideal hiking kind of day. If you want to put in a lot of miles, today is the kind of day you would like to do it on. That’s why we did our shortest day of hiking so far. To hell with big mileage and fast hiking. We’re here for the sloth convention.

We still made it in by a respectable 3 in the afternoon—ahead of the Boy Scout troop which came strangling in a little later with mixed reviews of the day’s hiking. There were already 3 people (including Patches) sitting around enjoying the view when we got here. Once Patches saw us, she said she was definitely hiking on. I share I brush my teeth at least daily.

While cooking supper, we decided to share camping stories and play games to pass the time. The game of choice today was “Six Degrees of Separation with Steve Johnson.” It was a complete bust. We stopped after just two degrees. I literally only know one person in Indianapolis and Lindsey knows a Steve Johnson as well. While we were getting ready, she had slowly been inching her bed away from us. When she found out we knew Steve, she quit moving her bed. When she said he was a great guy, I started inching our bed away from hers. Steve Johnson is probably THE most common name in the USA, lets make sure it’s the same one—shaves his head to beat nature to the punch line, check: runs every day, check; loves to hike, check…we have a winner. They belong to the same hiking club but she hasn’t told anyone she quit her job and is hiking the AT, so “mums” the word.

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We had scheduled a shakedown at Mountain Crossing Outfitter when they opened at 9 this morning, which meant we could sleep in, which means we overslept (a bit). Lone Wolf, who owns Blood Mountain Cabins, told me where to drop the key if we wanted to leave before 9. When we met Lone Wolf yesterday, he was a little gruff but I eventually got him to talk about the place and he warmed up. Since his arms were twice the size of my thighs, this was definitely someone I wanted to be on his good side. He’s not the kind of mountain I would like to fight because, no doubt, he would get hurt from slipping in my blood and banging his head. I couldn’t live with the guilt.

Bunny and I did our own shakedown last night and, combined, we sent home over 7 pounds of gear we could live without. After the Smokies we will be able to send another 10 pounds home with Pam and Joyce. While we were shipping the gear, we met another couple that are thru-hiking. Lucky 59, who was born in 59 and is 59. Makes you want to think about hiking the trail in 2038. Her husband is Pepper Pot, named after a popular dish in Guyana where he is originally from. This is rumored to be the same dish Jim Jones liked to wash down with cool-aid.

After sending the gear home, I called the Amicalola Falls visitor center to get our starting position numbers. W were expecting it to be less than Lotus’ since he started the day after we did and I think he was under 50. I was told they only register the “after hours” registrations once a week and today is the day. Instead of being in the 40s, we are 150 and 151 which will make us look faster when we get to Harpers Ferry.

It was another rainy and miserable day. There was fog all morning and the wind was blowing making for miserable walking (don’t worry, still better than a tire plant). My right knee was already acting up with the pain fluctuating between a 3 and 7. I took ibuprofen and rubbed voltaren on it but it just wouldn’t ease completely up. I just wanted to make it through today so I could stretch it well tonight—I know it is just a soft tissue issue. After a couple thousand mg of ibuprofen and lunch it finally eased up; I just hope I don’t have blood in my stool tomorrow. Coincidentally? it eased up after we ate lunch. Could this just be my body’s new way of telling it’s hungry?

We played leapfrog with Lucky 59 and Pepper Pot all day. The rain finally let up late this afternoon, so we got to finish our walk to the shelter in sunshine and high wind. Storms are definitely on the agenda for the night.

We also came across a young family out walking. Justin, Samantha, and two of their sons, Caden and Jake. We got to talking with them (Caden has his second adult tooth and has another loose one). They take their kids out for walks every week and just recently got a TV after years without. They think spending quality time with the kids is more important than being connected all the time. It turns out, they’ve got another 2 kids at home (I think the lack of TV might have had some play in here). They were a great family. Justin offered me a leatherman to take on our hike to Katahdin. He and his brother did about 1/4 of the trail a few years back but it will be some time before he has another opportunity. I am constantly amazed by the generosity and friendliness of the people we meet when we are out hiking. It really restores our faith in mankind.

When we finally got into the shelter, there was a huge group out front. There is a troop of Boy Scouts from Savannah, GA doing a prep hike for Philmont. I wanted to talk for a while but Bunnny was getting impatient about the impending rain. When we tried to pick out a site to set up, her impatience gave back seat to her indecisiveness of location. We ended up setting up camp about 2 foot from a stream (because it’s a weekend, the shelter is full and all flat sites are taken). If it rains a lot, we hope it stays below the rim of our bathtub liner or we might make an extra trip downstream tonight.

As we cooked super up at the shelter, we got to talking with everyone about their plans. There are about 10 guys up there just out doing a weekender of hiking. Patches is staying in the shelter with them. Somehow, we mentioned some of the trips we did last year and several of the guys were interested in the Camino. We hung bear bags and just made it into the tent before the rain started. We hoping it’s not a gully washer since we are in the gully.

EFG