We were planning on hiking to a campsite 13 miles in but it was only 3 o'clock and it felt like we were stopping too soon. So we hiked another 5 miles to a shelter.
We bought mac and cheese when we were in town. Yay! But just about when mine was done I knocked the pot over and dumped half my noodles on the table. Will gave me one of his Ramen noodles to make up for it. It tasted fine but was a little weird with the Ramen noodles texture.
Big day! 24 miles!
To make up for our sick days we decided to slack pack the rest of the trail into Erwin. Slack packing is where you leave everything except water and snacks at your hotel and hike with basically a day pack. We got a shuttle back to where we left the trail and were going to walk the trail back to town.
We stopped for a snack on top of Big Bald, another nice place to take the family. Maybe we could get mom and Katie to camp up there! It's not too far of a walk to carry their air mattress! Haha
It was a long day and we finished hiking at about 7:30. There is a hostel right where the trail comes into town and luckily one of the drivers convinced the owner give us a ride to our hotel, which would have been a two hour walk for us. Needless to say we were very thankful.
We decided to take another zero day the next day to do laundry, pack and just take it eazy. We ate breakfast at McDonald's. And then sat around playing on the Wifi and ate lunch there too! Haha
We watched a documentary about mermaids. Ate dinner at the Huddle House, which is similar to Waffle House. And packed late into the night, because of course Mary waited until the last minute to do that.
It was cool and rainy during the night, so I didn't want to get up. Even though we were planning on walking 3 miles down a road to get breakfast.
Will was feeling sick and had probably caught the norovirus. So we decided to hike down to the road and get a shuttle into town rather than be sick in the woods.
We got a lesson in how to stomp mud off your shoes the Indian way by the Hotel owner. Will gave up and just took off his shoes and carried them to our room.
Will felt better the next day, but I felt like I was going to throw up the whole time. Luckily I didn't. I slept most of the afternoon though. Will did laundry.
The third day we both felt better but we wanted to play it safe and take it eazy another day. We ate at the Hawg-N-Dawg, which had pulled pork stuff. I had a pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich and Will had a beef hotdog with pulled pork and coleslaw on it and he had a grilled cheese pulled pork sandwich. I had a strawberry shortcake dessert and Will had some pretzels.
After that we went to the grocery store and looked like hobos walking back to our hotel room with all these bags.
We climbed Big Butt Mountain! Haha
Saw a brown spotted Dalmatian! So pretty! I never saw one of those before!
It thunder stormed the whole afternoon. We got to the shelter and it was full. You meet the craziest people at these shelters. Some guy in pajamas was rambling about everything, saying he invented the air guitar. He was even hiking with a boom box!
We had a 15 mile day with a pretty cool exposed ridgeline. It was fun hopping on the rocks.
We stopped at a shelter for a break that ended up being almost 2 hours long. The water was supposed to be 100 yards away on a side trail. Somehow we missed it and just bush wacked down the side of the mountain using the sound of the spring to guide us. Oops!
At the shelter we are staying at tonight, Will and I met an old guy who ate lunch with KISS at a gas station while they were driving to their second concert.
We had to wait until 9 o'clock for the post office to open to send our sleeping bags home. We went to the laundromat to look for our socks, but with no avail. So we went to the outfitter to look for some, but unfortunately they didn't have any toe socks in my size.
We finally headed for the trail, but stopped at a coffee shop for "breakfast" (it was too late for real breakfast). I had a raspberry scone. Delicious!
We saw a snake by the river while we were hiking. It looked about as scared of us as we were of it.
We climbed 'Lover's Leap' a really steep and rocky section that gave us great views of the town.
Hiked a side trail to a fire tower where we were able to call mom after not having a signal for a week. At the bottom of the tower were Honey and Mooner, a couple Dad and I met in April. It was great seeing them and knowing we might be able to catch up to some familiar faces.
Made it to the shelter in barely enough time to get the last two spots. Cooked dinner as it started to get dark.
We got up and on the trail before 8 and hiked the last 3 miles into town in a little over an hour. Why so fast? Breakfast! I had french toast with cinnamon apples, Will ate pancakes with strawberries, and we split a sweet potato pancake. Yummmmmm!
We walked around town and found our buddy Sloth, which means we have been making some pretty good time to catch up with him.
We got a room at a motel, but the WiFi doesn't reach our room, so we have to sit about 10 feet outside our door. It's nice sitting outside, but a hassle.
There is literally no cell service anywhere in Hot Springs. We had to download a texting app that worked through the WiFi to contact anyone.
We bought summer sleeping bags at the outfitter, because we were sweating to death in ours. Resupplyed food.
We washed our clothes at the laundromat. Ate a pint of Ben & Jerrys ice cream each. :D Switched out of the dirty clothes into the clean ones and washed those. At some point someone took our laundry out of the washer and both Will and I lost a single sock. Of course we didn't know this until after the laundromat closed.
It was supposed to be a short day (10 miles) so we were extremely lazy and it was raining so we didn't get up until 10 o'clock. Hehehe! We were smarter than everyone else who didn't wait, cause it only rained on us for about 10 or 15 minutes.
There are a group of weekend hikers that are camping at the shelter we were staying at tonight. They made Sloppy Joe's and corn on the cob. And they let us have some! It tasted like the best thing ever!
They also had three dogs I played with all night long. One slept on Will's sleeping bag for a half hour getting muddy paw prints on it, but it's okay cause we like puppies. I tried to steal one. I miss Luke.
The best part of the day was Max Patch. Absolutely gorgeous! Talking to other hikers later we found out that it's more beautiful when you have to work for it, instead of walking up from the parking lot by the trail head. Will and I want to bring the family back here in the fall when we are done. Great place to just sit and look. Picnic!
We hiked like beasts. We are steadily picking up our pace. I guess I can go faster than I thought I could!
Will and I figured out the REAL flavors of Kroger brand Beef Jerky. Teriyaki is Vegetable Soup, Honey Barbeque is Lasagna flavored and, best of all, Original is Child's play set bacon covered in dried dog slobber.
Beautiful morning at the lookout tower.
We stopped for lunch at a shelter that we were really glad we didn't sleep at. Dirty. And later we learned it had a snake in it. And mice.
When we hiked down into the valley, there was a trail angel! He was handing out cold soda, cookies, chips, and the likes. Yay!
We had a loooooong climb up a mountain to a nice bald. It was a long day, 16 miles.
The shelter so slanted that when we woke up I was basically laying on top of Will, who was slid down next to Caveman, who rolled next to Cheers, who would have been laying on top of the old man had he not gotten up.
We hiked in the most beautiful weather ever seen in the smokies. Clear as could be.
We got to the shelter we planned on staying at 3 o'clock, which was pretty good considering we hiked 13 miles. We ate dinner, cleaned dishes, and pumped water. At 5 we packed up and hit the trail again.
There is a watch tower 4 miles away that, we heard, was in good condition. This may be our only time to sleep in a tower, so we took a chance. We were greatly rewarded. Beautiful 360 degree views. We even got to watch the sun set. Then when it was dark, we could see the bright lights of Gatlinburg.
There was no broom, just a rake. The tower needed a good sweeping. But the rake, surprisingly came in handy. As it started to get dark, Will noticed a little mouse relentlessly trying to come in under the door. We had do some creative thinking and used the rake, in combination with a water bottle and a boot, to keep the mouse out. Then Will draged my other boot next to his sleeping bag saying "Incase he gets in..."
After we finished packing and found Will's package at the post office, we finally headed for the trail. After last good byes, we got on the trail at 10:30.
We stopped at Charlie's Bunion. It was a beautiful view and a nice place to take a break.
There we some great views, one appropriately named "Bradley's View".
We arrived at the shelter at 4:30, making quick work of the 11 miles.
We got a ride into Cherokee Sunday afternoon, had dinner, and took a shower.
This morning Will and I had planned on having a waffle fest but I failed. I only ate one.
Then we did laundry. Twice. Cause it stank.
We watched tv.
Then we went up to Clingmans Dome, hoping it wasn't cloudy. On the way up to the tower we saw another momma bear and her two cubs. These cubs were even smaller than the first!
Off in the distance, if you squint real hard, you might be able to see Katahdin!
We hiked up to Clingmans Dome (the highest point in the park) to get a beautiful view of fog. Nothing beats white clouds and zero visibility! (Note the heavy sarcasm) The best part was when we were on the next mountain, an hour and a half later, turning to see that all the clouds and fog was gone from Clingmans. Just awesome. Oh well...
While we were hiking today, Will and I created a new sport called "Hikcour". It's a combination of backpacking and parcour. Basically we were jumping to and from rocks and logs to keep from splashing in the mud. Probably one of the few fun ways to climb up a mountain.
We made it to Newfound Gap where we were going to be picked up by the hotel shuttle an hour before we thought we would! We chatted with some tourists while we waited and found trail magic! Honey Buns and Dr. Pepper! Yumm.
We hit the 200 hundred mile mark today!
It rained all day long. A cold rain. A sad overcast that hid what we knew were beautiful views.
Other than that, it was a great day. We hiked the section of the a
Appalachian Trail that sparked this adventure 3 years ago. It's surprising how the change of season can make the shelters look so different.
After our 13 miles today, when we arrived at the shelter we were surprised to see three children. A girl a few years younger than me, a 9 or 10 year old, and, get this, a SIX year old! You're thinking, 'Oh they are probably just on a weekend hike'. WRONG. Yep. They and their mother are hiking the trail. Isn't that crazy?
It's a different world out here. And I'm not just talking about the nature; the way people are. We may have never met, but we all have this connection to each other. No one is a stranger.
Hiked faster than we thought this morning but quit early in the afternoon because we knew there was a storm coming. Got in about 11 miles. And saw another rattlesnake!
Interesting cast of characters. Shelter is packed. In one of the pictures you can see all the packs haning from a beam. We got the last two slots in the shelter and dad is hanging his hammock from the beams.
This was written inside the privy. Haha
We hiked the six miles to Fontana Dam and saw the shelter that is called the "Fontana Hilton". It lived up to its name. It could hold 20 people and it had showers!
We contemplated staying there, but didn't want to waste the pretty day. There was no way we could have made it to the next shelter 11 miles away because it would have been 9 o'clock and dark by the time we got there. So we decided we would shoot for the campsite that was halfway between.
On the way there we happened upon a rattlesnake! Ah! Dad threw a rock at it. And when that didn't work, got a really long stick and flung it off the trail.
The excitement doesn't end there. While we were eating supper a momma bear and her two cubs walked up. As the momma bear was getting a drink from the stream no more than 20 yards away, we watched the two cubs climb up a tree. They were so cute! Like puppy dog sized!
The only reason we don't have pictures is because we would have had to walk right past the bear to get my camera.
Now I'm in my hammock trying to catch up on my blog posts.
We had planned on just hiking to the next shelter, but it was so early we decided to push on to the next one, making it a 15 mile day.
We hiked Jacob's Ladder, a 600 foot climb in like half a mile. Phew that was a tough one!
The shelter we stayed at tonight had almost the same people as last night. We found out that the three of us snore like beasts. Haha
Dad hung his hammock inside the shelter. Luckily he didn't step on me in the night. :)
Dad, Will, and I drove down yesterday. Had Mexican for dinner. Left the car at the hotel in the morning and had a taxi take us to were we left off.
We hiked 7 miles up hill. Had to crawl under a fallen tree, which was fun. I thought I could just squat down under it, but the tree had another ideas and pushed me on the ground.
We got to the shelter pretty early in the afternoon, but too late to go to the next one 9 miles away. So we had to stay there and relax. Oh the horrors! The new thicker sleeping pad I bought while I was gone is amazing! I kinda feel like I'm cheating.
