May 30 - Roan High Knob to Overmountain Shelter

We really wanted to spend the night at the Overmountain Shelter, an old barn that had been converted into a shelter. But because we had pushed hard the previous days, today would only be 8 miles. Oh what the heck, we deserve an easy day!

It was a great day for taking it slow. Gorgeous views!

We took a side trail up Grassy Ridge Bald (The sign with the stinky Thru-hiker is hilarious! Most signs are not plastic like that, most are made of wood or not there at all! Lol). Because we were in no hurry to make miles today, we were able to take a nice long break on the bald. Surprisingly we a a bit of a cell signal. We were able to talk to mom and attempted to get in contact with a news reporter who wanted to write a story about my trip and the fact that I am skipping my high school graduation.

The barn was neat. Our book says that it sleeps 20 people, but you could definitely 30 or more in here. A couple of people were even hammocking from the rafters. We chatted with a south bounder who had done the trail before about places to resupply, the best places to eat, upcoming terrain, and such. A couple walked up with a Chihuahua while we were eating dinner. This is the third Chihuahua I've seen on the trail. Isn't that crazy?

May 29 - Cherry Gap to Roan High Knob Shelter

The idea today was that because we pushed farther yesterday,  if we did the same thing again we could a whole day ahead of sechedual. The 22 miles we had planned for today was actually 24 miles and more of a butt kicker than we thought it would be. On our way up Roan Mountain we decided we were out of our minds.

The nice thing was we had already put in 16 miles and there was a shelter at the top of the mountain. About a mile and a half before the shelter was a side trail to a parking lot with restrooms! And not just any park restrooms, ones with running water! Running water means we can fill ALL our water bottles in the time it would take to filter one! :D It also means that we are eating dinner here! Why? You can wash dishes without wasting all the water you just filtered!

The shelter we stayed at tonight is the highest one along the whole Appalachian Trail! 6194 feet above sea level! Will and I slept in the attic/loft with a few other people. The floor was so slanted up there that we woke up like 8 inches away from where we went to sleep! Lol

May 28 - Erwin, TN to Cherry Gap Shelter

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. 

May 26 & 27 - Sam's Gap to Erwin, TN

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.

May 23, 24, 25 - Hogback Ridge to Sam's Gap (Erwin, TN)

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.

May 22 - Jerry's Cabin to Hogback Ridge Shelter

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!

May 21 - Spring Mountain Shelter to Jerry's Cabin Shelter

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.