6/25 (0 day Franklin, NC)
GPS location
Just a day of chilling in Franklin North Carolina. The southern accents are awesome. And this dude at the hotel had a million 'special' stickers on his truck- redneck this, redneck that and lots of confederate flags. I'm kicking myself now for not taking a picture of it. He was also drinking beer at 9 AM. Another car in the parking lot had a bumper sticker that said, "I don't believe the liberal media"
6/26 (12:30-5:30 11 miles Wayah Bald Shelter )
GPS location
I had breakfast, again, in town. Side note, no breakfast place yet has had cream cheese. I have been wanting to try cream cheese on french toast dipped in syrup. At our school store they sell french toast bagels, and the recent craze is to put cream cheese on it and dip it in syrup. Oh, its heavenly. And I haven't been able to have it yet so that's disappointing, but oh well. So anyway, then I arranged for a shuttle back to the trail. I had to do it (meaning pay for a shuttle). I predicted it would have been too difficult to hitch back to the trail. It was a couple of roads. I had a feeling that it would take a while. And I got a list of people who shuttle hikers back to the trail and they do it for very cheap, its more a donation to cover their gas cost. There is a big local hiking club that helps out hikers.
While hiking today there were amazing smells!!! Its one of my top 5 favorite things about being out here. The fresh, natural smells make me happy to be alive; and make me hate cities and civilized life even more, well the way we live anyway... At night when I met up with Tom at the shelter we got to talking about our 5 favorite things about being out here. Here are mine (in no particular order, it differs on the day) 1) fresh, cold mountain spring water. Its amazing how it can be so hot outside yet the water coming out of the mountain can be so cold. Its also amazing how water coming out of dirt is best tasting water you will ever taste. 2) the awesome natural scents of the flora, 3) the endorphin high of the great exercise, 4) eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at different spot everyday, 5) the victory views ... I call them victory views. It makes me think of the highly quoted line of Vince Lombardi- "A man's greatest hour is when he lays exhausted on the field of battle, victorious." It is such a great feeling to hike lots of miles through tough terrain to get a great mountain view. It feels like the Lombardi quote. You sit there tired, sweaty and smelly, but you get to sit there, take your boots off, eat some food, drink some water, feel a breeze and enjoy such a beautiful site.
The view we got today was amazing. The summit of this mountain was called Wayah Bald. It was 5342 feet above sea level. Its called bald because the top of the mountain is barren, which allows for a 360 view. The mountains out here are awesome. This area has a lot more wilderness then I'm use to (being in the most densely populate state). The views are great because its layers and layers of mountains, wild mountains, no towns.
Its also amazing of how strong I feel hiking after a 0 day. Just goes to show how important rest and rebuilding is to fitness.
I also met 3 Amish dudes from Lancaster, PA. Dudes were awesome. So happy, so upbeat. hard workers and hard hikers. They were doing about 20 miles a day.
6/27 (9:00-5:20 15.5 miles A.Rufus Morgan Shelter )
GPS location
I got an early start today because there were these dudes who tented near me and were being abnoxiously loud in the morning. I couldn't sleep through it. But it actually worked out to my benefit because its actually pretty cool in the morning, temperature wise, so it led to efficient hiking.
It got hotter and hotter throughout the day. I think that heat way is moving in. Sweating like a hog. Smelling ripe.
Tom once again pushed more miles than I think he should have to keep up with me. That guy is tough. I like him. One time I took a long break in shelter to escape the heat of the day. Apparently Tom didn't take any long breaks today, so he was ahead of me. I didn't know this until I snuck up behind and caught him at the perfect time. He was talking to a tree, "My knees are hurting. I wanna go home!!!" (he is getting off the trail soon. his daughter is going to pick him up) classic.
Dude! Tom and I slept in the shelter tonight, and we usually don't do that. We usually tent. But anyway, I actually woke him up in the middle of night because I thought I heard an animal approaching. It was a steady trot but something that sounded like a coyote. We never got to see it, but it was worrisome. When I fell back asleep, I caused me to have a nightmare about a wolf hopping up in the shelter and attacking me. In the nightmare, I wanted to defend myself, but for some reason I was paralyzed and it just methodically ate me for a midnight snack.
6/28 (9-9:20 and 4-7:35 8.9 miles Cheoah Mountain summit )
GPS location
I kind of already blogged about this day (NOC), so I'll keep it short. We only had a 1 mile hike to the NOC- Nantahala Outdoor Center. It is this center of outdoor activities on the local river in the middle of wilderness. It is really cool. I stayed there for a while, eating, drinking, walking in the river. The water was freezing!
Tom and I tented at a small campsite on the summit of Cheoah Mtn. It was another bald mountain and the views were amazing. We saw the coolest sunset behind the backset of huge mountains.
6/29 (8:20-12:20 and 4:40-7:00 14.2 miles Cable Gap Shelter )
GPS location
Because of this heat wave, I've decided to get early starts and then siesta during the hot part of the day, so that's exactly what I did today. Its getting very hot.
I'm starting to hike pretty fast. It feels good.
GPS location
Just a day of chilling in Franklin North Carolina. The southern accents are awesome. And this dude at the hotel had a million 'special' stickers on his truck- redneck this, redneck that and lots of confederate flags. I'm kicking myself now for not taking a picture of it. He was also drinking beer at 9 AM. Another car in the parking lot had a bumper sticker that said, "I don't believe the liberal media"
6/26 (12:30-5:30 11 miles Wayah Bald Shelter )
GPS location
I had breakfast, again, in town. Side note, no breakfast place yet has had cream cheese. I have been wanting to try cream cheese on french toast dipped in syrup. At our school store they sell french toast bagels, and the recent craze is to put cream cheese on it and dip it in syrup. Oh, its heavenly. And I haven't been able to have it yet so that's disappointing, but oh well. So anyway, then I arranged for a shuttle back to the trail. I had to do it (meaning pay for a shuttle). I predicted it would have been too difficult to hitch back to the trail. It was a couple of roads. I had a feeling that it would take a while. And I got a list of people who shuttle hikers back to the trail and they do it for very cheap, its more a donation to cover their gas cost. There is a big local hiking club that helps out hikers.
While hiking today there were amazing smells!!! Its one of my top 5 favorite things about being out here. The fresh, natural smells make me happy to be alive; and make me hate cities and civilized life even more, well the way we live anyway... At night when I met up with Tom at the shelter we got to talking about our 5 favorite things about being out here. Here are mine (in no particular order, it differs on the day) 1) fresh, cold mountain spring water. Its amazing how it can be so hot outside yet the water coming out of the mountain can be so cold. Its also amazing how water coming out of dirt is best tasting water you will ever taste. 2) the awesome natural scents of the flora, 3) the endorphin high of the great exercise, 4) eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at different spot everyday, 5) the victory views ... I call them victory views. It makes me think of the highly quoted line of Vince Lombardi- "A man's greatest hour is when he lays exhausted on the field of battle, victorious." It is such a great feeling to hike lots of miles through tough terrain to get a great mountain view. It feels like the Lombardi quote. You sit there tired, sweaty and smelly, but you get to sit there, take your boots off, eat some food, drink some water, feel a breeze and enjoy such a beautiful site.
The view we got today was amazing. The summit of this mountain was called Wayah Bald. It was 5342 feet above sea level. Its called bald because the top of the mountain is barren, which allows for a 360 view. The mountains out here are awesome. This area has a lot more wilderness then I'm use to (being in the most densely populate state). The views are great because its layers and layers of mountains, wild mountains, no towns.
Its also amazing of how strong I feel hiking after a 0 day. Just goes to show how important rest and rebuilding is to fitness.
I also met 3 Amish dudes from Lancaster, PA. Dudes were awesome. So happy, so upbeat. hard workers and hard hikers. They were doing about 20 miles a day.
6/27 (9:00-5:20 15.5 miles A.Rufus Morgan Shelter )
GPS location
I got an early start today because there were these dudes who tented near me and were being abnoxiously loud in the morning. I couldn't sleep through it. But it actually worked out to my benefit because its actually pretty cool in the morning, temperature wise, so it led to efficient hiking.
It got hotter and hotter throughout the day. I think that heat way is moving in. Sweating like a hog. Smelling ripe.
Tom once again pushed more miles than I think he should have to keep up with me. That guy is tough. I like him. One time I took a long break in shelter to escape the heat of the day. Apparently Tom didn't take any long breaks today, so he was ahead of me. I didn't know this until I snuck up behind and caught him at the perfect time. He was talking to a tree, "My knees are hurting. I wanna go home!!!" (he is getting off the trail soon. his daughter is going to pick him up) classic.
Dude! Tom and I slept in the shelter tonight, and we usually don't do that. We usually tent. But anyway, I actually woke him up in the middle of night because I thought I heard an animal approaching. It was a steady trot but something that sounded like a coyote. We never got to see it, but it was worrisome. When I fell back asleep, I caused me to have a nightmare about a wolf hopping up in the shelter and attacking me. In the nightmare, I wanted to defend myself, but for some reason I was paralyzed and it just methodically ate me for a midnight snack.
6/28 (9-9:20 and 4-7:35 8.9 miles Cheoah Mountain summit )
GPS location
I kind of already blogged about this day (NOC), so I'll keep it short. We only had a 1 mile hike to the NOC- Nantahala Outdoor Center. It is this center of outdoor activities on the local river in the middle of wilderness. It is really cool. I stayed there for a while, eating, drinking, walking in the river. The water was freezing!
Tom and I tented at a small campsite on the summit of Cheoah Mtn. It was another bald mountain and the views were amazing. We saw the coolest sunset behind the backset of huge mountains.
6/29 (8:20-12:20 and 4:40-7:00 14.2 miles Cable Gap Shelter )
GPS location
Because of this heat wave, I've decided to get early starts and then siesta during the hot part of the day, so that's exactly what I did today. Its getting very hot.
I'm starting to hike pretty fast. It feels good.
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