Week 3 Overview
Day 15
May 17, 2019
- Route: Standing Bear Farm (mile 241.5) to Max Patch (mile 255.3)
- Daily Mileage: 13.8 miles
Last night was my first night sleeping in a hiker hostel on the AT, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it… especially at 6 a.m. this morning when a heavy storm rolled in. I just laid in my bunk and ignored the weather because I was nice and dry.
Truth be told, I wasn’t in a big hurry to depart the hostel this morning because I’d planned an easy day of hiking. I have two days until I get to Hot Springs, NC to resupply – which is about 35 miles down the trail.
Although I could just do two 17-18 mile days, I decided to take the advice of a former AT thru-hiker and spend the night on Max Patch. So, today I only needed to hike 14 miles to get there.
And knowing I had a short day is how Luna and I ended up sitting at the hostel drinking coffee to well after 9 a.m. this morning while we waited for the storm to pass. We met several new hikers, including a cute young couple from Birmingham name Moccasin & Scorpion.
Moccasin is out here to hike the entire trail, while his girlfriend (Scorpion) is only going as far as Damascus, VA before she has to return to Alabama. We all just sat around drinking coffee and eating breakfast for as long as humanly possible while the rain came down in torrents.
Weird things in the woods
Once the worst of the weather cleared, I set off down the trail. It wasn’t long before I got high up onto a ridge line and saw I had a message from my friend Jeanne asking me to give her a call. I don’t like to talk and hike at the same time (I have a tendency to trip over my own feet), so I decided to hold off on calling her until I got to camp.
As I continued down the trail and came to the top of a hill, I saw the oddest sight. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have known what it was, but for the signs posted on the fence the surrounding it. It looked like some weird alien spacecraft perched on the top of a mountain, but it was actually an FAA air traffic control radar site.
Jeanne… there’s a bear
I eventually made my way to the Groundhog Creek shelter for lunch, and I was pleasantly surprised to see I still had cell service. Being stationary for a bit, I decided to I give my friend Jeanne a call back. I was sitting on the picnic bench in front of the shelter talking to her, when I suddenly caught some movement out of the corner of my eye.
The dark blur I’d seen was actually young bear running from behind the shelter. It ran right through the campsite in front of me, and then scampered off into the woods. I was so startled by the whole thing I didn’t know what to do. Coming out of my stupor, I interrupted Jeanne and said, “Hold on Jeanne. There’s a bear. There’s a bear in the campsite.”
Jeanne was even more surprised than me, and she began to quickly ask if I was safe. It was just a small juvenile black bear out on it’s own, and it didn’t stop or even seem to notice me as it quickly scampered in front of the picnic table where I was sitting. But, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a mama bear coming behind him/her.
I took a quick look around, but I didn’t seen anything daunting nearby, and resumed my call. But, you’d better believe I was on high alert for the rest of my time at THAT shelter – especially as I was eating my lunch.
Max Patch
After the shelter, I had several more steep hills to attack. But by late afternoon, I made it up to the summit to Max Patch – a popular spot among local due to it’s great 360 degree views from the 4,600 foot bald.
The flat summit was pretty breezy, and I feared I’d struggle with keeping my tent upright in the consistently blowing wind. Luckily, there were plenty of good spots on the back side of the bald where much of the wind was blocked.
While I waited for Luna to show up, I got to see tons of people out with professional photographers taking taking their engagement photos, family portraits, and the like. I even saw two complete bridal parties up there all decked out in their wedding attire. Clearly Max Patch is a popular spot for more than just hiking.
I was really looking forward to spending the night on the summit, since it looked like I’d get a terrific sunset. The bad weather from earlier this morning pushed out, and you could see for miles.
The moonrise was equally spectacular too. My visit coincided with a full moon that evening, so when it came up over the horizon, it turned the sky and mountains a fantastic purple color.
It seemed like Luna and I were the only ones in our little group who got to take advantage of it though. All the others missed it. Squirrel and Gazelle are about a half a day ahead of us, while TM and Gear Boy were still behind because they went into town to resupply this morning.
Then, as I was laying down in my tent thinking about tomorrow’s hike into Hot Springs, I heard someone calling out my name. It was TM. She’d made it after all!! And she came bearing gifts. We’d previously discussed my love of sampling local beers while traveling. So she packed out a can of beer from Yee-Haw Brewing Company, and carried that extra 12 oz. to the top of Max Patch just for me!
I was already ready to go to sleep, and the beer was still a bit warm, so I decided to leave the can outside my tent to cool overnight as the temperature dropped. Still, what a terrific and unexpected ending to my day!
Day 16
May 18, 2018
- Route: Max Patch (mile 255.3) to Hot Springs, NC (mile 274.6)
- Daily Mileage: 19.3 miles
I didn’t need my alarm to wake me in time to see the sunrise on Max Patch. That’s because a couple camping nearby brought their dog with them, and let him out of their tent at 5 a.m. His first business of the day was to race over to my tent and eagerly try to lick my head for the next 5 minutes.
As I rolled out of my tent to shoo the dog away for seemingly the 10th time, I noticed the sky was already getting pink. I reached down and grabbed that can of beer, which cooled to a nice temperature overnight, and headed over to sit near TM.
TM and I chilled out and watched the sun come up over the trees while sharing a refreshing dunkel for breakfast and enjoying each other’s company. The only thing that would have made that moment better was if the beer was a porter (c’mon a morning beer that tastes like coffee would surely do the trick, right?).
Getting to Hot Springs, NC
After descending Max Patch this morning, there were several big climbs up Walnut Mountain and Bluff Mountain. I felt great in the morning, but really started to crash after lunch – despite the fact that it was mostly downhill. My energy reserves definitely perked up when I could hear I was getting close to Hot Springs though.
The first sign of a town is alway the noises that filter into the woods from the people that inhabit it. After a few weeks out here on this trail, I’ve noticed there are three particular “town sounds” that permeate the forest long before the others.
The first noise is the commotion from large semi-trucks using their air brakes. That sound just carries for miles. The second noise is lawn mowers or chain saws. And the third one is motorcycles – their mufflers are so stinking loud! And down here in the South, many of the bikers seem to enjoy blasting their radios at full volume so they can hear their music over their bike. It’s becoming rather obnoxious as far as noise pollution goes, and reminds me that I’m not REALLY quite that far from “civilization” out on this trail.
When I finally popped out of the woods at the trailhead in Hot Springs, I could see a note pinned up to the board from Squirrel. She was letting Luna know that she was waiting for him at the Laughing Heart Hostel nearby.
I wandered over to the hostel and saw Squirrel with all her stuff laid out and drying on the lawn. She and Gazelle arrived in town early this morning before everything opened. Squirrel had been chilling most day, enjoying the wifi, and catching up with her boyfriend back home in Germany. She seemed plenty happy to hang out there as long as it took for Luna to catch up.
Meanwhile, Gazelle was chomping at the bit to move on, and seemed a little frustrated by their long town stop. Her plan was to grab her resupply package from the post office and keep on making miles. Hanging out in town was not on her agenda, and she wasn’t happy with sitting there for the past eight hours while Squirrel waited for Luna. Yet, here Gazelle was… still in town.
Laughing Heart Hostel
Personally, I was ready to call it a day in Hot Springs after close to a 20-mile day. So I collapsed near Squirrel on the hostel’s lawn with all my gear. After asking around, I soon discovered the owners of the Laughing Heart Hostel were up in Damascus, VA for the annual Appalachian Trail Days festivities that weekend.
There were still plenty of thru-hikers on the trail and coming through Hot Springs though. So, the owners kept the hostel open during Trail Days and convinced a friend to help them out by running it in their absence.
When I finally located this lady to see about the rates for showers and laundry, she announced it was her birthday. Then she told us to make sure we stuck around, because there was bound to be lots of extra food and leftover cake from the birthday celebration (Yeah!)
One by one, Luna, TM, and Gear Boy all made their way to the hostel and joined us. And despite Gazelle’s eagerness to keep hiking, all six of us decided to tent out on the lawn in front of Laughing Heart for the night.
Saturday night out on the town
Hot Springs, NC is a very small town, and the AT literally runs down its Main Street past the three restaurants and two grocery/dollar stores. Since it was Saturday, most of us took care of our town chores (i.e., food resupply, taking a shower, doing some laundry) first before grabbing a late dinner together at the Spring Creek Tavern.
That evening, our little group sat out on the restaurant’s outside patio eating, drinking and listening to live music. Even Gazelle seemed to be chilling out after her second beer, and it was nice to just enjoy the company of other people.
You know, it’s starting to feel like this group is coming together into a bit of a trail family.
[Would you like to see what everyone looks like? CLICK HERE for photos of my trail family.]
Day 17
May 19, 2019
- Route: Hot Springs (mile 274.6) to Little Laurel Shelter (mile 294.5)
- Daily Mileage: 19.9 miles
This morning, none of us was in a rush to race out of town. Even Gazelle was acting relaxed (or perhaps hungover). After packing up, we all headed down into town for breakfast at the Mosaic Gourmet – aka the only restaurant open on Sunday mornings – while we waited for the town outfitter to open at 9 a.m.
One of TM’s friends from Asheville, NC was driving up to meet her in Hot Springs, so they huddled and chatted inside in a booth. Meanwhile, the rest of enjoyed a leisurely breakfast out on the patio, then popped across the street to the outfitter when they opened.
I only needed a new fuel canister, so I was the first to depart. But, honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to the steep climb out of town. I set out on a pretty leisurely pace back to the trail, and hoped the others would catch me soon.
The downside of towns
Although I enjoy coming into these small towns every few days, I’m starting to notice they are always seem to be nestled down next to rivers. That means you can almost guarantee a super steep descent into town, followed by an equally sharp climb out when you depart.
And the biggest challenge with that climb out of town is that you have to do it will a super heavy pack because you just resupplied with 4-10 extra pounds of food.
I still haven’t gotten my food dialed in either, and I always seem to be carrying way too much weight each time I leave. The next town I’ll hit to resupply in is Erwin, Tennessee. That’s only 69 miles down the trail, but it feels like I packed a bunch of bricks in my pack.
Leaving Hot Springs
The path out of town wasn’t too bad at first. It followed the French Broad River for a bit, and I saw several thru-hikers with awesome campsites along the riverbanks.
At breakfast, Gear Boy was complaining about foot pain and and pondering whether to take a zero in Hot Springs. He mentioned how nice it would be to stay at one of these stealth sites just relax and just soak his feet in the river for a day. I hope he did it too!
After the river, the climb out of Hot Springs finally began. It was definitely as challenging as I’d expected. At one point as I was making my way up to the ridge, and I tripped. The weight of my backpack shifted me completely off balance when that happened. As I stumbled forward, my pack pitched me sideways, and I actually fell off the side of the trail!
Luckily this wasn’t a section of trail with a steep drop-off. But there was still a considerable slope going downhill, and I had to crawl three feet back up to the trail on my hands and knees!
After that minor embarrassment, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. There were lots of pretty flowers lining the trail to distract me. Then, as I neared a trailhead around lunch time, a day hiker coming toward me warned me that there was a rattlesnake up ahead. I was on high alert, and heard it rattling when I passed near a log, but luckily we didn’t actually cross paths.
One more injury
I didn’t finally get to the Little Laurel Shelter until 7:15 p.m. due to my late start this morning. Hiking late into the evening isn’t something I enjoy. I always feel like I’m racing darkness when I’m trying to set up my tent and make dinner. Arriving at dusk has another disadvantage. It seems to be the time of day when all the bugs are the worst, especially on nights like tonight when you can feel the rain is coming.
I also ended up injuring myself (again) this evening while at the shelter. Some of the shelters – including this one – have bear cables to hang your food in the evenings. I didn’t finish dinner until it was pretty dark, and my headlamp only has 50 lumens, which is pretty dim. So I had to operate the aforementioned bear cable in very little illumination.
As I was hooking my bag up to the carabiner, I didn’t see the fraying piece of the metal cable near the clip, and I sliced my thumb open on it. OMG – it hurt so bad!! The cut felt like it was pretty deep, so I immediately squeezed it closed with a bunch of pressure to keep it from bleeding too much.
I know I should have washed the cut out, but I was afraid to let it open because the cut might be really deep. Plus, what if I needed stitches? It was too dark out to see well and I’d probably only manage to get blood everywhere.
So I did some hasty first aid in the dim light of my headlamp instead, wrapping a waterproof band-aid tightly around it, then adding some extra KT tape all the way around the thumb for good measure. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get infected.
Day 18
May 20, 2019
- Route: Little Laurel Shelter (mile 294.5) to Hogback Ridge Shelter (mile 317.3)
- Daily Mileage: 22.8 miles
Today was another big mileage day – just shy of 23 miles hiked. The terrain was pretty rocky during the beginning of the day, then smoothed out a bit.
I spent the majority of the morning talking with Squirrel and getting to know her a little bit better. As I mentioned before, she is from Germany and is here hiking the AT by herself. She’s 28 years old and just finished grad school. Meanwhile, her boyfriend (which we’ve nicknamed “Tree”) is back in Germany finishing up his own graduate degree.
Squirrel seemed to have a lot of questions for me and about my life too. We talked about so many things ranging from serving in the military, what it’s like living in an RV (which she calls a “camper van”), motherhood and marriage, and even living abroad.
The miles just flew by as we got to know each other better. And before you knew it, we were passing another major milestone on the trail.
I like big butts…
Shortly before lunch, Squirrel and I passed Big Butt and the 300-mile mark on our thru-hike. I didn’t get a great photo of Big Butt, which is essentially two large rocks that look like, well you can probably guess… But, I did get a good photo of the “300 mile mark” made out of sticks by another hiker.
Soon afterwards, we stopped for lunch and Gazelle caught up to us. She and I had to celebrate making it to Big Butt/Mile 300 by singing the chorus of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s song, “Baby Got Back,” which Squirrel though was just hilarious.
Where is everyone?
I took the lead down the trail after lunch. Although we were now hiking separately, Squirrel would seem to catch me then fall back again several times that afternoon. Eventually, I made it to the Flint Mountain Shelter – where I desperately needed to use the privy – and I expected her to catch up with me again there.
When I finished up in the privy though, Squirrel was nowhere to be seen. There was just a creepy looking guy dressed up like a monk in a long gown, and a super skinny dog. I asked the guy if he’d seen anyone come by, and he said no. I thought that was odd, since the trail ran right in front of the shelter. Maybe he just didn’t see Squirrel or Gazelle when they passed by.
I kept going, and hoped to to see them both soon. Despite my strong desire to catch them, I bonked about 17 miles into the day. I felt like I had no energy left and wasn’t sure I could keep walking. Unfortunately, the next shelter was still 6 more miles away, and I had a steep 1,500 foot climb up from Rector Laurel Road to tackle in order to get there.
Man, this trail was really kicking my butt, especially on the longer mileage days. Feeling spent, I decided to sit down for nice long break in the shade near a stream to eat a snack with some protein to try to muster my energy. I finally convinced myself to get it on with, but I didn’t roll up to the shelter until 6:45 p.m. – another late day of hiking again.
When I finally arrived at the shelter, my mood quickly turned sour. First, I discovered the closest water source was at least a 0.25 miles away from the shelter and I really didn’t want to walk any more. But, I needed water. Second, I was really disappointed to see that no one else was there. No Squirrel. No Gazelle. What the heck? Did they push on even further??
Blisters
While I was eating dinner outside my tent and stewing, Gazelle suddenly arrived! As it turns out, Squirrel was having problems with her feet, and they were both behind me the entire afternoon.
Gazelle filled me in on what was going on. Apparently, Squirrel stopped in the clearing about a mile before the Flint Mountain Shelter (where I used the privy) and decided she was done for the day. She was in such pain from the blisters on her toes and heels that she wanted to stop and set up camp there, even though she was nowhere near a water source.
When Gazelle told me this news, I was completely surprised. I had no idea Squirrel was struggling with blisters. We’d chatted all morning long and she never said a word (or even slowed her pace). She’s one tough broad!
After some cajoling, Gazelle convinced Squirrel to at least continue as far as the shelter, where they meet up with the weird guy in the monk dress and his skinny dog. Apparently they decided he was fairly harmless, so Squirrel decided to hang out at the shelter for the evening to rest her feet, while Gazelle kept pushing on to try to catch up with me.
I was shocked to hear I was ahead of them both the entire day, especially since I felt so sluggishly-paced all afternoon. And I really feel bad for Squirrel and her foot problems. We still have a few more days of hiking before the next town stop, and bad blisters can be a real game changer out here.
Day 19
May 21, 2019
- Route: Hogback Ridge Shelter (mile 317.3) to No Business Shelter (mile 338.0)
- Daily Mileage: 20.7 miles
I didn’t get a good night sleep last night at all. My legs itched all night long due to all the mosquito bites covering them. I haven’t been using any sort of bug spray, and I’m definitely paying the price down here in these woods. I must have at least 80 bites on my legs alone!
The morning was really hard with lots of climbing, but it paid off when Gazelle and I arrived at Big Bald. It was a grassy summit, much like Max Patch, with terrific 360-degree views. I’m really starting to dig these balds. It’s incredibly refreshing to feel the sun on your face after walking so many days under the canopy of trees.
During our break, Gazelle was talking about how she might try to push 26 miles to get all the way into Erwin, TN this evening. I was not on board with that many miles, and wished her good luck. But, soon I caught back up to her on the side of the road – sitting in a chair and enjoying some trail magic near Spivy Gap.
After hanging out for a half hour and enjoying some cold soda, we decided to roll on to the No Business Shelter and tent there together tonight. That would put us just 6 miles shy of Erwin, so we could get into town pretty early tomorrow.
The Guthook App noted that the No Business Shelter didn’t have a water source, or a privy, or even bear cables. Seriously, what’s the point of building a shelter in the middle of nowhere without even one of those items?? Perhaps that’s how it got it’s name, because the trail crew had “no business” building it there.
With so few amenities, I was really surprised to see the place was crowded with lots of day hikers and section hikers. But, then again, it’s only 6 miles for most of them to hike in from town, so they probably don’t see the lack of amenities as quite that big of an inconvenience as we did.
I was incredibly tired after my third 20-mile day of hiking, and just wanted to eat and go to sleep. Unfortunately, the day hikers were focused on sitting around a campfire, talking loudly, and dropping lots of F-bombs until the wee hours of the morning. ::
Day 20
May 22, 2019
- Route: No Business Shelter (mile 338.0) to Uncle Johnny’s Hostel / Erwin, TN (mile 344.1)
- Daily Mileage: 6.1 miles
Today was a super short day into Erwin, TN. It was mostly downhill for the six miles between the No Business Shelter and town. As I got closer, I could spy views of the Nolichuky River down below, and knew it would be a another steep descent.
When I made it down to to the trailhead, Uncle Johnny’s Hostel was right there, so I made my way over to see what time their shuttles went into town to resupply. They had a noon shuttle to an all you can eat (AYCE) pizza buffet and Dollar General, and a 5 p.m. shuttle to Walmart and a few restaurants.
I decided I definitely needed a near-o to rest my weary feet. So I decided to stay the evening at Uncle Johnny’s and just relax for the majority of the day. After taking a quick shower, I went back into the gear shop to see about getting some laundry detergent for the washer, when who did I see? Squirrel and Luna!
Apparently Luna caught up to Squirrel at the shelter with the weird guy and his skinny dog, and they’d been hiking together the past two days. Squirrel’s feet are covered in blisters, so Luna has been bandaging them up for her each morning and motivating her to keep walking. They’d camped just one shelter back from Gazelle and I last night, and then got up around 5 a.m. to hike the 10 miles early and catch up with us in town.
I was sooo happy to see them both again, and I did my best to convince them to stay the day with me for a near-o. After all, it sounded like Squirrel’s feet could use a day of rest and relaxation. We could go eat in town, resupply, then spend the afternoon wading in the nearby river.
Meeting more hikertrash
Two other hikers – Lost Girl and Double Shot – joined us for the AYCE pizza buffet in town. And after a quick stop at the nearby gas station (which sold beer), they too decided to take a near-o at Uncle Johnny’s too. All afternoon we hung out together, drinking beer and relaxing by the river.
Lost Girl and Double Shot are both hiking their second long trail, and met last year on the PCT. Double Shot section-hiked the PCT over three summers, completing Washington his first year, Oregon the next, and California the third. He met Lost Girl in the desert section of California and they hiked the next 1,500 miles together.
When Double Shot decided to thru-hike the AT this year, he naturally asked Lost Girl if she was interested too. She definitely was, but could only take a month off work, so she’s only hiking with him from Springer Mountain to Damascus, VA.
I always like learning how people get their trail names, so asked about theirs. Double Shot got his name due to his love (read: obsession) with his coffee, particularly a double shot espresso from Starbucks. He even brought a French press on the PCT. And after a little needling, I even got him to reveal that he used to work in for Starbucks when he lived up in Seattle.
Meanwhile, Lost Girl got her name during her first few days on the PCT. She had a map and the Guthook App telling her to go one direction, but was convinced the trail was really in another direction. As it turns out, her intuition was WAY wrong, and she spend the rest of the day completely lost off trail.
Day 21
May 23, 2019
- Route: Uncle Johnny’s Hostel (mile 344.1) to Cherry Gap Shelter (mile 361.3)
- Daily Mileage: 17.2 miles
I opted to take off from Uncle Johnny’s early this morning to get some good miles in before it got to warm. I only planned a 17-mile day, but the elevation profile looked like there would have lots of big climbs. Best to get some of them done early before it got to hot.
As it turns out, the hills weren’t as bad as I expected, and there were some really nice views along the way
I ended up taking a nice long break near a road crossing around 11 a.m. after I ran into a older guy doing some trail magic. He had chairs to sit in, banana bread, and sweet tea for the hikers. After talking for a bit, I discovered he does this nearly every day during the hiker season, and really enjoys just chatting with whoever might pass by.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, and I made it 17 miles by 4:30 p.m. There were several section hikers sitting at the picnic table in front of the Cherry Gap Shelter chatting up a storm. I decided to hang out for a bit and talk while waiting to see when everyone would show up.
Gazelle was the first to arrive, but she didn’t get to the shelter until nearly 6 p.m. Everyone else opted to stay at Uncle Johnny’s until mid-morning instead of getting an early start. When I learned that, I decided it was probably a good idea to go ahead and set up my tent and start dinner. This is as far as we’d get today.
Dude, where’s my spoon?
While I was eating, I noticed Gazelle was emptying out her entire pack looking for her spoon. She knew she had it at Uncle Johnny’s yesterday, but couldn’t seem to find it anywhere now. After about 30 minutes of opening every bag, pouch, and pocket, she had to admit it was definitely lost.
Gazelle isn’t carrying a stove on this trail, and is relying 100% on pre-packaged items or cold soaking food in her Talenti jar. A Talenti jar is just lightweight plastic container that pints of Talenti gelato are sold in at the grocery store. Many thru-hikers use them because the container is an ideal size for a meal and it has a screw top lid. This lets you cold soak your lunch or dinner in your pack while hiking, and without having to worry about the water leaking out everywhere.
Without a spoon though, Gazelle’s food options were pretty limited. And she’d already cold soaked her dinner (couscous) for the evening. None of the rest of the hikers had an extra spoon either. A spoon isn’t the kind of thing you’d want to share on trail, given that most of us lick our spoons clean or merely rinse them in water instead of washing them with soap each day.
So what did Gazelle do? She ate her couscous using her debit card. Oh, I felt so bad for her. But, she was hungry and needed to empty out her jar at dinner so she could cold soak her oatmeal overnight for tomorrow’s breakfast.
What’s even worse is the fact that we still have another 60 miles until the next town (Hampton, TN), so she won’t have an opportunity to buy another spoon for a few days. Bummer!
Week 3 Overview
- Lowest mileage day: 6.1 miles into Uncle Johnny’s/Erwin, TN
- Highest mileage day: 22.8 miles
- Number of nights in a hostel bunk: 2
- Number of nights I slept in my tent: 5
- Best campsite: On Max Patch under a full moon
- Number of days with rain: 2
- Total miles hiked: 119.5