I woke up early to get to the race start. Just because I'm a thru hiker doesn't mean I can't run a hilly half marathon every once in a while. I was the only thru hiker racing and apparently some of the runners thought that was pretty cool since a few asked to be photographed with me. The race itself was difficult, up and down a mountain, but I did it. Thanks again to the race director, Run Bum, for letting me race for free! Run Bum is a cool guy and has made an attempt at the AT speed record. The current speed record is held by Jennifer Pharr Davis, who in 2011, completed the trail in a little over 46 days. Imagine hiking from 5 am to 9:30 pm everyday, averaging over 50 miles a day. Davis' hike was supported, meaning that she had a crew helping her on the trail. The unassisted speed record is held by Matthew Kirk, who in 2013, hiked the trail in just over 58 days. I think Run Bum is planning giving the speed record another try. And here is another fun fact about Run Bum: Run Bum loves marshmallows.
I have a post where I list 13 reasons to hike the AT. There are many more reasons to hike. I'll list more reasons as I go along. Here is reason #14: Run hilly half marathons for free.
Sun 4/6
Beth gives me ride back to the trail and hikes with me for a few hours. I get to Sassafras Gap Shelter still early in the day. I only hiked about 6 miles and would have kept going but I was tired and others at the shelter mentioned that it was going to rain. It did rain. It was windy too. Even in the shelter, we were getting wet.
Mon 4/7
I hiked 15 miles to Cable Gap Shelter with Sloth, Big Sexy, and Honey Badger. It was a fun day. We were singing songs and laughing the whole way. We ate some apples and bananas. There was a whole arrangement of fruit left outside for hikers on a picnic table.
Tue 4/8
We slept in and then hiked 6 miles to where we were able to catch a shuttle to Fontana Village. Fontana Village is a little resort by the southern end of the Smokies. I picked up my resupply box that I had mailed to myself from Franklin and hung out with other hikers sitting outside. They had had a gift shop, laundry facilities, and a small and overpriced selection of food. The shuttles cost $3 per person, each way. When we were ready, we took the shuttle to the Fontana Hilton. The Fontana Hilton just another shelter on the AT, however, it can sleep 20 people and has showers and bathrooms with running water. The shuttle dropped us of at the shelter rather than at the road were we got picked up originally. In the evening, Honey Badger and I hiked the 1.1 mile section that we would have skipped otherwise. It was a nice stretch with views of Fontana Lake and the Smokies. It was also nice to hike a couple miles without our packs on.
Wed 4/9
Today I entered the Smokies. I walked across the dam and up the hill to the park entrance with Canyonman. At the entrance was a dropbox where we put our permits. It costs $20 for a thru hiker permit to hike the Smokies. I didn't have the permit so I just wrote my name and date on a piece of paper and dropped it in the box. I printed the payment confirmation instead of the actual permit by mistake. There was a nice fire tower a few miles into the Smokies, Shuckstack Fire Tower. I completely missed it. I walked right past it. I hiked by myself until I meet Southbound and Why Not? for lunch. Southbound got his name because he hiked a section a while back and went the wrong direction. Why Not? is hiking to raise money for an organization that helps HIV/AIDS orphans overseas. You can read about his program here: http://throughhike.com/. Why Not? got his name at church when he was speaking about his plan to hike the AT and some woman in the back yelled out, "Why?" His response was simply, "Why Not?" Some people were joking about his name later saying he could pretty much do whatever he wants on the trail. If he wants to get naked and climb a tree, he can do that. And if anyone asks him why he is doing that, he'll just respond: "Hey, why not?" We camped that night at Russell Field Shelter.
Thrus 4/10
I hiked 16 miles to Double Spring Gap Shelter. We took a lot of breaks and had enjoyed some nice views. I was hiking with Hawkeye, Science Tooth (formerly known as Bill Nye), Bo, and Buchanan. So far, I haven't seen a ranger but I've heard some not so good things about them here. One hiker got woken up by a ranger just so that he could check his permit. They'll kick you out if you don't have a permit. There are a bunch of other regulations as well, more than other section of the AT. Hikers have to purchase a permit and then they only have a limited time to hike through the Smokies. Hikers can sleep only in the shelters provided. Camping is allowed only when the shelters are full and only in the designated areas. There is a fine for not properly hanging a bear bag. Bear bagging is when food and other scented items are hung at night so that bears cannot get to it. I have yet to see a black bear out here. A thru hiker is actually much more likely to encounter a gummy bear along the trail than a black bear. I've encountered of several handfuls of gummy bears myself already and I've only been on the trail a few weeks! Gummy bears are perhaps less threatening but are definitely more delicious.
Fri 4/11
We woke up a 3:30 in the morning for a night hike up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the AT. The four of us were the first ones on Clingmans. It was so cold and windy. I was afraid to put my jacket on because the wind was so strong. I didn't want my jack to be blown away. We got into our sleeping bags because it was so cold. We watched the sunrise.
We hiked to Newfoud Gap and got trail magic from a man named Godspeed, a former thru hiker turned trail angel. He provided us with sandwiches, chips, fresh fruit, and sodas. He then gave us a ride into Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is nothing but a tourist mecca and if you're not careful, you can get sucked in. You'll see backpackers just walking the strip, back and forth, knowing neither how they ended up in this mess nor how to escape it. Our group knew better. We went in, hung out for a while, ate at a dinner buffet, and hitched a ride back to the trail. We got a ride back from a really nice lady that told us that, had it not been in the opposite direction, she would have taken to her house for dinner. And even though we just got done with an all-you-can-eat buffet, we totally could have gone for dinner #2. We hiked three more miles, in the dark at this point, and arrived at Icewater Spring Shelter.
Sat 4/12
We went to a nice lookout point, Charllies Bunion. I'm finally starting to some green, lots of pine trees and the moss covered forest floor. This is much better than the brown dead leaves and bare trees that I've been seeing up until this point. We hiked 12 miles today and camped at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter. The shelter was pretty full but I squeezed in.
Today I entered the Smokies. I walked across the dam and up the hill to the park entrance with Canyonman. At the entrance was a dropbox where we put our permits. It costs $20 for a thru hiker permit to hike the Smokies. I didn't have the permit so I just wrote my name and date on a piece of paper and dropped it in the box. I printed the payment confirmation instead of the actual permit by mistake. There was a nice fire tower a few miles into the Smokies, Shuckstack Fire Tower. I completely missed it. I walked right past it. I hiked by myself until I meet Southbound and Why Not? for lunch. Southbound got his name because he hiked a section a while back and went the wrong direction. Why Not? is hiking to raise money for an organization that helps HIV/AIDS orphans overseas. You can read about his program here: http://throughhike.com/. Why Not? got his name at church when he was speaking about his plan to hike the AT and some woman in the back yelled out, "Why?" His response was simply, "Why Not?" Some people were joking about his name later saying he could pretty much do whatever he wants on the trail. If he wants to get naked and climb a tree, he can do that. And if anyone asks him why he is doing that, he'll just respond: "Hey, why not?" We camped that night at Russell Field Shelter.
Thrus 4/10
I hiked 16 miles to Double Spring Gap Shelter. We took a lot of breaks and had enjoyed some nice views. I was hiking with Hawkeye, Science Tooth (formerly known as Bill Nye), Bo, and Buchanan. So far, I haven't seen a ranger but I've heard some not so good things about them here. One hiker got woken up by a ranger just so that he could check his permit. They'll kick you out if you don't have a permit. There are a bunch of other regulations as well, more than other section of the AT. Hikers have to purchase a permit and then they only have a limited time to hike through the Smokies. Hikers can sleep only in the shelters provided. Camping is allowed only when the shelters are full and only in the designated areas. There is a fine for not properly hanging a bear bag. Bear bagging is when food and other scented items are hung at night so that bears cannot get to it. I have yet to see a black bear out here. A thru hiker is actually much more likely to encounter a gummy bear along the trail than a black bear. I've encountered of several handfuls of gummy bears myself already and I've only been on the trail a few weeks! Gummy bears are perhaps less threatening but are definitely more delicious.
Fri 4/11
We woke up a 3:30 in the morning for a night hike up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the AT. The four of us were the first ones on Clingmans. It was so cold and windy. I was afraid to put my jacket on because the wind was so strong. I didn't want my jack to be blown away. We got into our sleeping bags because it was so cold. We watched the sunrise.
We hiked to Newfoud Gap and got trail magic from a man named Godspeed, a former thru hiker turned trail angel. He provided us with sandwiches, chips, fresh fruit, and sodas. He then gave us a ride into Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is nothing but a tourist mecca and if you're not careful, you can get sucked in. You'll see backpackers just walking the strip, back and forth, knowing neither how they ended up in this mess nor how to escape it. Our group knew better. We went in, hung out for a while, ate at a dinner buffet, and hitched a ride back to the trail. We got a ride back from a really nice lady that told us that, had it not been in the opposite direction, she would have taken to her house for dinner. And even though we just got done with an all-you-can-eat buffet, we totally could have gone for dinner #2. We hiked three more miles, in the dark at this point, and arrived at Icewater Spring Shelter.
Sat 4/12
We went to a nice lookout point, Charllies Bunion. I'm finally starting to some green, lots of pine trees and the moss covered forest floor. This is much better than the brown dead leaves and bare trees that I've been seeing up until this point. We hiked 12 miles today and camped at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter. The shelter was pretty full but I squeezed in.
Reason #15 to hike the AT: See it now before it's gone. We are hiking through a threatened ecosystem. In the Smokies, there is a lot of air pollution, poor visibility because of thick smog, and acid rain. The effects are visible. Dead spruce and firs are can be seen along the trail and there is a whole list of endangered and threatened species.
Sun 4/13
The fire tower at Mt. Cammerer is one of the best side trails on the AT. Some hikers were planning on staying at Cosby Knob Shelter and waking up early again to see the sunrise from the lookout tower. I wanted to join them but I was almost out of food. When we were in Gatlinburg, I bought 6 Cliff Bars but those didn't last me more that a day. My plan was to hike the 20 miles to Standing Bear Farm Hostel where I could resupply. I stopped at Cosby Knob Shelter to eat lunch and a couple hikers offered me their extra food. Since I had food, I decided to see the fire tower. There were some awesome views and I met a young couple, Trip and Nikki. They offered me their food as soon as I mentioned that I was a thru hiker. I hung out with them at the fire tower for a while and then hiked to Standing Bear Farm with a guy named Long Stride.
Standing Bear is a very interesting and rustic place. There is outdoor privy, chickens running around, a nice stream through the property, and tubs for hand washing clothes. One hiker had a chicken lay an egg on his lap. I took a shower in the morning in an outdoor shower house. I didn't make it back to the trail until after 1:00. It started raining and we got some trail magic at the top of the hill from a man named Apple from Ohio. I had a couple sodas. I usually only drink water but my body was telling me I needed the calories. I continued hiking in the rain. It was a wet, cold, muddy mess but I loved it. I felt like a little child going outside to play in the rain. I was hiking by myself all day and got to the summit of Max Patch. Max Patch is a bald with 360° panoramic views. I had the whole to mountain to myself. I camped at a shelter a couple miles from Max Patch.
Tues 4/15
I got up early so that I could hike the 18 miles to Hot Springs and meet Krista I the afternoon. It rained all night and continued throughout the day. I experienced freezing rain and snow. I didn't realize how cold it was until I stopped and tried to light my stove to cook lunch. I couldn't light my lighter. I had lost dexterity in my fingers. I was also just hiking in shorts and a t-shirt with a rain shell. I changed into dry and warmer clothes and I was fine. Earlier, I had passed a hiker that was huddled under a rock in his sleeping bag trying to get warm. I made it to Hot Springs. It was still cold and rainy. I wanted a warm drink and place to sit down for a while. I customer from the restaurant saw me waiting outside and gave me their leftovers. The sandwich had a bit out of it but I didn't care. There really isn't much difference between a thru hiker and a homeless person. We smell bad and are willing to eat half eaten food from strangers. Krista came to pick me up and took me back to Asheville.
Wed 4/16
Krista and I went to lunch and then took her dog to the park.
We meet up that evening with Chris and Sunshine who I meet at the NOC. Chris thru hiked last year and is making a documentary about his trip. They also have a really cute dog.
Thurs 4/17
Krista and stuffed ourselves at an Indian buffet before dropping me back off at Hot Springs. I was planning on hiking out but some hikers offered me a space in their motel room. Besides, there was a free potluck and live music. I stuffed myself for the second time today. Hot springs has a potluck for hikers once a week where community members bring food for us. This another town that is really easy to get trapped in. We met a man that attempted a thru hike six years ago, made it to Hot Springs, and then just never left.
Fri 4/18
We ate breakfast at the diner in town. I had an omelet as well as a sweet potato pancake topped with fried apples and whipped cream. I hung out in town all day with all the other hikers. We enjoyed another free dinner in town that the Hiker Ridge Ministry provided.
Then we went to the hot springs. These are hot tubs with mineral water pumped in from underground.
Reason #15 to hike the AT: Hot Springs, NC. Voted best small mountain town. The community is awesome here. And if you want, you can get a mud bath, massage, and time relaxing in the hot springs when you come.
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