Zero Day in Pearisburg

Wednesday, 5/6

AT Miles = 0 / 625.9
Other Miles = 0 / 25.4
Total Miles = 0 / 651.3

I took a zero day in Pearisburg today. My left foot is really a mess.
It felt okay this morning when I walked in my sandals a couple blocks
down the street to get breakfast, and then a couple more blocks to the
laundromat. But by the time I got back to my motel it was hurting and
I was limping.

It was cool and overcast this morning, but I went out wearing the
running shorts and shirt Jodi sent along with my other warm weather
gear, since all my other clothes were destined for the washer and
dryer at the laundromat. I imagine I looked like a moron walking down
the street dressed like that; it certainly felt inappropriate for the
weather conditions.

Observation: It is amazing just how nasty my socks smell after a week
of alternating two pair of soggy socks in my boots!

I find town days exhausting. I'm not quite sure why that is. I had a
large pizza for dinner last night. When I called to order it I asked
for a 20 oz bottle of root beer, as root beer has no caffeine. Well,
they didn't have any root beer so I settle for Pepsi. Big mistake! all
that caffeine had me awake until nearly 2:00 this morning. Just the
same, I was awake at 6:30.

After doing my laundry I stopped by the post office again. Back last
November I ordered the full set of maps and guidebooks for the trail
from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). They shipped most of
them back in January or February, but the ventral Virginia and Vermont
/ New Hampshire sets were delayed until later. Well, I'm in Virginia
now and I need those central Virginia maps. A couple weeks ago I sent
them an email asking them to send the Virginia maps to me here. I
never got any response to that email so last Thursday while I was
staying at the motel in Atkins I called them. Well, they claimed
ignorance of my email ((what's the point of publishing an email
address if you don't monitor it), and told me the Virginia maps were
ready but the guidebook was still not printed. I asked them to send
the maps to me here and send the guidebook, which I don't use and
don't really care about, to my home address whenever it's ready. They
agreed and I expected the maps when I picked up my other mail
tomorrow. The maps weren't at the post office yesterday and I stopped
by this morning to see if they had yet arrived. Alas, they had not. I
should have called the ATC today but got distracted with other chores
and before I knew it, it was too late.

I did handle some issues with my credit card today. It's amazing how
much time little chores like this can eat up. I also did some work
updating the website for the hiking club I belong to, the Connecticut
Section of the GMC -- www.conngmc.com --, with the latest newsletter
and activity schedule. I also posted my latest photos to my website.
The link is:

http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/DamascusToPearisburg/

I spent a good part of the day struggling to remotely connect to my
computers at home. It seems Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom,
actually broke one of their products with an update to another of
their own products! In order to remotely connect thru their WHS server
an RDP client add-on for IE is required. But when Microsoft released
WinXP SP3, they actually disabled that very add-on. Since the little
Netbook I bought came with XP SP3, it is impossible to connect to my
WHS box from this computer.

Well, I spent hours googling this and that and reading a lot of
discussions of this problem, and finally discovered that if I
uninstalled IE7 and reverted to IE6 (IE7 is actually just an update to
IE6, so if you uninstall IE7 you 'magically' find yourself with IE6),
the RDP add=on will be visible and can be enabled. Whew! So long story
short I finally was able to connect to my home network and get all
that work done that I mentioned before.

So suddenly the day is pretty much done. I still haven't gone through
the food resupply that Jodi sent me to figure out if I need to do any
shopping to supplement it or not. I'll do that first thing in the
morning. Since it's ben raining all afternoon, I put my boots on to
walk around the corner to Dairy Queen to get a couple of cheeseburgers
and etc for lunch, and found myself limping the entire way there and
back. There is no way I am hiking out of town tomorrow. I think I will
get my stuff organized tomorrow so I can send a box of stuff (my cold
weather sleeping bag and my heavy, warm, clothing) home tomorrow, then
I might check out of the motel and walk the couple of miles over to
the hostel at the Catholic church. Or maybe I'll be lazy and just stay
here. It is nice to have my own room and my own shower that I don't
have to share with a couple dozen other people.

Since I have all this time to think and write tonight, here are a
couple of little stories from the trail. I few days ago I was hiking
along in the morning and apparently there was a bird sitting on the
ground next to the trail. I had actually walked by he or she but when
I was swinging my trekking pole forward I must have nearly struck the
bird with the end of my right pole. The bird exploded out of the
undergrowth and flew right between my legs. Of course this all
happened in an instant and I had n for a whileo idea what it was; I
just heard, saw, and felt something exploding between my legs. I
jumped straight up into the air, which is quite a feat while wearing a
backpack. Once I realized it was just a bird, and the first rush of
adrenaline faded a bit, I stood and laughed a hearty belly laugh for a
few minutes.

Yesterday morning, while hiking in the rain, I stopped to pee. I was
preoccupied with what I was doing when I looked down and noticed that
the base of the tree I was peeing on was moving. Looking closer, I saw
a mass of what must have been a couple hundred earth worms, just your
everyday common earth worms, assembled at the base of the tree. I've
never seen or heard of earth worms behaving like this. I didn't take a
picture because after peeing on the poor worms I felt I had already
exploited them enough, so I left them alone to do whatever they were
doing in the rain.

Oh, one more thing. I don't remember if I mentioned this before or
not, but I passed the 600 mile mark a couple of days ago. In the last
seven days getting into town here in Pearisburg, I've hiked more than
120 miles. My legs can do that fine, but I think my feet need me to
cut down the miles a little bit. I think I am going to try to hold
myself to 16 - 18 miles per day.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Wapiti Shelter to Pearisburg, VA

Tuesday, 5/5

AT Miles = 16.6 / 625.9
Other Miles = 0.8 /25.5
Total Miles = 17.4 / 651.4

Just before sunset last night the sky actually cleared up, and we were
treated to a bit of a view of the sunset. It was a sucker punch,
though, as during the night the wet weather rolled back in and it
rained all night, sometimes quite heavily. I was up at 6:45, and true
to form it took almost exactly one hour to eat breakfast, pack up, and
be ready to leave.

For most of today's hike I had only showers and that penetrating fog
to deal with. I was moving a bit slower than usual because my left
foot is pretty beat up. Blisters and sire spots make it painful pretty
much with every step. I reached Doc's Knob Shelter about a quarter
after eleven and stopped for half an hour to eat lunch, then pressed
on towards my goal of Pearisburg.

There is supposed to be wonderful views of the valley Pearisburg is in
from a spot named Angels Rest atop Pearis Mountain. All I saw when I
got there was the inside of the cloud. On top of that, it started
raining very heavily and I was a sodden mess even with my rain gear
on.

The trail descends steeply from here along a long series of
switchbacks, and by now my foot was hurting badly enough that I gave
up all pretext of toughness and exclaimed out loud every once in a
while. Finally, finally, I reached Pearisburg. The trail goes through
the edge of town and in order to get into the center of town where all
the businesses are I had to walk almost a mile along Main Street,
which out here at the fringe of town is a four lane road with no
shoulders and a 50 mph speed limit. Walking along the gutter in the
rain getting splashed with filthy water by every passing vehicle
pretty much capped the day for me.

I'vwe got a room in the cheapest motel in town, and it is just exactly
what you'd think the cheapest room in town would look like. Still,
even though it hasn't been redecorated since apparently the 70s, it's
clean and it provides me everything I need to get dried out and regain
my enthusiasm for the trail.

Wow, I looked at myself in the mirror when I got out of the shower
this afternoon. I am skinny! I think I need to do some serious eating
while I am here. I am going to take at least one zero day here.
Hopefully that will be enough to let my feet heal up. If not I may
have to take an extra day off before I get back out on the trail.
Without healthy feet this hike would be impossible.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Helveys Mill Shelter to Wapiti Shelter

Monday, 5/4

AT Miles = 24.0 / 609.3
Other Miles = 0.5 / 24.7
Total Miles = 24.5 / 634.0

It rained again last night. It was still raining when I got up at 6:30. Well, it's not the end of the world. I guess I'm getting used to being damp. I can't even pretend anything I own is actually dry anymore, there are just varying degrees of wet.

But all was not lost. I caught some good radio last night. The local NPR station plays Swing music from 8:00 - 9:00, then some really good jazz from 9:00 to 11:00.

But back to this morning. I got up and pulled on my rain jacket, then walked out and got my wet food bag down out of the tree where it hung overnight. I cooked breakfast in the rain, packed up my gear, and started hiking.

I made an executive decision and decided that I am going to get to Pearisburg tomorrow rather than on Wednesday. In order to pull that off I need to walk about 40 miles in two days, so I walked 24 miles today and will attempt the other 16.5 tomorrow. I've never hiked 24 miles before, and my feet are complaining big time. I've also raised a blister on the little toe of my left foot. I hope I didn't sabotage myself and make myself incapable of hiking the miles tomorrow. I am really looking forward to being clean and dry and sleeping in a bed that isn't damp and smelly.

I am camped tonight at a nice little shelter with three section hikers. Section hikers tend to have amuch wider repertoire of conversation than thru-hikers do, who tend to talk about food whenever they aren't telling fart jokes, so I am enjoying the evening immensely. We've got a fire going and there is a real chill in the air tonight so that is very welcome.

Four more thrus just showed up, so the evening promises to get even more interesting.

I think this is going to be an ibuprofen night, only the second of the hike. It should help ease the ache of my feet and hopefully they will heal up a lot overnight.

Sorry, I know this has been a bit incoherent. I am really tired tonight and finding it hard to organize my thoughts. You'll hear more from me once I get settled in Pearisburg, hopefully tomorrow night. I am planning to take a zero day (or maybe even two) there. I should have a bunch of maikl waiting at the post office, and will be switching out all my cold weather gear for the summer gear Jodi has sent to me.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

LaurelCreek to Helveys Mill Shelter

Sunday, 5/3

AT Miles = 9.2 / 585.3
Other Miles =] 3 / 24.2
Total iles = 12.2 / 609.5

I went to bed last night and searched for something to listen to on the radio. I was camped way down in a low gap, and I could get only two FM stations, nothing on AM, and some Spanish language stuff on the shortwave bands. So my choices were either Christian evangelization, or NASCAR. I chose NASCAR and listened to the something-or-other 400 for a couple of hours.

I woke up this morning at 6:30 to the sound of a steady rain on the tarp. I decided to try to wait it out and snoozed on and off until 8:00AM. It was still raining, but not as heavily. I got up, packed my gear, ate a Pop-Tart, and set off to hike the 7 miles to Rt 52. I felt so much better than yesterday! The 7 miles flew by in less than 2 1/2 hours. When I reached the road I wasn't sure exactly which road was 52 and I wasted a bit of time walking up this road and down that one, but I finally saw a woman getting out of her car in front of a small church and she confirmed wqhich road would take me to Bland, where I needed to go to buy food and stove fuel for the next three days.

It is 2 1/2 miles down the mountain into town. I walked about a half mile or so before I managed to get a ride the rest of the way. My driver pointed out where the grocery store was, then dropped me off at the Subway as I requested. Yummy! That was good.

I left the Subway and walked back into the center of town where the grocery store is, and did my shopping. My guidebook says that Bruce's Market sells stove fuel by the ounce, but when I asked the clerk had no idea what I was talking about. Uh oh. So now I had food for the next three days, but no way to cook it. I was down to about 1/2 ounce of stove alcohol, so I couldn't leave town until I found some fuel somewhere.

There is a NAPA Auto Parts store across the street from the market, but they were closed on Sunday. Then I tried the Citgo station around the corner and they had Heet gas-line antifreeze, which is nothing more then methyl alcohol and makes great stove fuel. Saved!

I made one last stop at the bank to get some cash at the ATM so I won't have to worry about that chore when I get to Pearisburg, then I headed out of town and back up towards the trail. For whatever reason, I couldn't get a ride on the way back and had to walk the entire 2 1/2 uphill miles back to the trail. Why wouldn't somebody want a smelly wet hiker and all his smelly wet gear in their car? Right, I don't know either.

So I got out of town and hiked a few miles into the woods to this shelter. This makes a rather short day but looking at the book there is no place with water for the next ten miles, and I got here too late to try to add another ten miles onto my day. That being the case, I will hang my hammock out behind the shelter tonight. It is nice to be camped at a shelter so I can get in out of the rain to write this enail, and to cook dinner and do other chores.

I am thinking about buying a bigger tarp for my hammock, so that it will no only keep my dry when I am sleeping, but also provide enough covered area so I can cook aqnd eat. I lie being able to camp between shelters as the shelters are not always spaced a convenient distance apart, but lately every time I do I end up skipping breakfast because I am not willing to squat in the rain and cook.

If you want a laugh, go online and check the extended forecast for Pearisburg, VA. I have been wet for three days now, and it looks like there is no end in sight. I dream of being dry.

I should be in Pearisburg on Wednesday. I have a lot of mail waiting for me there, and I plan to take a day off. I'll go to the laundry and get everything clean and dry. Simple pleasures.

So Ken, I was a manly man last night and slept out in the rain instead of going to the motel. What have you been up to?

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Campsite at Pond Near Chestnut Knob to Campsite at Laurel Creek

Satrurday, 5/2

AT Miles = 16.6 / 576.1
Other Miles = 0 / 21.2
Total Miles = 16.6 / 597.3

So, a miserable day. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. There is no special reason why this day should have been such a negative experience, but it was.

The sky stayed dry until after I went to bed last night. I woke up around 11:00 or so to the sound of rain, but rain at night while I am tucked snug in my hammock is no big deal. What is a big deal is the dense fog that rolled in after the rain stopped. Boy, how I hate that fog. I blows through my hammock and gets everything wet. It condenses inside the undercover, which then gets the bottom insulation wet. It condenses on my sleeping baga, making that wet. It condenseson the netting on my hammock, and it condenses on the underside of the tarp. Since the hammock gets rolled up inside the tarp for packing, that just makes the hammock even more wet.

So I woke up in a foul mood. It was raining when I got up, so instead of making breakfast I packed up and planned to hike the two miles to Chestnut Knob Shelter then cook breakfast there. I hiked through the dense fog until I got to Chestnut Knob. As I approached a hiker was just returning to the shelter, I presume from fetching water. I said "Good morning" and he looked at me, said nothing, then walked into the shelter and closed the door. I don't know what that was about, but it seemed like something my day would be better without, so instead of stopping I continued on down the trail.

It was foggy and the rain continued on and off all morning, so I stopped briefly to eat a couple of Pop-Tarts, a candy bar, and some gorp, and pushed on until I reached Jenkins Shelter, at about 12 miles, around 12:30. I was feeling beat so boiled enough water for a couple of cups of tea, and to make the instant oatmeal I should have eaten this morning. Once I consumed that, I started in on lunch. I spent a good hour and a half eating and sipping tea, and was starting to feel a little bit more optimistic.

I toyed with the idea of pushing the next 12 miles to Rt. 52 and hitching into Bland so I could spend the night at the motel, but two things stopped me. First, there was no way I had 24 miles in my legs today. Second, I know this would disappoint Ken and I couldn't stand to lower myself in his esteem. So I stuyck with my original plan and hiked on another 5 miles or so to this spot at Laurel Creek where I am camped. It's a nice spot, except that it is right next to a road. I can't be seen from the road, but I hear cars go by every half hour or so. That makes me a bit nervous. I have a (not so) hard and fast rule never to camp next to a road, but accordning to my book there isn't another place to get water or to camp between here and Bland. What's a boy to do?

So I set up my hammock back behind a thicket of rhododendron. Like last night, I am fortunate that the rain has held off while I set up camp, washed my hair and took a bandanna bath, cooked and ate dinner, and now while I sit and write this. Soon I will pack everything up and climb into my hammock with my radio and my book. Maybe I will be fortunate like last night, and there will be something interesting to listen to. Last night I listened to some great jazz on an NPR station. But tonight I am down in a hole so I might not be so lucky. There is no phone reception here so this isn't going to get sent until tomorrow at least.

Oh, at one point this morning I was hiking up and down every stupid bump on Chestnut Ridge, and I passed a sign that said "VIEW." In my foul mood I said "@#$%^ VIEW" rather loudly, then a moment later four local day hikers rounded the corner in front of me. If they had heard me, they were nice enough not to let on. We chatted for a few minutes, and that did more than anything else today to help me cope with my bad mood.

Here's hoping tomorrow morning is dry. I have seven miles to hike to the road, then I'll hitch into Bland to shop and the grocery store, and hopefully to get lunch at the Subway in town. After I hitch back to the trail it is only three miles further on to the next shelter. That's my goal for tomorrow. Then on Wednesday I should get to Pearisburg where I have a bunch of maikl waiting. I plan to take a zero day there.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Atkins, VA to "Spring Fed Pond"

Friday, 5/1

AT Miles = 21.2 / 559.5
Other Miles = 0 / 21.2
Total Miles = 21.2 / 580.7

Happy May Day!

Hey, I am half way to half way! I have now hiked more than 1/4 of the miles from Springer Mtn to Katahdin.

After a big breakfast at the restaurant this morning -- two eggs, two pancakes, two sausage, two bacon, two biscuits with gravy, home fries, coffee, orange juice, and water -- I set off a few minutes before 8:00. After crossing under the highway the trail spends several miles traversing farm fields and overgrown meadows. It was really nice. At this low elevation everything is in bloom and the trees and shrubs were full of birdsong.

I climbed up onto a ridge and again was high enough that spring hadn't quite arrived, but then descended back into the lowlands and for another few miles the trail threads through farm country. I must have climbed a dozen stiles over farm fences. At each one I thought to myself that this is the perfect opportunity to fall, break a leg, and bring my hike to an end. Luckily, that didn't happen.

I was feeling good today after all that food and a good rest, and I reached my intended destination, Knot Maul Shelter, 14 miles into the day at 1:30. I ate lunch there and contemplated the sky, which had treated me to rain showers on and off all morning. One minute it would look dark and menacing, and the next bits of blue sky would appear. Finally I decided it was simply too early to call it a day and around 2:00 I saddled up and moved on.

I hiked a couple more hours until I came to a Forest Service road. Checking my book I could see that I should come to what is listed as "spring fed pond" in about 2 miles of uphill hiking. I decided that was my destination. Well, the uphill was of the heart attack inducing kind. At least, it felt that way at the end of a long day. It took about 20 minutes longer than I thought it could possibly take, but I finally arrived here and found a nice spot in the woods just behind the pond to hang my hammock and call home for the night. The sky has looked like rain is imminent ever since I arrived here, but I've got camp set up, cooked, ate, and cleaned up from my dinner, and once I finish this I will crawl into my hammock and listen to my radio or read my book until sleep overtakes me, which won't take long.

It looks like I will be in Bland sometime Sunday morning. Unless the weather is a total washout, I plan to get into town to resupply then get back out and move on to the next shelter.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Appearing Elsewhere

I've mentioned Sir Richard now and again. Here's a link to one of his blog entries where he mentions some of the folks we've been hiking with lately:

http://richdoestheat.blogspot.com/2009/04/wednesday-15-april-2009-bald-mountain.html

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Brushy Mountain to Atkins, VA

Thursday, 4/30

AT Miles = 10.3 / 538.3
Other Miles = 0 / 21.2
Total Miles = 10.3 / 559.5

It rained pretty hard last night. I had hung my hammock on the side of the hill and the head end tree was upslope of the foot end tree. It is hard to get a level hang when the trees are not level with one another. I hung the foot end as high up the tree as I could reach, but when I hung the head end so that the hammock was level, it sagged enough with me in it that I touched a downed log under my back. Because of this I had to hang the hammock with the head end a bit higher than the foot end. It is comfortable enough this way, but it meant that I was lying at the fooot end of the hammock, and therefore my feet and the foot of my sleeping bag were up at the peak at that end of the hammock, putting my feet up against the screening and thus exposed to some of the blown in rain. Not a big deal, but the foot of my sleeping bag is a bit damp.

When I got up it looked like it was going to rain some more, but as I walked into the morning the clouds broke up and it proved to be a lovely morning. I am down at a much lower altitude now, and spring is bursting out everywhere. I walked through meadows and over low hills. There is a sweetness in the air this morning and I am not sure where the sweet smell is coming from. I passed a lilac bush or two starting to bloom, and some flowering dogwoods, but not enough to explain the sweet smell. Maybe there is some kind of meadow grass that is so sweet? In any case, it was almost sickeningly sweet. I walked through all that green growing stuff just imagining all the photosynthesis taking place and pumping oxygen into the air for me to breather. Ahh!

I could soon hear the tgraffic on I-81, and then descended into Rural Retreat (part of Atkins, VA). There is an exit from I-81 here, and a motel, a restaurant, and a couple of gas stations. I took a room at the motel -- the Relax Inn -- and picked up the food drop that Jodi mailed here for me. I just got back from lunch at the restaurant up the road. Serviceable but unexceptional food. Once I finish this email I will go through what food I have left in my food bag and all the great stuff Jodi sent me, and get myself organized for the next section to Bland, VA.

You might remember me writing about my frustration with getting access to my home network from public computers. Well, I have hopefully solved that problem. Yesterday I ordered a new netbook from AMazon.com and am having it sent to me in Pearisburg. I will keep this in my bounce box and mail it up the trail to each of my town stops. I'll be able to set it up the way I want it, and will be able to connect to my home network from any WIFi hot spot. And once I get initial internet access via WiFi I will be able to download the software I need to be able to use my cell phone as a modem for the computer, once Jodi sends me the sync cable for my phone. As I said, hopefully this will alleviate my computer frustrations.

It is clouding up again now, and there is supposed to be more rain tonight. If it's got to rain, I'd just as soon have it happen while I am indoors!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Campsite after Dickey Gap to Brushy Mountain

Wednesday, 4/29

AT Miles = 14.3 / 528.0
Other Miles = 0.2 / 21.2
Total Miles = 14.5 / 549.2

I was awake early this morning and rather than cook breakfast where I was camped I packed up my gear and hiked about 2 1/2 miles to Trimpi Shelter, where I got water and cooked my breakfast. I had a leisurely breakfast and then walked on. The weather this morning was warm and more humid than it has been the last couple of days. The forecast called for afternoon thunder showers and I was happy that I had only about 13 1/2 miles to hike to reach Partnership Shelter; hopefully before the storms hit.

Soon after leaving Trimpi Shelter I ran into Sir Richard taking a break on the trail. We walked together and chatted about this and that the rest of the way to Partnership Shelter, arriving there about 12:30 (or, as Richard would say, half noon).

Partnership Shelter is not the usual trail shelter. It is located directly behind the Visitor Center for the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. The plumbing for the visitor center has been extended to the shelter, and the shelter features both a shower and a water tap. There is also a phone outside the visitor center from which one can call and have pizza delivered. All this being so, as soon as we arrived Sir Richard and I walked overe to the visitor center and ordered two large pizzas and a 2-liter bottle of soda. We hung around waiting for the pizza to arrive, meanwhile watching the thunder clouds build in the sky. Our pizza arrived and we made it back to the shelter with our lunch just before the lightning started to strike, the thunder boomed, and the skies opened up with torrential rain.

Onjce I polished off my pizza I took a shower and rinsed out my very salty, sweaty T-shirt and socks. It had been my plan to camp there at the shelter, but the area was posted "No Camping" and I don't carry a pad so can't sleep on the hard shelter fllors. That being the case, I hung around the shelter for the afternoon, cooked and ate my dinner, then hiked on aboiut a mile and a third and found a spot down on the lee side of the ridge to hang my hammock. I climbed in and spent a comfortable evening listening to my little radio and reading my book.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Thomas Knob Shelter to Campsite 1.5 Miles Past Dickey Gap

Tuesday, 4/28

AT Miles = 22.7 / 513.7
Other Miles = 0.2 / 21.0
Total Miles = 22.9 / 534.7

FIVE HUNDRED MILES!

I passed the 500 mile mark today. There's a part of me that didn't really believe I'd be able to do it, but I did! 500 miles really feels like something.

I've endured fellow hikerss telling me all about the horses and the exotic cattle with the wide horns they saw in the Roan Highlands, while I hiked through there in the wwind and rain and saw nothing. Last night when I arrived at Thomas Knob the people I was camping with were telling me stories of their encounters with the ponies, while I never saw any of them. Well, last night I could hear the ponies calling and neighing to each other all night, and this morning as soon as I started walking I ran into group after group of them. They're really cool. I took a bunch of photos which I hope you'll all like whenever I can get them posted.

I planned to walk 16 miles today, stopping at Hurricane Mtn Shelter. When I got there it was kind of early and I decided to cointinue on 4 more miles to Comers Creek where I could get water and hopefully camp. When I got there the creek was in a ravine and there was no place to camp so I pushed on another 2.7 miles to where I could camp. Whew! I was beat.

I ate my dinner and crawled into bed. There was a bunch of other hikers there, all in therir early to mid-twenties. While I was lying exhausted in my hammock they were all sitting around the campfire talking about how easy it is to knock off 20 mile days and still have energy left at the end of the day! I guess the number of decades you've been arfound really does matter.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Saunders Shelter to THomas Knob Shelter

Monday, 4/27

AT Miles = 18.6 / 491.0
Other Miles = 0.5 / 20.8
Total Miles = 19.1 / 511.8

A great day. Plenty of miles. Plenty of heat. Plenty of tired. But a great day. Up. Down. Up again. Climbed Mount Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. Camped with a bunch of other hikers at a place tucked into the trees and out of the wind that is roaring just yards away out on the bald.

I hauled a HUGE food bag out of Damascus. It makes my pack weigh a ton. It weighed more yesterday morning leaving Damascus than it did when I started at Springer Mountain. But I think it's worth it. I am eating like crazy and it sems to help. I also bought a small container to carry olive oil while in Damascus, and I add it to every evening meal. I've also started taking daily vitamins. I am considering maybe getting some protein powder somewhere and using that every day as well. I am trying to avoid wasting away to nothing.

It's getting late and dark so I am going to quit for tonight. Goodnight all!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Nick Grindstaff's Grave

A bit of the history of Nick Grindstaff's monument, some photos of which appeared in my "Day in the Life" photos the other day:

http://www.hauntmastersclub.com/places/johnson_county_nick_grindstaff.html

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Damascus, VA to Saunders Shelter

Sunday, 4/26

AT Miles = 9.4 / 472.4
Other Miles = 0.2 / 20.3
Total Miles = 9.6 / 492.7

As wonderful as being in town is, it is even better to get back out on the trail. I think I have said this before; I don't sleep well in town. I go to sleep late and wake up early. Really early, like three or four in the morning.

Last night I went to bed after 11:00, and I was awake a few minutes after 4:00. I had to wait until a decent hour to get up and shower and pack up all my gear, for fear of waking people in the other rooms. I settled up with the proprietress around 8:00 or so, but then hung out with some ofthe other hikers out back for a while. Finally I heftede my ridiculously heavy pack, groaned, and dropped it back to the ground. Goodness! I went completely overboard at the grocery store yesterday. I could barely cram my food bag into my pack. I took the pack off and put it on the bathroom scale that is in the hiker hosxtel. 43 pounds! That's 4 pounds more than it weighed on the day I started, and I've gotten rid of a few things since then. That weight is all food! I am going to have to have a big feed tonight and get the reduced as fast as I can.

I hiked out of Damascus, after stopping on the way for a big breakfast (food. I am obsessed with food) , along the Virginia Creeper Trail. The Creeper Trail is a rails-to-trails conversion so follows lovely, gentle grades. Unfortunately, the AT soon veers off and climbs up into the hills for a few miles, the descends back down and just to tease a poor, tired, overburdened hiker, parallels the Creeper trail at a very short distance oif only 30 or 40 feet, for a long ways. The Creeper Trail is clearly seen in its flat, even, easy gradedness, while the AT climbs up and down every stupid little bump in the terrain and hops over rocks and whatever else. So frustrating!

I set off today with no particular goal in mind. I decided I would hike to the first shelter out of town, then decide if I wanted to go on to the next or not. Well, I got here all hot and sweaty, and was greeted with a lovely setting with a small grove of evergreens out behind the shelter casting some wonderfully cool shade. After walking down to the stream to get water and to wash up a bit, I strung my hammock up in the shade and lay down on top of it to read my book and sway in the cool breeze.

Soon enough I fell asleep and awoke only when another hiker walked by on her way back from getting water. It's a good thing I woke up or I might have slept right until bed time!

Well, that hiker and a couple of others were here just to get water and have moved on, but I've decided to definitely indulge myself and am staying here for the night. Tomorrow is soon enough for ambition, when I will push the 18+ miles to Thomas Knob and the Grayson Highlands. I asm excited that the weather should be good when I am up there; so unlike mhy experience so far with the high parts of the trail. I am looking forward to seeing the ponies at Grayson Highlands State Park.

Another hiker, Midget Momma (she's short and says she has a son who is 6'4") just showed up, so I guess I wonm't have the place all to myself tonight. And I know there are a bunch of hikers who planned to leave town late this afternoon and hike, so I imagine there will be more coming later.

I look forward to town stops so much, but they are exhausting! I am always surprised how tired I am when I leave town. This evening looks to be a lovely one, and I am sure I will have a restful night tonight and be ready to do some real hiking tomorrow.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Abingdon Gap Shelter to Damascus, VA

Friday, 4/24

AT Miles = 10.2 / 463.0
Other Miles = 0 / 20.1
Total Miles = 10.2 / 483.1

It was warm when I went to bed on Thursday evening, early because the gnats were bothersome, and I think it was even warmer when I woke up at 6:30 on Friday morning.

A town day is always exciting. I guess that's a sign of how simple life on the trail is. The idea of a hot shower and real food just makes me giddy. So I wasted no time in eating breakfast and getting on the trail, and I was headed out by 7:30. It was a bit over ten miles into Damascus, and I was walking under the "Welcome to Damascus" sign by 10:30. By 11:00 I had secured a room at the Hikers Inn and was on my way to settling into this wonderful little town.

It is Sunday morning now and soon I will stuff everything back into my backpack and head out of town. The weather has been gorgeous the last few days, and it looks like there should be about three more days of sun and heat before we get some clouds and showers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I noticed a warning of increased fire danger in the area when checking the weather this morning, due to the heat and low humidity.

I'll have to be careful to drink more water with the heat now, but first I am going to concentrate on one last town breakfast before hitting the trail.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Photos, At Last!

Okay. I've got caught up with my photos. I'm afraid I was ridiculously
hurried so the captions are sparse. My apologies.

Fontana Dam to Erwin:
http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/FontanaDamToErwin/

Erwin to Damascus:
http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/ErwinToDamascus/

A Day In The Life:
http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/ADayInTheLife/

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Where I am staying in Damascus

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Iron Mountain Shelter to Abingdon Gap Shelter

Thursday, 4/23

AT Miles = 15.9 / 452.8
Other Miles = 0 / 20.1
Total Miles = 15.9 / 472.9

Glorious Day!

A great night's sleep, followed by a glorious day. Finally! Finally, we got some really, really nice weather. I woke up once during the night and had to get out to pee; the sky was full of stars and I could see the lights down in the valley.

It was cool this morning, but the sun was shining and the temp was coming up fast. I had only about 15 miles to go and the terrain was relatively easy, so I consciously decided to take it easy and enjoy my day as much as I could. It somehow worked out that I managed to be in the right frame of mind when such a beautiful day presented itself. I wasn't trying to do big miles like yesterday, and I knew today wouldn't be a physical challenge.

A few miles into the day I met Pop and Gwemmy, two retired local hikers out for a day hike carrying a big bag of snacks to hand out to the thru-hikers. They gave me a couple of Rice Krispy treats and a tangerine.

Later in the morning I passed several groups of seniors out for a day hike, and when I stopped at Double Springs Shelter to eat lunch, they soon all showed up. I enjoyed talking with them, and one of them gave me several mini Snickers bars, which I wasted no time in consuming.

It's a beautiful evening right now, and I am here with 5 other hikers. Three of them I met last night, and two just this evening. I did some of my laundry when I got here. I doubt my socks will dry overnight, but they will dry on the back of my pack tomolrrow.

I promised some of you I would do a "Da in the life of a hiker" thing, and toda is the day I picked to do it. Hopefully I will be able to get all my photos uploaded while I am in Damascus. Damascus is just ten miles away, so I should be there around noon tomorrow. I haven't decided yet if I will take a zero there or not. I think it depends mostly on whether I can get enough computer time to take care of all my photos. Then I need to shop for the next 5 or 6 day leg. From Damascus I will be off for thr Grayson Highlands.

Oh, sometime tomorrow morning I will walk out of Tennessee and into Virginia!

Okay, I feel disjointed and incoherent tonight, so I better quit.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Hampton, TN to Iron Mountain Shelter

Wednesday, 4/22

AT Miles = 21.6 / 436.9
Other Miles = 1.0 / 20.1
Total Miles = 22.6 / 457.0

Today was mostly just about making miles. It's called "the post office marathon" on the trail, which is when you have to hike crazy miles in order to get to a town before the post office closes for the weekend. In my case, I am trying to get to Damascus before 4:30 on Friday afternoon. My bounce box is waiting in the PO there, and so is a package Jodi sent that contains a second battery for my phone, and more importanbtly, some home-made cookies. Yum!

I woke up a few minutes after 5:00 this morning and used the hostel kitchen to boil water so I could have some oatmeal. Then I packed up my gear and hit the trail, with my headlamp on, sometime before six; I'm guessing about 5:45.

The side trail thast brought me back to the AT is mostly along an old road, so it was fairly easy to follow it even with my weak little LED head-lamp. When I turned off onto the AT and started climbing switchbacks up to Pond Flats it was a little challenging, but it soon started to get light.

By the time I got down to the road, 7 miles into my hike but less than 2 1/2 road miles from where I slept last night, it was about 8:30, the sun was getting warm, and it was nice and calm down by Watauga Lake. I stripped off most of my warm clothes and enjoyed the trail around the end of the lake and eventually across the dam. Then the trail started climbving and I was very warm until I got up on the ridge and the north wind got me in its sights. After this it got colder and colder.

I got here about 3:00PM, amazingly. I'm quite tired, but tomorrow will be a more sane day of less than 16 miles. Someone that was here last night wrote in the shelter register that there was snow this morning. It's still darn cold, and I have been adding more and more layers of clothes since I stopped. I think it will be early to bed tonight just to stay warm. Surprisingl;y, the weather forecast I saw last night says we should be hitting the 70s and 80s by the end of the week. Go figure!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Moreland Gap Shelter to Hampton, TN

Tuesday, 4/21

AT Miles = 8.7 / 415.3
Other Miles = 1.4 / 19.1
Total Miles = 10.1 / 434.4

When I originally planned my hike I think I had a mail-drop scheduled for the Kincora Hostel, in Dennis Cove, TN. At some point I decided I had too many mail-drops and in an effort to remove some I decided to rely on being able to get a shuttle from Kincora into town to buy food.

It is only about six miles from the Moreland Gap Shelter to the Kincora Hostel, and I arrived there about 10:15 this morning. Bob Peoples run Kincora and asks only for a suggested donation of $4.00 to stay there. He is pretty much a legend on the AT. When I got there he was not home, but I talked to some of the other hikers to try to get the scoop on what was going on and how things worked there. From what I was told Bob offered shuttles into town eratically and you neer knew when he might be ready to go, or exactly where he would take you.

I didn't have enough food to make the next 3 days and 50 miles into Damascus, VA, so I had no choice but to get to town somehow. One hiker told me he had to stay an extra day to get a shuttle to the store. I can't afford an extra day, as it is going to be very tight as it is for me to reach Damascus before the post office closes at 4:30 on Friday afternoon so I can get my bounce bnox and another package that Jodi has mailed to me there.

So, I took a look at my copy of "Appalachian Pages" and saw that if I continued up the AT past Laurel; fork Falls and through Laurel Fork Gorge, there was a side trail in about three miles that would take me one mile to the road just outside of Hampton, TN. The book also told me that there is a grocery store and a hiker hostel in Hampton, so that decided it for me.

The gorge and the falls were beautiful, and in what looked like some kind of divine confirmation of myh decision, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun shone as I picked my way through the gorge and along the river. By noon I was at the side trail, and 20 minutes later I was walkikng down the shoulder of the road into town. My first stop was Brolwn's Grocedry, which is half grocery store and half hardware store, advertising both Mac & Chese and Hog Wire. You need it, Brown's got it!

The couple that own the grocery store also run a hnostel in their home, known as Braemer Castle. I got directions from the cashier at the store and walked 3 minutes up the road. Luckily I caught Sutton (the owner) just as he was about to leave. He brought me inside and showed me around. This place is a great find! The bunkroom, downstairs, is being renovated and thus was closed, but they offer private rooms upstairs for $20 each. So far (3:45PM) I am the only one here. The place is huge, and spotlessly clean. It is an old building and all the floors tilt in one direction or another. The floors are all hardwood. There is a large common afrea, a kitchen, some comfortable chairs and a couch, an old TV with a few VHS movies to watch, and great big windows for lots of light.

I asked Sutton about restaurants, and also if there is a barbershop in town. To my surprise there is. Following his directions I walked west down the main drag through town to Bud's Barbershop. When I got there there was a sign on the door that read:

Nead a haircut? Go to house - Bud

Apparently everyone in town knows where Bud lives, except for me! Dismissing the laircut for the time being, I walked further on down the road until I got to the Copper Kettle RFestaurant, where I had a BLT and fries, followed by some peach cobbler, all accompanied by some sweet tea. I asked one of the guys wortking at the restaurant if he knew what was up with Bud's Barbershop, and he told me that Bud comes and goes as he pleases. Her also noted that Bud has been around pretty much forever, and that Bud used to cut his grandfather's hair.

I walked back and when I passed Bud's I saw that he was now in his shop, so I stopped and got my hair cut and my trimmed a bit, so I don't look quite so much like a homeless person.

While cuting my hair Bud asked me if I liked winter, and told me that it is supposed to get cold and even snow a bit tonight. I knew that already, but played along and told Bud since I was from Bahsten I knew all about snow and it didn't bother me.

I am back at the hostel right now typing this. The wind is getting pretty furious outside, and the whole building is creaking. I've got to go through my food bag and make sure I've bought everything I need for the next three days to Damascus, and at some point I'll venture back out to get some dinner. It will be good to be indoors out of the storm tonight.

DIET AND HOSTELS

So, some folks have nolticed that I spend the night in a hostel once or twice a week, and are wondering why. Well, it's springtime in the mountains, and it is COLD and WET. It rains 4 or 5 days a week. It's windy. It's cold. After being cold and qwet for three or four days, it feels really good to spend a night indolors, take a shower, and get my sleeping bag and other gear dry.

I think Anju was the first to comment on the fact that I am eating a lot of meat nowadays. A lot of you know that I used to be a fairly die-hard vegetarian. I am no longer a vegetarian at home since Joldi and I have found a local farm that raises beef, pork, lamb and chicken all on pasture. That addresses all of the ethical issues that causede me to be a vegetarian. Now,of course, that doesn't help a whit when I am off traveling, and if I were to follow my ethical principles I wouldn't eat meat on this trip, but my body craves it! I am hiking 8 - 9 hours every day, and that takes a huge toll on my body. I need all that protein to repair the damage I do every day. So yes, I fgeel a bit guilty about it, but I am goingf to continue eating meat whenever I get to town and have a chance to do so.

And Ken, when are you going to come out and hike with me?

The next three days are going to be tough. I could do about 22 miles tomorrow to Iron Mountrain, then 16 on Thursday to Abingdon Gap. That would leave me with about 10 miles on Friday into Damascus, so I would be there in plenty of time to get to the post office. 22 miles; ouch!

CupAJoe and Duct Tape are planning to take "the Kincora Challenge" and try to hike the entire 50 miles in 24 hours. Damn kids! I told them if they did it, or even came close, I'd buy them dinner if I ever catch up with them again.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Mountain Harbour B&B to Moreland Gap Shelter

Monday, 4/20

AT Miles = 18.4 / /406.6
Other Miles = 0.3 / 17.7
Total Miles = 18.7 / 424.3

Look! I've passed the 400 mile mark!

Lately whenever I have slept indoors I inevitably wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 am and find it impossible to get back to sleep. Well, not last night. I slept the sleep of the innocent and woke up a few minutes after 7:00. After a quick shower I went downstairs and was greeted by an absolutely huge breakfast. There were only two of us eating breakfast, yet the table was laden with platters and pans of food. Eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy (which I love, by the way), home-made cinnamon rolls, cantaloupe, strawberries, kiwi, some kind of little chocolate cakes with cherries on them, orange juice, coffee, tea, and probably something else I've forgotten. We ate and chatted and ate some more, for about an hour and a half. Finally, I had to break away and go back upstairs and get my gear packed.

It was about 9:30 when I finally set off up the hill back to where the AT crossed the road. The trail had a very different feel today. For now no more big mountains and remote terrain. Today the trail wended its way through semi-rural country. It was a pleasant change, and gave my legs a bit of a rest since there were fewer and easier grades to climb and descend. The day started out warm and humid, and being at a lower elevation spring was further along here. The trail climbed through some old meadows starting to grow back to forest, and the grass was a vibrant green with the first dandelions making an appearance.

Sometime this morning I crossed from Tennessee into North Carolina for the last time. I was back in North Carolina for only a tenth of a mile or so, then it was back into Tennessee where I will stay until I reach Virginia at the end of the week. Goodbye North Carolina. That makes two states down now, with 12 to go.

I reached Mountaineer Shelter about 8 or 9 miles into the day, a few minutes before 1:00. I stopped here to eat lunch since the skies were clouding up and I was hit with a few quick showers. A few minutes after I stopped CupAJoe and Duct Tape showed up, and then OG. CupAJoe and Duct Tape are a young couple from Maine, and we have been hiking on more or less the same schedule since back in the Smokies. OG I met for the first time today. He had been ahead of me but had taken a couple of days off with a friend and had just returned to the trail this morning.

This afternoon the wind picked up and dark clouds started moving in. As I hiked a series of rain showers went over, each a bit heavier and lonmger lasting than the previous. In between the sun did shine, but less and less.

It was a fairly long day at nearly 19 miles, and I didn't reach tonight's destination at the Moreland Gap Shelter until a quarter after five. The sign at the shelter, just like the signs at all the shelters in this area, said the watedr source was 50 yards away. I don't know what they use to measure distance around here, but back home I think this 50 yards would have measured out to at least a quarter of a mile! It took me 15 minutes to walk down to the water, fill my 2 1/2 liter botle, and walk back up to the shslter.

Just about this time CupAJoe, Duct Tape, and OG all showed up. A few minutes later it started to rain, so I waited out the rain under the roof of the shelter, then during a lull I set my hammock up for the night. The temperature was dropping fast and I put on nearly all of my clothes, including both my down liner jacket and my heavy down jacket.

I've been continually sholcked by the amount of litter and graffiti at the shelters hereabouts. I am SO glad I am not sleeping in the shelters. I took a picture of this one so you can see what I'm talking about whenever I get the photos uploaded.

It will be early to bed tonight, due to the cold. More tomorrow...

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Roan Mountain Profile

I wrote about the climb up Roan Mountain that I did yesterday. This is a rather poor cell phone photo of the elevation profile for that hike. I started my day where my finger is pointing at the left, and ended atop Roan Mountain where my pen is pointing. The start of the climb, at about mile 14 in my day, is at the second fold you can see in the map. I just thought you might find this a bit interesting, though I realize most of the world's population does not share my fascination with maps.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Roan High Knob Shelter to Mountain Hrbour B&B and Hiker Hostel

Sunday, 4/19

AT Miles = 15.7 / 388.2
Other Miles = 0.7 / 17.4
Total Miles = 16.4 / 405.6

It was colder than I expected last night, although the fact that there are still patches of snow on top of Roan Mountain should probably have clued me in. I am a bit slow sometimes. When it is cold I usually add my down jacket to the insulation under my hammock, and I should have done that last night. Still, I was only a little cold and slept well for the most part.

I got up once during the night and the sky was mostly clear with lots of stars visible. When I got up this morning at about 7:00, the sky was mostly cloudy and we could see heavier clouds moving in from the west. I was off a few minutes after 8:00 and around 9:30 it started raining. The last forecast I had heard was last Friday morning when I was in Erwin, and at that time they were calling for lightning storms this morning. (Why do people call them thunder storms when thunder is just noise, and it's the lightning that can kill you?) After coming down off Roan Mountain the trail climbs and series of balds, and eventually follows along a high, bald ridge called the Roan Highlands. The rain was constant but light, so not much of a nuisance, but I was nervously watching and listening for any signs of a lightning storm as this was no place to be during such an event. Fortunately, no lightning ever materialized. I made it down to the road in Applehouse Gap at around 3:00pm, and walked the
third of a mile down the road to the B&B/Hostel. I could have stayed in the hostel for $18, but sleeping in a tightly packed bunkroom with a bunch of other smelly, wet hikers, and being 17th or 18th in line to use the shower, just didn't appeal to me today, so I sprang for ther bucks for one of the B&B rooms instead. The price of my room includes breakfast in the morning, and I hope it's a big, solid breakfast. The innkeeper even drove we to the next town west (in Tennessee) so I cxould get cash at an ATM, then drove me back east into North Carolina and up to a local steak house where I just had dinner. Two passes through the salad bar, a large Sirloin cooked medium, a baked potato, severl glasses of sweet tea (the waitress eventually left ther pitcher on my table), three servings of "Texas toast", and a bowl of peach cobbler. The whole thing, with tip, set me back $21. My B&B host was right, the place isn't much on ambiance, but the steak is good.

I am just under 25 miles from Dennis Cove and the Kincora Hostel, my next planned stop. I could do an 18.8 mile day tomorrow, and have only 6 miles left on Tuesday to get there. That would give me plenty of time to do laundry and stuff if I wanted to. On the other hand, this rain is supposed to end tomorrow morning and I could take my time eating breakfast and get a later start and maybe avoid getting wet. There are some spots with water and camping before the 18 mile mark, and with the nice weather it might be more enjoyable to be hiking than hanging out at a hostel. I'll be in Damascus ("the friendliest town on the AT") by Thursday or, more likely, Friday. I'll probably take a zero there and do laundry, shop for my resupply, and hopefully get computer access and get all my photos processed and uploaded while I'm there.

While hiking today I was thinking that it might be fun to try to photo-document what a "typical" day on the trail is like, and upload the photos as a separate kind of photo-essay to my web server. Does that sound stupid, or might you be interested in such a thing? A day on the trail is really pretty simple, and I'm not sure there's much to tell, but I might be wrong.

Oh, I should hit 400 miles tomorrow! Another milestone.

One more thing. I keep thinking I should add an explanbation for those mileage totals I put at the top of every entry. At the beginning of my hike I decided I wanted to try to keep track of all the non-AT miles I hike, just because I was curious how many miles one actually walked in order to complete a thru-hike, and if it was greatly more than the miles that count as forward progress along the Appalachian Trail itself. So far it looks like there aren't all that many extra miles to walk. My definition of which extra miles to include is somewhat arbitrary, but basically I include any miles intentionally walked with my pack on. So today I walked 0.2 miles down a side-trail to stop at OverMountain Shelter fpor lunch, then 0.2 miles back up the side-trail to the AT. Then at thew end of the day I walked 0.3 miles down to the B&B along the road. I included those 0.3 miles because I walked rather than trying to hitch. When I went into Erwin last Thursday I was trying to hitch with two other
hikers and we ended up walking about a mile before we got a ride, but I didn't count that mile because I wasn't planning to walk it. And, of course, when I am in town I often end up walking all over town to get all my town chores done, but I don't try to include any of those miles. Like I said, the definition is rather arbitrary.

Wow, I am really rambling tonight. It must be all thaqt protein flooding my system. There is microwave popcorn in my room, as well as a refrigerator with cold soda in it, so I think I will settle back and indulge while watching a movie on TV.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Cherry Gap Shelter to Roan High Knob Shelter

Saturday, 4/18

AT Miles = 15.6 / 372.5
Other Miles = 1.5 / 16.7
Total Miles = 17.1 / 389.2

I climbed Roan Mountain today. From Hughes Gap at 4040 feet, the trail climbs to Roan High Knob at 6285 feet in 3.3 miles. The first 1000 feet are gained in about a mile and a half, then once you've warmed up with that little climb the trail gets serious and the next 1000 feet are climbed in a mile. Whew! After that you are more or less at the top and the grade eases up so you can enjoy yourself up high. And to make it even more interesting, I had already hiked about 14 miles just to get to Hughes Gap so I could start this little climb!

It was actually another really fine day of nice hiking. About six miles into the day I came to Greasy Creek Gap and decided to walk down the siz tenths of a mile to the hostel named Greasy Creek Friendly (get it? Friendly versus hostel which almost sounds like hostile) to see if I could get some fresh cooked food. When I got down there a sign on the door asked to "Please knock," so I did. A guy withe the trail name of Shepherd answered and I told him I had heard a rumor that real food was available there. "Well, yes and no," he said. My heart sank, and I asked him if this was a yes day or a no day. He went on to tell me that the woman who ran the place and cooked was away at church, Saturday being the sabbath for Seventh Day Adventists.

I believe I actually whimpered a little bit, and told Shepherd he was breaking my heart. Being a former thru-hiker he understood. Not all was lost as there at least were some microwaveable entrees in the freezer and I availed myself of a few of them, along with a couple of cups of tea, while I was there. Not the fat juicy cheeseburger and crisp fresh salad I was craving, but at least my detour wasn't for nothing, though I did question the wisdom of the extra 1.2 miles while I was plodding up Roam Mountain at the end of the day.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com

Erwin, TN to Cherry Gap Shelter

Friday, 4/17

AT Miles = 17.0 / 356.9
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 17.0 / 372.1

The weather today is exactly what you woulkd envision if you were to imagine a splendid spring day on the AT. The sky was blue, the sun was warm with just a slight breeze, and the views from the top of Beauty Spot were fantastic.

I started the day a bit melancholy and homesick, and I decided that with the great weather I would not set a goal for the day but rather simply walk at a comfortable pace, stop whenever I felt like it, and get as far as I get.

I spent almost two hours at Beauty Spot, eating lunch, enjoying the views, and even nearly falling asleep. I would have slept except that a little gust if wind came up and blew my hat off my face, and the sun was bothersome enough in my eyes that I had to get up and retrieve my hat.

While I was lying there in a near stupor I decided that I was going to have a super lazy day and hike the half mile down to Beauty Spot Gap, hang my hammock in some nice sunny place, and spend my afternoon lazing in the hammock reading "Cannery Row." Alas, the best laid plans and all that. When I got dowsn to the Gap I saw that the spring and camping area was directly next to a road. Camping next to a road is bad policy in general, and especially on a Friday night, so I switched to Plan B and hiked the six or so miles on to here; Cherry Gap Shelter.

I dealt with the homesickness pretty well and it didn't take over my day, but it does worry me. This is the thing that I think is most likely to cause me to abandon my hike, and the hike really is important to me (though I am not sure exactly why), so I don't want that to happen.

I imagine this separation is even harder on Jodi than it is on me. She is going to work every day and coming home to an empty house every night. I at least am off on some sort of pseudo-adventure, and experiencing a new place every day.

While I was hiking today I was thinking how great it would be if my car was parked at the end of the dasy and I could hop in and drive home and take a shower, then eat dinner with Jodi, sit on the couch with her leaning against me watching an episode of Deadwood, then go to bed and sleep with her in my arms. Instead, I ate some instant potatoe with slices of summer sausage in it, and will sleep in my hammock all alone.

There is a hostel a few miles north of here and some southbound hikers told me they stopped there at lunch time today and the woman that runs the hostel made sandwiches and burgers and such for them. That sounds like a great idea and I think it is highly likely I will stop there tomorrow. A big greasy cheeseburger sure sounds more appetizing than a tortilla with Nutella, doesn't it?

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

No Business Knob Shelter to Erwin, TN

Thursday, 4/16

AT Miles = b6.3 / 339.9
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 6.3 / 355.1

Shoot! Technology is not being my friend today. I had typed up an entry for today and when sending it my phone reset and I lost the whole thing. I am not patient enough to do it all over again.

I got into town today, and spent most of the day walking all over town doing my town chores. Because of issues with computers both at the library and here at the motel, I have not been able to upload my photos.

The weather turned nice and sunny today, and promises to hold that pattern for a few days, so I am looking forward to getting back on the trail tomorrow.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Hogback Ridge Shelter to No Business Knob Shelter

Wednesday, 4/15

AT Miles = 20.7 / 333.6
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 20.7 / 348.8

I had a terrible night last night. It was cold and damp and windy, and
I spent most of the night lying in my sleeping bag just on the wrong
side of the cold/warm line. I changed into dry socks before going to
bed, and by morning the dry socks were actually damp from all the
dampness in my sleeping bag.

When I got up this morning I was tired, cold, and wet, and tired of
being tired, cold, and wet. The temperature was hovering just around
freezing, and by the time I had packed all of my gear my hands were
numb with cold. I struggled through heating water and making oatmeal
for breakfast, then took off all of my supposedly warm clothes, put on
my already wet rain/wind jacket, and hit the trail. I hiked furiously
to try to generate some heat, and in about half an hour I could feel
my hands finally starting to warm up. Another half hour and the
thermostat finally opened; I felt the warmth flooding my fingers and
toes. Whew!

It was another day of hiking in the cloud, with visibility just a
couple of dozen feet. The day's goal was No Business Knob Shelter, 20
miles away, but I had this plan hatching in my warmth seeking brain
that if I could pull off a 27 mile day I could gorge myself on bacon
cheeseburgers at the Sonic in Erwin, and sleep in a warm, dry, motel
room. I kind of pushed that idea to the back of my mind and
concentrated on goal number one, the ten miles to Bald Mountain
Shelter. I climbed a lot this morning, eventually making it to the
summit of Bald Mountain. I'll have to take it on faith that Bald
Mountain is bald. I couldn't see anything when I was up there. The
wind blew, the fog engulfed me, and it was cold enough that the fog
actually condensed and froze on my glasses so that my visibility was
even further reduced. All I could see was the rut worn by previous
hikers in the grass of the bald, and every minute or so I would pass a
post with a white blaze on it, confirming that I hadn't wandered off
the trail.

I finally reached Bald Mountain Shelter at 12:30; four hours after I
started hiking. I sat there for about half an hour eating my lunch and
drinking water. My Nutella was frozen so that I couldn't even get it
out of the jar with my spoon, so I ate a couple of English Muffins
with nothing on them and some handfuls of GORP. By the end of the 30
minutes I sat there I was bitterly cold again, so I set off hiking
fast once again to generate some heat.

The terrain after lunch was a bit more downhill than up, but much of
the downhill was slick with mud so I couldn't make very good time on
it. I thought a lot about it and decided that if I could make it to No
Business Knob Shelter by 4:30, then I would have enough time left to
make it the further 7 miles to the road into Erwin. Now I just put my
head down and hiked as hard as I could. Around 3:00pm I was thinking
that I was doing great and should have had about 3 miles left, when I
came out on a road, crossed the road back into the woods, and was
confronted with a sign declaring that No Business Knob Shelter was 4.6
miles away. Sigh.

Still, I pushed as hard as I could in the hope that I could somehow
get there by 4:30. 4:30 came and went and no shelter, and around 4:50
I finally made it up the last little rise and arrived at the shelter.
Not only was I out of time to go any further, but I had to admit that
I was out of gas, and there was no way I could hike another 7 miles
today.

The shelter was already full with hikers that had come from the last
shelter 10 miles back. At 5:00pm they were all already snuggled down
in their sleeping bags. I set up my hammock out in back of the
shelter, and as more hikers came in everyone found the best site they
could and pitched their tents.

A bit of a disappointing day, but all things in balance I think I
should be reasonably comfortable tonight. We are down lower then last
night and while it is still overcast it is not foggy here so I should
stay drier overnight. From here it is only 6.9 miles to Erwin. I could
stay at the hostel right next to the AT, but I think I ma going to try
to get into town and get a room at the Super 8. Then I'll go downtown
and get that bacon cheeseburger at Sonic, go to the library to upload
my photos, walk down to the supermarket, then to the post office to
pick up my bounce box.

This is the third day of wet weather, but the sun is supposed to show
itself tomorrow. Hopefully it will stay sunny for a couple of days and
I can get out of town on Friday with the sun in my face. That would be
nice.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Jerry Cabin Shelter to Hogback Ridge Shelter

Tuesday, 4/14

AT Miles = 14.7 / 312.9
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 14.7 / 328.1

The wind died down last night, but the fog rolled in heavy and the saturated air blowing through my hammock made everything damp. I even forgot to change my socks before going to bed and I told myself the damp socks would dry from my body heat in the sleeping bag but it never happened.

It rained for a while this morning, then while I was stopped for lunch the sun almost showed itself. Later in the afternoon there was some more heavy rain, and by the time I arrived here at the shelter the fog had rolled in. I guess it's another damp night!

A couple of miles into today's hike I reached the 300 mile mark, at the summit of Big Butt Mountain. There is a spring near the summit, but I didn't think drinking the water that came out of Big Butt was very appetizing.

Not a whole lot to write tonight. It seemed like a super long 14 miles and I thought maybe I hadn't eaten right and was overly tired, but other hikers have said the same thing so I guess it was just the tough climbs this afternoon.

I am thinking of knocking off 20 miles tomorrow, which would leave me with about 6 miles into Erwin on Thursday. That should get me into town early enough to do all my town chore without having to stay two nights. We'll have to wait and see how that works out.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Spring Mountain Shelter to Jerry Cabin Shelter

Monday, 4/13

AT Miles = 15.4 / 298.2
Other Miles = 0.3 / 15.2
Total Miles = 15.7 / 313.4

POWER

Wow! The wind increased all night and about 5:30 this morning I woke up to the hammock bouncing up and down. It had been dead calm when I set up the hammock in the afternoon, but now I was on top of the ridge with the hammock set up broadside to a gale. The windward side of the tarp was actinbg like a sail and catching lots of wind, deflecting it downward toward the ground. Since the tarp is above the hammock, it was actually pushing the hammock down, and when strong gusts hit I could feel my butt hitting the ground. Meanwhile, the leeward side of the tarp was luffing loudly. I was afraid that either the tarp would fail and tear under the strain, or the peg anchoring the tarp would let go and then the tarp woiulkkd get torn to shreds in the wind. When it was just light enopugh to see about 6:30, I got up and packed up my gear, made breakfast, and was walking by 7:30.

When I got to the road crossinbg of NC 208, in Allen Gap, there was a sign for trail magic at a nearby house. I hesitated for a moment, then decided to go for it. When I got to the house the two couples I have been hiking with were there, and I was invited in by Hercules and Fal, who thru-hiked in '99. They served first a huge breakfast plate of Belgian waffles, bacon and eggs and tea, then immediately followed it with a lunch plate of corn chowder and a burrito. I topped it all off with a dessert of cherry pound cake with ice cream. In between courses I snacked on a half dozen slices of coffee cake and drank two pots of tea.

At the end of the meal their ulterior motive was revealed when they discussed the religious faith and offered a selection of books, b ut they weren't pushy about it and I didn't find it offensive.

After that wonderful meal it was back on the trail and the wind was still picking up! I wish I had a tape recorder so I could have taped the roar of the wind coming up and over the ridge the trail is on. At one point I came to a trail sign labelled "Exposed Ridge Trail", and below it, pointing another way, "Bad Weather Trail." I chose the exposed ridge, and it was quite an experience. Occasionally a bit frightening, but mostly wildly exhiliarating. What a day! So much power loose in the atmosphere here today. Some may need a god to find power, but the wind is enough for me.

The wind is still roaring and the fog has rolled in. I found a spot that is more or less sheltered behind some rhododendron to hang my hammock, and I hope tonight is a bit more restful than last night.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Hot Springs to Spring Mountain Shelter

Sunday, 4/12

AT Miles = 11.0 / 282.8
Other Miles = 0.2 / 14.9
Total Miles = 11.2 / 297.7

EASTER CANDY

Most of the crew of hikers I have been with lately, left Hot Springs this morning. We had a nice breakfast at Elmer's, then headed through town, aqcross the French Broad River on the road bridge, hopped over the guard rail and headsed out along the river. It was a perfect Easter Sunday; warm and sunny and calm. The trail climbed steeply up the hill and gave us some great views back to Hot Springs nestled in its valley. A few miles into the hike the trail crossed a forest service road and there were three women wearing rabbit ears on their heads giving apples and Easter candy to all the hikers.

I had only 11 milkes to cover today so took it easy and enjoyed the fine weather. I took the side trail to the Rich Mountain Fire tower and a few minutes later Sir Richard showed up and we spent at least an hour up on the tower enjoying the views, eating lunch, and chatting about this and that.

We hiked the rest of the afternoon together and arrived at Spring Mountain Shelter in mid-[afternoon. The shelter is an old one and was not at all inviting, but there was a nice spot up on the ridge where Sir Richard set up his tent and I hung my hammock.

After dinner we spent some time chatting with some locals that were there camping for the weekend, and we shared their campfire.

A really nice, relaxing day.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

A Lazy Reading Day

I bought a copy of Abbey's "Down The River" at the outfitter's this morning, and have spent a good part of the day sprawled out on my bed reading it. It's been a long time since I've read any Abbey -- the bastard went and died, and therefore isn't writing any new books -- and it is good to hear his voice again.

I really wanted to re-read "The Monkeywrench Gang", but the edition they had was too big and heavy to justify carrying in my pack.

I will now actually be carrying two books, in sharp violation of all principles of ultralight hiking, as I am also reading a copy of Steinbeck's "Cannery Row." Somehow I managed to get through high school without ever reading it.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Deer Park Mountain Shelter to Hot Springs, NC

Friday, 4/10 and Saturday, 4/11

AT Miles = 3.2 / 271.8
Other Miles = 0 / 14.7
Total Miles = 3.2 / 286.5

Thursday evening was wonderful; warm, calm, and relaxing. There were 5 or 6 of us sleeping in or camped around the shelter, and we passed a relaxing evening cooking, eating, and chatting around a small campfire.

The forecast called for thunder and lightning storms on Friday morning and when I went to bed I expected to wake up to rain, but when I woke up on Friday morning the sky was clear and the temps had remained mild all night.

I wasted no time in packing my gear and heating water for a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal. The walk down into Hot Springs was lovely and passed quickly, and I and Sir Richard arrived at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn a few minutes before 9:00. Elmer put our names on the waiting list and told us to come back at 11:00 to see if we would get a room or not, then we went across the street to the diner and had a huge breakfast. A few minutes after we entered the diner the sjky exploded in a huge lightning storm.

I barely managed to finish my breakfast, then we killed some time until it was time to head back to Elmer's. For a bit it looked like there wouldn't be enough vacancies for us to get in, but a couple of other hikers who were on the list ahead of us decided on other plans so that opened up enough slots for everyone on the list to get in.

Elmer's is an amazing place. It is one of the oldest houses in Hot Springs, and in most places it would be an expensive B&B, but Elnmer likes hikers and for long-distance hikers he charges only $20 per night. He also offers a 4 or 5 course home-made gourmet vegetarian dinner for $10. I opted for the dinner last night and it was right up there with many of the best meals I've had. Dinner lasted well over two hours accompanied by much conversation, and when I finally pushed back from the table I'm afraid I had overstuffed myself.

It is about noon on Saturday as I write this. I slept great last night and am spending a very lazy day today. I repacked my bounce box and sent it off to Erwin, TN (my next town stop) at the post office this morning, then made a list of the few food items I still needed for the next 5-dasy leg, and went shopping at the Dollar Generasl, the Hillbilly Grocery, and Bluff Mountain Outfitters. I also bought a new line and stuff/throw sack to replace the bear-bagging line I lost tangled in the trees way back at Brown Fork Gap.

My big disappointment here is the the library is closed for the holiday weekend and the only public internet access is one computer at the outfitters. There is a constant line of hikers waiting to use that computer so I couldn't take the time to upload my photos. That process usually takes an hour to an hour and a half. It goes something like this:

- I log onto the Windoiws Home Server (WHS) computer at home via Internet Explorer, then create a new subdirectory in the Photos shared folder to whicvh I upload the photos on the camera's SD card using an SD to USB adapter.

- Once the photos are uploaded, which can take a while over a slow internet connection, I connect to my web server box via Remote Desktop Connection through the WHS box.

- I have Picasa photo editing software installed on the web server and configured to reference the Photo folder on the WHS box, and I use this to crop, rotate, and otherwise prepare the photos for publishing.

- Once I've finished with Picasa I copy the edited photos from the folkder on the WHS box to a temporary folder on the web server.

- Finally, I start a browser session on the local computer I am working from, log into the photo gallery software on my web server, create a new gallery for the new photos, and upload them from the server directory I previously copied the edited photos into.

- All that's left now is to clean up. I delete the photos from the temporary directory on the web server. I also delete the photos from the SD card before putting it back into the camera. Then I create a blog entry to let you all know the new photos are available for viewing.

So, that's what I wanted to do thoday, but I am not going to be able to. Hopefully I will get ample internet access when I get to Erwin, probably on Thursday.

I did manage to log on to the network at home long enough to get the web server running again, since it had died. That happens sometimes, for no explicable reason. I also logged intoJodi's computer and tried to troubleshoot some problems she's been having with Firefox crashing on her, with only minimal success.

Jodi is actually flying to Memphis today for work. We'll actually be in the same state for much of this week, though still pretty far apart and we won't be able to see each other. :-(

In addition to folod I picked up a copy of Abbey's "Down The River" while I was at the outfitter's this morning, and I'll enjoy reading that in the evenings while hanging in my hammock. Oh, I sent my Thermarest forward in my bolunce box, so I am back to being dedicated to the hammock every night.

Here's hoping everybody has a pleasant weekend, and Happy Easter to those that celebrate it.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Roaring Fork Shgelter to Deer Park Mountain Sheltrer

Thursday, 4/9

AT Miles = 14.8 / 268.6
Other Miles = 0.5 / 14.7
Total Miles = 15.3 / 283.3

Another great day! It was cold as I left camp this morning but it warmed up quickly and by mid-morning I was down to shorts and a T-Shirt. Up high there is still plenty of snow on the ground and being slushy it made the footing difficult, but just before lunch time I lost a lot of altitude and suddenly was back into spring. The trail was dry and the forest had that dry, dusty feel in the nose that comes in late spring. I stopped for lunch where the trail crossed an old road that was grassy and warm and dry. After lunch it was a gorgeous, comfortable walk for a few more miles until arriving here atg the shelter. It is situated on a little knoll covered with mostly evergreens. The two couples in our little hiking group have pushed on into town, and there are five of us here for the night. It is a pleasant, warm night and we are sitting around the campfire while the conversation roams far and wide.

We are only 3.2 miles from Hot Springs, where the trail goes right down the main street through town. I intend to stay there for two nights, and head out of town on Sunday morning. It's been almost two weeks since my last day off and I really need a rest. The people I am hiking with are almost all half my age, and I don't recover quite as quickly as they do!

Sweet dreams to all...

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Standing Bear Farm to Roaring Fork Shelter

Wednesday, 4/8

AT Miles = 15.4 / 253.8
Other Miles = 0.4 / 14.2
Total Miles = 15.8 / 268.0

Glory! What a fantastic day!

After spending the last few days in close company with the group I've been hiking with -- close quarters because of all the snow and wind and cold, while we watched out for each other -- and them the close quarters in the hostel last night, I've been feelinbg a bit overwhelmed with human company and in need of some personal space. When I woke up this morning I settled for a cold breakfast and packed quickly and headed back out onto the trail.

It was a glorious day; sharply cold, deep blue sky, sunshine, snow on the ground. The kind of day to make you feel good to be alive.

I ended up spending the whole day hiking alone, and it was just what the doctor ordered. The high point of the day, literally, was Max Patch. It was so windy up on the bald top of Max Patch that I literally had trouble walking in a straight line.

Once I reached the shelter for the night, the other hikers I've been with all showed up and we had our usual pleasant evening of food porn and other conversations.

I thionk this was the best day I've had on the trail so far!

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Milestones and Random Thoughts

So, a couple days ago I passed the 200 mile mark, and the day after
that I passed the 10% mark (2178 * 10% = 217.8). Ten percent. It
doesn't seem like much, does it? It is still much too daunting to
think about the whole 2178.3 miles as a whole. I concentrate on much
more immediate goals. For example, my current goal is the 33 or so
miles from here to Hot Springs. Now that is something I can deal with
on a daily basis.

There is a fair amount of discussion on the trail about how to hike
the trail. Not the mechanics of hiking, but rather the attitude with
which one does his or her hike. The main tension seems to be between
relaxing and enjoying the hike for itself, vs focusing on covering the
entire distance, and thus getting consumed by reaching goals. I've
thought about this quite a bit, both before my hike started and
especially while hiking. I think both are necessary. Certainly, I want
to enjoy the hiking and the views and the people I meet. But there is
also a physical challenge involved in this, and to ignore that would,
for me, bne just as wrong as focusing on it too intensely. A large
part of my goal in doing this is IS simply to see if I can walk 2000
miles in six months or so.

Well, enough musings for this morning. It's a beautiful, clear
morning, though a bit cold. I've got to get my gear packed and get
back out there on the trail. I expect I'll upload photos when I get to
Hot Springs, so you can expect them Friday or Saturday.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Cosby Knob Shelter to Standing Bear Farm Hostel

Tuesday, 4/7

AT Miles = 10.4 / 238.4
Other Miles = 0.1 / 13.7
Total Miles = 10.5 /252.2

It had snowed all night and there was about 5" or 6" of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing. It was gorgeous out, but cold. As you can maybe imagine, 17 people trying to cook breakfast and pack up their gear all inside a trail shelter would be utter chaos. We thought we would just stay on our sleeping bags and wait while the others got their stuff together and left, but it soon became apparent they would be going nowhere very soon, as they all seemed to be fgussing about with coffee and putzing around with their gear. So finally I got up and retrieved all of our food bags from the bear cables, and we all ate a quick breakfast of whatever cold foods we had, packed up our gear, and headed out for a hopefully quick 10 mile hike down to the hostel.

It was a beautiful day to hike through the snow. Yup. Spring-time in the Smokies! We arrived here at the hostel around 1:00pm or so. It is a rather unique place. We are all sitting in the bunkhoused arrayeds around the wood stove. Everything here is on the homor system. You pick up an envelope and write down everything you take or use; $15 for a bunk. $10 if you get a pizza, $0.75 for a sodas, and on and on. When you leave you put your money in the envelope and drop it in a box.

Tomorrow we will head out again. The plan is to hike most of the way to Hot Spring over the next two days, camp about 3 miles outside of town on Thursday night, then make it into town early on Friday morning, in time for breakfast in the morning. The trail actually goesd right through toen. I plan to take a zero day there, so will get a room for Friday and Saturday nights, then head back out on Sunday.

Rigth now it is still snolwing, but the weather is supposed to moderate and it should be reasonably warm and drier the next few days.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Icewater Spring Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter

Monday, 4/6

AT Miles = 20.3 / 228
Other Miles = 0 / 13.7
Total Miles = 20.3 / 241.7

In the morning the rain had stopped, but the wind was still whipping and the temperature was falling. I set out from the shelter with a group of six other hikers with the aim of reaching Tricorner Knob Shelter about 12 and a half miles away. About 10:00 it started snowing, and the temp continued to drop making it very cold walking. We all pushed pretty hard and were at Tricorner Knob about 2:00. After contemplating sitting around in the shelter getting colder and colder all afternoon, we all decided to push on and make the miles to Cosby Knob Shelter. The rest of the day was mostly a march through the blowing snow, and by 5:00pm we all had finished the 20 miles to the shelter. There were already 9 or 10 people at the shelter, which has a capacity of 12. Luckily for us everybody was willing to scrunch together and we managed to fit everybody in by setting up the sleeping pads right next to each other. It snowed all day and was still snowing when we all climbed up into our bunks. I thi
nk we entertained all the weekenders by fantasizing about all the different foods we will get when we finally make it to Hot Springs, probably around Friday.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Silers Bald Shelter to Icewater Spring Shelter

Sunday, 4/5

AT Miles = 15.5 / 205.7
Other Miles = 0.3 / 13.7
Total Miles = 15.8 / 221.4

Food Fantasies!

Today was a beautiful day. Soon after leaving in the morning I made it to the summit of Clingmans Dome. There is a road to the summit and an observation tower, and being Sunday there were lots of tourists about. After leaving Clingmans it was a rather long but pleasant hike down to Newfound Gap. All I really remember about the day was having long never-ending food fantasies. When I reached Newfound Gap I hung out at the parking area and watched the tourists as they watched me. An hour or so later a bunch of other hikers arrived and we spent some time lamenting the lack of a cheeseburger stand there, and discussed the possibility of getting a ride into Gatlinburg to gorge on fast food then getting a ride back to the trail. Instead, we eventually just saddled up and hiked the remaining 3 miles into Icewater Springs Shelter.

It was still gorgeous weather when we arrived, and I went down to the spring and washed up, then stuck some of my wet laundry out to dry in the sun. An hour or so later the clouds started to roll in, and the wind started to pick up.

Some time after we went to bed the wind picked up another notch, and the rain started. I've never experienced rain like this before. It came down so hard and the wind was so strong that the shelter asctually shook, even though it was made of stone.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Russell Field Shelter to Silers Bald Shelter

Saturday, 4/4

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JODI!

AT Miles = 14.7 / 192.2
Other Miles = 0 / 13.4
Total Miles = 14.7 / 205.6

It was still windy and cold this morning, but all the clouds had blown out and the sky was crystal clear. I ate a quick breakfast of cold cereal, packed up my gear, took off all my nice warm clothes, and headed up the trail. It was a gorgeous morning. The temp was just a bit below freezing and I could see a big puff of frost with every breath. Last night's fog had frozen to the trees and the branches sparkled in the early morning sunlight.

After all the rain and fog lately, it was absolutely glorious to look out and see the grand views. A bunch if us reached Rocky Top about the same time and hung out for a good hour just enjolying the view.

My "hiker appetite" really hit me today and I have been craving food all the time. I just finished eating dinner and I am hungry enough to do it all over again at least twice. The same thing is happening to other hikers and we spend great amounts of time talking about food.

The terrain here is steeper and the climbs longer than the terrain further south, and it takes me longer to coiver distances. I didn't get into the shelter tonight until almost 5:00, making a 9 hour "work day" today. It warmed up nicely in the afternoon so once into the shelter I was able to wash up and I feel much cleaner. Lots of hikers don't bother until the hit town, but it makes me a lot more comfortable at night.

Tomorrow morning we'll climb to the top of Clingmans Dome, at 6643' the highest point on the entire Appalachian Trail. It's all downhill from there!

We have a full house here tonight, with the shelter full and several tents and hammocks outside.

Tomorrow's weather should be good, the the rain comes in tomorrow night and Monday and Tuesday are supposed ti be very cold, with highs in the 30s and lows in the teens. Sir Richard, a British hiker, is hoping to see snow. I'm just hoping to stay reasonably comfortable.
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Fontana Dam to Russell Field Shelter

Friday, 4/3

AT Miles = 13.8 / 177.5
Other Miles = 0 / 13.4
Total Miles = 13.8 / 190.9

When I went to bed last night I had pretty much decided to take a zero at Fontana Dam, but apparently sometime while I was sleepibg I decided not to. I woke up about 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep because my mind was full of all the things I still had to do before I would be ready to head out. So, I got up and washed out my bandanas (I have three, one for washing my body, one for washing my dishes, and one I keep in my pocket all day for wiping away sweat, dirt, etc.), I moved the socks I had washed last night, but were still wet, so that they were sitting on the heater so they would dry fast. I finished up those ands a bunch iof oither little chores, then at 6:00am I headed up to the main lodge and used the public computer to upload my photos so you all could enjoy them. When the restaurant opened at 7:30, I had a great breakfast, then headed back to my room and finished up my bounce box, grabbed my pack and trekking poles, took one last look around the room to ma
ke sure I hadn't left anything, then headed up to check out and to get a shuttle bacxk to the trail.

It was heavily overcast and very windy, but it wasn't raining and I actually got a few photos of the dam as I walked across. Once across the dam I walked into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That was exciting.

The trail climbed steeply and it quickly got colder and wetter and cloudier. It seemd to take forever to get anywhere. Finally I arrived at the shelter and it was one of the old fashioned ones with the chain-link fence across the front and a gate that could be latched at night when everybody is in for the night.

It was wickedly cold with the wind blowing. I had my doubts that the water for dinner would ever boil on my wimpy little alcohol stove, but eventually it did. I managed to stay awake for a decent interval after supper, standing around in the shelter talking with other hikers, then crawled into my nice warm sleeping bag around 8:00 as the sun went down.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com