Virginia is for Lovers...

4/12/08 - What the heck is that supposed to mean?! Virginia is for Lovers... certainly not lovers of the Appalachian Trail because Amos has been dreading this stretch of trail for a long long time. Anyway, welcome to VA! Where the state tree is the state flower and the state beverage is... milk (which I hear is a crucial ingredient in the official snack of the AT)!

• Yep! Kicked it into high gear after starting late and enjoying an hour-long lunch with Snoopy. With no intentions of spending another cold and rainy day on the trail they made the decision to go "all the way" around 4:30 pm & pushed onward a total of 26 miles to Damascus!!
• Knees are still sore - especially after today. BIG blister on big toe cropped up sometime during the big 2-6. Shins are doing just fine.
• The Place - a hostel belonging to the Damascus First United Methodist Church will be home sweet (warm & dry) home for the next few days.

4/13/08 - With a label like "The Friendliest Town on the Trail" who wouldn't want to spend a day mingling with the locals?!

• With a few inches of wet snow expected, Hearts took a zero day - lounging, coffee, church, lunch, beer, laundry, final round of the Masters, more beer, few rounds of cards, probably more beer, lights out.

Led astray...

4/11/08 - Fell asleep to a curious raccoon rummaging through garbage around camp last night... for about an hour.

• 22 miles & downright HOT - open to significant exposure since there are no leaves on the trees yet.
• Seriously considered taking a dip in Watauga Lake but thought better of it knowing that the water is still so cold.
• That is until scaling the next big hill... then nausea from the heat set in & he wished he'd gone avantouinti. (May have been suffering a mild case of heat stroke.)
• Lost for the 1st time - mile or 2 detour after misplacing the white blaze!
• Arrived at Iron Mountain Shelter fairly late. Everyone was asleep when he got there, so in an effort to let sleeping hikers lie, Hearts foraged through his dry provisions. Nothing fills a man up quite like dried nuts & berries after a long day on the trail...

Back in the saddle...

4/10/08 - If you're dying to know how you've been faring on the polls lately, let me run thru the results... cran/grape & mini straw (go figure - I voted beer), Naked Ron, AND if you said 4 days of boating (and boy did they boat! Everything but the kitchen sink... Tallulah, Nantahala Cascades, Cheoah, Yellow Creek [20 footer!], Wilsons Creek [4x in one day!], Little River in the Smokys, you name it!) you win the Kewpie doll! (I completely lost track of how many Mexican restaurants they hit... suffice it to say 'a lot!')

• Managed to snag a ride back to Kincora Hostel with Jesse to clean-up & catch-up on laundry. Then jumped right back in to AT around 6:30 (pm).
• 2 mi to Laurel Fork Shelter & good to be back! Except it's not. It's hard to get back out there after drying out, warming up, and spending some good quality time with the boys.
• (It's supposed to rain again tomorrow... then maybe snow Monday??)

Up up and away...

4/3/08 - Crazy guy DID ride his Harley & lawnmower around this morning just as crazy lady predicted... at 5 am!! Lots of benchmarks today:

• Climbed Roan Mountain which rose over 3,000 ft in a span of only 3 mi!
• Last time over 6,000 ft until Mt. Washington in New Hampshire - good news.
• Less than 1800 mi to go!
• Last day walking the line between NC & TN and last night in North Carolina altogether!
• Day was described as such: Cold WIND WIND WIND WIND cold & rain... and then some more rain wind & cold. All in all not much fun.
• 14 AT mi to Overmountain Shelter - really cold & desperate to get warm under his quilt.

April showers...

4/2/08 - Bring soggy hikers - 6 days in a row with rain! Can't a guy catch a break!??

• Don't count on it. It's supposed to rain Thurs, Fri & Sat, too...
• Long day - 20 AT mi (+1 extra mile down an old forestry road). Especially since he & his new bunkmates (Half-brew & his dog, Spock & Twiggy) stayed up till midnight the night before giving each other relationship advice. Twiggy's a psych major who wants to be a marriage counselor someday - free help!
• Hiked with Half-brew part of the day & had lunch with him (& his dog) on top of Beauty Spot. It was a grassy knob flooded with sunshine - very peaceful.
• Climbed up Unaka Mtn. & then back down.
• Left shin started hurting really badly today - maybe the early onset of shin splints... Also, legs are getting more & more tired earlier & earlier in the day. Knees are: "Predictably sore. It's the new stuff I don't like" - Amos said.
• Staying at the Greasy Creek Friendly - owner seemed to be a peculiar elderly woman (with lots of cats...) who forced Amos wash his hands 3x in the span of 2 hours and has grand plans of making her own thru-hiker reality tv show! (Lyn - I'll get you her digits!) She mentioned having or wanting to use a web cam, too... Someone get the Google search started for any raw footage that might be out there of Amos brushing his teeth...
• Something to look forward to: The equally eccentric hostel owner claims her neighbor is "schizo" & HATES hikers! Apparently he owns a few vicious dogs & revves his Harley on his way to get his morning paper & after breakfast he rides his lawnmower around & beats on the hood to wake them up!! Should be an interesting rise & shine...

Leave it to Hearts...

4/1/08 - Spent a good part of the day in Erwin or getting to Erwin...

• Hiked around 6 mi to a hostel where $3 was spent on a much needed load of laundry & an additional $3 was spent on an even more essential shower.
• Crossed 3rd kayak-able river he didn't get to run... poor Hearts. (No need to be blue: looks like Scot will be down to get him on the 9th!)
• The hostel let him borrow a bike (for free!) to cruise into town.
• Hit up the grocery store, post office & library. Alright, alright - of course he went the local Mexican restaurant... Scarfed down a big order of veggie fajitas. SO FULL he couldn't walk... but managed to find room for a pint of ice cream!! (surprisingly NOT Ben or Jerry)
• Got lost in Erwin on his way out of town...
• Biked a total of 10 mi to and from Erwin. Rode back with a grocery bag on each handlebar : )
• Hiked remaining 4.5 mi to Curley Maple Gap Shelter. Hanging out with Half-Brew (who just got bit by a mouse) & his dog.

I fail to see the humor in that situation, Doctor...

3/31/08 - Climbed 2 mountains - Big Bald & Little Bald (I'm gonna let this one slide... it's too easy) - both had 360 degree views of... fog. But once he descended, he found himself in a land of babbling brooks and chirping birds! How serene.

• So, his hellacious morning was followed by a fairly enjoyable afternoon.
• April Fools! Well almost. Found an empty box labeled "Trail Magic" - which must have been accidentally leftover & forgotten from last year.
• New friends are a couple named Spock & Twiggy - may be hitchhiking in to Erwin with them tomorrow.
• Says he mentally wants to hike more miles but his body seems to be increasingly disagreeable to the notion... his legs have been feeling more & more tired at the end of the day.
• 17.5 mi again - almost caught up to The General but it started to rain so decided to stay at No Business Shelter instead.

Sip & slide...

3/28/08 - Goal was to hike 8 mi to Hot Springs & relax... maybe visit the springs...

• Made it there by noon.
• Spent 4 hours resupplying, playing on the Internet & eating lunch. Ate & drank 2 beers with a old friend he met at the beginning of the AT.
• Once his drinking buddy left (to take a week off & visit home), he quickly became bored & decided to keep on keepin' on...
• In haste to make it the additional 10 mi to the next shelter - forgot to restock his water supply (bad because he was SUPER thirsty from the two pints - as close to drunk-hiking as he's come all trip) & had to bum drinking water off a family on the trail!! (I feel like mooching food & water off of families has become so commonplace it should become its own blog label...)
• Managed to find his own water at the next gap.
• Got to Spring Mountain Shelter (which was bursting at the seems with people) at dark. VERY nice to be around fellow hikers after not seeing anyone for the last 2 days!
• Pitched tarp outside as it started to rain. Must have been a quick pitch (some might say haphazard) cause he wound up sliding a few feet down hill while he slept & the bottom half of him got soaked!

3/29/08 - Woke up wet and to another rainy day ahead.

• Hiked down to Allen Gap & came across a sign that said "Trail Magic to the Right!" - OF COURSE he followed it & it led him to a Christian couple (also former thru-hikers) who had opened up their kitchen to serve the masses: waffles, stew, and an assortment of deserts (banana splits, brownie-fudge sundaes, and cherry pie a la mode)! Hearts went for the chocolate : )
• Here's the twist: Before he made that rather tasty right-hand turn, a man from the Hemlock Hollow Hostel tried to dissuade him from going by spouting something like, "You don't know what's in that food." Amos warned the trail angels of the hostel-owner's attack & a BIG confrontation of the two groups ensued with Amos smack-dab in the middle! I guess the hostel-owner thought the trail angels were killing his business & Amos wound-up arguing in favor of the Christian couple and their trail magic... awkward!
• Back to the trail & up up up 5 mi to the top o' the hill where he encountered a youth group from KY passing out scripture-wrapped Snickers!! Amos took 8 - 8 Snickers.
• I don't know about you but to me this trip seems like it's been inordinately laced with goodies. In my mind walking the AT is like playing a life-sized game of Candyland. This morning, he drew the purple card & moved ahead 5 spaces to hang-out with Gloppy the Chocolate Monster... perhaps tomorrow he'll meet Gramma Nut or The Gingerbread People... yeah, hands-off Princess Lolly the skinny Viking with the sweet-tooth's mine!
• 15 and a half miles today.
• Jerry Cabin was full. One fellow hiker took up 2 spots with his dog so Hearts had to pitch the tarp... again.
• Unusual occurrences: some guy who likes to hike at night wound up walking in circles around the camp in search of a missing food bag - he got lost in the fog - & a frog jumped on Amos' face!

3/30/08 - Wet. Cloudy. Cold. Windy.

• The dense fog that shrouded the mountains all morning lifted part-way through the day, but EVERYTHING he has is wet. Go figure, the fog tends to seep in the cracks & crevices unlike a more reliable rain.
• Devised a way to dry his sleeping bag by wearing it like a cape the latter portion of the day. (It's almost dry!) Who wouldn't kill to stumble across Superhearts on the trail!!?
• 17.5 mi. Camping about a mile and a half past I-26. In hot pursuit of The General - maybe 2 or 3 miles behind him?! Not bad for taking almost a week off!

Not so cool to be all alone...

3/27/08 - Hiked the 1st mile with Isaac (late start - around 3:30 pm) to the top of Max Patch Mtn. One of his favorite places on the whole AT! Said he had spectacular 360 degree view & could see into his past (Great Smokys) present (da Patch) & future (Hot Springs tomorrow)!

• I think it was actually one of his favorite spots because he had Isaac there with him... & beer (which he made poor Isaac carry - with a broken toe!!)
• Saw a few people on the way back down the mtn. & no one else ALL DAY! Even passed 2 shelters around dinnertime & not a soul!
• Heightened senses from being alone all day - heard dogs barking in the distance. Which was weird because he's in a national park.
• Stopped for water 1/2 way down a mountain & 2 wild (WILD) dogs cut across the trail feverishly chasing after a deer. 2nd dog with hair-on-end stopped & stared at him for a second & Amos thought he was going to have to use his trekking pole as a weapon!! Very, very odd. And definitely creepy being so alone.
• Hiked between 11-12 mi & set up camp just past Bluff Mtn.

Has become comfortably numb...

3/26/08 - A late start to the day but got to sleep-in in a warm bed & had a warm cup of joe in the morning. (Wow, warm is a farily new concept!)

• Surprise! Ran into Naked Ron (yeah... that's the name he went with) and his girlfriend(?) at the bridge near the Pigeon & AT.
• 13.5 miles of great weather - climbed up 2 mtns. - Snowbird & Harmon Den
• Isaac hiked along with again today & got lost in the woods somewhere along the way! My understanding is that they'll pick back up at the base of Max Patch Mtn. tomorrow morning & say their goodbyes at the top... : (
• Attack of the killer gnats - got his 1st dose of warm weather complete with all of the "perks" (by perks I think I mean "pests") that come with.
• Medical Report: New blister under toe - weird spot. All of the feeling he regained in his big toes by walking around in Crocs last week is gone - they're numb again... I have a sneaking suspicion they'll go numb every time he dons a pair of sneakers for the rest of his adult life. Knees are holding up good!

Praying for daylight...

3/25/08 - Woke up at 5 am and even Isaac couldn't wait to get out of bed so they could get up and hike. He didn't though... at least not right away... Amos served him up breakfast in bed!! (what a good brother - Brandi don't get any ideas!)

• Put on FROZEN gear (socks were stiff as a board!) & managed to eek out a few jumping jacks to warm-up.
• Beautiful blue skies w/ snowy peaks & green valleys - great views today made up for near zero visibility yesterday.
• Isaac talked to EVERYBODY they came across on the trail - maybe a full hour and a half worth of Isaac being good 'ol lovable Isaac!
• Lunch: (I should preface this by saying that they each have their own personal jar of peanut butter.) Organic dark chocolate and peanut butter sandwiches!
• Took a side trail to Mt. Cammerer - they could see all of Hartford & even Isaac's house!!
• Trail magic just as they came to the end - a cooler full of all that Little Debbie could possibly have to offer: donut sticks, zebra cakes, oatmeal creme pies, etc.
• 17.5 AT miles today & hiked an extra 1.5 mi to the Pigeon & had a friend (Mike) pick them up - they're nice & cozy and at Isaac's house tonight. (Maybe a good 40 degrees warmer in the valley than up at 6000 ft.)
• Isaac quote of the day: "1. Amos is WAY more bad-ass than me... 2. You had the most romantic 1st kiss ever." (he was serious - under a flipped Shredder on the Upper Yough was more idealistic than even I could dream up!)
• Hiking to Max Patch tomorrow - and then back to Isaac's tomorrow night with the promise of La Carreta's Mexican - veggie fajitas I presume. Civilization is sooo tempting... !

It's all downhill from here...

3/24/08 - Ok. So they weren't entirely prepared to head out yesterday, scrambled to find a ride today & BARELY made it on the mountain before the park rangers closed the road to Newfound Gap.

• Just in the nick of time - the rangers told them they were closing down the stretch of 441 that runs thru the Smokys as they were pulling into the parking lot at the top - due to snow, and threatened them with the prospect of 4-5 inches and temps in the single digits in the mountains tonight!
• Passed hikers he met at the Blueberry Patch Hiker Hostel during the day & didn't feel so bad about taking 6 days off... hiked 16 mi today.
• PLENTY of room in Tricorner Knob shelter - no one else was there! At least they'll have each other for warmth. I know for a FACT they're not above snuzzling with one another. Come to think of it - I don't think Isaac packed warm sleeping attire... just boxers...
• Forgot to mention - Clingman's Dome was the highest pt. on the whole AT at 6,643 ft - you know what that means... !

ouch...

[in reference to week III progress chart above - not the video below which is a small slice of Actionality on Saturday at Upper Big Creek, TN. Isaac in the Storm & Amos in the Nomad. Both little piggies were cracked & filled up with water on Upper Big Creek... down Lower Big Creek... and (we we wee) all the way back to Isaac's house on the Upper Pigeon - it was cold and pretty darn miserable by the end - every one's hands were numb. So then again I guess... ouch.]

Isaac.

Amos.

Isaac.

Amos.

Home is where the Hartford is...

3/17/08 - 14.5 mi to Double Spring Gap shelter. Caught 2 FANTASTIC 360 degree views back-to-back! One at Rocky Tops (which was ironically a big grassy peak w/ a small pile of rocks at the wee top) and the other at Thunderhead Mtn.

• The 1st and last 2 miles were BEAUTIFUL but the middle 12.5 were fairly uneventful.
• Some dad made his kid begrudgingly give Amos his chocolate covered pretzels (Amos of course gladly & quickly accepted)!
• REALLY windy, foggy, misty, cold so Hearts made a fire in the shelter.
  

3/18/08 - Started hiking around 5:30 am to catch the sunrise at Clingman's Dome - hiked in the dark & said it was one of the creepiest things he's ever done... especially cause his headlamp was near death the entire time - his back-up plan was light by cellphone...

• Trek up to Clingman's was EXTREMELY foggy & the clouds were "whipping past him at 80 mph"!!
• At Newfound Gap an "Ultra-Republican-Southerner" gave him snacks and a drink on the stipulation that Amos not vote for Obama.... (little did he know, Amos already voted for Obama, and I LOVE that Amos momentarily set aside his deep-seated, ultra-liberal political viewpoints for a lemonade)!
  
• I got there around 1ish & took Hearts & Spruce down to Gatlinsburg - my favorite part of the car ride was when Spruce learned Amos' real name!!
• Ate some mexican, napped at the base of the Smokys in the sun, drank $2 pints at Smoky Mountain Brewery with Isaac, and housed a pint of "Everything But The..." ice cream (Ben & Jerry of course).

3/19/08 - No miles... no miles for the next few days. Staying with Isaac in Hartford. The brother(s) will start hiking again on Easter (this Sunday). Knee needs a break. I need a break.

• Crab rangooon for breakfast, stopped to visit Isaac at work, went grocery shopping (took FOREVER), drank wine, ate peanut butter fudge (which wasn't "peanut-buttery enough" says the man who eats like 8 oz of straight-up peanut butter a day), played rummy (I lost royally, 545 to 355), tossed around football, ran Big Creek with Isaac, power outage, drank some more wine - good relaxing rainy day.
• Thrilled not to be soaked to the bone in the upper Smokys!
  

Hiking in the Smokys made dam near bearable...

3/15/08 - Another stormy day... Hiked 13 mi to Fontana Dam & stayed at the "Fontana Hilton" - the nicest shelter on the whole dam trail. (Brandi - don't get agitated about the missing 'n' - it's a play on words!)

• Hitchhiked into a nearby village with Ron. Stopped at the general store to resupply - he was shy 1 dinner and unwilling to live off of his oatmeal stockpile.
• BONUS: Laundromat open & they were able to dry their clothes! In true Hearts form, he housed a pint of ice cream while they waited.
• You know what's unbearable... no cell phone service when he's hiking along ridges through severe thunderstorms. The same low pressure system that spurred the EF2 tornado in downtown Atlanta the night before!

3/16/08 - Welcome to Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Started out around 60 degrees at the dam this morning but temps dropped drastically once he got into the mountains. Said most of the higher peaks in the Smokys look like they're capped with rime (a lesson in earth science - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rime_ice). Brrr.

• Grabbed a Mr. Pibb at the visitor center to wash down his cereal... bleah! Apparently, he's been craving sweets like nobody's business since he got on the trail.
• Hiked up Shuckstack Mtn. I only mention it because he LOVED saying "Shuckstack" and because on the way up he stopped to fill up his tank at a natural spring & looked 20 feet back down the mountain just as a HUGE BLACK BEAR crossed the trail!!! He tried to snap a picture & may have managed to get a slightly obscured shot as it was passing through some thick weeds!
• Unknowingly wandered into Tennessee & passed a sign that said he has less than 2000 mi to Katahdin!!
• Today's tally: 17 mi. Got the last spot at Spence Field shelter. It's filled to the brim w/ 20 people and an additional 10 more camping outside! TONS of people on the trail today! (Ron, Squire, Matthew, & Spruce are all there)