Tue. Apr. 5, Day 26, tent sight at mile 367.2, 15 miles, 6:20 hours, 2.38 mph, 367.2 hiked / 1,800.8 to go.

Another cold night, down to 20 d F last night. Guess warm weather isn't here yet.

 

I made it. I wasn't sure I was going to because of my feet. They were really hurting after 10 miles. I have decided my boots are the problem. My middle toes on my left foot are being mashed into the front of the boot. I am sure I am going to lose at least one toe nail. I definitely need a larger toe box. I have taped up the two middle toes and done nothing else. I am also going to wear only one pair of socks, my thinnest wool sock. I have also cut off the draw system they have on the boot and will tie them like a regular shoe lace. I was able to do that today and it helped.

 

Draw system

 

I am excited today as I got to camp early, 1500. That was my hope for the entire trip. I was able to get items done, like my boots and have time to blog before dark. It feels great.

 

I got some trail magic today. As I was walking a man coming the other way asked if I was going to Katahdin, the north ending point on the AT. I said yes. He reached in his pocket and gave me a packet of skittles. I said thanks and immediately wished one of Papa's kids were here to give them to since I am not a fan of Skittles. I still have them. I will eat them tomorrow. Speaking of "Trail Magic" please read the summary.

Beautiful, but tough hiking

 

I am staying at a camp sight 1.1 miles before a shelter. I talked to about 10 people that were headed to the shelter. It is going to be crowded. I am all by myself. It is great. I will be able to get up early and not bother any one. Shelters are okay if you get a slot and there is bad weather. Otherwise, to many people.

 

Wed. Apr. 6, Day 27, Overmountain Shelter or the barn, 16.3 miles, 8 hours 20 minutes, 1.96 mph, 383.5 hiked / 1,784.5 to go.

Last night, at the tent sight, was another cold night. I woke up shivering and needing to use the bathroom. Twice I had to get up. Coldddd. When I got back in my sleeping bag after the first trip out I figured I had been stretched out to much and that was why I got cold. I bundled up into a ball. I quickly got warm and fell asleep. I wore my gloves to bed for the first time. They helped. Great gloves.

 

Hiking went well today. My feet did much better with me cutting of the draw system and just tying them like regular shoe strings.

 

I climbed over a mountain where there use to be a resort. Nothing there now except a parking lot, drinking fountain that doesn't work, and a plaque. Strange.

 

After passing the old resort location I came upon a fire place in the trail. There was no foundation, or area to have had a home. I immediately realized it was a moment from the witch, lion, and wardrobe. Instead of a lamp posted that had been put in the Forrest, it was a fireplace.

Fireplace in the Forrest from the "Witch, Lion, and Wardrobe"

 

Tonight I am staying at the number one shelter. It is a barn that has been made into a shelter. It is nice. It is very windy and promises to be another below freezing night. Maybe even some snow. We did get a heavy rain which warmed it up.

 

The shelter get's it's name, Overmountain, from the pass it is in. During the revolutionary war a group of US soldiers went over this pass, attacked a British force, and defeated them. It was a significant victory for our new country.

Over mountain Shelter

 

There were some trail angels with trail magic at Craver Gap. I stopped and had a sandwich and banana nut bread. The bread was great.

 

Trail Angels with trail magic

In Tennessee, but looking at N. C. Getting close to leaving both states and go into Virginia

 

I am hoping I am getting my boot and feet problems figured out. The true answer will be with new shoes and a wider toe box.

Beuatiful scenery

 

Mon. Apr. 4, Day 25, Beauty Spot camp area, 10 miles, 5:40 hours, 1.79 mph, 352.2 hiked / 1815.8 to go.

Got some trail magic when crossed Indian Grave Gap. Got a glass of lemonade a brownie. Hit the spot. Love this trail magic and Trail Angels. When you are part of something bigger than yourself and other people are involved you become a community. Everyone is wonderful. All of the hikers immediately have something in common. I have started giving out Hershey chocolates at shelters. It is extra weight, but people love them. Just like the flight attendants.

 

This is the shortest I have hiked. My feet are bothering me.

 

Great weather today. I hope it is starting to get warmer.

 

The trail today was like trails in west. Rocks, gravel, and dirt. Not just dirt. I almost felt like I was hiking in the Rockies.

 

Some of the trails today reminded me of hiking in the west

 

Forrest like the west

 

 

Sun. Apr. 3, Day 24, Erwin, Tenn., Uncle Johnny's Hostel, 16.9 miles, 7:30 hours, 2.25 mph, 342.2 hiked / 1,825.8 to go.

Erwin, TN as I am approaching

From Erwin, TN Katahdin 1,822.4 miles.

 

I was planning on spending a zero day in Erwin, but thought it would be nice to spend the night in a bed. At Uncle Johnny's hostel they had a cabin with private bathroom. Ghost Walker showed up as I was talking about available rooms. We decided to share the cabin. It was great.

 

Ghost Walker in kitchen of cabin

 

They had a shuttle that took 11 of us to WalMart and restaurants. There was a Mexican and Italian. Only two of us choose Italian. That was tinker.

 

Tinker is a wonderful delightful person. He is retired. He has a special skill to fix things. At his work he would fix the smallest items. He is an electrical engineer. He gets his name because 100 years ago a person would go from town to town fixing items. Kitchen pots were made out of tin, so they think that is why these repairmen were called tinkers. Thus his name.

 

Tinker

 

 

Sat. Apr. 2, Day 23, Bald Mountain Shelter, 18.9 miles, 9:15 hours, 2.03 mph, 325.3 hiked / 1,842.7 to go.

 

Seed blaze ahead

 

 

Bald Mountain. My destination today.

 

On top of Bald Mountain. Very - Very windy. Had to hold on to my hat.

 

From Bald Mountain

 

I got some trail magic at Sam's Gap, where we crossed under Interstate 26. A gentleman cooked us eggs and had hash browns. I also ate half of a large orange. This trail magic is great.

 

I met Ghost Walker on then trail. See his picture in Erwin.

 

A miserable night at the shelter at Bald Mountain. I stayed warm and slept okay, but it was very windy, and cold. Wind 50 mph plus. Temperature below 20 degrees F. A hiker had a thermometer that bottomed out at 20 and it hit that.

 

My right thumb got frost bite. It is 4-7 when I am writing this and it is still numb. It also has cracked at the thumb nail. I guess there is a cost to have so much fun. :-).

 

 

Here are some other hikers. Sorry, no pictures. Need to do better.

 

Illusive. Great nice guy. Very happy, probably about 25-30. Wish I had a picture. He has his beard braided.

 

Mambo. Young lady. Hiking very fast. Walnut likes her and was trying to catch her a couple days later when I saw him.

 

Walnut. He is a young guy. He has this big walking stick. Sorry no picture. He got it from his back yard. It has 3 branches off the main stock. He has it finished. It weighs 4 pounds. He got sick during the night at Bald Mojuntain Shelter. We left him there. He had phone reception, so Ghost Walker took his number to call him once we got to Erwin. When I saw him he said it passed and he started hiking that afternoon.

 

Fri. Apr. 1, April Fools Day, Day 22, Flint Mountain Shelter, 17.9 miles, 8:20 hours, 2.16 mph, 306.4 hiked / 1,861.6 to go.

Someone wanted to see pictures of the inside of a shelter. Here are some pictures from the Little Laurel Shelter at mile 293.3.

 

Food bags hanging cables for beer protection

 

PRIVY sign

THE WONDERFUL PRIVY. It is very cold at 0730 on a windy below freezing morning

 

I past a hiker named Journeyman. He is from Nashville and went home for a couple days. He is starting back up again. He said he left his wife this morning with her crying.

 

Journeyman said there are 90,000 blazes on the AT. Remember that blazes tell you that you are on the AT. See previous posting about them. So... That means there are 41 per mile, or 4.1 per tenth of mile. I think some times that is true. Other times not so sure. So far, I don't think there are that many.

 

I met a brother and sister. Rob and Claire. They are about 24 and just graduated. Nice kids. They do not have trail names. They are moving fast. I was surprised to hear they started one day before I did. I guess my speed is okay. I told Claire about my new grand daughter and I thought princess would be a good trail name for her. She didn't respond.

 

Some tough trails

 

 

Thru. Mar. 31, Day 21, Allen Gap, 14.8 miles, 6:55 hours, 2.14 mph, 288.5 hiked / 1879.5 to go.

 

Hot Springs, NC

 

 

GREAT DAY. This is the first day that I haven't had any pains after hiking all day. The bottom of my feet are a little sore, but that is expected.

 

I have had two major pains that have concerned me. The first have been my three middle toes on my left foot. The second has been my left knee. Here are my thoughts.

 

My left knee has woken me up because of the pain and stiffness. Cambria sent me a stretch to do. I did it this morning. I think it helped. I also took Aleve this morning. I am hoping that wasn't the cure as I do not want to have to take it. My right knee has had a little pain, but nothing like the left.

 

Second, my toes. For four weeks I have been trying to figure where and what has been causing pain in my middle three toes on my left foot. I first thought it was the second, longest, toe because the middle toe was being forced under it and jabbing into it. In the past I have cut my long toe because I didn't have my toe nails trimmed when I ran. I then thought it was coming from the end of the middle toe. I have taped them a dozen different ways. Every time I would roll forward from the ball of my feet to my toes they would hurt. So, pain on level and climbs. No pain on descents. When I would think and spread my toes there would be no pain. Even when they were taped and I couldn't really spread them. I have decided the pain hasn't come form the end of the toes, but from the bases of the toes, especially the middle one. Maybe in the ball of the foot. The pain is not a sharp pain, but more like a pressure pain. It slowed me down. This morning I tried another taping method. I put a cotton ball between the three toes. No pain today. There was some extra pressure in the toe box because of the toes being spread apart. Linda has said that I need a wider toe box. I think she is right. When I come home I will get some new shoes.

 

I am very excited to not have any pains. I was a little discouraged this morning after a zero day because I thought I would be fighting the same problems. I am excited to see what happens tomorrow without taking Aleve.

 

Fewer hikers today. I think many stayed in Hot Springs because of the forecast of rain. Sure enough, we got rain. It started about 1415 and went till 1830. Of course that is when I was looking for a camp. Here is a good story.

 

Once it started to rain I got out my rain gear. My plan was to camp at Paint Creek, which is .1 miles from Allen's Gap where the AT crosses a highway. It isn't a camp sight, but the next one is 5 miles and I didn't want to hike that far. I walked down the road. There was a home there. I knocked and was going to ask if I could pitch my tent. No one was home. I got some water from the creek and figured I would head down the trail and find a spot. As I came up the road I saw a store sign for Mom's. It looked all boarded up and closed. There was a big dump truck in the road. The road was closed because of a fire further down the road. As I walked toward the store the man in the truck told me the store was open. Remember it was raining hard. I went in and sure enough there were three old people sitting and visiting. I asked who was mom, and the one man said he was Mom's son She had died 3 years before. That was DeWayne. He also owned and ran a bar. His sister, Joyce, was there. She had taught kindergarten through 3rd grade for 35 years. It was a scene out of the Beverly Hill Billys. I had a couple microwave sandwiches for dinner. I didn't want to cook in the rain. One of the stories DeWayne was telling was how his wife had just tried to shoot in him while he was in the car with her. He barley got out. Another was how DUI fees had destroyed his bar business. The other man who had worked for Ford said the DUI fee use to be only $25 and couldn't believe what they did now with a conviction. I asked him if I could sleep on his floor. He said there was a good camping area in the back. I left my equipment at the store and put up my tent while it was raining. I got lucky. When I went back to get my equipment it stopped raining, and hasn't started up again. I know it will rain tonight, but at least I am dry and warm in my tent. Tomorrow morning is going to be packing everything wet. Tomorrow afternoon the sun is suppose to come out. I will dry it at the next camp sight.

 

By the way, I hug up all of my food as I do not want any rodents chewing holes in my tent. Not concerned with bears as I am next to a highway. I hope no locals come by. Stories are told of locals harassing hikers. I would hate to get up and find my food bag gone. The people here are very much the Dukes of Hazard types. Friendly, but not sure how law abiding.

Camping area at Allen Gap

Wood Peckers. I hear a lot of them

A common sign at many entry points of the AT

(Note for Mark - No horses, sorry)