The 100 Mile Wilderness can go to.....

The "100 Mile Wilderness" is a section of trail about 100 miles long that crosses no public roads. It takes an average of 10 days to complete. If you like tromping through inches of mud and muck for miles and miles, pushing through deep, swift rivers in your underwear, and malicious biting bugs then this is definitely the trail for you!

After two weeks off, I was ready to be back on the trail; but leaving my mom's car behind as we walked away swatting mosquitoes away from the only skin not covered by our bug jackets, I had to wonder if we were ready for the days ahead, and I promise you, they were tough. The terrain itself was not particularly difficult but the trail is generally ill-maintained, probably mostly due to inaccessibility. Everything on the trail was wet...and slick. At times streams would just run straight down the trail and other times the mud and muck would be more than 6 inches deep.  Our socks and boots were wet and soggy more days than not. So for the first time in almost 400 miles, we started developing blisters. We would have hiked in Chacos but that would have given more for the bugs to feast on.

The slippery terrain meant lots of falling, some bruising the body, but most merely bruising to the ego.  And some were hard on our gear.  Hiking through the bogs on day 3 Evan slipped, landing on a rock and his beloved hiking pole, snapping the pole in half.  We later realized that the sole of his boots was actually broken and likely caused this slip along with others. I think he has decided hiking with one pole isn't great, but doable. It does however make fording river crossings more challenging.  I also fell a good half a dozen times, mostly banging up my bum and knees. 

By day 5, we finally out-distanced the bugs! The terrain got harder as we entered the mountains, but the bugs got fewer! Our first day day bug free we had planned on doing a long day, but instead found a beautiful [small] sandy beach and decided to call it a day and relax.  We spent the day sunning ourselves in a rare glimpse of sunshine and warmth.  We were glad we did because a day later a cold front rolled in, so it rained much of the time we spent in the mountains and the trail got even muddier.  We had been hearing for days about the amazing views from the mountain tops, but unfortunately all we saw was grey (and wind and rain).  Cold & wet and hiking in sloshing boots we made our way 12.8 miles (our longest day in the 100 miles) to the West Branch of the Pleasant River where we stripped down to our underwear and sandals and pushed our way across the swiftly flowing river.  

Day 10 in the wilderness was hike out day.  We were so excited to get out, we were up and walking out of camp before 6 a.m. It was set to be an 11 mile day with two river fordings and guaranteed mud (after more rainy days).  At 7:30 we made it to our first river crossing.  This crossing had a rope strung across the crossing in an attempt to make things easier.  Usually you can just grab the rope and walk across using the rope for balance. Unfortunately, this rope was a little more slack than Evan anticipated.  Pulling against the rope he made his way into the water, where his backpack dipped under the rushing water, soaking everything in his pack & his boots which were hanging on the back of his pack.  Luckily, he never let go of the rope, so he pulled himself up and lugged himself the rest of the way across the river while water kept splashing out of his now bucket boots.  

Needless to say, we are happy to be in town clean & dry. We trudged our way in to Monson and the Shaw Hostel to a report that our expenses would be covered thanks to a fellow thru hiker we've never met in thanks for some courtesy we extended to his wife on her way out of Baxter Park just before we hit the trail.(A HUGE, HUGE Thank you to Plank & Mary Jo.) Everything is very much appreciated! Not everything has been so bad out on the trail.  We have met some amazing people!  Starting with the bubble means that folks are a lot more relaxed about how they are taking the trail, and we have met so many more like minded people than we did starting late in the season in Georgia.  

Due to us having 1 less camera for this section of the trip we have a lot fewer photos, and no way to share them yet, but hopefully we will be able to show some pictures sometime in the near future. So until our next stop, happy trails.

Vacation from vacation

It has been 16 days since we were in Hot Springs, but it feels like forever.   My friend's wedding went marvously.  This is my favorite wedding picture so far, but I am sure there are more great ones on the way. (Photo credit goes to Katie Lauren)

In the week since the wedding Evan, my mom, and I have been touring on our way to Maine and throughout Maine.  We spent a few days with Evan's parents in lower Michigan mostly doing things like doctors appointments, resupplying food, and reassessing our bank account.  Thru-hiking has been more expensive than we anticipated, but we are hoping to make the trip on what we have left.  

From Michigan we worked our way through Ontario and into Quebec, staying the night in Quebec City. We spent the morning wandering the Old Quebec City area and learning a little bit about Canadian 

history.  It was all fascinating and we all had a great time.  Maybe, my mom will post a few pictures later. 

We had originally thought about making our way to New Brunswick, but decided against it after reading that Baxter State Park closes at 8:30 p.m. and we had to be through the gates before that time in order to get to our campsite.  So, heading south we made it to Maine fairly quickly. We stopped in Monson to drop off a resupply box for ourselves for after the 100 mile wilderness before making our way to Baxter State Park and our campsite at Katahdin Stream.  Weather and rain had been an issue in the past few days for making the climb to Mt. Katahdin, so looking ahead it seemed Friday, June 12 was going to be the best day. I will never know if it actually was up on the 5,247 foot peak, but it was a gorgeous day besides the blowing wind.  Hiking up an otherwise difficult and steep ridge line in gusting wind is just a tad harder and scarier.  But we made it and as with most mountains, the top made it worth every step up and down.  I did unfortunately loose my camera in the trek down, with all of our pictures from the top.  We are hoping someone turns it in to the rangers station yesterday or today.  

Baxter State Park is full of lakes, mountains and trails.  So, on one of the less good days (which turned out to be beautiful) we hiked a loop trail hitting 3 different "ponds" and spent some time canoeing on Daicy Pond.  It made for a wonderful afternoon.  

After spending 2 days in Baxter, we decided to head to the coast and to Arcadia National Park before heading back on the trail.  Well, we are heading out of the hotel and my last wifi access....as in mom and Evan have already packed everything out.  So not a lot of details I guess but an update none-the-less.  Off to the 100 Mile Wilderness tomorrow (about 8-10 days)!

FLIP and FLOP

We have finished our flip, and will be heading to our flop after my friend's wedding next weekend!! We have had 27 days on the trail (plus one zero day in Bryson City) and 274.4 miles hiked (so, a lot more to go, but we won't talk about that).  I am actually at MY computer so we have a little treat for you all.... PICTURES!

Us in Hot Springs, enjoying clean clothes & showers!

Rafter on a course at NOC

My last blog entry included news of a very painful leg that had put us off the trail in Bryson City, NC.  I (Carolyn) had cried & stumbled my way into Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) just outside of Bryson City before catching a ride into town.  During the two days we spent at the Sleep Inn, we ate anything we could find, iced all that we could, and thoroughly enjoyed the television and internet access.  It was all very enjoyable, but after two days in civilization, we were both restless and ready to get back on the trail with all fingers crossed. My leg didn't feel 100%; but it felt better enough and I was ready to test my limits.  We hitch-hiked back to the trail (and NOC) with a wonderful young gentleman who was studying Massage Therapy in Asheville.  NOC is an outdoor center right on the Nantahala River, both my parents and my sister have taken whitewater canoeing, kayaking, and rafting courses there and loved it!  They have a large outfitters with everything you could need for water sports and backpacking....we couldn't help ourselves - we had to take a look around while we were there.  And we were glad that we did!  We were checking out sleeping pads when one of the workers came up to us and asked how our thru-hike was going thus far.  We responded that it was going great, but explained the injury to my leg/ankle.  Turns out, he used to be a pediatrist and offered to take a look at my boot and orthotic. He found an issue with how my orthotic was fitting inside my boot and offered a solution free of charge.  Since then my leg has had ZERO pain.  It was a huge miracle and has improved our trip tremendously! We are forever thankful.  After the great help, we did purchase a new sleeping pad from them and sent our old, very uncomfortable sleeping pad home.

 

First view of Fontana Lake (top right corner).
Photo taken before entering the park.

From NOC, we made our way to Great Smokey Mountains National Park (GSMNP).  72 miles of the trail runs through the park from Fontana Dam, NC to Davenport Gap right on the border of North Carolina & Tennessee.  In fact, starting about 5 miles into the park we hit our third state (out of 13) - Tennessee.  From that point until the end of the month we were walking on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.  The terrain through the park is rough, but the sights are worth all the work.  The southern half (from Fontana Dam to Newfound Gap) was very mountainous, with lots of up and downs and steep terrain.  We had some amazing views from places like Shuckshack Fire Tower (although soon after we got there the view disappeared into the fog), Rocky Top, and Clingman's Dome (the highest point on the AT).  The northern section of the trail through the park was still tough, but every step offered a different view. Once we got out of Newfound Gap, we stayed right along the ridge line.  We stopped to enjoy sunrise at Icewater Shelter, an early snack at Charlie's Bunion (our favorite place in the park), multiple views along the ridge line, and Mt. Cammerer (supposedly the best view in the park).  

Fog rolling in while viewing the Smokies from
Shuckshank Fire Tower

Foggy walk for our first day in GSMNP

We hit the 200 mile mark at Clingman's Dome -
the highest point on the AT.  In the distance we could see the
mountain where we hit our 100 mile mark.

State line at Newfound Gap - Although we had been hiking the
state line for about 3 days, this was the first time we saw a sign.

Evan sitting out on Charlie's Bunion enjoying the view

Lunch is my favorite time of day, I get to hang out with my
boots off, and it is even better when I get to enjoy a ridge line
view in the process.

More Ridge Line views

Icewater Shelter Site

Throughout the park we were warned of bears.  Every night a bear cable was provided for us to hang a food bag, but we never saw a bear.  That does not mean however, that we didn't know they were around.  Our night at Icewater Shelter was full of critters, including bear.  The shelter is very close to Newfound Gap, and is thus very popular for section hikers and thru-hikers alike. As thru-hikers we were allowed to sleep in our tent to allow space in the shelter for section hikers that reserved the space, so we did.  About 10 minutes after we had crawled into our bed a couple of folks hanging out at the shelter started clashing pans together and hollering, because a bear had apparently walked up to within 10 feet of our tent.  We heard the racket, but chose to ignore it - neither one of us had realized how close it came.  Later that night we saw flashing lights coming from the shelter, we assumed someone had gotten up to go to the bathroom, so once again we ignored it. Turns out a bear (presumably the same bear) decided to walk directly through the shelter to see what kind of food was laying around.  Luckily everyone did hang bags and nobody or equipment was damaged. Inside of our tent, we had our own critter excitement that night.  For those of you that do not know, Evan is diabetic.  Because of this, we always keep a small amount of sugar in the tent (and we have needed it on occasion). That night we had a small baggy of M&Ms in a tent pocket near our feet.  Evan woke up around 11 p.m. asking me if I was moving the ziplock bag.  I decided that it was indeed possible that I was, so he rolled over and went back to sleep (immediately, as he always does). I still wasn't completely convinced it was me, so I faced the ceiling and was contemplating just how probable it was when a shadow started scaling the tent.  Unknown if it was inside our outside I jumped back and grabbed a flashlight.... turns out it was INSIDE our tent and that shadow was a MOUSE!  I am not particularly afraid of mice nor do I dislike them, but when I wake up to one inside my tent I am NOT a fan! By this time Evan was up with all of my movement and light, so we went to work trying to shoo him out.  It took a few minutes (it felt like forever), but he finally went out the door.  It took a little searching, but we found that he had chewed his way into the tent making a nice little mouse sized hole on the side of our tent.  We didn't have the mental capacity at that time of night to find a way to fix the hole, but the next morning we did patch it with some sports tape.  It held for the rest of the month.  

At Davenport Gap we also intersect I-40.
Don't worry, we only took the exit ramp as far as the underpass

Evan pulling out his lunch at Max Patch.
We spent over an hour at the summit enjoying the view.

Everyone always talks about how the Smoky Mountains are some of the roughest part of the trail, so when we got to Davenport Gap on the north side of the park, we celebrated! We made it through, we were still having fun, and our joints didn't hate us anymore than they already had going in.  We were expecting that our average miles would start going up fairly quickly - we had done some long days in the park with the "must stay at shelters" rule, and decided that we could start expecting longer days.  The longer/easier days after GSMNP....biggest lie ever or biggest misconception ever.  Snowbird Mountain directly outside the park KICKED OUR BUTTS.  Our expected 15 mile day became barely 10.  It did mean that we got to spend some time with some awesome people in the three days between Davenport Gap and Hot Springs, NC though.  Day two north of GSMNP was our exciting day - we saw our first bear along the trail.  It was about 40-50 yards in front of us and it came wandering out of the woods, stopped at the trail, looked at us and then scurried off in the other direction.  We stopped when we saw it, smiled, enjoyed, made sure it had it's space, and continued on.  It was a memorable experience but was made suddenly less memorable by our arrival to Max Patch.  Max Patch is a mountain summit that had been clear cut for grazing cattle & sheep before it became an airstrip for small planes.  In the 80's the U.S. Forest Service bought the land for the AT.  It is now kept clear and offers 360º views including magnificent views of the Smokies and Mt. Mitchell (the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi).

Arriving at Laughing Heart Hostel

On May 28, we arrived at Laughing Heart Hostel in Hot Springs, NC. We arrived at 3:00 p.m. having already hiked over 13 miles that day.  It was our fastest record yet (we were pretty excited).  Arriving in Hot Springs meant that our boots would officially be on a 2 week vacation and our bodies would have a little bit of time off as well.  We met the management: Tye & Tom, who immediately helped make the hostel feel more welcoming.  We got the grand tour, picked our bedroom, and then took a shower.  We fell in love with the people and the place and have officially made it our "final destination." Most people hiking the AT end their 2,200 miles at Mt. Katadhin - a beautiful mountain with a very challenging climb in Baxter State Park, Maine.  It is a very dramatic finish with great photo ops.  We, on the other hand, will be there in 10 days getting ready for our hike south.  One of our biggest concerns was not having some sort of dramatic finish  (I-40, our original estimated destination, for instance is very anti-climatic.) Laughing Heart, with all its love and spirit, is a fantastic finish and one that we can honestly say we are looking forward to!

Our new ride!

The adventure did not stop there! From Hot Springs though, we still needed to make it to Iowa City, IA.  The original plan was that my dad (a pilot) was going to fly down and pick us up from Asheville and drop us off in Iowa - very simple plan.  But (there is always a but), there was some nasty storms going through the midwest (for those of you in them, I hope you and your property are doing well).  He couldn't easily make it down to Asheville, so we rented a car last minute (actually my parents did - THANK YOU!).  Our trip went very smoothly, and we learned that we could still read maps, even ones that didn't automatically tell you where to go.  We also learned that rental car companies don't actually carry maps anymore (but AAA does!).  Our old fashioned trip, with no google, no gps, and no Facebook did go well and we had a great time!  We are now in Iowa City helping my friend Betsy with her last minute wedding details.  We are all counting down until wedding day and enjoying the fantastic company.

So, I didn't get pictures of the Bear or the Mouse, but since I am sharing pictures this time around I thought I would at least show you some animals we did manage to take pictures of:

Turtle just outside of the northern
side of GSMNP

We saw lots of these -
they just looked like flickers of light
when the flew

This snake scared bagezzes out of me, but he turned out to be
pretty curious of us

(At 274.4 miles - we have completed over 10% of the trail AND have less than 2,000 miles to go)

Taken at Garenflo Gap, just 6.6 miles South of Hot Springs
(our ending point)it is only 1,914 miles to Maine!

Taken in Fontana Dam (week 3),
everything north of my finger still needs to be hiked.

____________________________________________________________

Just to leave you with a smile :)

Lessons from the AT: Week 2

We are officially 2 weeks into our journey!  We have hiked a total of 155.9 miles.  WOW, What a journey!  I know I said we likely wouldn't have time for a blog entry while we were stopped in Bryson City for our next resupply stop, but as plans often do that has changed slightly.  In the last 4 days my (Carolyn's) ankle has started to be slightly bothersome, mostly in the evenings.  And then around mile 128, it started aggravating me on the trail and by yesterday (Friday) afternoon when we stepped off the trail at Nantahala Outdoor Center just outside of Bryson City, I could hardly put any weight on it.  So, we are laid up at a hotel for a couple of nights trying to do my best to rest my foot & ankle.  In the mean time, I wanted to share a few things that we have learned about ourselves & the trail in the last week.

#1: Hiker Hunger is Real
Hiker Hunger has struck, for real.  With a resupply happening today, yesterday was feast day.  My lunch alone included more than 1,000 calories.  We ordered  in pizza at the hotel last night, and then went out for frozen yogurt and loaded it with everything you can imagine.  Our last night on the trail, I was dreaming about food - and what all I could eat while we stopped in town.

#2: Hike Your Own Hike!
This one is pretty major and one we sometimes struggle to follow when we are hiking with a great group of folks.  The first week of our hike we would spend time each night deciding how far we wanted to hike the next day, where we would stop to camp, etc.  This worked fine, but I was starting to feel like I wanted to do a little more at the end of the day.  So, this last week we have gotten up in the morning, taken as many breaks as we wanted to eat, enjoy the view, watch wildlife, or look at new plants and then near the end of each day we would start looking for a place to camp starting at around 5:30.  This has been working wonderfully! Sometimes we would stay with a group at a shelter and other times it was just us out on the trail.  A couple days ago, for whatever reason we decided to push on to a specific shelter.  We hiked until 7 p.m. It didn't take long before neither one of us were enjoying the journey and instead we were just looking for the shelter around every corner and cursing it when it wasn't there.  Once again, we had to remind ourselves to HYOH.

#3: Enjoy your Surroundings
This goes with the last one a lot. I have noticed that many of the people we started hiking with are college students, and thus many of them have a deadline and they want to go as far as they can, preferably finishing the trail entirely by the time they go back to college in the fall.  This means pushing for 15-20+ mile days.  I am sure they are still finding the hike enjoyable and I am glad they can enjoy at this pace.  But the one day that we did that and forged ahead, we could not enjoy the trail to its fullest.  We have found that we really enjoy stopping at the different look out points, talking to others along the trail, and watching the animals go about their business.

We are hoping this stop in Bryson City is brief as we are both looking forward to getting back on the trail as soon as possible. Our next stretch goes through the Smoky Mountains National Park and from everything we have heard it is a gorgeous and challenging stretch of trail.  Being that we are also nearing the end of May, this will likely be our last major milestone before we take our time off to temporarily rejoin the real world and then make our way via motored transportation to the northern end of the trail. Here is hoping our physical barriers prove to be temporary and we can be on our way after this short respite.

1 Week & 78.2 AT miles In!

Hey All -
We just wanted you all to know we are still alive and still kicking! We have learned a lot in the last week, replaced some of our heavier gear for lighter alternatives and started eating more than you can imagine!

We learned that these Appalachian Mountains are no joke.  Seriously, this is some of the hardest hiking I have ever done.  I carried my MSR Whisperlite & my Katadyn Water filter with me on the Superior Hiking Trail, and countless other backpacking adventures.... One week here and they got sent home and replaced with an MSR Pocket Rocket (about half to a quarter the weight) and a Sawyer Mini water filter (from 1+ pounds to 2 ounces).  We started looking at other items to cut when we get off in a month also.  The Chaco sandals are still up in the air, possibly looking at replacing a sleeping bag, and definitely replacing a sleeping pad. We also originally purchased the Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker's companion as our guidebook for these 2,000 miles and well... we have decided that in a month it will be replaced with the AWOL book.  It is much more detailed and slightly more compact (and therefore lighter).

Accomplishments this last week have been numerous, which is great- because it keeps spirits up even when each step is torturous. Our first day out, we hiked 9 miles and only the last 0.2 were actually on the Appalachian Trail, but we were happy to see the first official white blaze atop Springer when we got there.  The first 1.25 miles of our hike that day included over 600 stairs to climb, but the waterfalls at Amicalola Falls State Park (Georgia) where gorgeous and well worth the work! On day 3 or 4 (I don't have my journal in front of me), we summited Blood Mountain, the highest point in Georgia at 4,459 feet.  The views at the top were unmatched to anything we had seen thus far.  We enjoyed shade in the CCC made shelter (One of the oldest permanent shelters on the trail, Dated 1936) and lunch on the summit.  The climb down was a bit treacherous, but at the bottom we were rewarded with our first re-supply location on the trail.  We enjoyed some real food and a few hours rest with other long distance and through hikers before heading out again late afternoon.

This week also meant meeting lots of great people.  We spent some time hiking with Dandy - a wonderful young lady who was committing 1 month to her first backpacking trip ever! We split ways about 3 days ago, when she decided to go into town to rest a bum knee.  We wish her much luck on the rest of her journey!

Just before coming into town yesterday we also met up with Courtesy and his two kids Big Horn & Cartwheel.  They brought a little trail magic with them that meant a huge amount to Evan (Yooper Trooper) and I (Daisy).  Fresh bananas & other fruit is so appreciated out on the trail. A HUGE Thank you to this wonderful hiking family! Also, Courtesy - I loved your Hike for Mental Health Shirt.

Well that is probably enough for now, in the next few days we will cross our first state line and enter the great state of North Carolina.  We are planning on getting a few pictures printed later today and start getting some postcards sent out to folks around the country.  We hope some of them will show up on our blog periodically.  We hope all of you in cyber space are doing well.  Our next planned stop is Bryson City, NC however, we are not planning on spending the night and therefore I am not sure if we will get a chance to update the blog.

Happy Trails!
Yooper Trooper & Daisy

Go!!

April 30

The last week has been amazing!  We have spent some time with family in Charleston, SC and we couldn't have asked for a better vacation.  We don't have too many pictures to share with you since we don't have our smart phones or a computer to pull images from our cameras.  So you will have to wait until June for a few of those.  

Vacations never happen without a few mishaps and this one was no different. Most were a few minor things like realizing I forgot my boot insoles in Michigan, and having a rental car with expired license plates. But, one that threw us for a loop was when the mighty Atlantic stole Evan's glasses.  For those of you who don't know Evan well, he is essentially blind without his trusty specs, so it made for a pretty rough couple of days.  Luckily he did have a spare pair back in Michigan, so we had a family friend overnight them to the rental house in Charleston. Whew! Major crisis averted.

Tomorrow is the big day! It is also May Day- the day when Morris dancers dance the sun up and bring in the summer and, well, Evan and I are pretty avid Morris Dancers.  Although our goal is to start as close to sunrise as possible, in reality I am not sure how well it is going to work.  We are planning to do a short dance before starting out on the trail as a nod to our tradition of dancing the sun up.  Evan's sister (who along with her husband are dropping us off at the trailhead) is hopefully going to post a video of our dance with a few pictures of our first steps so this is the last you will hear from us in the first person for a while.

May 1
Stacy here, Evan's older sister. Unfortunately I'm having trouble posting the video of Evan and Carolyn doing a May Day dance before we sent them on up the trail. We do have photos, but for the full video you'll have to check Facebook.
Even after just a few hours of sleep, the four of us headed to the southern trailhead bright and early on May 1. The sun was shining, but for us Arizonans it was chilly! Evan and Carolyn registered with the Visitor's Center and then they were off.

Goodbye and safe travels!

Carolyn and Evan left early on May 1st.  Got to Springer Mountain and to a campsite at mile .2 for a total of about 9 miles that day.  They were at Neels Gap on May 5th and are on the way to Hiwassee, Ga.  All is going well - NO BLISTERS!!!!