I’ve been off trail for the past few days. It’s a remarkable feeling. After four hundred miles of walking, I’m in thruhiker shape. My legs are rock hard, I’ve lost the my normal bits of flabbiness and I’m tan. I could walk another two thousand miles. Fitness is not the reason that I hike. But [...]
Archive for the ‘Appalachian Trail’ Category
Hiking the Appalachian Trail South.
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on April 7, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Snow and Ice
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on April 3, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Today has been my favorite day on this trail so far. A little after midnight, the shelter crew and I were woken up by thundersnow. The world was an intense place for half an hour. We had loud claps right up on our ridge and almost an inch of snow came along with it. Very [...]
From the jungle to the arctic.
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on April 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
First photo: The crew with thumbs up after a neighboring table bought their dinner without telling them. Second photo: Cherry Gap Shelter. I hung out in Erwin, TN for two half days. While it has some sort of official “great trail town” designation, it wasn’t. Uncle Johnny’s Hostel was home to over a dozen of [...]
Sometimes the AT feels like the Amazon.
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on March 31, 2011 | 3 Comments »
We’ve been walking through clouds for the past few days. It’s been a quick section since the last time we were in town. The first night out, we camped and it rained. Last night, I crammed into a full shelter. Shelters are strange to me. We were packed in so tightly that any movement from [...]
Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on March 30, 2011 | 5 Comments »
After being passed, I caught up to Freefall in Hot Springs, NC. We neroed and zeroed. It was excellent. The highlight was indisputably the hostel. For twenty bucks a night we stayed in a mid-nineteenth century manor. It’s full of antiques and staffed by hikers. One, recognized me immediately from this blog (hey!) I sat [...]
Day whatever on the AT.
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on March 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
After a breakfast of eggs, ham and biscuits ($2.75 for the ingredients!) at Standing Bear, I headed off. From the start I shared the trail with pods of trail crew. There were quite a number of them, doing a great job maintaining this section of trail. One even gave me a perfectly ripe pear. I [...]
The Appalachian Trail through the Great Smoky Mountains.
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on March 26, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Shortly before Clingmans Dome the flora turned to evergreens. It has stayed that way for nearly the rest of the park. It was a nice change from the bare winter forests. The trail has also been a lot of true ridge walking. Obviously, that is nice too. I stayed at Tri Corner Knob Shelter last [...]
The AT Highpoint?
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on March 26, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Most of the day I hiked with the others. We stopped at the numerous shelters and had a fun day. I ate multiple small meals instead of a large one. I mostly got to know two teenage girls, one named Feisty, the other I dubbed Caustic. We will see if it sticks. When they quit, [...]
Great Smoky Mountain National Park
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on March 22, 2011 | 3 Comments »
The Sunday closure of the post office at fontana clumped a big group of hikers together. There are about twenty of us here at this shelter tonight. I’m the only one camped outside. I can hear some epic snoring even from forty feet away. They seem like a great group of people. Most have been [...]
A hotel, at Fontana.
Posted in Appalachian Trail, Backpacking on March 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I’ve lucked out with the weather. It could be snowing. Instead, I’m sweating. I haven’t gotten wet on the trail since day one. I’ve also lucked out in other ways. We arrived at a road junction to find an empty box of beer. As we sat there, wishing someone would stop, Freefall declared that the [...]
