On the Way to Erwin...
Day 27 of the Trail: zero day
Day 28 of the Trail: 12.8 miles hiked
Woke up at 6:30 am and hung out till breakfast. One of the locals came by and made the very best eggs Benedict I have ever had. Michelle, Mamma Goose, and Rosie (former WH'ers) all made it out the evening before to help us new hikers with any questions and be generally supportive. Thanks to them, I am happy to know them all and glad to call them friends!
Okay, back on track now. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and Thomas, John, and I got a ride from Michelle to town where we left off the trail. After getting our gear and telling Michelle thanks, we were about to step off when Jabba (The Real Hiking Viking) stepped out of the outfitter store next to where we were. Just about the same place we saw him the first day in Hot Springs. We greeted each other and joked for a minute before he started southbound and we started north.
The trail out of Hot Springs goes over and then along the French Broad River then up the side of a mountain that yield a wonderfully beautiful view of the town and river. Only problem is the trail keeps going up and up for almost the entire 12 miles to where we camped. Based on the map it's more of the same tomorrow.
I do wish the AT followed rivers and streams more often. They are beautiful up here and it's a shame to just walk over or past them then up a mountain to a viewless summit and then back down. Too late to change it now but it's a shame if you ask me and I bet most hikers would agree.
Day 29 of the Trail: 13.6 miles hiked
This was probably the first morning where it wasn't cold, chilly, windy, rainy, or whatever. It was so calm and warm I just wanted to lay there, but the trail calls and we are trying to get into Erwin, Tennessee a day early so we can zero or nero at least.
I don't know what it is about this part of the trail but it seems we spend more time going up than anything. We are still making good time and with Thomas leading the pace we made about 2.25 miles per hour. We stopped by a nice stream around 11:30 am and took an hour lunch. We only have about 4.7 left till the campsite so we took our time. The climb from there got a bit crazy; long steep ups onto an exposed ridge line with large rock scrambles.
When we did reach camp we were happy to relax. It was probably 2:30 pm and we had plenty of time to go on but no one wanted to. We have made it 300 miles so far and that seems like a nice number to camp at.
Around 6:00 pm Barbra, Cody, and Diana rolled into camp. I was surprised because they stayed in Hot Springs a day longer, so you can understand my confusion. Turns out they yellow blazed about 5 miles from our campsite. Poor Diana has horrible shin splints and I totally understand not wanting to walk but she is strong and wants to hike as much as she can and still make the next event in Erwin on time. Barbra has been struggling a bit since day one and is still trying to find her hiker legs. Cody has been complaining about his foot and has been taking every opportunity to yellow blaze with Barbra and stay off his foot. In actual miles hiked he and Barbra are probably about around 200. Not sure if they plan to make those miles up but this hike means different things to everyone. If I had to pick between being hurt and not hiking for weeks, or maybe just doing small sections here and there, and then yellow blazing to stay with the group I don't know what I would do either.
Well more of the same tomorrow. We hope to get 15 done and probably take our time doing it.
