Appalachian Trail 2010

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Thoughts on Hiking So Far

    Nickie asked a few posts ago what our greatest hardship has been so far. After thinking about it for awhile, mine has to be homesickness. It’s incredibly crazy, but I do get more homesick than I have in a long while. Even more than when I was at sea for two months between high school and college. I think it will ease up as time goes on, but the little stays in town do not help much. I also think it will help the more that spring comes around and there are things to focus on. Rainy days actually aren’t as bad as the sunny days. It has been so…

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Oh, Sunshine, I love thee.

    We are in Cherokee, NC for the day. Since we left off here last week from Bryson City, I’ll catch you up since then. It hasn’t been that long…. We hitched a ride into Bryson City and couldn’t figure out how to get back other than hitching. Then I remembered I knew people who worked for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and knew one of them was in that vicinity so I dropped him an email and he was kind enough to give us a ride back to the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Thanks so much Mike if you are reading this! Luckily that day ended up being very sunny,…

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Blue Mountain Shelter

    Chilling around the fire… There’s a dog under that coat! Tough hound dog and his owner, a gal from Montana. They breezed from Blood Mountain to Blue Mtn for a 20 mile day. Phew…!! Breakfast! Oatmeal…mmmm! Sometimes having a quick breakfast is better. This is my last scheduled post until we get to Fontana. So, ‘see’ you in a few days.

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Neels Gap

    Oh boy, was this place good to see. Burgers were cooking as we walked up. Oh, yum. Showers, laundry, relaxing for a long while. Sunning ourselves…. Leki (hiking pole) rep talking to people about their poles. Convinced Chris to put his baskets back on and to take the rubber tips off. Followed these people’s blog last year…lots of these hiker photo cards along the walls. Perhaps a good idea when we finish!

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Blood Mountain

    This shelter was diiiirrrty! Ick, I can’t imagine sleeping in there. The only ones on the summit. Dude, it was cold. We had to hold onto everything while setting the tent up. Kept our bag in the shelter until we were ready to get in the tent. Coming up from the South…not too terribly bad. Kinda neat with the snow. Coming down…steep..can’t imagine coming up from the North. Oh, this is the mtn where we lost the trail and went down a rock face without needing to…and though to ourselves when we got down that boy, was it sure good we didn’t have to go up it. And then we…

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Nearo and Zero in Bryson City

    Hello friends! I hope that my posts have been somewhat entertaining. There are still several pre-posted entries to come until, I think, next Tuesday. Yesterday we got off the trail at the Nantahala Outdoor Center and hitched a ride into Bryson City. We hiked about six miles that morning from the Wesser Bald shelter and while there were some hills in the first few miles, it was mostly downhill after. Originally we were going to just resupply in NOC and keep on going. We heard various things about NOC not having a lot of supplies, and while you could make do, they were correct. For a major outfitter being smack…

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Vistas…

    This was a hell of a climb right out of Woody Gap. Freakin’ cold too with the wind. Had a hurried lunch by a log right near the top of this. Kinda too cold to enjoy with the wind. Most of the time you are walking along and don’t really see the view at all. A nice clear day makes it worthwhile.

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Lycopodium

    Did you think we’d get very far on the trail without finding something interesting in the plant world? This is some type of Lycopodium. We’ve seen several patches of it in some of the wetter areas. Very cool plants.