Mile 425
I have a week and a half to update on! Ahh!
The wonderful family I stayed with in Hot Springs dropped me off back on the trail at about 3pm. I had planned on doing ten miles to the next shelter, which is a bit tight on time but I figured I'd be fine. By my calculations, I'd get there at 7pm. Well, but then it started raining. By mile eight or so it got super windy and even started turning to sleet. I was mildly freaking out when 7 came and went and the weather continued to get worse, but I eventually found my destination and quickly put up my tent and got situated. The sleet turned into hail and snow making for a cold evening. The highlight was at 5am when a big sheet of ice fell from an overhead tree onto my tent, pulling a stake out, effectively collapsing my tent in on me. I hopped out and fixed it quickly and it was more humorous than anything.
The next day was hard because it was still snowing and the trail was slippery and wet. By mid day, it stopped precipitating and it was really pretty with all the ice on the trees. I was up in an exposed ridgeline that day, making for some great photos. That night was also really cold but luckily it got better from there.
I met a solo female hikers who is my age and we stuck together for a while. After two big days (20 and 21 miles) we made it to Erwin, TN. The hostel there, Uncle Johnny's, was fantastic and the shuttle took us to town for dinner. I ordered a foot long sub and sun chips, certainly more than I usually eat but I figured I needed it. It went down surprisingly easy. The shuttle wasn't coming for a while and... I still wasn't full. Hello Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I ate an entire pint of "phish food" ice cream. AND IT WASN'T EVEN HARD. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
A couple days later I met my parents and Beau at a road crossing and we stayed in a delightful cabin. Beau hiked out with me and we climbed Roan Mountain to kick off his thru hike. It's very interesting repeating my first week... Re learning routines, doing low mileage, etc. It's GREAT having Beau out here. I'm anxious to do bigger miles again, but for now we are taking things slow to get him used to the trail. It's worth it to have a great hiking partner.
Right now we're in Hampton, TN doing laundry in a bar. Weird, but there are kittens here so I'm cool with it.
Damascus is only a few days away, then shortly on to the 1/4 mark!
This is the first time I'm using the Blogger app, so hopefully the photos turn out okay. One is a random view from the other day, the next is me in the back of a truck hitching to town, and kittens!
I have a week and a half to update on! Ahh!
The wonderful family I stayed with in Hot Springs dropped me off back on the trail at about 3pm. I had planned on doing ten miles to the next shelter, which is a bit tight on time but I figured I'd be fine. By my calculations, I'd get there at 7pm. Well, but then it started raining. By mile eight or so it got super windy and even started turning to sleet. I was mildly freaking out when 7 came and went and the weather continued to get worse, but I eventually found my destination and quickly put up my tent and got situated. The sleet turned into hail and snow making for a cold evening. The highlight was at 5am when a big sheet of ice fell from an overhead tree onto my tent, pulling a stake out, effectively collapsing my tent in on me. I hopped out and fixed it quickly and it was more humorous than anything.
The next day was hard because it was still snowing and the trail was slippery and wet. By mid day, it stopped precipitating and it was really pretty with all the ice on the trees. I was up in an exposed ridgeline that day, making for some great photos. That night was also really cold but luckily it got better from there.
I met a solo female hikers who is my age and we stuck together for a while. After two big days (20 and 21 miles) we made it to Erwin, TN. The hostel there, Uncle Johnny's, was fantastic and the shuttle took us to town for dinner. I ordered a foot long sub and sun chips, certainly more than I usually eat but I figured I needed it. It went down surprisingly easy. The shuttle wasn't coming for a while and... I still wasn't full. Hello Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I ate an entire pint of "phish food" ice cream. AND IT WASN'T EVEN HARD. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
A couple days later I met my parents and Beau at a road crossing and we stayed in a delightful cabin. Beau hiked out with me and we climbed Roan Mountain to kick off his thru hike. It's very interesting repeating my first week... Re learning routines, doing low mileage, etc. It's GREAT having Beau out here. I'm anxious to do bigger miles again, but for now we are taking things slow to get him used to the trail. It's worth it to have a great hiking partner.
Right now we're in Hampton, TN doing laundry in a bar. Weird, but there are kittens here so I'm cool with it.
Damascus is only a few days away, then shortly on to the 1/4 mark!
This is the first time I'm using the Blogger app, so hopefully the photos turn out okay. One is a random view from the other day, the next is me in the back of a truck hitching to town, and kittens!
I am absolutely loving reading up on your adventure. So cool that Beau is joining you - y'all rock.
ReplyDeleteRob and I are moving to Ithaca, NY this summer (probably in July) so I'm going to do some research and find where I can meet you when you're up that way. Let me know if you have any thoughts :)
that last picture makes you look so skinnay! you are so cool for doing this hike
ReplyDeleteThat picture does look kind of freakish. I'm not looking forward to gaining it all back after hiking.... :)
DeleteAhh you are so TINY!
ReplyDeleteI really think that photo is deceiving... I've lost weight, but I swear it's not that crazy! I only had a couple photos on beau's phone available to post.
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