Allen's Adventures

Monday, 4/27

AT Miles = 18.6 / 491.0
Other Miles = 0.5 / 20.8
Total Miles = 19.1 / 511.8

A great day. Plenty of miles. Plenty of heat. Plenty of tired. But a great day. Up. Down. Up again. Climbed Mount Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. Camped with a bunch of other hikers at a place tucked into the trees and out of the wind that is roaring just yards away out on the bald.

I hauled a HUGE food bag out of Damascus. It makes my pack weigh a ton. It weighed more yesterday morning leaving Damascus than it did when I started at Springer Mountain. But I think it's worth it. I am eating like crazy and it sems to help. I also bought a small container to carry olive oil while in Damascus, and I add it to every evening meal. I've also started taking daily vitamins. I am considering maybe getting some protein powder somewhere and using that every day as well. I am trying to avoid wasting away to nothing.

It's getting late and dark so I am going to quit for tonight. Goodnight all!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

A bit of the history of Nick Grindstaff's monument, some photos of which appeared in my "Day in the Life" photos the other day:

http://www.hauntmastersclub.com/places/johnson_county_nick_grindstaff.html

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Sunday, 4/26

AT Miles = 9.4 / 472.4
Other Miles = 0.2 / 20.3
Total Miles = 9.6 / 492.7

As wonderful as being in town is, it is even better to get back out on the trail. I think I have said this before; I don't sleep well in town. I go to sleep late and wake up early. Really early, like three or four in the morning.

Last night I went to bed after 11:00, and I was awake a few minutes after 4:00. I had to wait until a decent hour to get up and shower and pack up all my gear, for fear of waking people in the other rooms. I settled up with the proprietress around 8:00 or so, but then hung out with some ofthe other hikers out back for a while. Finally I heftede my ridiculously heavy pack, groaned, and dropped it back to the ground. Goodness! I went completely overboard at the grocery store yesterday. I could barely cram my food bag into my pack. I took the pack off and put it on the bathroom scale that is in the hiker hosxtel. 43 pounds! That's 4 pounds more than it weighed on the day I started, and I've gotten rid of a few things since then. That weight is all food! I am going to have to have a big feed tonight and get the reduced as fast as I can.

I hiked out of Damascus, after stopping on the way for a big breakfast (food. I am obsessed with food) , along the Virginia Creeper Trail. The Creeper Trail is a rails-to-trails conversion so follows lovely, gentle grades. Unfortunately, the AT soon veers off and climbs up into the hills for a few miles, the descends back down and just to tease a poor, tired, overburdened hiker, parallels the Creeper trail at a very short distance oif only 30 or 40 feet, for a long ways. The Creeper Trail is clearly seen in its flat, even, easy gradedness, while the AT climbs up and down every stupid little bump in the terrain and hops over rocks and whatever else. So frustrating!

I set off today with no particular goal in mind. I decided I would hike to the first shelter out of town, then decide if I wanted to go on to the next or not. Well, I got here all hot and sweaty, and was greeted with a lovely setting with a small grove of evergreens out behind the shelter casting some wonderfully cool shade. After walking down to the stream to get water and to wash up a bit, I strung my hammock up in the shade and lay down on top of it to read my book and sway in the cool breeze.

Soon enough I fell asleep and awoke only when another hiker walked by on her way back from getting water. It's a good thing I woke up or I might have slept right until bed time!

Well, that hiker and a couple of others were here just to get water and have moved on, but I've decided to definitely indulge myself and am staying here for the night. Tomorrow is soon enough for ambition, when I will push the 18+ miles to Thomas Knob and the Grayson Highlands. I asm excited that the weather should be good when I am up there; so unlike mhy experience so far with the high parts of the trail. I am looking forward to seeing the ponies at Grayson Highlands State Park.

Another hiker, Midget Momma (she's short and says she has a son who is 6'4") just showed up, so I guess I wonm't have the place all to myself tonight. And I know there are a bunch of hikers who planned to leave town late this afternoon and hike, so I imagine there will be more coming later.

I look forward to town stops so much, but they are exhausting! I am always surprised how tired I am when I leave town. This evening looks to be a lovely one, and I am sure I will have a restful night tonight and be ready to do some real hiking tomorrow.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Friday, 4/24

AT Miles = 10.2 / 463.0
Other Miles = 0 / 20.1
Total Miles = 10.2 / 483.1

It was warm when I went to bed on Thursday evening, early because the gnats were bothersome, and I think it was even warmer when I woke up at 6:30 on Friday morning.

A town day is always exciting. I guess that's a sign of how simple life on the trail is. The idea of a hot shower and real food just makes me giddy. So I wasted no time in eating breakfast and getting on the trail, and I was headed out by 7:30. It was a bit over ten miles into Damascus, and I was walking under the "Welcome to Damascus" sign by 10:30. By 11:00 I had secured a room at the Hikers Inn and was on my way to settling into this wonderful little town.

It is Sunday morning now and soon I will stuff everything back into my backpack and head out of town. The weather has been gorgeous the last few days, and it looks like there should be about three more days of sun and heat before we get some clouds and showers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I noticed a warning of increased fire danger in the area when checking the weather this morning, due to the heat and low humidity.

I'll have to be careful to drink more water with the heat now, but first I am going to concentrate on one last town breakfast before hitting the trail.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Okay. I’ve got caught up with my photos. I’m afraid I was ridiculously
hurried so the captions are sparse. My apologies.

Fontana Dam to Erwin:
http://picasaweb.google.com/affreeman1959/ATFontanaDamNCToErwinTN#

Erwin to Damascus:
http://picasaweb.google.com/affreeman1959/ATErwinTNToDamascusVA#

A Day In The Life:
http://picasaweb.google.com/affreeman1959/ATADayInTheLifeOfAThruHiker#

—
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Thursday, 4/23

AT Miles = 15.9 / 452.8
Other Miles = 0 / 20.1
Total Miles = 15.9 / 472.9

Glorious Day!

A great night's sleep, followed by a glorious day. Finally! Finally, we got some really, really nice weather. I woke up once during the night and had to get out to pee; the sky was full of stars and I could see the lights down in the valley.

It was cool this morning, but the sun was shining and the temp was coming up fast. I had only about 15 miles to go and the terrain was relatively easy, so I consciously decided to take it easy and enjoy my day as much as I could. It somehow worked out that I managed to be in the right frame of mind when such a beautiful day presented itself. I wasn't trying to do big miles like yesterday, and I knew today wouldn't be a physical challenge.

A few miles into the day I met Pop and Gwemmy, two retired local hikers out for a day hike carrying a big bag of snacks to hand out to the thru-hikers. They gave me a couple of Rice Krispy treats and a tangerine.

Later in the morning I passed several groups of seniors out for a day hike, and when I stopped at Double Springs Shelter to eat lunch, they soon all showed up. I enjoyed talking with them, and one of them gave me several mini Snickers bars, which I wasted no time in consuming.

It's a beautiful evening right now, and I am here with 5 other hikers. Three of them I met last night, and two just this evening. I did some of my laundry when I got here. I doubt my socks will dry overnight, but they will dry on the back of my pack tomolrrow.

I promised some of you I would do a "Da in the life of a hiker" thing, and toda is the day I picked to do it. Hopefully I will be able to get all my photos uploaded while I am in Damascus. Damascus is just ten miles away, so I should be there around noon tomorrow. I haven't decided yet if I will take a zero there or not. I think it depends mostly on whether I can get enough computer time to take care of all my photos. Then I need to shop for the next 5 or 6 day leg. From Damascus I will be off for thr Grayson Highlands.

Oh, sometime tomorrow morning I will walk out of Tennessee and into Virginia!

Okay, I feel disjointed and incoherent tonight, so I better quit.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Wednesday, 4/22

AT Miles = 21.6 / 436.9
Other Miles = 1.0 / 20.1
Total Miles = 22.6 / 457.0

Today was mostly just about making miles. It's called "the post office marathon" on the trail, which is when you have to hike crazy miles in order to get to a town before the post office closes for the weekend. In my case, I am trying to get to Damascus before 4:30 on Friday afternoon. My bounce box is waiting in the PO there, and so is a package Jodi sent that contains a second battery for my phone, and more importanbtly, some home-made cookies. Yum!

I woke up a few minutes after 5:00 this morning and used the hostel kitchen to boil water so I could have some oatmeal. Then I packed up my gear and hit the trail, with my headlamp on, sometime before six; I'm guessing about 5:45.

The side trail thast brought me back to the AT is mostly along an old road, so it was fairly easy to follow it even with my weak little LED head-lamp. When I turned off onto the AT and started climbing switchbacks up to Pond Flats it was a little challenging, but it soon started to get light.

By the time I got down to the road, 7 miles into my hike but less than 2 1/2 road miles from where I slept last night, it was about 8:30, the sun was getting warm, and it was nice and calm down by Watauga Lake. I stripped off most of my warm clothes and enjoyed the trail around the end of the lake and eventually across the dam. Then the trail started climbving and I was very warm until I got up on the ridge and the north wind got me in its sights. After this it got colder and colder.

I got here about 3:00PM, amazingly. I'm quite tired, but tomorrow will be a more sane day of less than 16 miles. Someone that was here last night wrote in the shelter register that there was snow this morning. It's still darn cold, and I have been adding more and more layers of clothes since I stopped. I think it will be early to bed tonight just to stay warm. Surprisingl;y, the weather forecast I saw last night says we should be hitting the 70s and 80s by the end of the week. Go figure!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Tuesday, 4/21

AT Miles = 8.7 / 415.3
Other Miles = 1.4 / 19.1
Total Miles = 10.1 / 434.4

When I originally planned my hike I think I had a mail-drop scheduled for the Kincora Hostel, in Dennis Cove, TN. At some point I decided I had too many mail-drops and in an effort to remove some I decided to rely on being able to get a shuttle from Kincora into town to buy food.

It is only about six miles from the Moreland Gap Shelter to the Kincora Hostel, and I arrived there about 10:15 this morning. Bob Peoples run Kincora and asks only for a suggested donation of $4.00 to stay there. He is pretty much a legend on the AT. When I got there he was not home, but I talked to some of the other hikers to try to get the scoop on what was going on and how things worked there. From what I was told Bob offered shuttles into town eratically and you neer knew when he might be ready to go, or exactly where he would take you.

I didn't have enough food to make the next 3 days and 50 miles into Damascus, VA, so I had no choice but to get to town somehow. One hiker told me he had to stay an extra day to get a shuttle to the store. I can't afford an extra day, as it is going to be very tight as it is for me to reach Damascus before the post office closes at 4:30 on Friday afternoon so I can get my bounce bnox and another package that Jodi has mailed to me there.

So, I took a look at my copy of "Appalachian Pages" and saw that if I continued up the AT past Laurel; fork Falls and through Laurel Fork Gorge, there was a side trail in about three miles that would take me one mile to the road just outside of Hampton, TN. The book also told me that there is a grocery store and a hiker hostel in Hampton, so that decided it for me.

The gorge and the falls were beautiful, and in what looked like some kind of divine confirmation of myh decision, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun shone as I picked my way through the gorge and along the river. By noon I was at the side trail, and 20 minutes later I was walkikng down the shoulder of the road into town. My first stop was Brolwn's Grocedry, which is half grocery store and half hardware store, advertising both Mac & Chese and Hog Wire. You need it, Brown's got it!

The couple that own the grocery store also run a hnostel in their home, known as Braemer Castle. I got directions from the cashier at the store and walked 3 minutes up the road. Luckily I caught Sutton (the owner) just as he was about to leave. He brought me inside and showed me around. This place is a great find! The bunkroom, downstairs, is being renovated and thus was closed, but they offer private rooms upstairs for $20 each. So far (3:45PM) I am the only one here. The place is huge, and spotlessly clean. It is an old building and all the floors tilt in one direction or another. The floors are all hardwood. There is a large common afrea, a kitchen, some comfortable chairs and a couch, an old TV with a few VHS movies to watch, and great big windows for lots of light.

I asked Sutton about restaurants, and also if there is a barbershop in town. To my surprise there is. Following his directions I walked west down the main drag through town to Bud's Barbershop. When I got there there was a sign on the door that read:

Nead a haircut? Go to house – Bud

Apparently everyone in town knows where Bud lives, except for me! Dismissing the laircut for the time being, I walked further on down the road until I got to the Copper Kettle RFestaurant, where I had a BLT and fries, followed by some peach cobbler, all accompanied by some sweet tea. I asked one of the guys wortking at the restaurant if he knew what was up with Bud's Barbershop, and he told me that Bud comes and goes as he pleases. Her also noted that Bud has been around pretty much forever, and that Bud used to cut his grandfather's hair.

I walked back and when I passed Bud's I saw that he was now in his shop, so I stopped and got my hair cut and my trimmed a bit, so I don't look quite so much like a homeless person.

While cuting my hair Bud asked me if I liked winter, and told me that it is supposed to get cold and even snow a bit tonight. I knew that already, but played along and told Bud since I was from Bahsten I knew all about snow and it didn't bother me.

I am back at the hostel right now typing this. The wind is getting pretty furious outside, and the whole building is creaking. I've got to go through my food bag and make sure I've bought everything I need for the next three days to Damascus, and at some point I'll venture back out to get some dinner. It will be good to be indoors out of the storm tonight.

DIET AND HOSTELS

So, some folks have nolticed that I spend the night in a hostel once or twice a week, and are wondering why. Well, it's springtime in the mountains, and it is COLD and WET. It rains 4 or 5 days a week. It's windy. It's cold. After being cold and qwet for three or four days, it feels really good to spend a night indolors, take a shower, and get my sleeping bag and other gear dry.

I think Anju was the first to comment on the fact that I am eating a lot of meat nowadays. A lot of you know that I used to be a fairly die-hard vegetarian. I am no longer a vegetarian at home since Joldi and I have found a local farm that raises beef, pork, lamb and chicken all on pasture. That addresses all of the ethical issues that causede me to be a vegetarian. Now,of course, that doesn't help a whit when I am off traveling, and if I were to follow my ethical principles I wouldn't eat meat on this trip, but my body craves it! I am hiking 8 – 9 hours every day, and that takes a huge toll on my body. I need all that protein to repair the damage I do every day. So yes, I fgeel a bit guilty about it, but I am goingf to continue eating meat whenever I get to town and have a chance to do so.

And Ken, when are you going to come out and hike with me?

The next three days are going to be tough. I could do about 22 miles tomorrow to Iron Mountrain, then 16 on Thursday to Abingdon Gap. That would leave me with about 10 miles on Friday into Damascus, so I would be there in plenty of time to get to the post office. 22 miles; ouch!

CupAJoe and Duct Tape are planning to take "the Kincora Challenge" and try to hike the entire 50 miles in 24 hours. Damn kids! I told them if they did it, or even came close, I'd buy them dinner if I ever catch up with them again.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Monday, 4/20

AT Miles = 18.4 / /406.6
Other Miles = 0.3 / 17.7
Total Miles = 18.7 / 424.3

Look! I've passed the 400 mile mark!

Lately whenever I have slept indoors I inevitably wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 am and find it impossible to get back to sleep. Well, not last night. I slept the sleep of the innocent and woke up a few minutes after 7:00. After a quick shower I went downstairs and was greeted by an absolutely huge breakfast. There were only two of us eating breakfast, yet the table was laden with platters and pans of food. Eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy (which I love, by the way), home-made cinnamon rolls, cantaloupe, strawberries, kiwi, some kind of little chocolate cakes with cherries on them, orange juice, coffee, tea, and probably something else I've forgotten. We ate and chatted and ate some more, for about an hour and a half. Finally, I had to break away and go back upstairs and get my gear packed.

It was about 9:30 when I finally set off up the hill back to where the AT crossed the road. The trail had a very different feel today. For now no more big mountains and remote terrain. Today the trail wended its way through semi-rural country. It was a pleasant change, and gave my legs a bit of a rest since there were fewer and easier grades to climb and descend. The day started out warm and humid, and being at a lower elevation spring was further along here. The trail climbed through some old meadows starting to grow back to forest, and the grass was a vibrant green with the first dandelions making an appearance.

Sometime this morning I crossed from Tennessee into North Carolina for the last time. I was back in North Carolina for only a tenth of a mile or so, then it was back into Tennessee where I will stay until I reach Virginia at the end of the week. Goodbye North Carolina. That makes two states down now, with 12 to go.

I reached Mountaineer Shelter about 8 or 9 miles into the day, a few minutes before 1:00. I stopped here to eat lunch since the skies were clouding up and I was hit with a few quick showers. A few minutes after I stopped CupAJoe and Duct Tape showed up, and then OG. CupAJoe and Duct Tape are a young couple from Maine, and we have been hiking on more or less the same schedule since back in the Smokies. OG I met for the first time today. He had been ahead of me but had taken a couple of days off with a friend and had just returned to the trail this morning.

This afternoon the wind picked up and dark clouds started moving in. As I hiked a series of rain showers went over, each a bit heavier and lonmger lasting than the previous. In between the sun did shine, but less and less.

It was a fairly long day at nearly 19 miles, and I didn't reach tonight's destination at the Moreland Gap Shelter until a quarter after five. The sign at the shelter, just like the signs at all the shelters in this area, said the watedr source was 50 yards away. I don't know what they use to measure distance around here, but back home I think this 50 yards would have measured out to at least a quarter of a mile! It took me 15 minutes to walk down to the water, fill my 2 1/2 liter botle, and walk back up to the shslter.

Just about this time CupAJoe, Duct Tape, and OG all showed up. A few minutes later it started to rain, so I waited out the rain under the roof of the shelter, then during a lull I set my hammock up for the night. The temperature was dropping fast and I put on nearly all of my clothes, including both my down liner jacket and my heavy down jacket.

I've been continually sholcked by the amount of litter and graffiti at the shelters hereabouts. I am SO glad I am not sleeping in the shelters. I took a picture of this one so you can see what I'm talking about whenever I get the photos uploaded.

It will be early to bed tonight, due to the cold. More tomorrow…

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

I wrote about the climb up Roan Mountain that I did yesterday. This is a rather poor cell phone photo of the elevation profile for that hike. I started my day where my finger is pointing at the left, and ended atop Roan Mountain where my pen is pointing. The start of the climb, at about mile 14 in my day, is at the second fold you can see in the map. I just thought you might find this a bit interesting, though I realize most of the world's population does not share my fascination with maps.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Sunday, 4/19

AT Miles = 15.7 / 388.2
Other Miles = 0.7 / 17.4
Total Miles = 16.4 / 405.6

It was colder than I expected last night, although the fact that there are still patches of snow on top of Roan Mountain should probably have clued me in. I am a bit slow sometimes. When it is cold I usually add my down jacket to the insulation under my hammock, and I should have done that last night. Still, I was only a little cold and slept well for the most part.

I got up once during the night and the sky was mostly clear with lots of stars visible. When I got up this morning at about 7:00, the sky was mostly cloudy and we could see heavier clouds moving in from the west. I was off a few minutes after 8:00 and around 9:30 it started raining. The last forecast I had heard was last Friday morning when I was in Erwin, and at that time they were calling for lightning storms this morning. (Why do people call them thunder storms when thunder is just noise, and it's the lightning that can kill you?) After coming down off Roan Mountain the trail climbs and series of balds, and eventually follows along a high, bald ridge called the Roan Highlands. The rain was constant but light, so not much of a nuisance, but I was nervously watching and listening for any signs of a lightning storm as this was no place to be during such an event. Fortunately, no lightning ever materialized. I made it down to the road in Applehouse Gap at around 3:00pm, and walked the
third of a mile down the road to the B&B/Hostel. I could have stayed in the hostel for $18, but sleeping in a tightly packed bunkroom with a bunch of other smelly, wet hikers, and being 17th or 18th in line to use the shower, just didn't appeal to me today, so I sprang for ther bucks for one of the B&B rooms instead. The price of my room includes breakfast in the morning, and I hope it's a big, solid breakfast. The innkeeper even drove we to the next town west (in Tennessee) so I cxould get cash at an ATM, then drove me back east into North Carolina and up to a local steak house where I just had dinner. Two passes through the salad bar, a large Sirloin cooked medium, a baked potato, severl glasses of sweet tea (the waitress eventually left ther pitcher on my table), three servings of "Texas toast", and a bowl of peach cobbler. The whole thing, with tip, set me back $21. My B&B host was right, the place isn't much on ambiance, but the steak is good.

I am just under 25 miles from Dennis Cove and the Kincora Hostel, my next planned stop. I could do an 18.8 mile day tomorrow, and have only 6 miles left on Tuesday to get there. That would give me plenty of time to do laundry and stuff if I wanted to. On the other hand, this rain is supposed to end tomorrow morning and I could take my time eating breakfast and get a later start and maybe avoid getting wet. There are some spots with water and camping before the 18 mile mark, and with the nice weather it might be more enjoyable to be hiking than hanging out at a hostel. I'll be in Damascus ("the friendliest town on the AT") by Thursday or, more likely, Friday. I'll probably take a zero there and do laundry, shop for my resupply, and hopefully get computer access and get all my photos processed and uploaded while I'm there.

While hiking today I was thinking that it might be fun to try to photo-document what a "typical" day on the trail is like, and upload the photos as a separate kind of photo-essay to my web server. Does that sound stupid, or might you be interested in such a thing? A day on the trail is really pretty simple, and I'm not sure there's much to tell, but I might be wrong.

Oh, I should hit 400 miles tomorrow! Another milestone.

One more thing. I keep thinking I should add an explanbation for those mileage totals I put at the top of every entry. At the beginning of my hike I decided I wanted to try to keep track of all the non-AT miles I hike, just because I was curious how many miles one actually walked in order to complete a thru-hike, and if it was greatly more than the miles that count as forward progress along the Appalachian Trail itself. So far it looks like there aren't all that many extra miles to walk. My definition of which extra miles to include is somewhat arbitrary, but basically I include any miles intentionally walked with my pack on. So today I walked 0.2 miles down a side-trail to stop at OverMountain Shelter fpor lunch, then 0.2 miles back up the side-trail to the AT. Then at thew end of the day I walked 0.3 miles down to the B&B along the road. I included those 0.3 miles because I walked rather than trying to hitch. When I went into Erwin last Thursday I was trying to hitch with two other
hikers and we ended up walking about a mile before we got a ride, but I didn't count that mile because I wasn't planning to walk it. And, of course, when I am in town I often end up walking all over town to get all my town chores done, but I don't try to include any of those miles. Like I said, the definition is rather arbitrary.

Wow, I am really rambling tonight. It must be all thaqt protein flooding my system. There is microwave popcorn in my room, as well as a refrigerator with cold soda in it, so I think I will settle back and indulge while watching a movie on TV.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Saturday, 4/18

AT Miles = 15.6 / 372.5
Other Miles = 1.5 / 16.7
Total Miles = 17.1 / 389.2

I climbed Roan Mountain today. From Hughes Gap at 4040 feet, the trail climbs to Roan High Knob at 6285 feet in 3.3 miles. The first 1000 feet are gained in about a mile and a half, then once you've warmed up with that little climb the trail gets serious and the next 1000 feet are climbed in a mile. Whew! After that you are more or less at the top and the grade eases up so you can enjoy yourself up high. And to make it even more interesting, I had already hiked about 14 miles just to get to Hughes Gap so I could start this little climb!

It was actually another really fine day of nice hiking. About six miles into the day I came to Greasy Creek Gap and decided to walk down the siz tenths of a mile to the hostel named Greasy Creek Friendly (get it? Friendly versus hostel which almost sounds like hostile) to see if I could get some fresh cooked food. When I got down there a sign on the door asked to "Please knock," so I did. A guy withe the trail name of Shepherd answered and I told him I had heard a rumor that real food was available there. "Well, yes and no," he said. My heart sank, and I asked him if this was a yes day or a no day. He went on to tell me that the woman who ran the place and cooked was away at church, Saturday being the sabbath for Seventh Day Adventists.

I believe I actually whimpered a little bit, and told Shepherd he was breaking my heart. Being a former thru-hiker he understood. Not all was lost as there at least were some microwaveable entrees in the freezer and I availed myself of a few of them, along with a couple of cups of tea, while I was there. Not the fat juicy cheeseburger and crisp fresh salad I was craving, but at least my detour wasn't for nothing, though I did question the wisdom of the extra 1.2 miles while I was plodding up Roam Mountain at the end of the day.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com

Friday, 4/17

AT Miles = 17.0 / 356.9
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 17.0 / 372.1

The weather today is exactly what you woulkd envision if you were to imagine a splendid spring day on the AT. The sky was blue, the sun was warm with just a slight breeze, and the views from the top of Beauty Spot were fantastic.

I started the day a bit melancholy and homesick, and I decided that with the great weather I would not set a goal for the day but rather simply walk at a comfortable pace, stop whenever I felt like it, and get as far as I get.

I spent almost two hours at Beauty Spot, eating lunch, enjoying the views, and even nearly falling asleep. I would have slept except that a little gust if wind came up and blew my hat off my face, and the sun was bothersome enough in my eyes that I had to get up and retrieve my hat.

While I was lying there in a near stupor I decided that I was going to have a super lazy day and hike the half mile down to Beauty Spot Gap, hang my hammock in some nice sunny place, and spend my afternoon lazing in the hammock reading "Cannery Row." Alas, the best laid plans and all that. When I got dowsn to the Gap I saw that the spring and camping area was directly next to a road. Camping next to a road is bad policy in general, and especially on a Friday night, so I switched to Plan B and hiked the six or so miles on to here; Cherry Gap Shelter.

I dealt with the homesickness pretty well and it didn't take over my day, but it does worry me. This is the thing that I think is most likely to cause me to abandon my hike, and the hike really is important to me (though I am not sure exactly why), so I don't want that to happen.

I imagine this separation is even harder on Jodi than it is on me. She is going to work every day and coming home to an empty house every night. I at least am off on some sort of pseudo-adventure, and experiencing a new place every day.

While I was hiking today I was thinking how great it would be if my car was parked at the end of the dasy and I could hop in and drive home and take a shower, then eat dinner with Jodi, sit on the couch with her leaning against me watching an episode of Deadwood, then go to bed and sleep with her in my arms. Instead, I ate some instant potatoe with slices of summer sausage in it, and will sleep in my hammock all alone.

There is a hostel a few miles north of here and some southbound hikers told me they stopped there at lunch time today and the woman that runs the hostel made sandwiches and burgers and such for them. That sounds like a great idea and I think it is highly likely I will stop there tomorrow. A big greasy cheeseburger sure sounds more appetizing than a tortilla with Nutella, doesn't it?

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Thursday, 4/16

AT Miles = b6.3 / 339.9
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 6.3 / 355.1

Shoot! Technology is not being my friend today. I had typed up an entry for today and when sending it my phone reset and I lost the whole thing. I am not patient enough to do it all over again.

I got into town today, and spent most of the day walking all over town doing my town chores. Because of issues with computers both at the library and here at the motel, I have not been able to upload my photos.

The weather turned nice and sunny today, and promises to hold that pattern for a few days, so I am looking forward to getting back on the trail tomorrow.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Wednesday, 4/15

AT Miles = 20.7 / 333.6
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 20.7 / 348.8

I had a terrible night last night. It was cold and damp and windy, and
I spent most of the night lying in my sleeping bag just on the wrong
side of the cold/warm line. I changed into dry socks before going to
bed, and by morning the dry socks were actually damp from all the
dampness in my sleeping bag.

When I got up this morning I was tired, cold, and wet, and tired of
being tired, cold, and wet. The temperature was hovering just around
freezing, and by the time I had packed all of my gear my hands were
numb with cold. I struggled through heating water and making oatmeal
for breakfast, then took off all of my supposedly warm clothes, put on
my already wet rain/wind jacket, and hit the trail. I hiked furiously
to try to generate some heat, and in about half an hour I could feel
my hands finally starting to warm up. Another half hour and the
thermostat finally opened; I felt the warmth flooding my fingers and
toes. Whew!

It was another day of hiking in the cloud, with visibility just a
couple of dozen feet. The day's goal was No Business Knob Shelter, 20
miles away, but I had this plan hatching in my warmth seeking brain
that if I could pull off a 27 mile day I could gorge myself on bacon
cheeseburgers at the Sonic in Erwin, and sleep in a warm, dry, motel
room. I kind of pushed that idea to the back of my mind and
concentrated on goal number one, the ten miles to Bald Mountain
Shelter. I climbed a lot this morning, eventually making it to the
summit of Bald Mountain. I'll have to take it on faith that Bald
Mountain is bald. I couldn't see anything when I was up there. The
wind blew, the fog engulfed me, and it was cold enough that the fog
actually condensed and froze on my glasses so that my visibility was
even further reduced. All I could see was the rut worn by previous
hikers in the grass of the bald, and every minute or so I would pass a
post with a white blaze on it, confirming that I hadn't wandered off
the trail.

I finally reached Bald Mountain Shelter at 12:30; four hours after I
started hiking. I sat there for about half an hour eating my lunch and
drinking water. My Nutella was frozen so that I couldn't even get it
out of the jar with my spoon, so I ate a couple of English Muffins
with nothing on them and some handfuls of GORP. By the end of the 30
minutes I sat there I was bitterly cold again, so I set off hiking
fast once again to generate some heat.

The terrain after lunch was a bit more downhill than up, but much of
the downhill was slick with mud so I couldn't make very good time on
it. I thought a lot about it and decided that if I could make it to No
Business Knob Shelter by 4:30, then I would have enough time left to
make it the further 7 miles to the road into Erwin. Now I just put my
head down and hiked as hard as I could. Around 3:00pm I was thinking
that I was doing great and should have had about 3 miles left, when I
came out on a road, crossed the road back into the woods, and was
confronted with a sign declaring that No Business Knob Shelter was 4.6
miles away. Sigh.

Still, I pushed as hard as I could in the hope that I could somehow
get there by 4:30. 4:30 came and went and no shelter, and around 4:50
I finally made it up the last little rise and arrived at the shelter.
Not only was I out of time to go any further, but I had to admit that
I was out of gas, and there was no way I could hike another 7 miles
today.

The shelter was already full with hikers that had come from the last
shelter 10 miles back. At 5:00pm they were all already snuggled down
in their sleeping bags. I set up my hammock out in back of the
shelter, and as more hikers came in everyone found the best site they
could and pitched their tents.

A bit of a disappointing day, but all things in balance I think I
should be reasonably comfortable tonight. We are down lower then last
night and while it is still overcast it is not foggy here so I should
stay drier overnight. From here it is only 6.9 miles to Erwin. I could
stay at the hostel right next to the AT, but I think I ma going to try
to get into town and get a room at the Super 8. Then I'll go downtown
and get that bacon cheeseburger at Sonic, go to the library to upload
my photos, walk down to the supermarket, then to the post office to
pick up my bounce box.

This is the third day of wet weather, but the sun is supposed to show
itself tomorrow. Hopefully it will stay sunny for a couple of days and
I can get out of town on Friday with the sun in my face. That would be
nice.

—
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Tuesday, 4/14

AT Miles = 14.7 / 312.9
Other Miles = 0 / 15.2
Total Miles = 14.7 / 328.1

The wind died down last night, but the fog rolled in heavy and the saturated air blowing through my hammock made everything damp. I even forgot to change my socks before going to bed and I told myself the damp socks would dry from my body heat in the sleeping bag but it never happened.

It rained for a while this morning, then while I was stopped for lunch the sun almost showed itself. Later in the afternoon there was some more heavy rain, and by the time I arrived here at the shelter the fog had rolled in. I guess it's another damp night!

A couple of miles into today's hike I reached the 300 mile mark, at the summit of Big Butt Mountain. There is a spring near the summit, but I didn't think drinking the water that came out of Big Butt was very appetizing.

Not a whole lot to write tonight. It seemed like a super long 14 miles and I thought maybe I hadn't eaten right and was overly tired, but other hikers have said the same thing so I guess it was just the tough climbs this afternoon.

I am thinking of knocking off 20 miles tomorrow, which would leave me with about 6 miles into Erwin on Thursday. That should get me into town early enough to do all my town chore without having to stay two nights. We'll have to wait and see how that works out.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Monday, 4/13

AT Miles = 15.4 / 298.2
Other Miles = 0.3 / 15.2
Total Miles = 15.7 / 313.4

POWER

Wow! The wind increased all night and about 5:30 this morning I woke up to the hammock bouncing up and down. It had been dead calm when I set up the hammock in the afternoon, but now I was on top of the ridge with the hammock set up broadside to a gale. The windward side of the tarp was actinbg like a sail and catching lots of wind, deflecting it downward toward the ground. Since the tarp is above the hammock, it was actually pushing the hammock down, and when strong gusts hit I could feel my butt hitting the ground. Meanwhile, the leeward side of the tarp was luffing loudly. I was afraid that either the tarp would fail and tear under the strain, or the peg anchoring the tarp would let go and then the tarp woiulkkd get torn to shreds in the wind. When it was just light enopugh to see about 6:30, I got up and packed up my gear, made breakfast, and was walking by 7:30.

When I got to the road crossinbg of NC 208, in Allen Gap, there was a sign for trail magic at a nearby house. I hesitated for a moment, then decided to go for it. When I got to the house the two couples I have been hiking with were there, and I was invited in by Hercules and Fal, who thru-hiked in '99. They served first a huge breakfast plate of Belgian waffles, bacon and eggs and tea, then immediately followed it with a lunch plate of corn chowder and a burrito. I topped it all off with a dessert of cherry pound cake with ice cream. In between courses I snacked on a half dozen slices of coffee cake and drank two pots of tea.

At the end of the meal their ulterior motive was revealed when they discussed the religious faith and offered a selection of books, b ut they weren't pushy about it and I didn't find it offensive.

After that wonderful meal it was back on the trail and the wind was still picking up! I wish I had a tape recorder so I could have taped the roar of the wind coming up and over the ridge the trail is on. At one point I came to a trail sign labelled "Exposed Ridge Trail", and below it, pointing another way, "Bad Weather Trail." I chose the exposed ridge, and it was quite an experience. Occasionally a bit frightening, but mostly wildly exhiliarating. What a day! So much power loose in the atmosphere here today. Some may need a god to find power, but the wind is enough for me.

The wind is still roaring and the fog has rolled in. I found a spot that is more or less sheltered behind some rhododendron to hang my hammock, and I hope tonight is a bit more restful than last night.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Sunday, 4/12

AT Miles = 11.0 / 282.8
Other Miles = 0.2 / 14.9
Total Miles = 11.2 / 297.7

EASTER CANDY

Most of the crew of hikers I have been with lately, left Hot Springs this morning. We had a nice breakfast at Elmer's, then headed through town, aqcross the French Broad River on the road bridge, hopped over the guard rail and headsed out along the river. It was a perfect Easter Sunday; warm and sunny and calm. The trail climbed steeply up the hill and gave us some great views back to Hot Springs nestled in its valley. A few miles into the hike the trail crossed a forest service road and there were three women wearing rabbit ears on their heads giving apples and Easter candy to all the hikers.

I had only 11 milkes to cover today so took it easy and enjoyed the fine weather. I took the side trail to the Rich Mountain Fire tower and a few minutes later Sir Richard showed up and we spent at least an hour up on the tower enjoying the views, eating lunch, and chatting about this and that.

We hiked the rest of the afternoon together and arrived at Spring Mountain Shelter in mid-[afternoon. The shelter is an old one and was not at all inviting, but there was a nice spot up on the ridge where Sir Richard set up his tent and I hung my hammock.

After dinner we spent some time chatting with some locals that were there camping for the weekend, and we shared their campfire.

A really nice, relaxing day.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

I bought a copy of Abbey's "Down The River" at the outfitter's this morning, and have spent a good part of the day sprawled out on my bed reading it. It's been a long time since I've read any Abbey — the bastard went and died, and therefore isn't writing any new books — and it is good to hear his voice again.

I really wanted to re-read "The Monkeywrench Gang", but the edition they had was too big and heavy to justify carrying in my pack.

I will now actually be carrying two books, in sharp violation of all principles of ultralight hiking, as I am also reading a copy of Steinbeck's "Cannery Row." Somehow I managed to get through high school without ever reading it.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Friday, 4/10 and Saturday, 4/11

AT Miles = 3.2 / 271.8
Other Miles = 0 / 14.7
Total Miles = 3.2 / 286.5

Thursday evening was wonderful; warm, calm, and relaxing. There were 5 or 6 of us sleeping in or camped around the shelter, and we passed a relaxing evening cooking, eating, and chatting around a small campfire.

The forecast called for thunder and lightning storms on Friday morning and when I went to bed I expected to wake up to rain, but when I woke up on Friday morning the sky was clear and the temps had remained mild all night.

I wasted no time in packing my gear and heating water for a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal. The walk down into Hot Springs was lovely and passed quickly, and I and Sir Richard arrived at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn a few minutes before 9:00. Elmer put our names on the waiting list and told us to come back at 11:00 to see if we would get a room or not, then we went across the street to the diner and had a huge breakfast. A few minutes after we entered the diner the sjky exploded in a huge lightning storm.

I barely managed to finish my breakfast, then we killed some time until it was time to head back to Elmer's. For a bit it looked like there wouldn't be enough vacancies for us to get in, but a couple of other hikers who were on the list ahead of us decided on other plans so that opened up enough slots for everyone on the list to get in.

Elmer's is an amazing place. It is one of the oldest houses in Hot Springs, and in most places it would be an expensive B&B, but Elnmer likes hikers and for long-distance hikers he charges only $20 per night. He also offers a 4 or 5 course home-made gourmet vegetarian dinner for $10. I opted for the dinner last night and it was right up there with many of the best meals I've had. Dinner lasted well over two hours accompanied by much conversation, and when I finally pushed back from the table I'm afraid I had overstuffed myself.

It is about noon on Saturday as I write this. I slept great last night and am spending a very lazy day today. I repacked my bounce box and sent it off to Erwin, TN (my next town stop) at the post office this morning, then made a list of the few food items I still needed for the next 5-dasy leg, and went shopping at the Dollar Generasl, the Hillbilly Grocery, and Bluff Mountain Outfitters. I also bought a new line and stuff/throw sack to replace the bear-bagging line I lost tangled in the trees way back at Brown Fork Gap.

My big disappointment here is the the library is closed for the holiday weekend and the only public internet access is one computer at the outfitters. There is a constant line of hikers waiting to use that computer so I couldn't take the time to upload my photos. That process usually takes an hour to an hour and a half. It goes something like this:

– I log onto the Windoiws Home Server (WHS) computer at home via Internet Explorer, then create a new subdirectory in the Photos shared folder to whicvh I upload the photos on the camera's SD card using an SD to USB adapter.

– Once the photos are uploaded, which can take a while over a slow internet connection, I connect to my web server box via Remote Desktop Connection through the WHS box.

– I have Picasa photo editing software installed on the web server and configured to reference the Photo folder on the WHS box, and I use this to crop, rotate, and otherwise prepare the photos for publishing.

– Once I've finished with Picasa I copy the edited photos from the folkder on the WHS box to a temporary folder on the web server.

– Finally, I start a browser session on the local computer I am working from, log into the photo gallery software on my web server, create a new gallery for the new photos, and upload them from the server directory I previously copied the edited photos into.

– All that's left now is to clean up. I delete the photos from the temporary directory on the web server. I also delete the photos from the SD card before putting it back into the camera. Then I create a blog entry to let you all know the new photos are available for viewing.

So, that's what I wanted to do thoday, but I am not going to be able to. Hopefully I will get ample internet access when I get to Erwin, probably on Thursday.

I did manage to log on to the network at home long enough to get the web server running again, since it had died. That happens sometimes, for no explicable reason. I also logged intoJodi's computer and tried to troubleshoot some problems she's been having with Firefox crashing on her, with only minimal success.

Jodi is actually flying to Memphis today for work. We'll actually be in the same state for much of this week, though still pretty far apart and we won't be able to see each other. 🙁

In addition to folod I picked up a copy of Abbey's "Down The River" while I was at the outfitter's this morning, and I'll enjoy reading that in the evenings while hanging in my hammock. Oh, I sent my Thermarest forward in my bolunce box, so I am back to being dedicated to the hammock every night.

Here's hoping everybody has a pleasant weekend, and Happy Easter to those that celebrate it.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Thursday, 4/9

AT Miles = 14.8 / 268.6
Other Miles = 0.5 / 14.7
Total Miles = 15.3 / 283.3

Another great day! It was cold as I left camp this morning but it warmed up quickly and by mid-morning I was down to shorts and a T-Shirt. Up high there is still plenty of snow on the ground and being slushy it made the footing difficult, but just before lunch time I lost a lot of altitude and suddenly was back into spring. The trail was dry and the forest had that dry, dusty feel in the nose that comes in late spring. I stopped for lunch where the trail crossed an old road that was grassy and warm and dry. After lunch it was a gorgeous, comfortable walk for a few more miles until arriving here atg the shelter. It is situated on a little knoll covered with mostly evergreens. The two couples in our little hiking group have pushed on into town, and there are five of us here for the night. It is a pleasant, warm night and we are sitting around the campfire while the conversation roams far and wide.

We are only 3.2 miles from Hot Springs, where the trail goes right down the main street through town. I intend to stay there for two nights, and head out of town on Sunday morning. It's been almost two weeks since my last day off and I really need a rest. The people I am hiking with are almost all half my age, and I don't recover quite as quickly as they do!

Sweet dreams to all…

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

Wednesday, 4/8

AT Miles = 15.4 / 253.8
Other Miles = 0.4 / 14.2
Total Miles = 15.8 / 268.0

Glory! What a fantastic day!

After spending the last few days in close company with the group I've been hiking with — close quarters because of all the snow and wind and cold, while we watched out for each other — and them the close quarters in the hostel last night, I've been feelinbg a bit overwhelmed with human company and in need of some personal space. When I woke up this morning I settled for a cold breakfast and packed quickly and headed back out onto the trail.

It was a glorious day; sharply cold, deep blue sky, sunshine, snow on the ground. The kind of day to make you feel good to be alive.

I ended up spending the whole day hiking alone, and it was just what the doctor ordered. The high point of the day, literally, was Max Patch. It was so windy up on the bald top of Max Patch that I literally had trouble walking in a straight line.

Once I reached the shelter for the night, the other hikers I've been with all showed up and we had our usual pleasant evening of food porn and other conversations.

I thionk this was the best day I've had on the trail so far!

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

So, a couple days ago I passed the 200 mile mark, and the day after
that I passed the 10% mark (2178 * 10% = 217.8). Ten percent. It
doesn't seem like much, does it? It is still much too daunting to
think about the whole 2178.3 miles as a whole. I concentrate on much
more immediate goals. For example, my current goal is the 33 or so
miles from here to Hot Springs. Now that is something I can deal with
on a daily basis.

There is a fair amount of discussion on the trail about how to hike
the trail. Not the mechanics of hiking, but rather the attitude with
which one does his or her hike. The main tension seems to be between
relaxing and enjoying the hike for itself, vs focusing on covering the
entire distance, and thus getting consumed by reaching goals. I've
thought about this quite a bit, both before my hike started and
especially while hiking. I think both are necessary. Certainly, I want
to enjoy the hiking and the views and the people I meet. But there is
also a physical challenge involved in this, and to ignore that would,
for me, bne just as wrong as focusing on it too intensely. A large
part of my goal in doing this is IS simply to see if I can walk 2000
miles in six months or so.

Well, enough musings for this morning. It's a beautiful, clear
morning, though a bit cold. I've got to get my gear packed and get
back out there on the trail. I expect I'll upload photos when I get to
Hot Springs, so you can expect them Friday or Saturday.

—
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Tuesday, 4/7

AT Miles = 10.4 / 238.4
Other Miles = 0.1 / 13.7
Total Miles = 10.5 /252.2

It had snowed all night and there was about 5" or 6" of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing. It was gorgeous out, but cold. As you can maybe imagine, 17 people trying to cook breakfast and pack up their gear all inside a trail shelter would be utter chaos. We thought we would just stay on our sleeping bags and wait while the others got their stuff together and left, but it soon became apparent they would be going nowhere very soon, as they all seemed to be fgussing about with coffee and putzing around with their gear. So finally I got up and retrieved all of our food bags from the bear cables, and we all ate a quick breakfast of whatever cold foods we had, packed up our gear, and headed out for a hopefully quick 10 mile hike down to the hostel.

It was a beautiful day to hike through the snow. Yup. Spring-time in the Smokies! We arrived here at the hostel around 1:00pm or so. It is a rather unique place. We are all sitting in the bunkhoused arrayeds around the wood stove. Everything here is on the homor system. You pick up an envelope and write down everything you take or use; $15 for a bunk. $10 if you get a pizza, $0.75 for a sodas, and on and on. When you leave you put your money in the envelope and drop it in a box.

Tomorrow we will head out again. The plan is to hike most of the way to Hot Spring over the next two days, camp about 3 miles outside of town on Thursday night, then make it into town early on Friday morning, in time for breakfast in the morning. The trail actually goesd right through toen. I plan to take a zero day there, so will get a room for Friday and Saturday nights, then head back out on Sunday.

Rigth now it is still snolwing, but the weather is supposed to moderate and it should be reasonably warm and drier the next few days.

Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com