3-11-12

11.6 miles today. Spending the night at Cold Spring shelter. small ? group ?, some are asleep, its 7:50pm. About an hour after we started walking, two men were doing trail magic, cooking hot dogs and chilli, with beer or soda. It was great! Chatted with them for a bit, met Andy from Switzerland, he's FAST. The time change messed w/us, Victor has never heard of such a thing. GREAT weather today. I seem to have gotten a little sun, my face feels hot. Experienced a stone loukout tower today too and had lunch at the top. I need to sharpen my pencil, I keep putting it off. Daylight is fading and I'm not getting out my light so.....bedtime

3-10-12

Today starded out COLD. The condensation inside my tarp was frozen, and there was a half inch thick layer of ice in Ryons water bag. Had some dampness on the foot of my sleeping bag, but it seems to have dried up. We came across our first trail magic today. BROWNIES! a good tub full of them with a letter and journal from the trail angel that left them. There were a few road crossings today with trash cans and parking lots, so I got to get rid of some bulky stuff. We ran into gorge lightning a few times and it eventually left us behind. A lot of uphill today and my knee feels great! We made it to the 10 mile, to site Bald shelter and a sure nice group of section hikers made room for us, gave us some extra food and even made us a (hot cider and rum) great group here, bright awesome fire, they even let me use a sling shot to try and hunt a shelter mouse. I will guard my fallen food bag. Shouldn't be as cold as last night, but still chilly in the 30's. Made a few phone calls today, finally got service NOC in 2.5 days.(?)

3-9-12

Last night surprised us with a heavy rainstorm, and in my tarp was getting misted by splater. Woke up relatively dry. Made cinamon oatmeal with a crushed up pop-tart mixed in for breakfast, then we were on our way. NC trail is very rocky and very fun, parts of it we were actually climbing, thats how steep they were. Made it to the 100 mile mark and took pictures on our first fire tower, too bad it was locked. We wanted to sleep in the 2nd shelter after that, but there was no sign, and no blazes for the side trail, so all 3 of us walked passed it.We are currently camped out next to a river in between 2 mountains, meaning all of the cold air is pooling here, it was 34o when we were by the fire, and the temp is still dropping. Good weather otherwise tonight. Oh, and my tarp site is FAR from level.

3-8-12

Woke up to rain in my tarp throughout the night, got up and moving around 7:30am a little late due to weather and lack of sun. The first mile of trail to NC was BRUTAL, huge climb w/no switchbuchs. After that the trail itself was very scenic. Bright green moss growing over rocks and downed trees, but a very steep, rocky trail all day. The rocks hurt even through my boots my feet end every day sore but they feel better by morning each time so here's to YOV; feet.
Currently camping at Beeck Gap. 12.1 miles today, keep this up and we might hit the NOC a day ahead of schedule.
When we took our first break at the shelter....Aslon went to, the food bag from yesterday was still full and hanging from the ceiling. So we each ate some of it and decided to take some extra to supplement what we have. At the rate we are going we might not need to supply at the NOC.
Tomorrow is another big milestone day, we'll hit 100 miles. How crazy to think I've come this far already, and I still have 20 times as much to go. Tomorrow looks like a relatively easy 10-11 miles and I am super relaxed after a nice Are, so i'm going to sleep. it's 9:00pm.
Tonight also marks the first night I'm sleeping with my food-bears be dumned. And I also managed to get the thorn from the bush out of my eyelid.

3-7-12

The night before last we spent at Deep Gap shelter. Another cold one but not nearly as windy. I knew we needed an early start for any chance of making it to Hiawassee to get more food. Got up at 6:30am and had a cold breakfast and started walking. Decided to wrap a bandana around my knee as a makeshift Ace bandage it worked out pretty well. Had great weather and pretty much all downhill trails into Dicks Creek Gap where while we were hitchiking Birdman's mom offerd us homemade brownies and a ride into town. Stopped at Blueberry Patch hotel while Ryan got his maildrop, Victor and I raided the hiker  box. FREE FOOD!! I got some instant rice dinners, ramen, and an unopened jar of Peanut butter! how awesome! on our way into town, rolled up to the Hiawassee budget Inn, and got a room for $50.00 split between the 3 of us was about $17.00 each, not bad, but if Haawassee wasn't 11 milles off trail I would'nt have stayed.While checking in I saw another hiker box and got breakfast for a week,, snack boxes and tortilla rolls. Only have to buy a few things when we walked to Igles to buy food.Found an outfitter that sold fuel for a donation and we all filled up our bottles there. After dropping our groceries back off at the room we hit our first buffet at Daniel's Steakhouse. Much to my dismay it was only fried chicken and pork chops with country style sides, never the less we still did work on that place, but for $8.00 I definitely enjoyed it. On the way back to the hotel we ran into ASLON! the guy who disappeared in the middle of the night a few nights ago.
Today we caught a 9:00am shuttle back to the trail and made it to the GA-NC border. The trail was almot entirely uphill and very scenic, a little foggy and threats of rain but none came through. Around 2:45pm we reached the first state line and had a little celebration. A mile or 2 before that we ran across a food box with 3-4 days of supplies in it, so I carried it into camp case anyone came looting.After getting the tarps set up and a fire going, here comes Aslon walking on the trail. We released the food bag to him as he was going to the next shelter and we are camped pretty much at the border. Ryan got a trail(?) today he will be going by Achilles due to his hurt tendon. I'm stil yet to(?) one. It's pretty breezy tonight but at least this campsite is flat....ish.

3-5-12

Took another relatively easy day today, a little over 8 miles. No one slept much last night., winds were HOWLING pretty much all night,  had to be around 70 mph., the walls of the shelter were shaking, and it was cold mid 20's. The wind was hirling dirt on our fires all night. Easy miles today, took them slow. 2 big hills today, over 1400' each way, each one. Stopped at the gap between them to make a call. Currently sitting at Tray mountain shelter. Its 28o and breezy, small fire outside but we are turning in early (7:30 pm) to get ready for a big push tomorrow. 11 miles to Hiawassee (?) hitch in, resupply, and hitch out all before sunset. Good luck to us. So we'll be up at 6am. Speaking of being up early, Aslon got up at 2am last night and left without telling anyone where he was headed or why he was leaving, still havn't heard from him. Good trail today, saw some volunteers rerouting part of it. Much appreciated. Knee is feeling better but still not 100%, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

3-4-12

Blue Mountain shelter tonight. Last night we stayed at Deep Gap and camped out. We ended up pushing for a 13 mile day yesterday and my left knee paid for it, it's manageable if I go slow. All of this meant rolling into a full shelter, which in turn meant setting up the tarp,...On a 20 degree night and it was windy very windy. Met a couple next door(?) named Foster and Skittles who had a fire going and we ate with them after setting up camp. Woke up to what I thought was Ryand flashlight outside of my tarp, but it was a really bright half moon. Woke up this morning to an icy covered ground cloth. Ate breakfast with  Foster and Skittle then headed out for our short day. What a day! temperature never got above 34 degrees and the only times we had in the 40mph winds was when we were on to low side of a hill. It was cold enough to freeze the water in the ground and force it up into ice formations. Tonight's shelter is full, Ryan, "birdman", Victor, Eric, 2 others and myself. (?)sitting at 30o after a tiny snow flury earlier, we have a fire going, and I'm all layered up. Warming up my stove fuel inside my jacket pocket so it will burn and I can cook. Had to break down an almost fallen tree for firewood. Should be a good night and into Hiawassee the day after tomorrow. In good spirits and injuries are minimal. Tonights elavation is 3900 feeet.