Together again - Day, LAST

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013

Damascus

Oct.  28- found Judd in Damascus, Virginia!!!

As my Susan friend says:

Yeayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!

Finally Melanies blog and Judd and Melanies excellent adventure combines!!!!!

Stories to follow.

Oct 27, 2013

Last shelter last day to hike 10 miles into Damascus. When I hiked into the shelter around dark there was a great big white tail buck standing in the shadows. This will be nice I thought, no one is here. Unlike the shelter I left 6 miles back. About a dozen boys outs had shown up. It was going to be a busy night there.
In the morning Back at Thomas knob shelter every bit of water was frozen solid, boots were dozen solid and even my crocks were trying to convince me they were frozen solid. It was a cold transition to pack up and get on the trail. It took about 4 miles and 1000 feet elevation for my toes to start aching. I wasn't positive but I told myself that was a good sign of warming up.
There were a few detours on the trail due to washouts and towards the end the AT joins the Creeper Trail for half a mile or so. The creeper trail is a flat multi use trail that people usually ride bikes on. There's probably a dozen bike rental places in town and all told there is a fleet of more than 100'vans in town each with a trailer that will hold about 20 bikes . They haul people up hill about 20 miles and they ride into town on this creeper trail. The "tour" companies usually have about two trips a day. The place is crawling with bicycles. But this is the last weekend. They roll up the carpets after this weekend. Halloween parties usually close the season.
As I'm coming into town I run into Oklawaha Mike walking Shelby. He's got a lead on a couple part time jobs in town and he's planning on holing up for the winter and getting an early start in the spring in his effort to summit Katahdin before June. I went back to the Hikers Inn and gave my host my laundry. This hostel not only has sheets and blankets it also has scrubs in all sizes you are welcome to borrow while you get your laundry done. Our host Paul was a thru hiker and has even got friends inAugusta ME (he said he was running on the rail trail 6 weeks ago!) he gets it that you can't was everything if all you have to wear is your sleeping bag.
I listen to Dracula for part of the day-what a great story and what a great movie someone could make if they stuck to the true plot line. After ATale of Two Cities i started listening to Alan Quartermain sort of a B Indiana Jones and I couldn't get through it. But Dracula is a darn good story.
Melanie is due tomorrow!
41° Sunny
Jefferson National Forest, Damascus, VA, United States

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Oct 26, 2013

Gypsy Dave, who have me the lift to fox creek to do this 500 mile thing, a thru hiker from a couple years ago who came back to Damascus and never left, told me his only advice to hiking was to "hike relax" that's as good as "hike your own hike"
-81.5417°, 36.6533°

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Last one? from Oct 25, 2013

The wind is howling and the hoar frost is decorating all the trees and brush like I have never seen. The mountain Ash berries are particularly photogenic. I keep stopping to stare but I have to get to Thomas knob shelter. When I do get there there is a humongous fire and about 25 people. Most of them there because they didn't believe it could possibly be as cold as it is. 28 miles from here to Damascus and this is where that fellow that blew into the hostel hiked from. Bound and determined not to spend another night in the cold. There were three or four tents set up and only about 8 of us in the shelter. A group of 10 women came in from Ohio for this hike. Half were in tents and half were on the second floor of the shelter. I was on the bottom with a couple of fellows from NC. They were all set up figuring how to sleep with boots and water inside their 40det bags.. The first thing I did, which hadn't occurred to any one was to string up the unofficial blue tarp that was there across the shelter opening with one corner held by a sliding rock that let people get in and out. No Hellas I froze my fingers, no comments… These people don't get what cold is. I had brought a dozen chemical hand Warner's and sprinkled them librly in my sleeping bag got my long johns on, warm socks hat and gloves and I figured I was going to be ok in my 12deg bag. The feeder tube to my water bladder in my pack had frozen solid 4 miles back. Before I went to bed I filled the pot for my jet boil and put the rest under my hear for a pillow. Maybe the whole thing won't freeze solid. There was a trickle of a spring down the hill but my purification drops had frozen long ago. I did have some iodine pills if I really wanted to get more water. I'm thinking in 10 miles tomorrow I can lower my elevation by 2000 ft and this will all just be a cold memory. I put my wet socks in my bag and the jet boil canister in my bag. The propane/butane mixture works less and less the higher you get and the colder it gets. Also I think it has something to do with the partial pressures of each but the propane (or maybe it's the butane) will selectively burn off and you really begin to loose efficiencies. At supper time the thing barely sputtered and I thought I was going to eat my teriyaki Knorr side laced with a package of tuna packed in olive oil cold. Reminiscent of eating frozen sardines on a fateful trip to the White Mountains about 40 plus years ago. So the canister slept with me, my boots, damp as they were did not. At midnight I tossed a hand warmer in each one and wrapped them in my insulated jacket. Hopefully it will at least ward off having to put on blister inducing frozen boots in the morning It was cold that night wicked cold.
-81.5159°, 36.6457°

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Two views of Oct 25-27

Oh, there they are. Hiking over more balds. No one can really explain how these mountain tops are bald but just to keep the status quo these ponies are allowed to roam wild. They eat what would become the natural progression of reforestation.
-81.5092°, 36.6392°

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and 

Sent from my (Melanie's) Macbook Pro:   
On Oct 25 I left Liberty, Maine after Yoga Camp and drove to Boston to visit a friend. On Oct 26, I drove to Brooklyn to visit another friend and this evening I made it to Woodstock, Virginia....after a 1.5+ hour delay on Pennsylvania Hwy 78-W due to a jack-knifed tractor trailer.   
DESTINATION:  Judd rendez-vous tomorrow in Damascus, VA

Standstill traffic for over an hour on 78 W - Pennsylvania

More SNOW on Oct 25, 2013

5000 feet and more snow. This is so cool! I mean COLD! The wind chill must put it well below 20deg. I'm going to be taking more pictures with my camera as my fingers need to stay in my gloves and not be tapping any iPhone screen. I'm warm while I hike but it's going to be cold when I stop.
This picture is a cattle gate the longish bovines can't make the sharp corner of the gate to escape. Maybe it to keep the wild ponies in. There's a herd up here that are rounded up each year and checked over by a vet. They are wild tho and this is where they live. When I saw them even they looked cold. The scenery all covered with snow is incredible. Views like the smokies but with snow and wind
-81.501°, 36.6762°

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Day One Entry: Oct 25, 2013

Mixed snow and sleet that's the forecast . The next couple days will be a bit of a challenge I am getting a ride to Fox cCeek and will make my way back to Damascus. Quicker if it's cold slower if it's warm
34° Mist and Fog
278–498 E Bank Ave, Damascus, VA, United States

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Oct 25, 2013

Mixed snow and sleet that's the forecast . The next coupe days will be a bit of a challenge I am getting a ride to Fox creek and will make my way back to Damascus. Quicker if it's cold slower if it's warm
34° Mist and Fog
278–498 E Bank Ave, Damascus, VA, United States

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Oct 24, 2013

Zero day inDamascus. And resupply. Resupply? You say? Well yes Melanie isn't due in here until Monday so I have a few more days to hike. Tomorrow I'll take a shuttle north to Fox Creek VA. That's mile 507.6 from Springer. So yes this last little bit, although it is SOBO will put me over the 500 mile mark. Weeee! I did get a pair of wool gloves at a local shop and I think I'm good for as cold as it could get.
A SOBO just blew into the hostel. He did a 28 mile day so he could get warm. The snow and frost were a bit much for him. That's where I'm headed. If the weather is cold I'll spend as much time hiking as I can and be back in a couple days. If it warms up I can slow down and take my time. Either way I'll end up in Damascus. I have already located the barber. I could use a shave and a haircut.
46° Rain
278–498 E Bank Ave, Damascus, VA, United States

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More of Oct. 23: 2013

These are 10/23 events!
Good bye Tennessee hello Virginia. Damascus is just 3.5 miles away and it ain't dark yet!. Oh and the picture of me under the welcome to Damascus sign is on my camera so it will have to wait until I can get to a computer to post. The reason being that you have to take off your glove to use the touch pad on my phone and no one needs to do that to already cold fingers.
48° Cloudy
United States

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Later on Oct 23, 2013

We decide in this discontinued shelter at 2:18 that we are going to push through the 11.8 miles to Damascus and sleep in a heated bunk room tonight. We have reached the conlusion that the warmest place to be is stomping along the trail. I'm still hiking in shorts but I'll keep my jacket and gloves and fleece hat on all day.! The wind is blowing still and everyso often we get a brief wetting with sleet. The trail is generally down hill and very well worn we average better than 3 miles per hour. We realize in Damascus that it would be a twenty mile day under any other circumstances. I'm thinking it was a very forgiving trail and I wouldn't want to keep up that pace all Day of any other section of trail I've seen.
United States

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COld and wet: Oct 23, 2013

Before I was asleep last night it started to rain. It was still raining at 7 am and I heard Mike on the other side of the shelter say he didn't think we needed to hike in this crap. It had gotten pretty cold last night, it's the first time I Actually spent the night cold. I regularly sleep in long underwear and socks but it wasn't until I got up and unstuffed my down sweater and put it on did my toes and fingers start to warm up. I have this neat little dry bag I usually carry that sweater in that can be reversed into a pillow with fleece on one side. It keeps the sweater handy and warm for the morning. A great piece of gear. As we are deciding what to do it starts to hale. I roll over and go back to sleep. About 9 I roll out of a nice warm bag and get dressed and fix my grAnola with hot water instead of cold. It is cold and standing around a shelter all day is going to get colder. So about 11 we decide to hit he trail. The next shelter is only 8 miles away and then Damascus is an easy 10 mile dash. We've got plenty of food and the sun is trying to come out it's just that the wind is howling. About a mile before the shyer there is an abandoned shyer and we stop for lunch. The warmest place to be on this cd wet crappy day is on the trAil so we decide at 2:18 to make the push for a hostel in Damascus. It might mean getting there after dark but we have good headights and figure it can be done. We have the muscle we just have to get the grey matter To go along.
It's interesting how Oklawaha Mike and I have joined up. I hiked a couple days with him weeks ago. After hot springs then we lost track of each other and I caught up to him again. I've probably hiked a couple days with a couple dozen people. You don't really hike WITH someone. Everyone goes at their own pace and stops for different reasons during the day. Side trails and overlooks, resupplies and water. You usually meet up at the end of the day compare notes on who you saw or what, cook dinner and go to bed. Everybody rolls out in the morning at different times. There are the pack up and go in the dArk and eat breakfast later people. There are the pack up and eat in the dark people, some wait for first light to leave and some don't try to pack up until it gets light with all those other options. Hike your own hike is the rule. Mike and I seem to have similar overall days. I slow down on up hills usually althought there seems to be a very specific grade that I switch from crank mode to granny gear. Except I call it rest gear and as long as I am moving forward on those usually steeper grades I'm happy. Donot stop to rest on any uphills just keep moving, I usually speed up on flats and downs it can feel really good to stretch out after a long uphills
50° Mostly Cloudy
Cherokee National Forest, Shady Valley, TN, United States

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A note from Tennessee--you decipher the typos: Oct 22, 2013

A Tennessee privy

A Tennessee privy. The joke here is that there are no privys in Tennessee, pit, above ground, or otherwise. They give you a shovel to dig your own cat hole. Hopefully you know enough to move either down hill from or at east away from. The water source.
We intend to get into Damascus tomorrow with an 18 mile day. Although it just started raining… Mike and I looked at each other and can't decide if we'll hike in the rain.
Mike Also just read his bear spray can and learned it doesn't work in freezing temperature . It will get down to 40. Does that mean it won't squirt the advertised thirty feet? Or that it will spray for something less than the a Advertised 7 seconds? We didn't hang bear bags tonight, we did hang mouse bags though. Those are the hanging strings with a tin can on them that prevent mice from gnawing on your chocolate. Someone told me they have installed bear cables at the birches, the AT leantos in Baxter.
The last SOBO report on Damascus, and there have been quite a few lately, is that it's full of leaf peepers. That should be coming to an end very soon.
Last night we stayed in a shelter with three SOBO's. Young boys, so full of themselves and their stories, particularly of Maine (I didn't tell them I was from Maine) and so cock sure of themselves and their opinions. We escaped in the morning as fast as we could and left them to their world. Most SOBO have been very decent friendly folks, maybe Mike and I were feeling old.
We stopped short of our 22 mile goal today. But the days are getting shorter and it was nice to have time at the endocrine the day to build a fire, chat, throw the stick for Shelby, just relax in daylight. Finding water has become more of a chore. Even here the spring is just a trickle and it takes 2 liters minimum to cook supper and get started in the morning. I'm still hiking in shorts but my jacket and gloves can stay on for a couple of hours because of the cold. I am really glad I brought gloves and fleece hat.
I have been cooking those Knorr Sides for supper. Tonight I had the Thai one. I splurged for a bottle of Chalula hot sauce and the last girl I made has lots of dried fruit so I sweetened the pot with some dried papaya and pineapple. It wasn't bad! For dessert I had tea and a pop tart. Hmmmm. Lunches have beent hose tuna salad single serving envelopes smeared on a tortilla. Or Spam, how could I forget SPAM? Smeared on a tortilla. Now that's good eating! Tortillas travel remarkably well!
Dang, this is the first shelter I have really heard the mice…
59° Partly Cloudy
Cherokee National Forest, Elizabethton, TN, United States

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From Oct 21, 2013

First frost
0°, 0°

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Oct 19, 2013

-82.1252°, 36.2626°

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Oct 18, 2013

Jones falls
63° Sunny
Cherokee National Forest, Butler, TN, United States

Sent from my iPhone48° Cloudy

Cherokee National Forest, Roan Mountain, TN, United States

From Oct 17, 2013

Pisgah National Forest, Elk Park, NC, United States

Also from Oct 16, 2013

-82.1036°, 36.1066°

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66° Sunny
Pisgah National Forest, Newland, NC, United States

from Oct 16, 2013

0°, 0°

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Late entries - Oct 15, 2013

Lunch
United States

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More pics

banding birds, they were even tempting hawks in with a live dove and a launchable net otherwise they just put up about 40 feet of net and hope the migrating song birds fly into it

Pics from Judd's camera

0042 - my firemen buddies from back in georgia

113 - coming into hotsprings

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Oct 15, 2013

52° Clear
Cherokee National Forest, Unicoi, TN, United States

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Third entry marked Oct 14, 2013 - I don't know where he is

Nancy sgt. sunrise
Pulling out of UJ's my first intent is to 5 miles to the first shelter. Big breakfast, late start you know get my trail legs back. I hike past Curly Maple Gap Shelter and press on to the 12 mile mark and set up tent in a nice little spot next to good water. I use up about half of my emergency matches trying to start a fire. Everything is soaked, I sent my emergency tinder home. Eh who needs a fire I have a hot supper and put as much of my gear inmytent as I can, find an adequate place to hang my food and go to bed. I can't decide if it's raining or just a "heavy marine overcast" as my fatherinlaw would say. Everything was wet. The tent worked great. How do they make such a thin material so waterproof? The trick is to pack everything up with a minimum of excess water weight. You can pack up all the stuff in your pack in waterproof bags, but if you let your pack soak up water it can get darn heavy even if your stuff inside is dry. My rainy works great. Unless the stuff is already wet….
63° Cloudy
Cherokee National Forest, Erwin, TN, United States

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Oct 14, 2013

Home sweet home. My first strath camping. Tent works great it's supposed to be two person. What that really men's is me and my gear.
72° Partly Cloudy
-82.3287°, 36.118°

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Oct 14, 2013

Hang your pack from these mouse proof gadgets but hang your food away from the shelter out of reach of bears. So really, if there's no food or garbage in your bag and you leave the pack pockets unzipped why should I be worried about mice?
United States

Oct 13, 2013

The mornings have been cold and misty. Sometimes it bunns off by noon but not for long. Imams the dash for Uncle Johnny's hostel just off the trail in Erwin. There's a fairly complete resupply store, they did not have dental floss, a dozen or so bunk house and a few scattered cabins around a central bAth house. It was rumored that during the "season" March, April, May, a nasty virus came out of here. It was sod of clean… I asked for a sheet and the fellow looked at me like I just fell off the moon and a plained to me that it was a hostel… So I slept in my stinky sleeping bag on a nasty mattress. Oh well. And he place must be 10 miles from anything that looked like a town. And although the sign said free shuttle to town apparently that's only during the "season" . I was just about to have a pizza delivered when Sargent Sunrise entered. She had been hiking with a couple of fellows who were content to sit at that last shelter about 5 miles back up the trail for the night. I had waved to them when I stormed through around 2:00 intent on getting to the hostel. SS's intent was much the same as she was not going to sit around the shelter for hours twiddling her thumbs. She pushed on to the hostel and left the gentlemen to their shelter. Fortunately for me she had a car. She took me into the coin laundry, waited around, took me to the food lion for my resupply ( I was thinking I didn't needed to spend any more money at UJ's than I had to) anyway she stepped me all over town and we told stories of our families and hikes. After I finally picked up my laundry we went to the Mexican joint she had been trying to get to for supper all along. I didn't have to order pizza! And her moniker Sargent Sunrise comes from the fact that she is a little bossy and likes to get up early. Next morning about 6 am I opened the bunkhouse door and there was a note that I could go find her if I wanted to go into Huddles for breakfast. You bet!
Pisgah National Forest, Burnsville, NC, United States

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Oct 12, 2013

Let's see tomorrow I roll into Erwin TN for my fourth and final resupply from home. The last few days have been full of hiking. It's hard to hike Ll day, get into camp, do your chores , eat AND journal. Hoyt decides to hike out with Ben who is going to meet his wife and get a ride home. He is bound and determined to be back. Although he'll have to wait if he lands the job he thinks he will flying helicopters for some oil company. I'm on my own again. Tonight is at Bald Mountain Shelter and the place is full. There is a lot of wet in the air and it's raining by next morning. I seem to be doing 16 and 18 mile days with little trouble. But it really does depend on the trail. There is always a mishmash of hikers, experience and equipment. Lots of south bounders comming through now and as I stop to talk with them they all seem to know who is in front of them and who is behind them. It's a wonderful conversation even for us "section" hikers because we too get a pretty good idea of who is on the trail and where they are. Throw in a dozen day hikers/ foliage peepers and there is not a day goes by that you don't get to chat with someone and at least make your location known.
66° Cloudy
Cherokee National Forest, Erwin, TN, United States

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Oct 11, 2013

Tonight at Hog Back ridge shelter with Ben and Hoyt. I have found tortillas make grreat sandwiches at lunch. You can spread humus, it can be found powdered at Uncle Deans and all you do is add water to the consistency you like. The other thing that spreads really well on tortilla are the envelopes of tuna salad. There's always peanut butter but I'm not a big fan and sometimes you can find envelopes of SPAM. Now that's living!
Hoyt commits a big mistake he checks his email and there is one from his lawyer. All of a sudden he can't get home soon enough. Moral of the story : don't check your email on the trail.

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more from Oct 10, 2013

This night at spring mountain shelter I meet up with Ben "little rock" and Hoyt "ranger Hoyt " this guy is a real character and I'll. spend the next couple days hiking with Ben and he. Ben is an Fed employee going stir crazy sitting at home. His wife is a teacher and soon to be mom. Ben said he would meet up with her in a few days and she would either have a rezuly bag for him to onto us his hike or she was going to take him home to go back to work because the govt was open for business again. Hoyt regaled us with Ranger stories and whenever something went particularly well for him during the day: a well built fire , a particularly long haul over some rocks, a well cooked supper, anything he would let out a "hell yeah!" He was particularly fond of responding to any complaints by him or any other around us with a " Ranger the f— up" or some other arrangement of the very same words in a different tense. And I found out later that he was at the same restaurant in hot springs with ranger mike, real name Oklahaha Mike, havering beers when I declined to join them for the evening activities. Mike had left hot springs a day before the rest of us. I would catch up with mike later and Ben who was leaving the the trail on the 12 th to resupply or go back to work would catch up with me and mike ( I did catch up to him) on the 18th at mountAineer shelter TN. He, Ben, did not go back to work.
Cherokee National Forest, Greeneville, TN, United States

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Update from Oct 10, 2013

I spent a good deal of my recovery in Hot Springs downloading the free classics on my audio book AP. The days before hot springs I listened to the first three chapters of a bunch of classics. Not realizing they usually do 3 chapter down loads at a time. I listened to the first three chapters of A Tale of Two Cities, Alan Quartermain, The Count of Monte Christo, Sailing Alone Around the World ( read by a quaint New Englander in that down east voice about a Downeaster sailor), Dracula and Le Morte de Arthur.
At the last two or three miles before Hot Springs I caught up with a couple of women I had overtaken the previous day they had somehow gotten in front of me and the stepped aside to let me by. I said if they didn't mind I'd like to hike with them . If I had not placed myself between these two, I am not sure I would have made it to Hot Springs yet. At the end I stumbled off to the hostel and only now really appreciated the help I received whether or not they knew it.

Cherokee National Forest, Greeneville, TN, United States

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Late Entry: Oct 7, 2013 - How sick DO dogs get?

I stumbled into hot springs sick as a dog thinking its trail fatigue. Now that I look back I was a hurting puppy for two days and all I could think about was getting to hot springs. Let's see I was nauseous, light headed, and my mouth was dry as sand. I remember trying to eat an almond and having it turn to sand in my mouth and barely chocking it down with water. Although I was moving ok on the trail I had to be careful about bending over and standing up too quickly. My voice became the hoarse sort of rasp and I have a feeling the drenching sweat I was in for two days was not just from hiking. And my damn bowels they didn't give a shit for days. They are cooperating again somewhat but a Christmas card is definitely out! The first people I met were Homemade and Short Leash. They had come to hike but SL had thrown his back out so they were just hanging out enjoying the place before they head back to home in China Town Manhattan. This Hostel at Laughing Heart Lodge is the best place I have stayed so far. Clean with linens, option of bunk house or single double or triple rooms kitchen and cooking available and best of all a refrigerator full of left overs from the wedding held yesterday at the lodge there just across the law where you can spend a couple hundred dollars for a room if you'd like. The hostel goes for about 15$ a bed. The place is also walking distance to town and all the amenities of a couple taverns a laundromat and a fairly well stocked outfitter a bank and a post office and a diner all on Main Street and all within about a 10 minute walk of the hostel oh and at the other end of town there was the Spa where the actual hot springs are. Built on the grounds of what was once a grand hotel (it burned down) and also the sight of a German internment camp from WW1. Apparently whe we declared war there were some German ships in our harbors and the crews were "interned" some families came to join them and some never left and settled in the area. The other unique thing about hereabouts was that there were soldiers from nearby NC and TN who fought for the union and confederate armies. After I decided you could have knocked me over with a feather when I got here and I allowed myself two days to recover I partook of the spa and enjoyed a wonderful soak in the rejuvenating mineral baths and then yes I had a massage. I cannot begin to describe the incredible joy my body experienced. My apologies to my CFO as this was not in any of the previously submitted budgets. The conversation was pleasant about aligning miz hoes and loosening joint about waters running through crystal caves in Brazil and flux bands of energy surrounding planet earth… The masseuse was snarlingly spiritual. I could hardly get off the table at the end.
At the hostel my bunk room mate was an ex ranger with a mission to get to Maine on the AT. He had his dog Shelby and everything he owned on his back. He said if winter got in the way he would just stop where he was, work in a restaurant until spring and pick up the cause again. He is so committed he even cut down a hand me down fancy down sleeping bag and pad for Shelby. Shelby of course had her own doggy back pack and on the morning they saddled up to head out the dog acted down right giddy when Mike strapped that pack on her.
Short leash and Homemade were wonderful. The day before they left they realized they still had hiking supplies, food, that Homemade had prepared, hence "Homemade" ,and they were not going to use. They wanted to give it to me. Yes that would be great ! There were two meals of Dahl, two meals of spaghetti and two meals of breakfast granola. Now remember that cooking on the trail entails heating up water, pouring it over your food in a bag and waiting 15 minutes. I can't begin to describe the culinary taste sensation of the Dahl or even the spaghetti , probably both un recognizable for the treasures they were until they reach your palate. And granola really does not do justice to the two breakfasts I enjoyed. I may never eat oatmeal again and my eyes have been opened to the possibility of no cook breakfasts in the future. One of the secrets is finding dehydrated WHOLE milk, and of course all the other grains and goodies. Homemade tried to explain the recipe but I can recall only bits and pieces. It would be a tremendous boon if she would repeat those recipes here… Please Homemade?
Hot Springs, NC, United States

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Day 34 - A Face to Fone [sic] call

No post, but Judd called form Hot Springs!!!  He had a hot spring soak, a massage and a bunk house to himself.  Unfortunately, his package I sent 2 days ago, isn't there yet because of the weekend/holiday.  So, he needs to decide about hiking on and letting them forward him the package to his next stop or hanging around til Tuesday when it arrives.  He's probably going to hike on. We're shooting for meeting in Damascus, VA. Here he is "skyping with Malindi and me" just moments ago.  

Damn auto-spell-correct: what does "fought shape" even mean?

I wasn't really alone tonight after another 13 mile day. A father and son SOBO team were camping on the hill--both engineers. The wind had blown like stink last night and I had repositioned my bed roll to the other side of the shelter I started at to be in a bit of a lee. Another fellow camping up on the hill had a tree limb fall on his tent. He was ok. I was glad to be in the shelter even if it was built by the CCC and in pretty fought shape.
The owls were out last night there must have been about 3 different kinds all talking back and forth. Sounded really cool
United States

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Day 33 entry from when?

13.1 mile day up and over a place called max patch. Max must mow about 100 acres of a couple of hill top balds and their gap fields. It seems to be a popular destination for local day bikes and classes. It was a wonderfully sunny day . I lay in the grass for about an hour.
When I roll in to a shelter or lately a campsite the procedure goes like this: open up my pack and pull out bags of stuff. If it's a shelter I want to stake out a wall berth so I take out my pad which is rolled up inside my tents ground clothe. If there is a broom , and there have been a few, I brush off the rack then roll out my pad on the ground cloth- my territory thus defined I can pull out my sleeping bag. The bags stuff sack gets laid out close at hand and this will define where my glasses headlamp toilet paper iPhone and hat can be found. Next. I find my stove but inside the cooking pot is a bag of line. It's supposed to be what I can hang food from a tree so the bears don't get it. Now I use it for a cloths line mostly. I had some grey stuff that I threw over a tree once after dark and I lost it for 10 minutes . I could not see that rope to save me. So during my lay over in hot springs I went into the outfitter there and asked for some line that was like my tent lines, they reflect my headlamp in the dark very cool. So the guy gave me this rainbow colored stuff and I mailed the gray stuff home. The first night out of hot springs I realize this stuff doesn't glow in the dark! Bastards!
Anyway I get a cloths line up and put my wet with sweat shirt and put on my smart wool long undies shirt and down sweater. Then I take my boots off hang my socks on the line put on the one pair of thick socks and crocks. Pull the insoles out of my boots. Strip off my wet shorts. I have decided that hiking in shorts is the way to go. I wear my haters [do you mean gators?] to keep my socks dry and crap from falling I my boots. It also keeps my boots dryer. So the question is do I wear under wear. I tried not for two days and my saddle sores, where my hip belt is secured around, really acted up so I put my ex-officious underwear back on, pulled them up just as high as I could and greased up my sores with lube and we are pretty good so far. So i put on the bottoms to longies and and my pants and we are ready to do chores. And really hanging anything up to dry is a dream. Especially in the smokies and especially if it's towards the end of the day-nothing dries much until you put it damp and stinking into your sleeping bag . It All will dry a little from the heat of your body. I sent my sleeping bag liner home because the longies were doing a nice job of keeping wet clammy body parts from sticking together in the bag.
Water is next. I sent my pump home even tho I have my pack bladder all set up with a QD so I pump right into the bag. Anyway I sent it home it was big and and heavy and am now using aquimira, a two part chemical treatment. It's a little more involved. A chemical death to any living dodo's but you get to have the silt that your kerchief doesn't filter out. I ususally get about 2.5 liters that gets me supper and breakfast and about a liter to start the days hike
75° Sunny
Cherokee National Forest, Del Rio, TN, United States

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Leftover entry from Oct 4, 2013

I seem to be at the north end of the smokies! And the camera function of this AP is onthe fritz. It's on the fritz numb it's because I have too many aps open. Tonight. Is I think the second night I've had alone at a shelter since I started. I think this was a 17.6 mile day to get here to ground hog creek shelter. All the shelters still come prepared with bear cables to hang food and garbage at night. Color is just coming to the trees. But I notice the trail is filling up with brown and yellow leaves
72° Sunny
2393–2499 TN-32, Cosby, TN, United States

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Day 32- no blog post but one parcel post

Got a box from Judd in the mail. For a $12 Priority Package he can pack anything that will fit in the box for a flat rate.  I received a pair of pants, a shirt, his water filter/pump and 2 postcards --not ONE of them to me?  

I guess he must be finding enough clean water along the way.  But how does he know he always will??

Day 31 - no posts from Judd ....

...and my phone can't locate his phone maybe because his isn't turned on, maybe because his battery's dead.  I know I told him I wouldn't call the rangers if I heard from him every 5 days, but day 4.5 gets a little tense (and of course, now there ARE no rangers in National Parks.)  And if one more person I tell that my husband is hiking the AT, alone, asks me if I ever heard what happened to Inchworm (the AT hiker lost-and-never-found in Maine last summer), I really will do something loud.

......but, he phoned this morning. He was holed up in some low budget hotel, sounding horrible, saying he had two consecutive "zero days" because he felt like he had the flu (respiratory symptoms, fatigue.) He had diligently received his flu shot before he left but there are SO MANY ways to be miserable from regular ol' rhinoviruses.

At least my cell phone knows enough to bling me when he DOES turn on his phone.

Also from Oct 4, 2013?

I seem to be at the north end of the smokies! And the camera function of this AP is onthe fritz
72° Sunny
2393–2499 TN-32, Cosby, TN, United States

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from Oct 3, 2013

Trying to dry out after my 17.6 mile romp today. Unapologetically it is the conditions do the trail that determined how far you can go on any particular day. Because I got to this shelter I'll have left white crane back a half day he'll be spending the night at standing bear hostel. I was sorely tempted to stay there too. It would be a very co place to come back to. It's on a road but I don't have a clue which one but it's about 200 yards off the aT. So there's the white farmhouse sitting in the middle of the woods on a creek. Surrounded by about a dozen smaller buildings made out of home sawn lumber or maybe recycled lumber. The first thing you come to when you turn in the driveway is the bearded shirtless dude holing a bud light who wants to show you around. He's living in one of the little cabins over the creek, the other building over there is the privey. Right hare is the. Bunkhouse. There's bunks for maybe 16 people and right in the middle is barrel stove ready. To provide heat. There's a porch on either end. On one end there's a derelict old corn busker a few other rusty farm implements and a garden of impatiens all planted in hiking shoes slowly turning to dirt or at least moss. On the other end there's some home made sitting benches and a respectable collection of contemporary and not so contemporary books and magazines . There's a couple cabins scattered about for any hardy couples that may find their way here. The one I saw from the road on the way in looked like a comfy tree house with a sitting area below. The building behind the bunk house was the fully furnished kitchen dining room . Again more books and magazines, photo, and sombreros nailed to the ceiling. Oh and there seemed to be a few guitars lying about I guess just to play if the mood strikes you. Attached to this is the laundry and where you can find clean towels for the showers which are in the next building over. Back here all laundry is done by hand- your hand But there is an electric cloths dryer. Things are hard to dry otherwise. There was an Australian fellow loitering about the kitchen and just about to sit down and eat his lunch, everyone cooks their own food. Of open faced tomato and mushroom sandwich. Oh, and the last building on the tour, if you don't count the front porch of the farmhouse where everyone was sitting was the " store" it had just about anything you might want from earplugs to frozen pizza ( that you could cook back at the kitchen) popsicles to spam. I had both. I also picked up a package of ramen and took it over to the kitchen to cook for lunch. I had a soda a banana and packed up enought supplies to get me to hot springs. This would be a fun place to come back to. I think the sign said there was live music one night.
I keep meeting SOBO's they are an interesting crowd. Usually traveling by themselves or in pairs. One fellow I talked to today said the two big challenges left for him were hiking out of the Fontana dam and hiking out of the NOC. Heck I have done those! And one of them in rain! Everyone is concerned about what the shutdown smokies means for them- I suspect very little. What's reall interesting is they all seem to know who is one or two days ahead of them on the trail and who is one or two days behind them on the trail, even to the approximate hour!
To the person thrash seem encouraged to meet someone who started at springer mtn
-83.2884°, 35.6749°

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from Oct 2, 2013

So now I have twice erased today's entry so let's back up and start gain. Woke up at the Grand Prix hotel in a shared suite with Wesley he's sort of a youngish tennesssean who usually works in a gas station he has a knife you could chop firewood with and a folding camp chair with a hole cut I the canvas for those emergent times when he couldn't make the privey. We got a ride up to newfound gap from the housekeeper her mother and three kids. Oh, but before the ride I went for breakfast at old dads. The Americans in this country store type place well as country store as you can get in gatlinburge apologies tables to make sure I didn't have to sit with any of them. So over walks this fellow and says bon appetito. His name was Gunter and he was German. He wondered how he was going to get on AT. He had a car but he wasn't sure he wanted to drive up to the north boundary of the smokies ( it being closed and all) We decided that I would get my ride back to newfound gap. Find out if they are letting people on the trail and as soon as I know I'll call Gunters cell phone oops he doesn't have. Cell phone I'll have to call his hotel and the nice Indian lady will pass the message. Ok so now Wesley And I get a ride 15 miles up to newfound gap. Wesley's trail name is white crane, hmmmm. All the way up the three kids are all over the back seat and of course we are not sure what we are going to do if the federalis stop us. All the way up this winding road all the pull outs have. Even orange cones blocking their use until we got up high for the really spectacular views and then all the tour busses had just run over them or the driver had moved them out of the way. When we get to newfound gap sure enought there's a ranger there shooing people away from the parking lot. He says the park is closed and I ask even the AT? And he scratches his head and says I guess not so he lets Wesley and me by. I scamper into the woods before he has a chance to change his mind and call Gunter. I actually call the nice Indian lady behind the front desk of his hotel and ask her to pass the word. No parking but the AT is open. In fact I notice that two other gents are hiking too. They have no permits but are recreating a trip one of them made 50 years ago hiking up to Charlie's Bunyon so off we go. White crane loosing ground behind me but doggedly I meet up with him at the next two shelters.
We share the next shelter pecks corner shelter with two SOBO's and a little man who appears to be an expert on all long distance trails apparantly there's dozens in North America and he has hiked them all. He sort of reminded me of ratigas from The Lord of the rings. The wizard that gets pulled around by bunnies. Interesting to note that he has decided he needn't carry a stove so for all the meals I saw him eat he would rifle around in a big garbage bag that had a bunch of other bags in it and pull out hands full of stuff , I know not what, and throw them in his mouth. He claimed to be able to put together a much more nutritious meal than any of the processed food people were carrying these days. He expressed a particular dislike for those mountain house type meals- gee, there are a couple of those that I like. The beef stew in particular and I have been meaning to try the neopolitan ice cream! In the morning he was up and out before the sun came up. It only took him a couple minutes of rummaging around in the garbage bag and he was good to go. All kidding aside if I can do my supplies from home that does sound great. How do you make do when you are resupplying at some little store?
So the SOBO's were really excited to hear that the park was closed. They were going to try to spend the night on Clingmans dome. Definitely a nono but if no one is around to throw them out they might just get to see the sunrise from the highest point on the AT. They seemed to be encouraged when they heard that I had started from springer. And actually their discussion was one of slowing down and taking their time to finish. What's one or two weeks more or less? I didn't get their names but they had been hiking together since ny. That we're having fun trying to decide of they needed to go into Gatlingburg AND get back on the trail with all the federalis prowling around. They were in agreement however that they would take a 5 (miles) day just to stay on clingman. When I left in the morning they were lolling about reading taking it slow. Wesley wasn't out of hi hammock yet. Hammocks are quite the rage. I showed white crane how to tie a bowline and make a timber hitch. Seems like there should be a system sold with a hammock for setting those babies up and stretching em tight.
I have this really nice blow up mattress. It's small but I seem to be getting the hang of going from my back to a side position and staying centered. The problem is that the pad is NOISY. It's so loud it wakes me up and the other people in the shelter, the ones without earplugs, complain bitterly on the morning. I have begun apologizing to all around bedtime. It's dark by 8 pm and everyone is in bed before 9. In general everyone is up by 0600 to 0700 and generally on the road by 0800. I'm writing this on 10/4 after a 17.6 mile day. I guess what I learned today is that ther is no wall at 3 or 4 pm and that there really is time for 5 or 6 more miles before 8 pm bedtime.
-83.3086°, 35.6512°

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Gatlinburg, TN

Gatlinburg, TN, United States

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Day 23 - Retro Entry from: Sep 30, 2013

A 13.5 day. Troy and I hiked into my Collins shelter which included going up and over Clingmans dome 6685 ft. The day was pretty overcast so I didn't make the side trip to go up the great concrete towers up there. I did get close enought to hear the people who drove up grouse about how loisey the view was. It was a uphill and the. A down hill day. I had thought there must be at least a soda machine up there and I had spent the last couple days psyching myself up for an orange crush. Troy said there was nothing up there. Maybe a drinking fountain in the parking lot but that makes the diversion closer to a mile. I just keep moving. I did notice on the way up and closer to the top the mountain ash and their red berries were out in force. Also I noticed for the first time the smell of spruce. Everything is dark and covered with moss. Damp. Did I say damp? On the north side of clingman I also noticed beech it's falling. I have yet to see a familiar birch. Although there are some very dark trees that have leaves and bark that might be a birch.
I have this debate going on. Especially after seeing the focus (tunnel vision?) of those first few SOBO. You have to hike your own hike. Do I focus on getting to Damascus, or 500 miles? Or do I take what I can get and enjoy? In the morning and on the flats, I'm going for 500-- around 4 pm I'm here for the trip, just the trip. And to the person, everyone I have spoken to, seems to think being able to go until your wife comes and gets you is a very cool way to go.
0°, 0°

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Day23 Retro Entry: Sep 29, 2013

I met up with my first thru hiker today. About 1000 he was sitting down to breakfast at a shelter I was going to pass. He said his name was mercury and he believed he was second in line for the SOBO's (south bounders) these are the folks that started on Katahdin in May. Mercury told me he thought there was a fellow in front of him who was going to set some sort of "unassisted" AT SOBO traverse. He was second and there were two strong fellows coming up behind him, Rooster and Danko. Mercury had an advanced alcohol stove that had a simmer adjustment. There was a band around the vent holes of your basic cat food can stove and the threads of a Sheetrock screw would adjust how tight the band closed around the vents. Anyway he could now simmer food and not just turn the heat on or off. He told me that he had begun training for this trip a month before he started. He said he was doing 20 mile days. I am not convinced that a near weightless stove compensates for the fuel you'll have to carry and then the amount of heat you get out of it. I can heat a cup of water in no time. As I headed out for derricks knob shelter I run into Rooster (no Danko - was he off peeing?)
At Derrick knob I met Troy and mike and a bunch of other boys. Most of them are heading into a historic "cove". Sort of a old timely settlement. I wonder what they are going to do when they get there and find everything shut down. One of these homeboys came back from getting water and said there a bear in a tree down there. It's about dusk and we all grab our headlamps and traipse off to see a bear. Turns out it was a turkey up there "fixin" to go to sleep. I think that was the same fellow that really has a snoring problem, a real snoring problem. One of the other fellows was a manager at peddlers in gatlinburge and he said we could all come in for steak dinners and he would buy dessert .

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Day 23 - Retro Entry from : Sep 28, 2013

Leave Fontana dam and enter the smokies. The problem with Gaps is that you have to hike down into them be then you have to hike out of them. So after a nice walk around of the visitors center and I didn't use the outside bathroom hot showers, I trucked across the dam. There was some question as it was 0930 as to whether or not I should wait until 10000 when the snack bar was supposed to open. But really with the resupply box heaven on my back what was I going to buy that I wouldn't have carry? So I headed out. The first part of the day I followed a road and lots of people simple drove to the trail head for a day of hiking. I seem to be able to pass these day hikers pretty easily. Saw a great big white tail buck cross the trail in front of me and lots of partridges. This 11 mile day was quite an uphill slog. My brain is 50 ft ahead of my feet picking the path. At first glimpse there's almost an urge to scurry rigt up there where my brain has picked out places for my feet- and poles. What actually happens is when my feet actually reach the places my brain has already located the conversation goes like this: oh here you are feet, finally, well let's get a move on shall we? And the idea of getting more and more miles in seems more dependent on the evenness of the trail. Not even whether it's up or down just how difficult it is to find footing. And the faster you want to go means more and more focus on your feet and the trail closer and closer to your feet. I'm really glad I have two hiking poles. I haven't done a face plant or a turtle yet knock on wood but I've come darn close.
The picture is the top of the TVA visitors center looking across the dam second largest in somewhere North America? And into the smokys. Just last week a bear mom with three cubs came across the dam and frolicked on the lawn
-83.8023°, 35.4518°