Day 34: 20.3 miles hiked (trail mile 364.5)
We rode with Charlotte (the owner of Uncle Johnny’s Hostel) and Kitchen Sink to Iron Mountain Gap to slackpack back to our hostel. In hiking SoBo, we passed most of our friends hiking back up the mountain with their packs, including Spots and Snapshot, Bee, all of team Rocket, and Smoky. The first part of the hike was very cold until we generated enough internal heat through movement.
Smoky
Spots and Snapshot
During the first half of the day we hiked through a gorgeous spruce forest on top of Unaka mountain. Lots of ethereal ice patterns had formed between tree roots and in little grooves and pockets on the trail.
Only a few miles from the hostel we saw our first nonvenomous snake! In all, we hiked 20.3 miles down the mountain today and should be well positioned to make it to the next hostel before the weather turns severe once again. The evening was spent packing and preparing for an early departure tomorrow.
Day 35: 19.7 miles hiked (trail mile 384.2)
with full packs. It was a beautiful day for hiking and hard to believe that a storm would soon be rolling in. We hiked strong and braked for lunch around the 11-mile mark, a bit startled by how much ground we had covered by noon. Perhaps we had only needed to do a 20-mile day yesterday in order to break our own thresholds and teach our bodies that we could do it.
One of the wonderful things about hiking in cold weather is being able to pack out fresh food without it spoiling, so we enjoyed a couple sandwiches and a bag of spinach and salt & vinegar chips.
After lunch we summitted Roan Mountain, climbing through another rare and protected spruce forest. Icicles hung all over the mountain and further enhanced the beauty of it all.
On top of the mountain we took a short detour to check out Roan High Knob Shelter. At over 6000 feet elevation the shelter is fully enclosed like a cabin to protect from drafts. This is the first shelter we’ve encountered like this. It is 2 levels, and enclosed on all sides, even with a front door. We would have liked to stay here, but with a winter storm arriving tomorrow we opted to position ourselves for less miles to cover tomorrow in order to give ourselves a better chance to make it over the last couple balds to make it to our hostel before the most severe weather hits.
We hiked over Jane Bald and took a moment to rest our feet when the rest of the crew finally caught up to us (we would have been a few miles behind them were it not for the slackpacking yesterday). We saw them coming from far off in the distance and could easily identify Spots and Snapshot from their gaits.
We begrudgingly decided to set up camp at Stan Murray shelter as there seem to be no good spots to camp along this ridge which is super gusty. In defiance of the weather, Spots and Snapshot followed through with their plans to camp at a spot on one of the balds they’ve visited before in training for the trail. It is going to make for an interesting night... After a 19.75 mile day we are exhausted. I’m practically falling asleep writing this (as I write these daily summaries each night I usually have to call it when I start dropping the phone on my face as I fall asleep mid-sentence).
Day 36: 11.1 miles hiked (trail mile 395.3)
The wind gusted all night and the rain arrived around 5am. We broke down camp at first light and scarfed down some animal crackers (mmm, nostalgia) in the shelter before setting off to cover the next 6 miles of balds before the thunderstorm was set to arrive around midday. We moved as quickly as we could (rain gear and waterlogged packs are so cumbersome) and managed to make it over Hump Mountain before noon. From there we began our descent to Mountain Harbor Bed and Breakfast where we plan to wait out the winter storm and take our second Zero. Our joints seem to be doing better overall but this last mountainous section was a huge push—40 miles covered in 2 days—and our bodies are feeling it.
The trail inevitably turns into a swollen creek in heavy rainfall. Our Sealskin (not real seal skin) socks have become a favorite piece of gear out here during winter storms.
We hiked a bit with Snapshot and Spots, who caught up with us about a mile from the hostel. Sure enough, they had camped on top of Grassy Bald and had a rough night; the winds were so high that at one point their tent (a Zpacks Triplex) collapsed. We parted ways with them about a half mile from the hostel when we decided to stop for lunch during a break in the rain. It was nice to slow down after such a rush out of the mountains and take a moment to appreciate our surroundings. Chris explored a small cave above our lunch site that only went back about 10ft.
At mile 395.3 we turned left off the trail and onto a highway with a huge shoulder that we followed for about a quarter mile to the bed and breakfast/hostel. All the bunks were full because everyone else is also trying to escape the pending winter storm, so we ended up with a higher priced room in the main house, but are looking forward to an excuse to spoil ourselves a bit.
When we arrived, we knew immediately we would enjoy our stay here. The place is very charming, consisting of an old barn-turned-hostel, a creek with a footbridge, outdoor patio, tiny resupply shop, food truck, treehouses, a mama duck sitting on her nest, and a big red house up the hill where we are staying tonight.
We picked up some loner clothes from the hostel so we could get showered and have clean clothes to change into while our other clothes are in the wash. At the hostel we met Mustard and Dr. Katahdin. After showering and taking a short nap we met the others down at the back side of the hostel where the little general store and food truck are. With no set hours, the faimly opens them up when asked. It’s so cool what lengths some hostels go to take care of thruhikers. We ordered veggie burgers with fries and onion rings from the food truck and ate with Spots, Snapshot, Caramel, Rocket Man and The Curator at a picnic table in the lower part of the hostel.
After dinner we relaxed in the living room in the house. The family that lives here has 3 sweet old dogs. Rose, their ultra-affectionate boston terrier, crammed herself between me and Chris where she snored away contentedly.
I worked to publish the latest blog post on my phone and Chris read a copy of Thoreau’s book A Life Without Principle that he found in our room. We drank tea from the little tea station in the kitchen and agreed that this hostel has all the trappings of home and is the perfect place to rest.
Day 37: 0 miles hiked (trail mile 395.3) – 2nd Zero
With temps in the teens outside and still aching from our push over Roan Mountain, we giddily opted to take our second zero. Most of our crew chose to do the same. In the morning we joined everyone for breakfast and enjoyed some apple cinnamon oatmeal. We chatted with a man carrying a ukulele with him on the trail which he played a bit for us - very talented! A classical guitarist by trade, he tells us he usually hikes with a mini classical guitar.
After breakfast we hung out with The Curator, Caramel, Spots, Snapshot and Rocketman in the living room while our hosts flipped our rooms. Chris and I are staying in the hostel tonight because a cheaper room came available. The hostel has a couple cats that are very sweet. Also, the ducklings hatched overnight! It’s difficult to catch a glimpse of them, as the mama duck is protectively sitting on them to provide warmth in this snowstorm.
We got moved out of the house into our new room in the hostel where we spent a few hours just lounging. It’s a cozy nook with a full-size bed and rolling doors that block the space off from the bunkroom. I wrote some postcards and applied for a scholarship on my phone for the next chapter after I finish the trail and move to Scotland for grad school. Fingers crossed. Chris also did some adulting and then took a little nap. We ate dinner with everyone and once again enjoyed veggie burgers, fries, and onion rings. Early to bed tonight, and tomorrow we will hit the trail again. There is much less elevation in this next section than we’ve done in this past month so it should feel like we’re soaring.
Day 38: 18.4 miles hiked (trail mile 413.7)
As hard as it was to leave the comfort of Mountain Harbor, we were equally ready to be back on the trail. We had some apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast as we packed and caught a glimpse of the mama duck cautiously leading her ducklings out of the nest.
Our hike went smoothly. The elevation changes were only moderate, and we kept moving to stay warm in temperatures that hovered around the upper thirties and lower forties depending on whether we were on a sunny or shady side of the mountains. From a small field we caught a glimpse of the balds we passed over just before the winter storm. We could see snow on them from here. We also took a short detour to see a waterfall which had frozen over in some areas. Beautiful!
Chris did some trail-maintenance volunteer work on this section of the trail back in 2005 on his first thruhike so memories came flooding back to him all day as he recognized parts of the trail.
As much as we have enjoyed hiking without headphones for the first month of the trail and agree that it has strengthened our connection, I have begun trying out listening to audiobooks on the trail. I reserve only an hour or two a day for this to preserve phone battery. The rest of our time is spent in conversation or silence.
We started looking for campsites around mile 15.5 but ended up hiking 18.4 to a shelter because there was nothing suitable before it. We managed to make dinner and my fingers nearly froze trying to hang the bear bag over the tall branches at the campsite just as darkness set in. It is going to be a Very cold night, so we are burrowed under our quilts and even used one of our HotHands packets from my aunt Pammy. As I type this I’m completely cocooned inside my quilt.
Day 39: 12 miles hiked (trail mile 425.7)
An owl hooted nearby all night long. With the temperatures in the teens overnight we took our time emerging from the tent in the morning so the sun would have time to warm our site a bit first. We found a frozen mouse lying near our tent in the morning. Spots and Snapshot hiked by as we were packing our bags to leave and said their full water bag (they use a gravity filter system) was hanging in a tree overnight and froze rock-solid.
Around noon we saw two bald eagles circling overhead. We hiked 6 miles on the trail and turned right at a parking lot to road-walk half a mile to Black Bear Lodge to resupply for the next 50 miles to Damascus, Virginia. We are loving the greater frequency in towns/hostels in this region as it allows us to carry less food between resupplies, which lends to higher-mile days.
When we got to Black Bear Lodge the owner let us into the general store and we found the usual meat and dairy-free trappings: Quaker oatmeal for breakfast, random lunch items (including a dehydrated flax and berry thing that I’m actually really curious to try), Knorr Sides Spanish Rice for dinner, and pop tarts, chips, and granola bars for snacks. We are beginning to tire of some of these things already so will need to figure out how to mix it up more. We bought a couple cans of Amy’s soup for immediate consumption and the owners of the hostel let us use the “bear den” to heat up our soup in bowls in the microwave. We ate lunch at a picnic table overlooking a wide creek and watched a man catch one fish after the other with his fishing pole. When we finished eating and packing our resupply into our bags the hostel owner offered to drop us back at the trailhead—so nice! We hitched a ride on his golf cart.
Back on the trail we made a super steep (and long) descent down to Laurel Falls waterfall and had a beautiful hike along the river, including a narrow section of trail cut into the cliff-face, with the river flowing to our left, before heading back up into the mountains. Despite a late start and breaking to resupply we still managed 12 miles today, which we are pleased with. We made it to our campsite destination of Pond Flats in time to make dinner, bear bag, brush our teeth and get in the tent before complete darkness; a rare event for us!
Day 40 – 18.6 miles hiked (trail mile 444.3)
Having noticed some litter the night before, and being so close to civilization (trash cans), we took some time to clean up the campsite before leaving. Most sites and sections of the AT are litter-free until you get within a short distance of a town or major road. Leaving camp, we noticed a tiny white flower bud had just unfurled its petals on a nearby tree. We are seeing more signs of the arrival of spring every day.
We hiked down toward Watauga Lake about 3 miles and swung into Boots Off Hostel to leave some food we don’t want in the hiker box and dig around for some substitutes. We ran into Spots and Snapshot heading back to the trail having stayed at Boots Off the night before. Chris drank some complimentary coffee and I got a donut – I’m always craving donuts on the trail! We decided to try high protein granola bars for easy lunches and later delighting in how much one of them tasted like a Girl Scout thin mint.
Leaving Boots Off we hiked around the lake for a few miles and came across Caramel, The Curator and Rocketman. Caramel had developed severe shin splints seemingly out of nowhere. They had made the difficult decision for her to catch a shuttle to Damascus, a town about 40 miles north where she will take some Zeros while Rocketman and the Curator hike to meet her. She plans to come back and fill in this section at the end.
Crossing a dam just before leaving the lake behind and returning to the woods we encountered a film crew. A couple actors were dressed in combat gear and a severed head lay upon the ground. We kept moving.
We had an uneventful hike until we reached the site we had intended to camp at around mile 15. It was in a saddle between two mountains, appeared muddy and a bit buggy, and felt all around creepy and unappealing to camp at. Despite the sun setting, we decided go ahead and cook dinner with the water source and move on in search of a better site. Dinner was nourishing; we had some hot Wild Zora flax porridge with bananas, strawberries, and almonds. After dinner we hiked on looking for a good campsite for much longer than intended, as with most higher mile days.
We hiked through beautiful golden hour and were just getting ready to pull out our headlamps when we came upon Spots and Snapshot at an unofficial campsite with space for another tent. They had a fire going already and we had just enough light to get the tent up and the bear bag line tossed. We enjoyed the fire for a spell and then I accomplished my first solo bear bag suspension while Chris collected water downhill to put out the campfire.
Tonight, we are sleeping without the rainfly so we can see the stars clearly. It’s a rare treat to sleep without a lid. So far, most nights on the AT are either too windy, cold, or rainy for this.
Day 41: 19.4 miles hiked (trail mile 463.7)
Today was an easy grade, better classified as rolling hills than mountains. However, we are aching, and feel fatigued from the low-quality food we’ve had the last couple weeks, so it was still a struggle. I googled how many calories a thruhiker burns per day on average and the consensus seems to be in the arena of 6500 calories a day, give or take a few hundred. It is practically impossible to consume that much food in a day out here, which presents a bit of a conundrum. We have increased our calorie intake, so we aren’t as hungry all the time but many of them are empty calories so I’m not sure it’s helping too much with energy levels. Today was a poor eating day; we mostly snacked all day because resupply options were so meager at our last couple stops. I tracked our calorie intake though and despite eating high calorie junk food all day (pop tarts, crackers, chips, granola bars, etc.) we only got a bit over 2500 calories each. I’m interested to track this over time and work on increasing our average calorie intake with higher quality foods.
We crossed through a lovely pasture today. Someone had hung plastic Easter eggs from a tree at two different road sections before and after the pasture stretch. There was a paper tacked up on a wayside map announcing vegan shakes available just down the road… tempting, but we pushed on.
It was a warm day, reaching into the 70’s, which made for some beautiful hiking. I’ve found that about 55 degrees is my favorite hiking temperature, though. With the warm weather also comes the bugs. I got my first ever black fly bite today and it was a bit of an eye opener to just how awful those things are. It drew blood as it seemly tried to burrow into my skin! We are going to have to treat our clothes with permethrin once we get to Damascus, Virginia in preparation for the emergence of black flies, ticks, and mosquitos. It’s about time to get some head netting, too.
Around mile 19.5 we snagged a little unofficial tent site just a stone’s throw from the trail. We had hoped to pull a 20-mile day but chose to get the tent set up before dark, instead. It lends to a certain peaceful transition to night.
Through NC/TN we developed a bit of a tramily (trail family), which formed in the Smokies and continued through NC/TN. This tramily inevitably fractured a bit once we hit Virginia and found our different strides. We also feel we have our food situation under control, both what we’re eating and how efficient we’ve become at the actual act of resupplying. We have stopped losing weight and stopped feeling hungry all the time. We eat fresh food in town and pack out as much fresh food as possible for the first couple days on trail before switching to dehydrated foods and snacks. The terrain in NC/TN was challenging—rugged and mountainous—and we picked up our mileage to about 15-18 miles a day.
Tomorrow morning, we cross into Virginia!