NOC to Fontana Dam

Day 1

Cold again! Long climb today back up into the mountains but now it’s a relatively easy hike into Fontana Dan. Almost seven miles of pure uphill to get here.

Seems like I left a great deal of my hiking partners behind at NOC and there are a few that are ahead of me. I’m looking forward to meeting up with some of them down the trail.

Happy birthday sis!

Day 2

Looooooooong day today. 15.1 miles from shelter to shelter. Jasper did really well, as usual. We also had some more trail magic today. Will and Way thru hiked in 09 and were passing through on their vacation. They had cookies and a cooler full of cold drinks for us. I’m getting spoiled!

I also picked up a trail name, finally. I’m going by Grateful for the rest of the trip so if you hear that name, that’s me.

Day 3

Our first day of rain this morning. Started raining at about 5am so I had to pack up my gear in the rain. All of the important stuff stayed dry and my tent didn’t leak, so I’m happy. About 20 minutes after I got on the trail, the rain stopped.

I sent Jasper off to his vacation while I hike through the Smokies. I really wasn’t expecting it, but as soon as they closed the door to the van and drove him away I started to tear up. I’m really going to miss hiking with him.

Zero day tomorrow to let my feet recuperate before the long trek through the mountains and more snow (eww). Wish me luck!

Franklin to NOC

Day 1

I learned today that if I take smaller steps up the hills, I get less tired. Who knew? I’ve always had trouble pacing myself but I managed to reign myself in today and it worked extremely well.

Jasper is doing great, as usual. Sight of the day was definitely the view from the top of Wayah Bald. I hiked out of the woods onto a paved trail and suddenly there was this huge stone tower in a clearing that provided the best views I’ve had in weeks. It was really unexpected and really beautiful.

Day 2

I CAN HAS CHEESBURGER? Yes. Yes I can. I was hiking along the trail today and came out of the woods near a road. Some kind soul had set up a grill and was cooking up cheeseburgers for all of the hikers! And there was a cooler of cold drinks too. I was blown away.

The hike was great too. We did another eleven mile day and by the end, Jasper was really tired for the first time on the whole trail.

Day 3

All downhill today and into the NOC. Jasper and I are staying in the bunkhouse for the night. It’s really spartan, but it’s warm and dry and I got to take a shower, do my laundry, and get a nice hot meal. I’m sitting here next to the river, watching people kayak in the whitewater while I wait for a pizza to magically appear in front of me. Heaven!

Hello North Carolina!

After a pretty long day of hiking I finally made it across my first state line! I’m sitting here in North Carolina getting set up for the night. For some reason, I was bone-weary after hiking these nine miles. More tired than I’ve been so far on the trail. The funniest part of the whole day happened when I sat down to get set up for the night. As soon as my butt hit the ground, my iPod started playing the ‘you won a battle’ song from Final Fantasy III. I couldn’t help but laugh extremely hard at that one.

Beautiful Weather Continues

I just finished my 2nd day back on the trail and the weather has been absolutely wonderful these two days. There was still a little snow on the trail on the shady side of the mountains, but overall it couldn’t be any better.

I’ve heard some horror stories from a few hikers further up the trail in the Smokies. Apparently there are more than 100 hikers stuck at shelters and in town south of the Smokies due to 5-6ft deep snow along the trail. I sure hope that starts melting soon, otherwise I may be stuck in town AGAIN!

Jasper has been doing great, as usual. I’m not setting a very fast pace but he has stuck with his customary 20-30 feet in front rule and seems to be having a great time. We’ve met quite a few other hiking dogs so far as well and everyone has been very friendly.

Sorry for Not Updating

Hey everyone. I decided to spend some time in town while the weather warms up as I posted before so I haven’t had much to report. I’m still on the trail and will be heading back out on Thursday morning. It looks like things have warmed up a lot. I actually ran into someone here that I spent my second night out with. He mentioned that some of the people that were in the shelter with us that night had to get off the trail due to super bad snow and weather in the Smokies. I’m desperately trying to avoid that and it seems to have warmed up a lot in the past few weeks. There is a huge difference between 15 degrees and 35 at night.

Anyway, sorry again for not posting this before. I still appreciate the thoughts and prayers. Also, I’m not sure why it’s not auto-publishing comments to the blog but it should be. Please keep posting, it’s great to hear from everyone.