Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 21: May 30, 2009
Travel:
From: Bald Mountain Shelter, NC
To: Uncle Johnny’s Hostel, Erwin, TN
Beginning: 9:45am
Ending: 5:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 16.9
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 339.9 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Really cold morning, we could see our breath which meant another late start.
PM: The sun for the entire day! A novel idea. Looks like the good weather might be rolling in.
People: Chatted with the other two guys that were in the shelter last night. Names were Picnic Basket and Yukon.
Animals: Another wild turkey crossed our path, nothing out of the ordinary.
Notes of the day:
AM: Chatted up the guys in the shelter and said our goodbyes. They are stopping after Roan Mountain. Good, easy trail for the morning.

PM: Lunch at No Business Knob Shelter but I had some ‘business’ to take care if there and there was no privy. Apparently a lot of other people did too because it was a poo minefield back behind the shelter. If you are in the woods bury your poop! Easy trail for the last half as well. Feels nice after the string of poor days to have a break. Rolled into town needing some resupply and since it was so late and the 6pm shuttle wouldn’t be back until after 8pm we decided to get a room. Ran into Sal who was stuck at the hostel because he came into town just after noon and the post office was closed. He tried calling ahead to the hostel to get someone to pick it up for him but they forgot or something. Now he has to wait until Monday morning; tough break buddy. We got shuttled into town and we stumbled into the Mexican restaurant and then to the Dollar General for a couple days resupply.
Main concern of the day: Both of our feet are pretty chewed up from all the rain and moisture. Both of us have blisters on our pinky toes; Spoon’s toes being much worse than mine. Hopefully they will heal up tonight and while we have some dry weather.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 20: May 29, 2009
Travel:
From: Flint Mountain Shelter, NC
To: Big Bald Shelter, NC
Beginning: 9:45am
Ending: 7:20pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 18.2
b) other – .3 or so down the road past where we were supposed to turn after hitting the highway.
c) AT Mile Marker – 323 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Big thunderstorm throughout the night. Rain let up in the morning as we started to hike. Sun made an appearance for a little while but things got hairy after lunch.
PM: Rain for a little while then just misty on top of the ridge. By the time we got to Big Bald visibility was down to 20 feet or less. The wind whipping across the bald felt refreshing for me but Spoon was freezing.
People: Ran across Sal a few times on the trail while he was stopped talking to his mom (on cell phone) and he ended up staying at the shelter tonight. Odysseus was headed into Hog Ridge Shelter as we were leaving.
Animals: Nothing to report
Money: $0, $505 Cumulative
Notes of the day:
AM: Morning was nice and easy. Trail was starting to dry out. Lunch at Hog Ridge Shelter.

PM: Sal had stopped right where the trail went under the highway and was on the phone. All three of us wandered down the road and missed the trail. After we got back on the trail the sky got dark and rain started. Trail got really muddy which slowed us down considerably. Spoon related it to walking on an ice rink. Finally got to Big Bald and it was cold and windy and you couldn’t see a thing. So if there was a nice view we missed it. Made it into the shelter some 45 minutes after Sal (yea he’s fast) and made dinner. Alfredo, beef ramen, pepperoni with Chalula hot sauce; it was awesome. Finished up the last bit of cookies from Cat and shared them with Sal. Wet and gross while I go to sleep, I hope tomorrow brings the sun.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 19: May 28, 2009
Travel:
From: Spring Mountain Shelter, NC
To: Flint Mountain Shelter, NC
Beginning: 8:45am
Ending: 7:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail- 21.3
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker- 304.1 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Sprinkles in the morning.
PM: Dry all morning. Wasn’t until we stopped for lunch and took our pack covers off did we hear the first bit of thunder. Rained off and on a little bit after first big shower.
People: Lunch with Firecracker and stopped to chat with Sal at Jerry Cabin Shelter. Caught up to Odysseus at the shelter tonight.
Animals: Little snake that Spoon picked up and he saw a quail fly across the trail.
Money: $0, $505 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Morning was real easy and we passed Firecracker having a snack at the bottom of a hill. Hoofed it pretty fast to the next shelter where we had lunch. At the shelter where a bunch of guys our age who are part of a Christian reform program.

PM: Firecracker came in shortly after we started eating and she stopped for lunch too. She showed us this Pollen Blast drink mix her mom had sent her which was overloaded with vitamins.  I remember it had 1667% of your daily value of B12 or something like that. We went to fill water and she said she was going to try and camp out on Big Butt so we wouldn’t see her tonight. What we know about Firecracker: Age 29, mom of a boy (6) and girl (9) with a masters in English and Environmental Studies and taught at Auburn University. Coming off the trail June 7th for her little brother’s wedding.  As soon as we left the shelter it started to rain of course. It let up thankfully as we made our way up to an exposed ridge that was really rocky and tough. Slow moving across those big rocks but was a pretty view. Came down to the next shelter and there was Sal. We had wondered how he managed to pass us without us seeing him. We assumed it was during lunch while we got water or one of the side trail lookouts. We stopped and talked to him for a bit and Spoon filled his water. What we know about Sal: From New York but lives in Florida. Has been training since he was 5 years old, double black belt, has aspirations to do 7 summits. Does a stretch/workout routine for 2 hours before and after hiking everyday. Can hike extremely fast and for long distances. Really close to his mom who he will do a cross country RV tour with after the trail. His mom sells antique costume jewelry on eBay. We hiked the next 6 miles to Flint Mountain and Odysseus were already there. Had dinner using the Jambalaya package that Cat brought us and scarfed cookies for dessert. Thanks Cat!!

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 18, May 27, 2009
Travel:
From: Hot Springs, NC
To: Spring Mountain Shelter, NC
Beginning: 1:00pm
Ending: 5:15pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 11
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 282.8 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Rained all morning.
PM: As soon as we started hiking it cleared up and the sun came out. Then with about 30 minutes before we reached the shelter it started to drizzle, then when we got there the sky opened up.
People: Firecracker (Alicia), Zen Dawg, Sal, Nikki and Joe, Loyal, stopped at the shelter tonight. Said goodbye to Chris and Jenny(Innkeepers at Sunnybank); Needles is staying behind.
Animals: None
Money: $56 for stay at SunnyBank Inn, $22 for resupply, $35 for insoles, and $30 for Crocs. $505 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up nice and late, which is easy in that dark old house. Scarfed some of Mrs. Frock’s banana bread for breakfast and went down to the Dollar General for resupply. Came back to the house to repackage food, pack up, and settle the bill. Headed out and stopped at the outfitter for some new gear and sent some gear back with Cat.

PM: I got a hug and a kiss from Cat and we were back on the trail and we somehow lucked out again as the rain cleared up and the sun came out. Humidity shot through the roof so I was pouring sweat. Fairly easy hike and tasty dinner of freeze dried refried beans, canned cheese, hot sauce, and corn chips. Going to bed full.

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to say we are having a great time out here and all is well. Couple of nasty days but things look good until we hit US-19. I am so impressed with how well the site is going and how many comments we have received over the past three weeks. Believe me when I say we thrive off of your support. On those miserable days when I am at my lowest I just remind myself how many people out there are cheering us along. I wish we had time to address every comment we get but wifi isn’t very reliable in the woods I’ve found. So until then, thank you to everyone out there supporting us on the trek. Only 1838.4 miles to Maine.

Stay connected MUF fans! And thanks Mom!

Hazard

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 17: May 26, 2009
Travel:
From: Sunnybank Inn
To: ‘zero’ day!
People: Lots of people stayed overnight for a ‘zero’ day
Animals: Just Carter the house pooch and outdoor cats that like to play with the birds.
Money: $10 for lunch, $7 for an hour in the hot spring.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up and went down to the common room to wait for breakfast. Jenny was busy whipping up some great food. She came out and rang the food bell to let us know it was ready. Had granola with milk, melon, and some delicious muffins. We then sat around and digested and I caught up on some journal entries as the past few days we got into camp late and I just wanted to sleep. Went down to the public library to get a bunch of content uploaded on the blog and check emails. Jenny came in to use one of the computers and we found out she runs a business back home in Vermont with Chris called Wrenhouse, which you can look for the link on the sidebar.

PM: Library took a couple of hours so we came back to the house to sign up for dinner and headed back out for lunch. Spoon and I indulged in burger and chips at the sports bar while Cat had a modest ham and swiss sandwich. After lunch we walked down to the hot springs and payed $25 for all three of us to soak for an hour in the mineral water. It was super relaxing and felt great. So much so that we came back to the house and just laid around until dinner. Dinner was another great spread of food: Cauliflower in a beef broth soup, salad, quiche, and dessert was honey cake with ice cream. Fantastic! After a movie (“Religulous”) in the common room it was time to get to bed. Oh yea, I forgot to call my mom, guess it’s going to be a late night….