Fun Facts:

Length of the AT: 2178.3 miles
Completed in: 122 days
Zero days: 10 days
Most miles in a day: ~35 miles
Least miles in a day (excluding zeros): 3 miles
Longest hiking day: ~14 hours
Shortest hiking day: 1.75 hours
Average miles per day (excluding zeros): 19.45 miles
Longest stretch between zero days: 30 days (575.1 miles)
Shortest stretch between zero days: 5 days (103.1 miles)
Highest Peak: Clingman’s Dome, NC – 6,643′
Lowest Elevation: Bear Pen at the Bear Mountain Zoo, NY – 120′

Number of days to feel normal again: 30
Hazard’s weight lost: 40lbs
Fuel canisters: 9
Stitches: 6
Most consecutive days without a shower: 5
Hazard cut his nails: 5 times
Hazard broke a pole: 3 times
New sets of poles for Spoon: 2
Headlamps for Spoon: 2
New boots between us: 2 pair each
Corroded phone: 1
Blood lost: 1 cup
Spoon’s weight lost: 0lbs
Number of times we shaved: 0

Hazard’s favorite food: Nutella on a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel
Spoon’s favorite food: Refried beans with hotsauce and Easy Cheese on corn chips.

Thank you list:

Neels Gap Outfitters, Roman Noodles, Hiawassee Inn, Nantahala Outdoor Center, “Steve who works at the bar”, Mountain Mike & Pumpkin, Standing Bear Farms, Chris & Jenny at Sunnybank Inn, Bluff Mountain Outfitters, Uncle Johnny’s Hostel, WLOS Asheville, Kincora Hostel, The Town of Damascus, Lazy Fox Inn, Terry and Sissy Kammer of Augusta’s Appalachian Inn, Neville and Michael of Woods Hole Hostel, Plaza Motel, Police Officer Josh, Charlene’s parents and Zeke, Mama Ava’s sister and her husband, Rusty of Rusty’s Hard Time Hollow, Mr. and Mrs. House (Cattywampus’s parents), the family at Loft Mountain Campground, Kathy and Don in Shenandoah, Bears Den Hostel, The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Jay and the DC Lofty Hostel, Paul Rosa aka Blue Moon, Caledonia State Park, Christy, Allenberry Resort and Playhouse, Pat and Vickey Kelly of the Doyle Hotel, Paul and Tammy from Ye Old Backpacker, Church of the Mountain Hostel in Delaware Water Gap, Pack Shack, Edge of the Woods Outfitter, Mohican Outdoor Center, Dick “The Mayor”, Butch, Bill, Sara and Jason from NYC, Joy, Tim, and Rio from Kent, White Hart Inn, Tom Levardi, Chris, Arla & Josh from Bennington, Tim Jones, Back Home Again Cafe, “Short and Sweet” & Greybeard from Norwich, Pooh & his daughter, Chet West of Lincoln, Luke and the Galehead Hut Croo, Gates and the Mizpah Hut Croo, Hikers Paradise Hostel, White Birches Campground Hostel, Peter Bingham, Gail from White Wolf Inn, Tim Harrison of Harrison’s Pierce Pond Camps, Ferryman Dave Corrigan, Rebekah of Lake Shore House, Mr. and Mrs. Farrell.

…all of the trail angels who supplied us with your magic,
…all of the people who gave us rides in and out of town,

Special shout out to all the hikers we met on the trail:

Jake the camera guy, Kendra and Wes, Amoeba, Linda & Curtis, Bombadillo, 15, Loyal, Chairman, Matt & his mom, Centaur, Barfight, Sal, Nikki & Joe, Needles, Firecracker, Odysseus, Herb, Patch, Tyben, Poli-Poli & Plowboy, Disco Stu, Route 66, Dan, Churchmouse, One-Step, Checkpoint & Coldfeet, Bad Camper & Colin, Dave Castor (not a hiker but a biker), Two Pack, SnP, Sunshine & Marbles, Chef, Turtleback, Knees & Curio, Slackass, Croc (impostor), Sarah, Shannon, Kelly, Iceman & Cattywampus, Wheels, 10×10, Magnum Orphan, Crow, Buttchinz, Big Camera, Pilgrim of St. James, Capt’n, Kage, Squatter, Grizzilla, Aquafresh, Hot Feet, Manimal, Trampoline & Kate (Siren), Highway Man, Free child, Basher, Ziggy, Shameless, Creep, Lion King, YOU, Bam-Bam, George with Gracie the dog, Journey, Many Names, Prof. Mark, Frankenfoot, Timebomb, Hopscotch, Cleancut, Natty, Fancypants & Gozer, Stewball, Otter, Rocky, West, Goose, Game boy, Icarus, Bark & Berry, Bookworm, Boofer, Holdout & Hatchet, Bugman, Two Pounds, Topshelf & Geeza, Fiddle, Not-so-crazy, Tennessee Ed & Sis, Joe Kickass, Rattlefoot, Carhop, Kermit, Zipper, Wiz-Kid, Wizpee, Jellybean, Solar System, Rockdancer, Annie, Hammock, Chomp & Half-full, Don’t Panic & Wing it, Phoenix, Houdini, Braid, Strider, Moss, Flying Scotsman, Spicoli, Tank, Hobbit, and Pennywhistle.

Of course a special thanks to Nick (UCOC) and Arthur (Crocstar) for enriching our experience through friendship and fellowship. We would walk anywhere with these guys again.

And finally:

Thank you Catherine, Stephen, Lauren, Jamie, and Johnathan for meeting us along the trail to bring us love and support.

Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Driver for treating us to a wonderful time at our half-way point in Harpers Ferry.

Thank you Mom, Dad, and Will for maintaining the website, providing transportation to and from the trail, and moral support.

I cannot forget all of the people who commented on the website and constantly told us we would make it. Part of our victory we owe to you.

As you can see, an overwhelming number of people were involved in making this a truly memorable experience of a lifetime. We simply could not have done this on our own. We are in your debt.

Until the next great adventure,

Fred “Hazard” Gunther & Madison “Spoon” Driver

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 122: September 8, 2009
Travel:
From: Katahdin Stream Campground; Millinocket, ME
To: Mt. Katahdin, ME
Beginning: 7:15am
Ending: 9:15am
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 5.3
b) other – 5.3 back down Katahdin.
c) AT Mile Marker – 2178.3 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Sunny and cold at lower elevations. As we got higher the clouds rolled in and covered the top of Katahdin. The clouds broke for only a short while and I could see the top and then it was covered once again.
PM: The clouds burned off early afternoon and we could see the summit of Katahdin clearly from the south gate.
People: Nick’s Parents. My Dad! Flying Scotsman crew.
Animals: The party animals on top of Katahdin!
Money: $0, $2142 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: For the final time on this journey I woke up before the sun. Nick was full of energy rushing us to get ready and downstairs for the continental breakfast. Crocstar, Spoon, and I decided the best course of action was to pack all of our gear and leave it at the ranger station since Nick was summiting with his dad and they would then head back into town on their own. We packed away as many muffins, bagels, and cereal we could until Nick ran us out of there and into the car. When we got to the south gate at Baxter State Park the gate was still closed because being the day after Labor Day, new park hours were in affect and we would have to wait until 6:00 am. Even arriving half an hour ahead of opening put us third in line to get into the park. Once things got moving we handed the ranger our permits and rolled on to Katahdin Stream Campground. Spoon and I picked up our daypacks and filled them with our water, warm clothes, some snacks, and left the rest behind. We gave Nick and his Dad a head start while Crocstar finished up his morning smoke. We signed the clipboard at the trailhead indicating the time we left the campground (just before 7:00 am) and what trail we intended to take up and then back down. It wasn’t long before we passed Nick and his Dad. The first section of trail is surprisingly easy as the trail is well graded, rising gently until we reached Katahdin Stream Falls, a spectacular cascade of water and probably a great swimming hole if it wasn’t so cold. Once past the Falls, the trail turned into a rock staircase until a detour took us off the blazed path in order for a maintenance crew to repair a section of trail. After the quick bushwhacking session the trail turned creek-like and I hopped around choosing my foot placement very carefully to not soak my boots. Then I came upon the boulder section. Massive boulders were scattered all over the trail forcing me to use creative methods to lift and pull myself up each obstacle. I could see the clouds crashing into the mountains to the west and above me a gray ceiling blocking my view of what lay ahead. From the boulder crawl the trail left the dirt path and I began my climb up the jagged spine of Katahdin. This was the part that weeds out the weak. I had to lift myself up rock cracks, wedge my foot into rock and metal footholds, and generally found myself in situations that would benefit from a rope and harness. I pulled myself onto a sandy ledge and the blazes in front of me seemed to be relatively level and then the trail rose up slightly into the clouds. As I hiked onward the clouds slowly blew out the way revealing the towering rock pile I had to scramble up if I wanted any hope of seeing the top of this mountain. I could hear Spoon and Crocstar ahead climbing up the rock face and I yelled up to them, “Katahdin!” and they shouted back in reply. When I finally got to the top of this section I could see Nick and his Dad just arriving to the sandy ledge. Now I had arrived at Mt. Katahdin’s Tableland which was pleasantly flat and is where I got my first sighting of the summit. The trail now had rope on either side of it to keep hikers off of the alpine vegetation and on the marked path. I can imagine from this point many AT thru-hikers would want to just take off running toward the summit without any regard for the fragile plant life. I could still see Crocstar and Spoon just ahead of me and I did my best to pick up my pace but I knew they were doing the same – the end was in sight. Arriving at Thoreau Spring, which has sadly been dry for awhile, signified I had reached the final mile of the trail and with the weather looking to hold out for a while. Oh how wrong was I. As I began my final approach to the summit, the clouds came surging back and smothered the mountain a dense haze that severely lowered my visibility, yet I charged on. Through the mist I could barely make out the silhouettes of a sign and of Spoon and Crocstar. I walked up to the final white blaze of the Appalachian Trail to the cheers of my friends and I dropped my backpack to the ground. I had made it! I was an Appalachian Trail Thru-hiker. One of an elite club of roughtly 11,000 from 1948 to the present. I immediately pulled off my soaked shirt and handed the camera to Spoon so I could climb up onto the sign marking the summit to throw my arms into the air and belt out a cry of victory. It felt almost euphoric too, for a moment, felt like I had just conquered the entire world and then it felt really cold so I quickly pulled out my fleece and Marmot from my backpack to warm up. All in all it only took me about two and a half hours to make the climb to the summit and then only 30 minutes more for Nick and his Dad to show up and join in the celebration. Spoon popped open the champagne he hauled to the summit on Nick’s behalf and passed around the bubbly only after making a complete mess with his poor drinking abilities. He threw back the bottle for a swig only to have it shoot out of his mouth like a geyser. Everyone as a result exploded into laughter. We all had a lot of fun in celebration, taking pictures and congratulating each other on our achievement. Soon more people started to show up who were either at the end of their own AT journey or a much shorter hike. Sitting against a rock to block the wind Spoon and I watched other hikers go through the same experience of finishing a 2,178 mile hike and I just felt so proud of them. Some had brought their wives or girlfriends up with them and even over that short 5.3 mile climb they were tearing up for the joy of getting to the top and seeing their mate put an end to their thru-hike. Amidst all of the emotional commotion Spoon and I recorded our final video blog. Shortly thereafter we couldn’t wait for the weather to clear up any longer and decided to hike down off the summit. The others in our group had left over an hour ago and Spoon was anxious to be through hiking. As we came off of the summit we saw Flying Scotsman, Spicoli, and their crew cruising up the mountain with “Flight of the Valkyries” booming from their iPod’s Extreme Katahdin Mix. Spoon and I cheered them on as we passed.

PM: I should have known that as soon as we entered the Tablelands the sun would come back out and the clouds would burn off. I turned around and could see the summit clearly. We sat in the cold, wet clouds for hours and only when we leave did conditions improve. Oh well. Coming down the mountain was a lot harder than going up. We had to lower ourselves down carefully on slick, sharp rocks so not to fall to our deaths. We ran into the trail maintenance crew on the way down who had opened up the closed section of trail. A quick note on the clipboard at the bottom of the mountain of our time of return and we were off the hook. Crocstar was sitting in the pavilion with bunch of gauze cleaning up his leg. A sharp root jutting out of the side of the trail managed to give him a deep cut just above his knee. For a guy who had to hike 500 miles or more with damaged ribs, this was just excessive. We turned in our backpacks, put our last notes in the hiker register, and then walked out to the road to hitch a ride to the south gate. A truck came rolling by and we immediately recognized the driver. It was Ferryman Dave who paddled us across the Kennebec River and he was happy to provide us transport yet again. He took us to the gate where I told my Dad we would wait for him to pick us up. We waited only about 30 minutes before he rolled up in his 2009 Malibu rental car. I was really glad to see him and gave him a big hug. We piled into the little car and sped off to Millinocket to face our final and most difficult challenge of this long journey – the Summit Sundae Challenge at the Appalachian Trail Cafe. I called Nick so that he could come witness the action. To describe this sundae, it begins with 13 scoops of ice cream of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, stacked on top of whatever pastry they can find (I had a chocolate doughnut), then they top it with bananas, a king size Snickers bar, M&Ms, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and cherries on top. That behemoth is served in a huge bowl and when it hits the table the clock starts. The time to beat is 10:02 by a “tiny little girl” who must have an immunity to cold. As I started to eat the dish I thought, “Wow, this is really tasty”, but toward the end, when I was shivering from the cold I swore I would never eat ice cream again. When I cleared the last bite, just ahead of Crocstar, my stomach felt like it was going to burst. My time: 23 minutes. My trophy? A T-shirt and a bumper sticker. Spoon was unable to finish. After signing the wall (for the challenge finishers) and a ceiling tile (for all AT hikers), we said our last goodbye to Nick and his family and headed to Bangor. We got a motel room, clean, a bite to eat at the Applebees, and passd out with a severe case of full-belly.

Spoon and I have made it back to Raleigh and after a couple of days highlighted by lots of food and sleep, I am feeling great. I still wake up with foot and leg pain, but I guess I have to come to expect such a thing after hammering out 2200 miles. Other than that it is awesome to be back home with my family and friends reacquainting myself with what normal people do in a given day. On Thursday I came home to my mom’s famous BBQ ribs and a long awaited reunion with Catherine and I know Spoon has been bouncing around between his sisters for various meals and tailgating parties. Slowly but surely we will start to pick up on life where we last left off, but first I have to finish the blog! Have no worries folks as I will be dedicating much of my time (and my mom’s time) to post the final and easily the greatest month we had on the Appalachian Trail. The format will be the same and as always look out for tons of pictures. Don’t miss out on all the stories we have from the Green Mountains of Vermont, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Mahoosucs in Maine, and the big guy himself Mt. Katahdin. Plus, there will be more videos posted that never made it to the website because with the new camera the file size was too big to upload directly to YouTube. In fact, if you haven’t already, take a look at Video Blog 10 which documents the half-way point on the trail and was posted in Monson only about a week ago.

More people, more trail magic, and more adventure is coming soon so you can continue to get your healthy dose of MUF!

From the comfort of his pajamas and slippers,
Hazard

PS: Be warned that the pictures of our summit of Mt. Katahdin are WELL worth the wait. But I can’t give you the end before you see how we got there!

I have found Internet (in Stratton, Maine) for the first time since Rutland, VT and have gone through the therapeutic motions of checking my email and world news. After absorbing all the good feelings involved with being reconnected with the world, I figured I would give everyone a much needed update on our journey. In a nutshell, Vermont was absolutely beautiful…when it wasn’t raining all the time and the White Mountains of New Hampshire blew my mind beyond belief. After snapping my right pole again going up Mt. Moosilauke I thought things were starting to go south again. But when I got to the summit of that mountain I literally had no words to describe the awe and wonderment of the 360 degree views around me. What was so insane was that this feeling didn’t go away as we hiked for 4-5 days through the Whites and the views kept getting more and more dramatic and the weather remained perfect. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t last and on August 21st (Crocstar’s birthday) things shifted from sunny and hot to cold, wind, rain, and lightning storm! We woke up that morning at 5am, donned our party hats that Croc had packed in for 50 miles, and hit the trail hoping for good weather to summit Mt. Washington and at lower elevations it looked like we might have been in luck, but as we climbed thousands of feet up it got worse, and worse, and worse. At the Lakes of the Clouds Hut we were excited to run into UCOC (Nick) who had also started on May 11th with Croc and we decided that the newly formed team of the “May-ers” should roll together to Mt. Katahdin. But first we had to get to the top of Mt. Washington:

and throw a party!

After all of the festivities, that at least for me, included cake and ice cream we moved on Mt. Madison where we were caught in a thru-hiker traffic jam as eight people were trying to descend out of the alpine zone as lightning was striking all around us and the wind was tossing us around:

So despite the scary “I’m-going-to-die” feelings on that day, I am kinda glad to have experienced the insanely fast and unpredictable weather change that can happen above the tree line. I have a whole new respect and understanding of dangers of alpine hiking. From that day onward we had 4 days of straight rain and miserable weather. Just look how happy we are to have reached Maine:

I think Maine was a little misinformed as to what life should really be like that day.

Maine, so far has been pretty enjoyable. I broke my left pole before descending into Mahoosic Notch for an hour long rock scramble over rocks the size of cars where moose apparently go to die as there were bones strewn all about. We got some magnificent trail magic from Peter Bingham, Crocstar’s second cousin, who has a ski condo near Grafton Notch. We got cleaned up, resupplied, and taken out for a nice dinner. Thank you, Peter! We had a couple of really cold mornings here the past two days and it is really starting to sink in that we are only a week and a half from looking up at Katahdin from the base. Each day as we get closer to the end, I look out over the mountain range and think to myself just how far I’ve walked to get here and I think about all the things I’ve seen and how beautiful the earth is when viewed from above. This whole experience just hasn’t had a chance to sink in, but thankfully I’ll have lots of time while I recover to digest and share it all with you when I get home.

Happy Trails,
Hazard

We are proud of him and wish him luck on continuing his AT thru-hike.

Check out all the press notes:
From MLB.com
and the local St. Louis news

Spoon and I are planning to make it to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the ‘mental’ 1/2 way point, by July 4th! We hope to get a train ride into DC for some festivities and this is a great opportunity to come see us on the trail. If anyone wants to come and see us, drop me an email or a comment and we’ll set it up.

Thanks again for all of the love and support from the MUF community!

- Hazard & Spoon

We just wanted to let you know that our good buddy on the trail, Loyal, (who is raising money for Habitat For Humanity during his hike) was nominated for People Magazine’s All-Stars Among Us award!

Everyone should go to: People All-Stars and vote for him! He can be found by clicking on the Milwaukee Brewers team logo and his last name is Mehnert. He’s the guy in the hard-hat smiling pretty.

Don’t forget to take a look at the link on the right-hand pane for more information about his fundraiser!

We’ve also addressed some of your comments/questions and they’ve been posted under the ‘Hazard & Spoon’ tab…

-Hazard

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

May 26, 2009

Hello everyone!

As hard as you would imagine finding internet access out here, it is even harder to find a computer to make a post to the blog. A lot has happened since the last narrative. Obviously, we are out of Hiawassee (pronounced Hi-ah-wah-see) and are taking our zero day in Hot Springs, NC. Now, were to begin; I suppose where I left off before…

The last you’ve heard we’ve had several animal encounters and were a day ahead of schedule. At this point we are two days ahead, but minus the zero day here, that keeps us ahead by one. Coming out of the Hiawassee Inn, there was a crowd of hikers being ferried back to Dicks Creek Gap. Among them were a very friendly elderly couple who are hiking this trail for the second time. Apparently they live on a sail boat and work only six months a year and have adventure the other six months. They were a couple of characters and helped us get creative with some of our meals. The day we left is also the day we hit the NC state line, a small post on a tree saying “NC/GA”. That night we stayed at the Muskrat Creek Shelter with the couple, Just Bill, and Arthur. The evening was spent in a nice shelter and making friends that we’ll remember for a lifetime.

A thunderstorm soothed our sleep and we were thankful to have a roof over our heads. All in all the day was easy until Albert Mountain. To give you some perspective, when you first see Albert Mnt. you see a beautiful ranger tower in the distance and you speculate how nice it would be to catch the view. A few miles later you come across a sheer cliff face that you have to climb up and when you get there, it is cold and full of bugs. A short hike later we hit a shelter with two of the rudest older men I’ve met. The first thing that one of them said was ‘With that knee you won’t make it to Katadin”. He then proceeded to make fun of me for building a fire that I was making for him. This was all just foreshadowing for the next day.

In the morning we woke up as one of the men was peeing right beside the shelter. The entire day was wet and overcast. We had the opportunity to go into Franklin, NC, but skipped out because we were in no need of resupply and we just wanted the day to end. This day can be summed up as trudging through cold rain and mud. The ‘beautiful view’ on top of Wayah Bald was completely obscured by clouds and we couldn’t see two feet in front of ourselves. After the Wayah Bald tower, we took a wrong turn and went about a mile out of the way getting lost. Turning around, we found the shelter just down the trail. Just before we made our way down to the shelter, a drove of wild hogs crossed our path twice. At the shelter, we met Bombadillo and 15, who capped the day with some good entertainment and new friendships; not to mention the best meal we’ve had on the trail so far – Beef Lipton packaged with pepperoni and beef ramen noodles.

The sun came out in all of its glory the next day, as we knew we would be sleeping in a bed that night. The view we lost on Wayah Bald was made up for on Wesser bald. The tower on top of this was an open top fire tower with a 360 degree view of the surrounding terrain, including a view of the NOC, where we would end the day. Hazard and I took our lunch on top of the tower. Meeting Bombadillo again, we hiked the extra miles into the Nantahala Outdoor Center; a crossroads for rafting, kayaking, and all sorts of outdoor activities. We rented a room in a bunk house with Bombadillo and one other person who was already set up. We quickly realized we were the odd kids on the block as not everyone else stank quite as badly or looked quite as grizzly as we did. That evening, we hitched a ride into Bryson City and ate some Mexican food and drank a magarita or two. Resupplying at the grocery, it took a while to get a hitch back, but lucky for us there are nice enough people in the world.

We woke up stiff and not yet mentally prepared for the challenge ahead. The hike out of the NOC is notoriously steep and long. We passed the Sassafras Gap Shelter at the top of one of the mountains, and it was surprisingly nice. Alas! It was not our stop for the night. The next miles out were from hell, especially the last 2.5 up the hill to Brown Fork Gap Shelter. Exhausted, we came into camp to meet Loyal and Crawl. Loyal is apparently hiking the AT to raise money for Habitat for Humanity (www.hfhmgc.org/AT). Crawl, looking like he was near death, had what seemed to be a very hurt ankle and a big snoring problem. Bombadillo came into the camp late after getting almost all new gear and did not sleep a wink. The best analogy for Crawl’s snoring is like listening to screws in a blender. Somehow we managed to get a few winks in and woke up with a new sense of the word ‘noise’.

Leaving Loyal and Crawl (Crawl being named for his slow pace), we made our way to Fontana Dam. The morning progressed uneventfully, but as we were passing the ‘Fontana Hilton’, a very nice shelter at the dam, we met Mountain Mike and his dog Pumpkin. Both were staying at the Hilton and gave us a lift to a nice grill where we ate some very good burgers and enjoyed a few comforts before we proceeded on. This was our first bit of ‘Trail Magic’, as he was nice enough to drive us wherever we needed or wanted to go. Taking us to the dam, we thanked him as we walked across the long exposed road. The other side of the Fontana Dam is the boundary to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. On the way in we saw two black bear cubs shuffling down a tree. The views were great and we also found a very friendly deer who let us take pictures with him/her. It was a long uphill to the Mollies Ridge Shelter. A bunch of people were at the shelter already, many of them thu-hikers so I set up the hammock to be out of the way and away from the snoring. Hazard could not get comfortable and moved to the shelter, but because he left, the wind made a lot of noise and I slept beneath it.

Again we started hiking that next day to more uphills. We ran into many more thru-hikers this day. Along the trail we met Needles, a tattoo artist from Montana. When we came into Double Spring Gap Shelter, a fire was already rolling. A couple of people out for the long weekend made it to keep the bugs away and we also ran into Chairman. Chairman oddly enough went to NC State and majored in industrial design (hence chair-man). Deer filtered in an out of the campsite as we ate, taking little notice of us. We also met Flash, a thru-hiker.

The morning started out with a few clouds in the sky, but not a chance of rain until later. Today, we’d reach the highest altitude of the trip at Clingman’s Dome, 6643 ft. A tall tower with a winding ramp to the top, a lot of tourists take the short walk to the top. Many of these weekenders had only a cursory knowledge of the Appalachian Trail, if at all, and Hazard and I spent about an hour entertaining them with our stories thus far. ‘It’s all down hill from here’ we joked, knowing that this is not going to be easy. We took another rest at Newfound Gap, where a lot of people go to hitch into Gatlinburg, TN. We rested for a bit, reacquainted ourselves with Arthur, and entertained more visitors. Arthur apparently switched his hiking shoes to hike in his Crocs. That boy is nuts. We took a short day and stopped at Icewater Spring Shelter. There we met a mother and daughter pair who had hiked from Springer Mt., Kayla and ‘Mom’.

The sun rose beautifully and a bear was pawing at the bottom of another man’s pack that was hung up on the cables, no damage was done though. We had a few laughs and left the camp on full stomachs, knowing we were going to resupply tomorrow. To ease the blow on ourselves getting into Hot Springs, we decided to make this our longest day. It was over 27 miles that day, with the last 5 hiking behind horses. The smell and the torn up trail didn’t help our feet, but because the terrain was so gradual, we were still moderately high energy by the end. We rolled into Davenport Gap Shelter late and ate dinner, meeting Matt. Conversation was short lived as we went to bed.

It was .9 miles to get outside of GSMNP, (Great Smoky Mts. National Park) and we hit Highway 40. We had planned on this day being about 17 miles, but we got somewhat lost on our way up to the resupply at Standing Bear Farm. After the massive price gouging that ensued, we left with a light load, prepared for the next town, Hot Springs, the following day. Getting turned around again, we wasted an hour finding the trail again. The rough wet hike was only met by a shelter full of hikers and no room for us. Hazard set up under the overhang and I set up the hammock and tarp. It rained that night and we went to bed wearing frowns.

The morning was dimly lit and we left camp before anyone. Only 18 miles into town and then a zero day. We had a shallow breakfast and hiked hungry until lunch. We ate on top of a large boulder next to a cliff and beautiful waterfall. The weather was pleasant at that point and only a few miles out after lunch we ran into a cooler full of bottled water, crackers and snickers bars in the middle of the woods. This on top of realizing it was only 5 more miles into town, was the best present we’ve gotten in the woods. 3 miles outside of town and the rain started pouring. Sopping, we trudged into the city and tried to find our hostel. The Sunnybank Inn is a beautiful Victorian house in the middle of Hot Springs. Chris and Jenny, the caretakers, could not be more welcoming and the rooms were beautiful and perfect. Cat later came by and met up with Hazard and we ate a large pizza for dinner. After dinner we headed back and I reacquainted myself with many of the thru-hikers that crossed our path before, Centaur, Loyal, Matt, Arthur, and the caretakers. The music room of the house was fully stocked and songs and good times rang until late hours; till 11pm. I stayed up a bit later, and then went to bed.

The morning of our first zero started with a breakfast fit for a king, provided by the Inn. Banana nut muffins, granola, tea, and the works. Chris and Jenny couldn’t be more welcoming. If you have the chance to go through Hot Springs, say hello and stay there. You won’t regret it.

And that brings me here, the library at Hot Springs, and waiting for the rest of the day to occur. Wait! Don’t they have a special at the hot springs on Tuesdays?!?

-atspoon