Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: Spence Field Shelter (AT mi 183.7). Stop: Fontana Dam Road (AT mi 164.3). Today’s miles: 19.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 2028.8 miles. States Completed: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee

I eventually got warm in my sleeping bag, but any time I moved the cold sliced through me, starting all the shivering all over again. I had to get up to pee around midnight, in the pouring rain, causing a whole body shake for about 45 minutes after getting back into my sleeping bag. Apparently I didn’t put my toilet paper roll back into its zip lock bag, because I woke up surrounded by toilet paper confetti between my sleep stuff and the shelter wall. Mice found my TP and decided to use it for their nesting, shredding it all over the place. Whoops!

I got up just after 7am to it still raining and the wind creating a cacophony of noise. The wind was beating the trees and smacking nuts and limbs into the shelter roof. I packed, put my rain gear back on, and then got my food bag down to make breakfast. I ate with the REI ladies, and then headed out into the rain minutes later. They hooted and cheered for me, thinking I was nuts for hiking out into the rain and cold so early in the morning. They would eventually do the same, but they weren’t hiking many miles.

It was so cold, my fingers were numb, and my toes tingled in my socks and shoes, completely drenched through within minutes of walking out of camp. Before too long, they too were numb. It was so wet and sloshy on the trail, I could see each breath in front of me. I was supposed to be hiking to the Fontana Dam shelter, called the Fontana Hilton, but I was so miserable with the weather that I decided I’d try to get a room for the night so I could warm up and sleep in a dry space.

Once the rain slowed and I had service on my phone, I started making phone calls- the first 2 hostels I called were booked solid with people up visiting the mountains for the fall colors. I was calling the 3rd hostel when the call dropped. I couldn’t get my phone to make the calls again.. so, I text mom that guys number and told her the situation. The text made it through to her, thankfully, but then I lost service again. At some point I got service back and mom text me to tell me she got me a room at the Fontana Dam Resort Lodge because it was cheaper than the hostel would be after the charge for shuttling to get me and drop me back off tomorrow.

Happy, knowing I’d have somewhere warm to sleep tonight, I stopped at Mollies Ridge shelter and ate a peanut butter tortilla as quick as I could, too cold to sit still a second longer. And then kept on going. The trail was wet, sloshy, and slick, but again I had no falls. The views were non existent in the woods and with the ledges surrounded by rain clouds. Some time during a climb up to Doe Knob, I crossed out of Tennessee for the last time, although there was no sign saying that. I’ve officially completed 12 of the 14 states that the AT goes through!

After 1pm the rain stopped and the sun decided to come out. While the temperature didn’t improve, thanks to the wind, the rain stopping made it all so much better. I even started to feel my toes again. Sometime during this moment of enjoying the sunshine, I thought maybe I overreacted about needing a warm bed tonight.. and then decided that I do want that bed so, overreaction or not, it worked out how it should have.

The trail went down steep switchbacks to the valley that held the Fontana Dam Lake. It was beautiful, and the trail went along the road around the dam for awhile before snaking back into the woods along the water’s edge. I talked with some tourists driving through, they shared some water with me and I happily accepted it, not wanting to have to filter any. I got to the road crossing that held the marina just after 4pm. I walked down to the store at the marina, originally wanting to find something to snack on, but I was underwhelmed with the options, so I just got a shuttle instead.

The driver picked me up to take me into Fontana Village. This area used to be where the workers for the dam lived, now it’s a resort with a lodge, gas station, restaurant, laundry mat, post office, and general store. The lodge has hotel rooms and cabins, too. Plus a pool.. but it was too cold for pool fun. I had the driver stop at the gas station so I could resupply (and get snacks), then I was dropped off at the lodge to check in.

I got my room key and set off to find it and get into the shower immediately. My feet felt the way they do when you’ve stayed in the bath too long-and then ran a half marathon on them. They were tender and way too cold and soggy. I actually turned the heat on in the room before I got in the shower-with the water as hot as it would get. When I finally felt back to normal, I got out and got dressed. Then washed my socks and undies in the sink-there was a laundry mat but I was not about to walk to it.

I walked down to the restaurant around 6:30. When I was being seated, a man that I had briefly met on the trail doing maintenance work with some other people invited me to sit with him. His trail name is Ox, and he did the trail in 1997 and again in sections over the years since. He was so fun to talk with.. we laughed and shared stories for what felt like a minute but ended up being almost 2 hours. While we were eating, another hiker came up to us and remembered ox from years ago, doing trail maintenance during a sleet storm. We all 3 got a good laugh at them reminiscing.

I tried to pay my bill when the checks came, but Ox refused to let me. He payed for my dinner and beer. If I had known he was going to do that, I wouldn’t have ordered so much food! I was so grateful to him for his kindness, the company alone would have been more than enough. I took my left overs with me after we said our byes and made the cold walk back up to the lodge.

Back in my room, I smiled at how this day turned out. I started off cold and miserable, I’m ending with a full belly, great conversation, and a warm bed.. then I remembered the World Series! I quickly turned on the TV and started watching my Braves beat the Astros. I was planning to multitask, download the app my friend Tijuan’s movie is coming out on, upload pictures for the blog, post yesterday’s blog.. BUT, I didn’t have any service and apparently the WiFi only worked in the lobby. And I was not about to get out of that bed!

So, I’m laying here, eating the leftovers I thought I was too full to eat, typing this out, yelling at the TV like I’m at the game.. I doubt I’ll make it through the whole thing, I’m already tired and it’s inching close to 10pm.. way past my bedtime..
And so, this is time to say goodnight 🙂 sweet dreams!

Start: Fontana Dam Road (AT mi 164.3). Stop: Stecoah Gap (AT mi 150.6). Today’s miles: 13.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 2042.5 miles.

I slept in some today. And honestly, I had no qualms with it. My bed was comfortable, I was warm, and I slept well. Eventually I’ll be back on an actual schedule and the idea of that stinks.. and I’ve realized I’ve never really let go of the “schedule” while out here. I’ve always had somewhere to be by this date, miles to hike by this time.. and while it sounds stressful, it’s actually somewhat comforting to have control over it.. and know that if I don’t technically keep control over it, nothing bad will happen.. weird, right?

So, I got up around 8.. the shuttle driver couldn’t drive me back to the trail until 9 anyway, so why rush? I was going to pack, and did pack a few things, but then decided to walk upstairs in my warm sleep clothes for breakfast instead. It was a buffet, and I ended up sitting there until 9:30.. haha. I ate four biscuits and gravy, along with eggs, bacon, sausage links (I don’t even like those, not sure why I got them or ate them), and hashbrowns. I also had several cups of coffee and orange juice. The sweet waitress sat me at a window table so I had a beautiful view of the lodge with the mountains behind it.. and I could feel the cold coming off the window panes. Yep. I took my sweet time eating, prolonging the inevitable return to the cold. I tried to use the WiFi to upload some pictures, which worked, and I saw that my Braves won the first game of the World Series last night! Wahoo! My watching some didn’t jinx them!

It was in the high 30s outside, but warming semi quickly, and it was sunny. It would eventually get into the 60s and be gorgeous, but knowing it was that cold right now, I just couldn’t be motivated to get a move on. After eating, I went back to my room and took forever to pack.. I sat and blankly stared awhile before finally pushing myself to get it done and check out of my room. I returned my room keys and asked for the shuttle around 10.

The driver was there in minutes and had me back at the trailhead by the marina. I had a 3+ mile climb right out of the Fontana Dam Marina. I’ve learned I like to call it quits for the day right before another huge climb.. yesterday was clearly no different. Ha. I didn’t get started until 10:15, and minutes after I started huffing and puffing in all my rain gear (put on for warmth, not rain today) I ran into Ox doing trail maintenance!

We laughed about my late departure this morning and talked a minute before I trudged upwards. He was making the steep lunge like steps smaller, easier, to get up. Sadly for me, he had only recently started so only the bottom several steps were done. He still had a whole lot to do-and I had to lunge my way up the rest.. I’m amazed at the work trail maintainers put in, volunteering most of the time no less. He was doing some very labor intensive work.. I was and still am very impressed and grateful.

After the big lunge steps came smaller stone steps.. all of which were still steeply climbing to Walker Gap. Which was strange, because gaps are usually low spots, not at almost tops of mountains. A mile or so from the top I got a good chuckle at myself when I realized that this is the climb I had thought I would do yesterday afternoon, before I snapped and decided I needed a hot shower to warm up my cold toes. How silly was I to think I would have climbed this 3 plus miles, soaked to the bone and cold as ever, and then slept in the shelter I was now passing. I’m forever thankful my toes protested that plan by 11am yesterday.

The rest of the day was rolling, ups and downs, deep in the woods without many views. At some point I had a hunting dog run up on me and follow along with me a mile or so, continuously whining but wouldn’t let me pet her.. she’d flatten to the ground and then cry so I quit trying to love on her. She’d follow at my heels, several times stepping on my feet, making me worry I’d somehow trip over her and accidentally hurt her. Strangely enough, as quick as she appeared, she vanished off the side of the mountain in full chase of something she saw that I didn’t.. and she didn’t return to me.

I had big intentions of hiking to a campsite, a climb out of a road crossing that was steep but not horrible. The campsite was on the way up to Cheoah Bald. Before I settled on the campsite, I had thought I might push forward and camp on the bald or even go a little farther to the shelter past that.. but that all quickly went out of the window when I took so long to leave the lodge this morning. Just after 2pm, I was stepping over a huge downed tree in the middle of the trail and some how double bounced my right knee on the log and skinned it. Blood started to trickle and the bottom scrape started to swell. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t spew a buttload of explicatives. It hurt!

I took my time attempting to walk it off, letting my brain realize I’d be fine after all. But, I was walking slower now and decided maybe I should try to stealth camp near the road crossing instead of attempting to push across and up to the campsite. I even went so far as to filter extra water when I crossed a stream so I’d have plenty to stealth camp. I was thinking I’d get up at 6am and leave packed and ready by 7, when the rain was supposed to hit.. not ideal, since I hate waking up, but a decent plan to not have to pack a wet tent.

And then, as it started to inch towards 5pm, I decided I was silly. I called Lonnie at Wolf Creek Hostel and asked him if he had a bed for me tonight. He said he did, I told him I’d be at the road crossing in 20 minutes, he said he’d be there. I dumped my extra water while passing a pristine stealth site, laughing to myself. Not even 14 miles today, but I got a great breakfast and a warm bed for the night. No regrets.

Lonnie met me at Stecoah Gap and drove me to the hostel. Roundhouse was there! I asked about Finch, but Roundhouse seemed to think he was behind him. I was shocked at our meeting up, honestly. And come to find out, we had both been dropped off at Clingmans Dome the same day, he had gotten off trail with his girlfriend for a few days.. ahhh. Now it clicks.

Shadow is the caretaker here, so he gave me a quick tour after Lonnie left to head back to work. I walked next door to the gas station and got a pizza and a Gatorade, then sat it on the kitchen table before hopping in the shower and getting clean. My knee burned in the water. Once out and in loaner clothes, I gave my clothes to Shadow who started the wash. I bandaged my knee so it wouldn’t get stuck to the loaner pants I was wearing, and then took my food to the fire pit out back and ate dinner while chatting with Shadow and Roundhouse all while sitting around a perfect campfire.

I hung out awhile, then when I was too cold to stand it, and the fire wasn’t keeping me warm enough, I headed back inside. I turned on the tv to find the World Series.. the Braves and Astros were literally tied 1-1 and I turned it on right as the Astros knocked in 3 runs and had the bases loaded. I immediately yelled and turned off the tv-mad I jinxed my Braves like that. I sadly walked to my room, which was a private room with a double sized bed! Not sure how I lucked out there, but I was happy about it, quickly forgetting my sadness over the game.

I laid down to type this up, snuggled in the quilt I found on the dresser. I’m pretty tired, and honestly frustrated with the lack of service and decent WiFi.. I’m still not able to get any of my posts up. It was a thing of being too cold to type the journals out, now that I have, I don’t have the service to post them. Oh well, if things continue in this fashion, I’ll hopefully be able to do a mass upload when mom comes this weekend and I take a zero in Franklin. We shall see! Sorry about the inconsistency with posts, but such is life on the trail. If you have great service, your fingers are frozen and it’s raining and you just can’t type it out, or you’re so tired you fall asleep before you can.. when you’re wide awake and ready to knock it all out and get things up to date-service is non existent. Haha! Love y’all. Sweet dreams.

Start: Stecoah Gap (AT mi 150.6). Stop: Nantahala Outdoor Center (AT mi 136.7). Today’s miles: 13.9 miles. Total AT mileage: 2056.4 miles.

I couldn’t have been happier with my choice to sleep inside last night. It got cold and windy, but more so, the bed I slept in was a cozy one.. with a nice heavy quilt that reminded me of one my mom has that I absolutely love. I slept so good, snuggled under that thing, so good in fact that I overslept. Ha. Seems to be my way, lately.

I got up at 7:41, instead of 7:00, but still had plenty of time to pack quickly, eat my instant grits I bought yesterday, and high tail it over to the gas station to buy a new chapstick and a toboggan. I have a headband that I usually sleep in that keeps my ears warm at night, but I’ve been getting so cold during the day hiking that I wanted something extra so I wouldn’t be stuck without a dry one ever.

I made it back at exactly 8:30, just in time to say hey to Lonnie and for him to load up me and Roundhouse in his truck. We got dropped off minutes later. After a picture for Lonnie, we were immediately starting a climb. It was in the low 40s, but I was warming up because of the climb, in all of my rain gear.. and my new toboggan. The wind made it feel a little cooler than it was, but so far the rain was holding off-according to the weather app it was supposed to be dumping buckets starting around 7am-hence my want for indoor snoozing last night.

Roundhouse was ahead of me and I started listening to an audiobook to distract me on the almost 5 miles of incline this morning. It worked too. I just kept moving, climbing, and listening. Before I knew it, I was standing at the top of Cheoah Bald, the wind coming in gusts so strong I thought it would rip my rain pants (I like to hike in them unzipped to the knee, but clipped at the boot, so air flows and I can bend easier). It was gorgeous up there, and I could see the appeal to want to camp there-during a warmer month.

From there began the descent into the Nantahala River Gorge area. Miles and miles of downhill, sometimes so steep on packed dirt that it felt like attempting to ski on the leaves as I slipped my way down. Thankfully, I never fell-although I’m honestly shocked I didn’t. I think if the rain had actually came, I wouldn’t be making that statement.

At some point 2 hunting dogs came barreling at me just a barking like lunatics. Minutes later the 3 of us were friends and I think I may have given them their first ever belly rubs. They seemed so skittish and scared of being smacked, because every time I stood quickly or leaned over them they would cower. It was so heartbreaking. Mind you, I don’t know how these dogs are treated regularly, so I could be very wrong and they could just be eerie of new people. But so far, I feel like every “hunting dog” I’ve come across is so skinny and skittish and the second they get any kind of love you have a new hiking pal for miles.

Which, that’s exactly how that turned out. Those two girlies followed along at my heels for hours, until we came across two hikers with their own dog, Shadow, a chunky, clearly well loved (and fed), black lab. Shadow didn’t like my new friends, so after explaining to the hikers that these aren’t my dogs.. I tried to get them to keep following me so they’d have some peace after Shadow showed teeth a few times and had to be held back by his dad. My new friends didn’t care though, they ditched me faster than mean girls in 6th grade. And honestly, I was ok with that.

Sometime mid afternoon, I realized I didn’t eat lunch, and then decided I should just wait to get to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in a couple miles and eat something there-instead of the stupid tortilla and peanut butter I had with me. I did decide to go ahead and pee while on trail, instead of having to navigate public bathrooms in a hurry later, since I didn’t really know what to expect at the NOC.

I had gotten my shorts back up and was attempting to tuck in my shirt as I pulled up my rain pants, hardly even off trail-definitely not out of sight at all-when Roundhouse appeared out of nowhere coming down the mountain. He had stopped at a shelter to eat lunch at some point and I had gotten ahead of him and didn’t realize it. Luckily for me, I had pulled my shorts up before coming into his view. It was pretty funny to me, although he seemed oblivious, maybe he was just saving face for me.

We walked and talked the rest of the way to the NOC. He was having his mom come to get him from there a little later today, to get off trail for a couple zeros. My mom is coming to do the same thing tomorrow after work, for me to share my last trail zero with her on Saturday. Both of us attempting to skirt the worst of the rain in the forecast. Speaking of-we were both ecstatic with our luck today! It literally started to rain as we walked up to a restaurant on the river and ordered our food.

We both ordered our food and beer then sat at a table under the covered deck of the restaurant on the river. It is so pretty here, this atmosphere. Although, it was still cold and now rainy. The guy behind the bar that took our order originally thought we were together as a couple. We explained our situation and how he was getting off for a couple days but that I was considering either staying somewhere here or hiking out-but that I was leaning towards staying, now that the rain was coming down. He gave me some advice on places for the night, and I decided I’d figure all that out after eating.. a full stomach to help the brain work.

We got our food, Philly cheesesteak for me, with Mac and cheese and baked beans. Talk about delicious. I was inhaling it all when the guy came over to mention that he would be willing to let me stay on the staff housing grounds, where he and his girlfriend live, for the night-if I wanted something dry and not fancy. There was a tiny “shack” (his words) that they used to live in but recently moved to the big house, so no one is currently in that shack.

Before I agreed, I asked a few questions, and told him I planned to slack pack tomorrow and have my mom pick me up from the NOC instead of off of some mountain road crossing in the dark. I was telling him this part only to know where the shack was so I could arrange a shuttle to pick me up in the morning from there to take me to the mountain road crossing to start hiking back-HE OFFERED TO DRIVE ME THERE! For FREE! Not only stay in the shack for free, but to drive me 45 minutes south of here for free, too! DEAR GOD the kindness of strangers, especially lately, is just mind blowing! I was shocked!

Roundhouse started laughing and talking about how the trail provides and that I manifested this scenario. And I mean, I sort of did.. I knew I needed to figure out where to stay and how to slack pack, but I was more focused on the food and it just worked out so beautifully, right before my eyes. We talked a bit longer and then after finishing my beer I walked to the outfitter across the bridge. I ended up getting a fleece half zip to wear under my rain jacket because I just couldn’t seem to stay warm. My puffy jacket is always in my dry bag tucked in deep, so it doesn’t get wet with rain or sweat, so I have it when I’m done hiking-but I’m getting cold WHILE hiking, so this solved that problem for me.

I wore it out of the store, went across the street to the general store and got a soda, then walked back to the bar restaurant to wait for my new friend to get off work. I hung out, uploading pictures to Facebook with cold fingers, until he got off work at 5:30. It wasn’t until this moment that I learned his name: Fish. Sounds funny to think about making a plan to get in someone’s car, go to their house, sleep there, go with them in the morning and not even know their name. Hikers are like that though.. and come to find out, Fish and his girlfriend, Rachel, hiked the AT in 2016 (the year I first read about it and decided I wanted to do it!). They met on trail and have been together ever since!

Fish showed me my digs for the night, literally it’s a shed with 2 windows (actually the perfect size for what I need in my backyard at home lol) and a door that doesn’t have a door knob. It has power and one light bulb over head and is absolutely all I need. He showed me the bathhouse, and then said if I wanted to shower to just come up to the big house and use theirs, it’s cleaner, and to come hangout with them if I wanted to. So, I unpacked my gear, set up my sleep stuff, changed into my sleep/warm clothes, and then made my way up the hill.

I met Rachel and their roommate, Margo, and her dog along with another coworkers dog that happened to be there playing. This community is full of people working for the NOC-the staff lodging.. apparently there are more compounds to accommodate staff, too. In the summer, the NOC houses close to or over 200 employees.. river guides, seasonal workers, restaurant employees, outfitter and general store employees, management and everything else in between. It’s pretty neat, really.

I hung out and had a beer, talking and playing with the pups. Eventually, I ended up coming back to the “shack” to lay down. They were mortified that I wasn’t hungry, but I had already eaten so much food, and I’ve been staying in towns the last 2 nights, too.. so I dont feel hungry or the normal scavenger like feeling I get when I’ve been in the woods for days eating camp food and peanut butter tortillas. And, honestly, with this hike almost being over, I don’t even feel guilty for soaking up the towns along the way these last few days. Actually, Im full on loving it.

I don’t have enough service to stream a movie tonight, which normally wouldn’t be something I’d be concerned with, BUT my friend, Tijuan has a role in a new movie “Horror Noire” that started streaming today on the Shutter app and on AMC’s app, too. I wanted so badly to watch it on premier day, but it looks like I might be making mom watch a scary movie tomorrow after she picks me up! If I can’t get it on the TV in our hotel room, I’ll be watching it on my phone with my headphones in after she falls asleep. I’m so incredibly proud of Tijuan, chasing her dreams and never giving up on them. She’s talented as hell, and an all around incredible human.. so y’all should watch it, too! (PS, both of those apps give a 7 day free trial.. just sayin..)

And with that, I leave you. Time to get some shut eye so I can try to get up on time tomorrow for my 21 mile slack pack in the rain. Goodnight, y’all.