First and foremost, Happy Mother’s Day Mom! I tried calling, I swear. They don’t make too many AT&T towers down here!

In 1780, the “Overmountain Militia” composed of men from North Carolina, Virginia and what is now Tennessee crossed Yellow Mountain Gap in snow that was “shoe mouth deep” (We think this means the top of the shoe) on September 25, and marched another 170 miles to King’s Mountain. The militia provided their own horses, provisions and arms, and travelled without a single wagon. Once at King’s Mountain, Americans fought Americans in a bloody and decisive chapter of the American Revolution. The British Loyalists were defeated, mostly because they were surrounded, but also because they were on top of a hill, and firing downhill upon the patriots most of their shots went high.

I crossed Yellow Mountain Gap today. I am also fortunate to have visited King’s Mountain, so I was pretty excited about it. King’s Mountain is right off of I-84 just as you cross into Georgia, and I highly recommend going.

Today was such an unbelievable day, I don’t know where to begin. I started the day at over 6,200 feet, in the middle of a cloud. The shelter on Roan is really nice, in that it has four walls and a door. It was easy to sleep in because there was very little light coming in, so we didn’t get started until late. Once off of Roan Mountain, the trail crosses Carver Gap and then takes you on a full day’s hike of balds and ridges that are collectively known as the Roan Highlands. It is an awesome and unbelievable country! Entire mountaintops are covered with grass and rocks, and you can see the route of the trail for miles and miles as it follows the ridge.

That is, when you can see more than a few feet in front of you. I experienced every kind of weather today. I started out inside a cloud, with high winds. Pretty soon it was thundering and there was lightning, and then a heavy rain. Not long after that, it was sunny. Soon after that, it was hailing, and then raining again. At times, there was rain and sunshine at the same time. Suffice it to say I saw quite a show today. I could not see off of the first couple of balds, but once I was up on Little Hump and Hump Mountains I could see for 100 miles or more. I could see the rain coming long before it would reach where I was, which only took about 5 minutes for it to travel that far. This would be repeated, as it would clear in between each shower. The whole time up on the ridge, I was buffetted by gale-force winds. Every second step was a step to brace myself against the wind on the high ridge.

At one point, I heard this very loud sound that sounded like an approaching jet or freight train. It got louder and louder, and was coming from my right. I look in that direction, and suddenly I see the branches of the trees all bend in my direction, and a split second later I am hit with a gust so powerful that it nearly knocked me over.

I cannot think of too many places that are more beautiful than what I saw today. The weather and the constantly changing clouds only made it better. As I came to the top of the last of the balds, I had a panoramic view of the ridge as it meanders down for several miles, and then becomes covered in trees again. In the distance is Grandfather Mountain, with white clouds loosely hung from its peaks. The clouds are spectacular, making a thousand shapes at once. And there, right where a hiker is standing on top of a bald a mile away, is the start of a magnificent rainbow that stretches into the valley.

As Tom Racette used to say, “I wonder what the poor people are doing right now?” He wasn’t talking about money.

I am in the highest shelter on the A.T., at 6,285 feet. It is a rather neat shelter too, as it used to be a ranger’s cabin. It actually has 4 walls, a door and even windows. There is a loft upstairs, and I’m sure you could fit 20 hikers in here.

Roan Mountain is the last time the A.T. goes above 6,000 feet until the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The trail has taken another southern jog just to climb this mountain, and it will then go northward again after crossing a couple of balds that are also down in this area.

I felt extremely spent after climbing Roan today. It was almost like I didn’t eat enough food, even though I’m pretty sure I ate about as much as I normally do. By the time I got to the top I was feeling weak and a little bit dizzy, and cared only for getting to the shelter. There is a trail that goes to an overlook knob about a mile and a half away, and I had fully intended to take it after dinner and photograph a killer sunset. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling up to it. I guess there will be other sunsets.

Earlier today I saw a sign for Greasy Creek Hostel, bunks and food .6 miles. At the word food, I immediately justified it by the possibility of cheeseburgers, so I was on my way. The .6 of a mile was off trail, and downhill. So it’s an additional 1.2 mile walk round trip to get there. I can say it definitely wasn’t worth it. Even though the sign said food, the owner was taking a sabbath today and does not believe in preparing food on Saturday. So instead, I was given a choice of pop tarts, Snickers or a really bad chicken pot pie. Meanwhile, I was reading the hiker register and my friends who had been in yesterday were raving about the best cheeseburger they’ve ever eaten. Its too bad that sign back at the trail said “food.”

Tomorrow, I’ll come down from Roan, but it will still be a pretty tough day. Another 15 miles or so should bring me to the Apple House, and then after that I will need to pull some really big miles. The rain held off today and it even became a very nice day, but there is a much better chance of rain tomorrow.

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I should not have taken that bike ride this morning. I have missed my bike at home for some time now, and I was really excited to see that Johnny’s has one decent road bike among all of their broken down Huffys and Murrays. I took it out for about 10 miles, but got caught in a heavy rain so I was forced to pull off at Sonic Burger. (Yes, it was rough)!

The climb out of Erwin turned out to be pretty tough. The trail goes from 1,700′ to peak at 5,180′ on Unaka Mountain, and then back down again to the shelter. It is about a 16 mile hike, so added together with my morning bike ride, I was pretty tired by the time I pulled in. I got there just in time to grab the last spot in the shelter and hang my bear rope before it got dark.

The section along the Nolichucky River is really beautiful. One of the books said that both Andrew Jackson and Daniel Boone once attended river festivals here. It was almost like being in a rain forest. There were lots of Hemlock trees, and enough green underbrush to give it that rainforest feel. I found a locust and a newt, and got some really good pictures, and also took some time to get some timed exposures of the stream.

One of the highlights of today was the Beauty Spot, which is actually one of the balds. It looks back westward towards Erwin, and far in the distance you can make out Big Bald and No Business Knob. Unaka Mountain was also pretty neat. It is a wooded summit, but the summit itself is covered with a stand of really tall, dark firs that create a really dark forest. Once you get out of the summit area, you are back into a more normal forest for this area. I did not run into many people today, but there were plenty at the shelter. Doesn’t sound like anybody here is going to make a run for Damascus like I am. It will be a tough week, as I plan on doing three 15 mile days, then a 24, then three 17s. The terrain does flatten out a bit after that third 15, so hopefully this will be doable!

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That’s right, that number up there says zero. I hadn’t intended to zero here, but it’s just so easy to justify! I am staying at a hostel named Uncle Johnny’s, and it is a very nice place. You can get a cabin, hostel bed or just pitch your tent out back. They have a stable of bikes so that you can ride into town any time you want. They also run 3 shuttles a day into town for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Red, the caretaker who calls herself the “hostel mom,” is really nice and has been giving me a hard time for all the phone calls I’ve been getting.

I fully intended on leaving today, and making either 17 or 4 miles. I wanted to stay at a shelter, as the weather forecast was not good; there was a thunder storm coming. My tent has a slight problem keeping me dry, so I would need to be in a shelter in such a storm. The problem is, if you get to a shelter late there may not be room for you, and you will need to put up your tent.

So, I decided to aim for the 4 miles and take the breakfast shuttle in. The shuttle took us to JD’s Store, which is a combination convenience store and greasy spoon diner. None of the prices on the menu exceed a dollar, and you can order any combination of breakfast food you can imagine. It is a true local flavor kind of place, and has really good food.

The shuttle didn’t get back until noon, and by that time I decided to stay because I would only get 4 miles in exchange for getting wet. There were lots of people I knew there, and even Rawhide and Maverick rolled in on a shuttle! We loaded up a dinner shuttle a little later, and I ended up eating a burritto the size of my head. (Yes, it was that big)!

Starting tomorrow, I need to really hike hard to get to Damascus. Trail Days starts next Friday, which is the big event of the year on the trail. It is 120 miles away, and I will only have 7 days.

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I started off the day going up Big Butt Mountain. Nope, that’s not a joke. At the top there are a very unique pair of rocks that you can climb up on, and you get a view of all the surrounding mountains. I had climbed up and sat there for a little bit, then moved on. Only when it was pointed out to me later did I realize that those rocks indeed do look like a pair of butt cheeks. If only I had taken a picture! I guess these country folks down here don’t mess around when naming their mountains, and call it like they see it.

I came across some Civil War graves today. Fred back at Hemlock Hollow had told me about them, and I was looking forward to seeing them. I did not get the full story on them until later when we met a gentleman who was hiking in just to get a photo of the graves, and said he had done some research on the Shelton family. As the story goes, there was a bit of a local feud in these parts back before the civil war had started, and a bunch of men came one day and rounded up the Shelton clan. They killed 10 of the men and horse whipped all of the women between 30 and 60. Once the civil war started, two of the remaining Shelton boys, David and William decided to join the Union army. (Which was not uncommon for the hill country of western North Carolina). In 1863, the two men were coming home to visit family, led by a 13 year old nephew, Millard Haire, as a guide. Some Confederate soldiers found the three of them when they were nearly home, and killed them all. They were buried in a mass grave, and today there is a headstone for Millard and government headstones for the two soldiers. What a rough time that would have been to live in!

The A.T. is taking a huge southern jog right now, so almost all of today’s hike was southbound. From the map it looks like it does this so it can go over Big Bald, which I will see tomorrow. It also is still following the state line. The A.T. is built on public land, but much of it had to be bought from private owners, sometimes using emminent domain. There is supposedly still a lot of hostility in this area near Erwin towards the trail and towards the hikers. There is one section where you literally go between two properties, and several parts where you cross old livestock fences. I saw at least three property markers today, set right in the trail declaring that it marks the corner of someone’s property. On the map, there are some parts where the green “forest” area around the trail is only as wide as the trail itself, with the surrounding areas in white. At any rate, my friend Elgixin experienced some little kids yelling obscenities at him today, from one of those adjacent properties. I wonder where those kids learned to do that?

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Hot Spings has been the hardest town to leave so far. There were still two more days to the music festival, and it was supposed to rain all afternoon. There were a few friends I wanted to visit before I left. Rawhide and Maverick, a couple of my favorite guys on the trail, are going to stay here and try to heal up. They are concerned that their bodies won’t carry them all the way to Maine. All I can say is hang in there buddies. The trail is a much greater place with folks like them. One of my good friends, Top Shelf, has left the trail. His legs are not really cooperating, and he felt it was best to get off the trail and get home to see a doctor. It is sad when people close to you start succumbing to the statistics, as they say only about 10 to 20 percent of us will make it all the way. I have to be real careful not to push myself too hard.

Today’s hike was pretty brutal, as I’ve been sitting around doing nothing for 3 days. The climb out of Hot Springs is almost straight up a mountain, which affords very beautiful views looking back over the town far below. One of these is called Lover’s Leap. (You first, honey!) We could see the festival far below along the river, and could hear the music just fine for several miles.

Late in the day I arrived at a firetower, which is always something I make a point of climbing. On top I ran into two guys from Asheville, one of which I recognized from the festival. He had walked past our camp at the festival and said, “Nuggets?” That was all he said, and then walked off. We didn’t know quite how to respond to that, but we suspected that it was some sort of code word for buying drugs. Freakin hippies! We decided if he were on the trail, his name would be Nuggets.

Even though today was “only” 11 miles, it felt like twice that. The fact that most of it was uphill only added to the problem of my town-softness. I finally got into camp around 6, having left sometime around noon. It felt good to finally be able to take off my shoes!

I suppose that I have not yet written about bear bagging. Bear bagging is one of those necessary, yet really irksome and time consuming aspects of hiker life. Just when you are at the very end of a very long and tiresome day, and after you have eaten and it is getting mostly dark, it is necessary that you peform the most amazing feats of skill and concentration, and successfully rig a very thin rope from the branch of a tree 15 or 20 feet up. They do not teach you this before you get on the trail, but it is best if you have a background in knot tying, baseball and basketball. Sometimes you have to throw a rock through a gap in the brances only a few inches across, 20 feet away. More than likely you are going to miss several times, and spend most of your time trying to untangle your line after each unsuccessful attempt, or worse yet, tugging on your rope to get it unstuck from the tree. The real art of a successful bear hang is not getting your rope tangled in the very highest branch, and thereby losing most of your rope. Every evening, hikers of all sizes and abilities go through this time honored ritual, most of us athletically unsuited for the task. I am convinced that the bears watch this from the trees, greatly entertained at the spectacle they have created.

The point is, of course, to hang your food bag out of reach from the bears. It must be high enough off the ground, and far enough away from the nearest tree that they cannot climb up and get it. It also must not be on too flimsy a tree, that they can push over or bend. Sometimes they are clever enough to find where you’ve tied off your rope, and slash it so your bag drops to the ground. Some friends of mine actually just had all of their food stolen by a bear, which left them nothing but some coffee and a pot with two big holes in it from the bear’s teeth.

Tonight, my friend Papa Sarge graciously offered to hang my rope for me. I was very appreciative of this, and of course according to Murphy’s Law all did not go well. Not only is my rope now stuck high in the tree, but his is as well. It may have something to do with the fact that he was just giving me a hard time about my purple rope with matching purple carabiner in the moments before he tossed it up there. (Ok I know what you’re going to say, but I happen to be very secure with my purple rope. It came from a very special outfitter in Boston). I am sure the bears were greatly entertained.

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Well it looks like I’m back online. I took almost three zeros here (actually, two zeros and a near-o) and because I cannot get phone coverage here, that translates into a dead time for the journal. I also had to make up several entries, since my phone got wet back in the Smokies and I didn’t dare turn it on for several days. Since I spent three days in Hot Springs and I don’t feel like writing three entries, I’ll just make this one cover all of them. Anyways, sorry for the absence!

The first thing I did when I got to Hot Springs, of course, is eat. There is a diner called the Smoky Mountain Diner that is owned by a former thru-hiker named Biscuit. I ordered “The Skillet,” which is about 2 pounds of food and I put it all away!

Hot Springs is a true trail town. Quite literally, the Appalachian Trail goes right through town on the main street. The sidewalk has A.T. symbols on it, and in the center of town there is a trail sign that gives you distances to the next and previous shelters, just as if you were standing in the woods. Everything a hiker could possibly want is right there within walking distance. As a bonus, Hot Springs is located right on the French Broad River, which is a big kayaking and rafting destination. The hiking outfitter and the rafting outfitter are located right next to each other. The town is named for the mineral spring, which of course has been harnessed as a spa, and you can go sit in the hot tubs for a fee.

I stayed at Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn for two days, which is an institution unto itself on the A.T. It is an 1840 victorian mansion, and since 1978 Elmer Hall has operated it as a boarding house and hostel for thru-hikers. It is truly a wonder to go from freezing out in the woods to sleeping in a four poster bed with heavy blankets and a comforter in two days. The mansion is equipped with several porches, a huge library, a music room, and a couple of dining rooms. Elmer is a bit of a gourmet cook, and requests that you spend at least one meal there so he can get to know you. Even though the food is vegetarian, it is very good.

On the first afternoon I was there, I was amazed to see that our friends from Walnut Mountain had come out of the woods. The three guys who had trashed the shelter up there, and had given each other tattoos, and generally looked like punk rock gangsters were right there, walking down the street towards me. I was amazed that they would show their faces, and was wondering how the hiker community would react. Once I talked to a few friends, I started to hear the rumors that they were… pretty nice guys. It was true. I finally met them when I was sitting down at a picnic table hanging out with my friend Zeke. They came over and sat down, and all three of them are very personable and respectful. They had bought some canned food from the dollar store that they opened with a big hunting knife, then used the knife as a kind of a spoon to eat it. They said they were trying to get to Springer Mountain, but a bear had stolen their food so they came back into town. They are from Florida, and it was obvious that they had very little money. Their equipment was not at all adequate, and one of them didn’t even have a sleeping bag. They said that their new plan was to hitch a ride to Florida, and then take the Florida Trail up to Springer and then continue north from there.

It seems that for all their irresponsible behavior in the woods, they were harmless all the same. I’m sure that if they continue to litter and destroy property like they had been doing, the law would eventually catch up to them. While they were sitting there I heard one of them say to the other that they had enough money to buy another can of beans. I would guess that they will need a better budget than that to get from Florida to Springer, but I didn’t say so. I ended up giving them a box of food, extra stuff that I couldn’t carry from one of my mail drops. They were very appreciative and even polite.

As it turns out, there was a music festival starting today in Hot Springs. Scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was bringing in a ton of bands from the area, including a lot of bluegrass bands. Now, I wouldn’t want to get all the way to Maine only to say I wished I had stayed for the music festival in Hot Springs, so I decided to stay for one more day. That extended what was supposed to be only a near-o to almost 3 days off the trail. It was well worth it though. The festival brought in thousands of people, and it was located right along the French Broad River at a massive campsite. It was amazing walking around seeing people’s camping rigs, contraptions and contrivances to bring the comforts of home to the outdoors. I kept thinking to myself, what would they leave home if forced to take only a backpack? There were also a lot of kayakers and rafters, which lent the festival a general air of outdoorsy mixed with hillbilly mixed with, of course, hippie.

As it turns out, the bluegrass music wasn’t until the next day. But it was fun all the same. We ended up camping next to these really nice people from Charlotte, who took us in under their porch-tent, gave us real chairs to sit in, and even food. I spent more time hanging out with them than watching music, but overall it was worth staying the extra day. Hot Springs has definitely been the best trail town so far.

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