We're Still Alive!

Sorry all for the lack of blog posts. We had a problem with posting on the computer in Erwin, TN but we promise to have lots of updates when we get into Damascus, VA on Saturday! Highlights will include: first 20+ mile day on Easter, finishing off 2 more states, surpassing the 20% mark, and a marathon day! Look for the exciting updates this weekend. 

Trail Names

With the number of people that you meet on the trail and the majority of them being John, Matt, or Chris, trail names come about as a way to distinguish hikers more uniquely. Trail names are normally given to a hiker by their fellow hikers coming from something stupid, heroic, or funny that they did or a part of their gear that makes them stand out. It brings entertainment both in being creative in coming up with names for fellow hikers and also in explaining where your name came from. We have now named everyone in the group that we have been regularly traveling with as well as having group and subgroup names:

The Scrubs

    Hannah - Poker Face

    Eli - Impact

    Will - Speedy G

    Tim - Rocky Mountain High (aka Rocky)

    Taylor - Fromage

    The Phast Philly 3 (aka the Engineers)

        Josh - Bringing Texty Back (aka Texty)

        Chris - Category 5

        Jeremy - Mayonnaise Pockets (aka Mayo)

    The Brothers Jack

        Connor - Little Debbie

        Gordon - Der Hundmeister, Ja!

        Jack the dog - Boullion

You will have to ask each of then personally where their names came from. 

The Great Smoky Mountains in 5 Days

Fontana Dam to Standing Bear Hostel - 5 days and 75 miles (71 in the park)

The biggest struggle we had through the journey was the weather - below freezing every night, raining and cloudy most of the days.  Shelters were packed, everything was wet, I would have given anything to be warm and dry.

Hardship aside, we pushed on and averaged 15 miles a day through the park!  (recommended is 10-15, so we went over this by a bit). The views we did find were absolutely stunning.

Day 1 - from Shuckstack Mountain, in the rain

Day 2 - everything was frozen

Day 3 - Summit Clingman's and Collin's!

After a lot of confusion with our resupply, and almost having to drop a night and go into Gatlinburg, an absolutely wonderful woman named Calyn was nice enough to drive the package from NOC up to us at Newfound gap --  thank you thank you thank you to her for being such an awesome person!

The resupply completely filled my (empty) pack -

Day 4 - Rain rain, go away!

I'm calling it the Appalachian River.  This is no trail.

We did get some good views from Charlies Bunion

Day 5 - And we're out!

The view from Mount Cammer Lookout

Victory!

This one after the park was pretty good, just before we got to the hostel (note the blazes) -

Onward towards Hot Springs!!

Departing Franklin, NC - Mile 109

Day 10 - passed the 100 mile mark!  Franklin, NC - we have arrived!

The days have been cold, the nights colder.  We even got some snow one blisteringly cold and windy evening!  Looking forward to warmer weather.

We had our first trail magic back in Neal's Gap -- missing parts and an outdated camelbak replaced by a mint-condition one from a hiker box!

In Hiawassie we were given delicious chilie and cookies right in the trail!

Speedy G may have overstocked a bit on food

And later, we even had time for a beer!

Then our first milestone - One state down!  Goodbye Georgia!

We walked, and ate, and slept...

And we made it to Franklin!

And also, I got a bunnie cookie! (Love you Marguerite!)

Today we're back on the trail -- Onward towards the Smokies! 

Happy Trails, y'all!

Atop the mountains

Atop the mountains 

We follow the white blazes

Ye olde wooden pegs

Many men have tread

These such beaten paths of lore

To find inner peace

Like buffalo bill

Or Jeremiah Johnson

The woods reveal all

We are warriors

We are flame breathing dragons

We fly through the skies

We can walk through walls

And read everybody's thoughts,

We superhumans.

Neel Gap

Day 3, we made it to Neel Gap! We are all amazed by how the little amenities feel so incredible now. 

Thank you again to Vanessa for dropping us off and then having a brutal drive home. 

We hit all of our planned destinations so far, and the first two nights in shelters were great experiences, getting used to the routines of each day and already meeting some incredible people hiking thru with us, Tim, Hannah "Pokerface", Elijah, and a few others. Hannah was the first to receive her trail name after having a particularity bad poker face and hiding in her coat while playing cards. Athough the three of us have not received names individually, as a unit we have been dubbed the Fast Philly Boys. 

We hoped to take it kind of easy on Saturday after a tough day on Friday of hiking almost 11 miles before lunch and then taking on the formidable Blood Mountain that stood in our way of Neel Gap. The mood changed to excitement and jubilation at the top of Blood Mountain and spirits were high during our descent, knowing that "civilization" was soon at hand. We picked up our mail drops (thank you so much Kristen for the fresh fruit, and Margaret aka Mum for our big resupply), and gorged ourselves on frozen pizza and microwave cheeseburgers. Then came showers, laundry, and the enjoyment of each others' company in the warmth of a cabin.

The plans for the next few days have changed a bit after seeing the weather report of rain starting Saturday night, continuing through Sunday and Monday before turning to snow on Tuesday. So we will push on Saturday, Sunday and hopefully get to a hostel along the way on Monday to take a zero day Tuesday during the snow. Regardless, the plan is to still make it to Franklin, NC by Friday for April Fools Fest. 

Take care everyone and please leave comments for us on the blog!

Final Pack Weights, Tomorrow is the Day!

A quick update!  We're settled in at Amicalola Falls and our starting pack weights (3 days of food) have been tallied!

Also we forgot like 30 things, thank god for Amazon Prime and "General Delivery - hold for thru-hiker"!!

Dark out, but I expect the park is quite pretty in the day.  We arrived just as the sun was fading from the horizon.

Pack weights!  Jeremy won with a 30.5

Here's all the gear ---

And our trusty support team!

We start our ~159 journey tomorrow morning.  Wish us luck!