Friday to Monday, April 5-8th

Friday 4-5 to Monday 4-8

We left the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) on Friday 4-5 and hit the trail. We had 8 miles of climbing up hill. It was really rough; it would flatten out for a little bit and then kick back up hill again. I was hoping to stop at the first shelter 7 miles in, but Kevin (trail name Grape Lightning) and Cody wanted to go another mile up hill and stay at a campsite there. I compromised and we went the last mile. It was steep and muddy, there was ice on the sides of the trail from an ice storm the day before but we finally made it. We crested the mountain and came out on Cheoah Bald. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was a near panoramic view and we got to watch the sunset and sunrise from there. We met Mr. Rogers, Rainbow Bright, Old Boy and Greer at the campsite. They are near our age and pretty cool. We don't know their real names, but that's the way it goes on the trail. We made a campfire after watching the sunset, we sat there and talked about the trail and why we were there. The things we talked about with them reminded us of hanging out and talking with our friend Ryan Clark. We talked about what we do in "real life" and how being on the trail really shows you how trivial "real life" off the trail is. Being on the AT, we decided, is like taking a step back 1,000 years. We don't worry about missing our favorite TV shows, running late for work, paying electric bills, or getting the newest iPhone. Our minds are occupied during a day of hiking with thoughts of a higher quality. When we're not thinking about our daily hiking goal, where we can fill up our water bottles, or when we will stop for snacks we have all the time in the world to think about other things. Mr. Rogers said as he was hiking the other day he could see a city down below the mountain and thought about the people in it. He thought about how most people are so caught up in the day to day grind and monotony (go to work, eat dinner, watch TV, go to sleep, repeat day after day)  that they've forgotten what it's really like to truly enjoy life and live it to the fullest. He was absolutely right. Most people are so caught up with things that really don't matter, like catching the newest episode of Storage Wars or watching a basketball game, that they can't even remember what they ate for lunch the day before. People go through the motions but turn themselves off mentally and dumb down their thoughts with things that are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It's really sad. People actually talk about things that matter on the trail. We don't ask stupid questions that we already know the answer to, we ask real questions and give real answers. If you pass someone on the trail and say, "how are you?" No one says, "fine!" They say, "well it has been a tough day, I fell today and hurt my ankle. I thought about quitting on that last climb and threw my trekking poles down and started yelling." or they say, "I've never been better, this weather is amazing and I feel great!" I like to think that life off the trail isn't "real life" but that life on the trail is how "real life" should be. We sat on Cheoah Bald and the sky was full of stars, the brightest stars ever. Greer, who is easily excited and has an incredible amount of enthusiasm for the way the world and universe works, yelled and jumped up and pointed when he saw a shooting star, which startled all of us. The next morning I slept in, I woke up and started eating breakfast and packing up my stuff. About 40 minutes went by and I still hadn't seen Cody. Finally he came back by the tent and was super happy and in a great mood. He'd been sitting on a cliff alone for about 45 minutes listening to his iPod and staring at the mountains below. He was grinning and said he'd found his zen. We packed up everything and headed out on Saturday 4-6. We took our time leaving because it was such a great spot. We hiked 8 miles on Saturday to Brown Fork Gap shelter. Before BFG shelter we had to climb the infamous "Jacob's Ladder". It was 500 feet in a 1/2 mile. STRAIGHT UP!! It was brutal. I'd go about 25 feet and have to stop for a second and then start again. That was a hard climb. Once we thought it was done and it had flattened out, we walked awhile more and then we had round 2. We finally cruised into the shelter, set up the tent and ate dinner. We met some other people at the shelter that night. We met The Conversation and Triton. They thru-hiked in 2011 and had come back and did trail magic near the road earlier in the day. They decided to hike in to the shelter and camp for the night afterward for old times sake. Triton was probably in his mid-thirties and was a professor at U of L (I think) and The Conversation was probably mid-twenties and was a Geologist. They had given a Warrior Hiker, Jeff (aka Clown Car), a ride to Fontana earlier in the day because he had hurt his ankle. They filled us in on that, and then told lots of stories from their thru-hike. They decided we both needed trail names before we entered the Smoky Mountains. Triton decided the gender inappropriate name, "Larry Bird" was good for me since I'm from

Indiana. Then he named Cody "Sargent Magic Johnson" and decided together we could be "Team Showtime". We're still undecided on this, haha! We also met St. Croix at that shelter. He's a late twenties(ish) welder from Minnesota who decided since the economy sucks and everyone's trying to climb the ladder but no one's getting anywhere he might as well come hike the AT now. We met Yukon, twenty something from Knoxville, who was really cool too. We also met Boy Scout there. That's not his trail name, he never introduced himself but that's what Cody and I call him. He came hiking up to the shelter with his shirt tucked in, a giant knife on his massive leather belt that has a huuuge metal Boy Scout belt buckle on it. He was...different. The next morning Sunday 4-7, I woke up and found him popping his foot blisters with a giant safety pin at the shelter. Yuck! With well wishes from Conversation and Triton we head out from the shelter. We've got 12 solid miles to our next stop at Fontana Dam. We make great time for most of the day. We have a couple big climbs, but nothing too major. We stopped to filter water at Cable Gap shelter and ran into Old Boy and Greer. They saw a small bear bag that had been snagged in a tree and was stuck. They were hoping it was filled with money and tried climbing the tree to no avail. They finally lassoed it with their bear rope and got it down. They jumped around and high fived each other over their success. They opened it and it was filled with rocks. This didn't bother them, they were still just as happy with their success after about 20 minutes of trying. It was good afternoon entertainment. After a good laugh we continue on our way.  We make it to the top of what we think is our final climb and can see Fontana lake and dam and stop for lunch. We get excited that we're so close. It was really a mental fake out and we kept winding around and down mountains, then back up. At one point we were passed the lake only to wind back around 5 miles of down hill. At this point the down hill climbs are nearly as bad as the up hills because it really hurts our knees and ankles. We finally make it to the lake and call for a shuttle to the lodge to pick up Cody's food resupply. We end up staying at the lodge because they have good hiker rates and the Warrior Hikers food resupply hadn't arrived yet. We take showers in our room and stuff our faces with cheeseburgers and diablo mussels appetizer....heavenly! The Warrior Hikers hang out at the bar for quite awhile and many become inebriated. Today, Monday 4-8, a few are nursing their hangovers. We took the shuttle down to the dam for a little sight seeing. It was pretty cool but the visitor center doesn't open until May. We did some laundry today and picked up some ham, cheese and a loaf of bread to avoid spending more money at the only restaurant here. We are looking forward to going to actual towns instead of these places that have monopolies on everything, one restaurant with high prices, one "general store" with $4 bricks of cheese and $5 packages of ham. Ridiculous!! The Warrior Hike food resupply came today and we are heading out tomorrow. 1 mile down the trail we will enter the Smoky Mountains. We have a good climb tomorrow over 10 miles to the nearest shelter. In the Smoky Mountains you have to stay in a shelter, unless someone has it reserved, in which case you get kicked out and have to stay in your tent near the shelter. It's a little odd and most of us aren't looking forward to it. Most of us plan on tenting near the shelters. Should be in Gatlinburg by Thursday!