Starting Point: Long Branch Shelter (102.4)

Ending   Point: Winding Stair Gap (109.6)

Total Miles: 7.2 trail miles, 3.0 bonus miles

Steps: 24,211

Achievements: 

We woke up to some normal temperatures.  It was nice to pack up my gear without frozen fingers.  Our goal today was to hike to Winding Star Gap by 12:45 to take the shuttle into Franklin, NC.  The desire for a shower, clean laundry, and real food was overwhelming.  With a light pack and no need to save anything in the tank, my afterburners were on.

We unexpectedly received Trail Magic three miles in.  Homemade egg and ham McMuffin breakfast sandwiches!  

It is the kindness of people like this that help me keep my faith.  They even put supporting messages on their hardboiled eggs. 

We all reached the gap with plenty of time to spare.  Out first stop?  The Lazy Hiker brewery for pizza and beer.  We hung out with some of the other hikers we’ve met along the way.

Left-to-right: Me, Martian, Patchwork, Josh, Peanut Butter Giant, Zack (Small Claims), Squeeze Cheese, Unknown.

Zack (now Small Claims) and I told the story of getting lost yesterday.  I’m glad I ran into him again.

While we were there, Blaze called his wife to get permission to replace his broken backpack.  She said go ahead, so he’s not leaving anytime soon.

We went to the local outfitter.  I bought electrolytes, a can of fuel, and 50′ of paracord to better hang my bear bag.

I reserved a room at the local Quality Inn for two nights.  Unfortunately, I don’t know this town and it was two miles from the city center.  To get there required walking on the side of a four lane highway.  So, we got some extra miles…

We took showers and did the laundry.  Tomorrow, we have errands to do.  There is a Scottish museum to visit as well.

The night ended with the four Backstop Boys eating KFC and joking about how much crap we’ve dealt with, and we’re only on day 15!

Starting Point: Carter Gap Shelter (93.7)

Ending Point: Long Branch Shelter (102.4)

Total Miles: 8.8 trail miles.  1.2 bonus miles.

Steps: 24,133

Achievements: ***100 Miles***, Albert Mountain 

The night was rough.  I’ve tested my kit down to 20 degrees.  Last night was 18 degrees with 40 mph gusts.  That makes the wind-chill about -4 degrees.  I was smart enough to find a spot with a large log to block some of the wind.  I also set it up low.  I wore every single piece of clothing.

The good news was I was quite comfortable all night long.  It doesn’t mean I slept well, and when I woke up everything was covered in a light dusting of snow from my breath. My dirty water bag was frozen so I hiked with just half a liter.

I tried chewing on a Clif bar, but they were quite frozen.  I sucked on them until they were soft. My tent stakes were frozen into the ground.

Blaze and the Sweeper got up early and hiked on.  We were going either 9 or 12 miles today depending upon how hard Albert Mountain kicked our collective butts.

All that cold sucked the life out of my legs.  Although it was rather flat, I couldn’t get moving.

Feeling merciful, the sun came out and I could enjoy some views.

I stopped to refill my water bottle, I was out, but couldn’t filter without a dirty water bag, so I found a natural spring and crossed my fingers.  It’s a spring, I know it’s fresh, but I don’t like to take unnecessary chances.

I met up with Zack, who I camped near last night.  He was coming back in the opposite direction.  He seemed to have lost the trail.  I went with him and I lost the trail as well.  My GPS app said that it was within the error window and it looked like trail, but it was filled with blow downs.  It took a bit of overland back-and-forth, but we realized the trail took a hard left turn and we missed it.

Now exhausted after some bonus mileage, I hiked a bit and sat down.  I carbed up, drank some water, and gathered myself.  Albert Mountain was coming up, and it was a beast.  I contemplated taking the bad weather route.  The trail was in my head and winning.

Eventually, I reached the crossroad.  Do I suck it up and make the big climb?  The tower was a very long way up.

I decided that I’ve certainly done much worse.  I wasn’t fast climbing up there, but I wasn’t slow either.  I reached the traditional 100 mile mark on the trail.

With that, the spring was back in my step.  I put in some music and hiked on.  It turns out, I was only 30 minutes behind Blaze and the Sweeper.

Tomorrow, we’ll hike 7.3 and pick up the shuttle into Franklin, NC.  We’ll zero there.  After six days in the field, even I’m offended with my smell.

I told the boys that we must stop at a Walmart.  I need some athletic shorts.  Otherwise, with the loss of my laundry shorts, I have nothing to wear and will be lying in a towel naked.

We’ll also learn Blaze’s fate, unfortunately.  I’ve written about the four Ms of failing a thru-hike — Medical, Money, Mental, and wasn’t Meant to be.  In his case, his wife is struggling with him gone, and so he may pull off in Franklin.  Maybe I’ll add a fifth, the Matriarch.

Ending Point: Carter Gap Shelter (93.7)

Total Miles: 12.5 miles.

Steps: 31,959

Achievements: Standing Indian Mountain

Today, the hike was more like the Pacific Crest Trail.  First, you make a big climb, then you cruise on the ridgeline.  You can see it in the big jump in mileage.  I hope to do more of that.

It was also pretty cool today. I could move without sweating.

Blaze’s pack broke a strap.  We have two evenings on trail before we reach Franklin, NC for a badly needed resupply.  With the strap broke, we may need to zero.

Tonight, will be a test of my gear.  It’s going to drop down to 18 degrees.  I have every single piece of clothing on.  My outer shell is currently around my legs.  We’ll see how this goes.

Starting Point: Plum Orchard Gap Shelter (73.9)

Ending Point: Muskrat Creek Shelter (81.2)

Total Miles: 7.3 miles.

Steps: 22,623

Achievements: Georgia Completed! As Knob, Sharp Top

I woke up feeling pretty good and was looking forward to the day.  We had multiple climbs at the start and they slowly took their toll.

We reached the Georgia / North Carolina border 

Left to right: The Sweeper, Me (Fine Young Buck), Dunkeroo, Blaze.

Entering North Carolina, the climb up Sharp Top depleted all my energy.  It was a rock scramble to the top.

We reached Muskrat and we all agreed this was far enough.  

Blaze and I discussed our lack of milage.  He’s been calculating the grade.  Today, the average grade was 13%.  Tomorrow’s grade is 8%.  We’re aiming for 12 miles.  It is going to be extremely cold. 

Starting Point: Deep Gap Shelter (65.8)

Ending Point: Plum Orchard Gap Shelter (73.9)

Total Miles: 8.2 miles.

Steps: 23,024

Achievements: Epic Trail Angels 2, Powell Mountain 

We decided to stay at Deep Gap because of the threat of heavy rain.  It never came.

I had a good relaxing sleep, except for when I was woken by the sound of a mouse scampering over my pack.  I accidentally left my spare meal in the bottom of my pack and I’m sure it could smell it.  I jumped up and took it outside and hung it.

I woke up with everyone else and hit the road.

There was a spring to my step pretty much all day.  The climbs were not as difficult as they had been.  When we reached Dick’s Gap, there were trail angels.  Their specialty was a hot dog, breakfast sausage, and bacon sandwich.  So amazingly good!  That was two Mountain Dews was enough to propel me all the way to camp.

John earned his trail name – The Sweeper.  He is always last to camp.  Everyone has a trail name now.

It was good and sunny.  I pulled out all my gear to let it dry.

The next difficulty is going to be some cold weather.  It is dropping down into the high teens tomorrow night.  We’ll see how this kit will deal with that.  I might be snuggling with my new friends.

Starting Point: Tray Mountain Shelter (58.5)

Ending Point: Deep Gap Shelter (65.8)

Total Miles: 7.4 miles.

Steps: 24,119

Achievements: Kelly Knob, Washout!!!

The story of the day was the weather.  The goal was to hike to the next shelter, each lunch, and decided if we’d hike farther.  It started to pour about ten minutes into the hole and it refused to stop.  It was cold.  It was hard.

As we walked, I noted that every campsite we passed was flooded.

When we reached the shelter, it was dry.  With the threat of evening rain, we decided this is good enough.

I met Patchwork.  He is a Buddhist monk and we shared a tea meditation.

We’ll crowd the shelter and hide from the rain if it comes again.  We have clear skies the next couple of days.  We’ll need to pick up our game.

Starting Point: Unicoi Gap (52.7)

Ending Point: Tray Mountain Shelter (58.5)

Total Miles: 5.8 trail miles.  3.0 bonus.

Steps: 20,849

Achievements: Rocky Mountain, Tray Mountain

The shuttle back to the trail was leaving at 11 a.m.  The goal for Dunkeroo was to haul his behind up Rocky Mountain and determine if he could continue.  If it hurt too much, he could hike back to Unicoi Gap and catch the shuttle when it returned at 4 p.m.

The good news is a combination of a brace and some Vitamin-I, the pain was minimal.  I didn’t want to see him go.

With that, we kept it a short day.  There are two ways to resupply from Hiawassee.  The first is Unicoi Gap at 52.7 miles.  The second, and better choice is at 69.4.  The next resupply for us is in Franklin, NC at mile 109.6.

Because of that, I left with six days of food.  The climb of two mountains and ten pounds of food left me dragging to the end.  Dunkeroo, the injured hiker beat me easily.  The fault is mine.  I should have stopped for lunch, but “it was only five miles”.

Tomorrow, we are expecting some heavy rain.  It might be seven miles to the shelter.  We will see how heavy it is.  Dunkeroo says he might be good for 10.

Total Miles: Zero / Four Bonus

It was a very restful day, just the four of us.  The hotel had a nice breakfast.  We returned to the room, piled out our dirty clothes and did a load.

While we waited we did a complete shakedown of his pack.  He had a gallon bag of Vitamin-I.  I’m serious.  A gallon ziplock of Ibuprofen.  He had a nice plastic case for his stove.  He sent probably close to ten pounds to the hiker box.

One piece of gear that wasn’t working for him was his sleeping bag.  There is an outfitter here.  Once the laundry was done, we went there.  He replaced it with a new light weight down filled 15 degree bag.  He’ll be warm and more comfortable hiking with his pack much lighter.

I had a sad gear loss.  The Luke’s Ultralight Laundry Shorts gave up their ghost.  They weighed a mere one ounce.  When we went to the outfitter, I bought I 2.1 ounce pillow to help me sleep.  I didn’t need one on the PCT, but I seem to now.

Then we did a grocery store run.  We’ll carry food for six days and get to Fontana, NC.

With the work done, I took a nice nap.

We ate in the hotel room and made our plan for tomorrow.  We’ll take the 11 a.m. shuttle back to Unicoi Gap.  We’ll hike six miles for the day.  If the pain is too much for Dunkeroo, he’ll know soon enough and can catch the 4 p.m. shuttle into town.

Between Blaze, John and I, he knows that there is no dishonor in stopping when you have a legitimate injury.  Continuing will only make it worse.

In our conversations, we discovered that all four of us played catcher in baseball.  I’ve preliminary named us the Backstop Boys.

We’ll talk until we fall asleep, early.

Ending Point: Unicoi Gap (52.7)

Woke up and was off by 8 a.m.  Our goal was to camp on the top of Rocky Mountain, over 11 miles away.  We met up with Blaze and John who have been hiking roughly the same pace as us.

Blaze is a retired paramedic and fireman from Connecticut.  John is a retired physical therapist.

They were only going to Unicoi Gap, so we weren’t likely to see them again.

Dunkeroo and my goal was to hike 11+ miles to get us close to Dick’s Pass on Friday.  There are thunderstorms expected, so it would be a good day to resupply and do laundry.  (Maybe shower, maybe not. jk)

As we were climbing down some boulders, Dunkeroo was really struggling.  He has some IT Band issues that John taped up for the easy price of a Dunkeroo. (A sugary treat that the One And Only Dunkeroo carries and is named after )

He told me he was fine and to pass so I did.

I kicked up the speed and hiked ahead.  Blaze also increased his pace.  I can feel my hiker legs kicking in.

I got to a trail junction and it seemed like a good time to rest and wait for everyone.  Blaze was first.  About ten minutes later John came.  Still no Dunkeroo.  Eventually Blaze went back to find him.  Alas, the pain was much worse.

Change of plans.  We’d hike the four miles to Unicoi Gap and take the shuttle into Haiwassee for a zero.  It was a long hike.  He did have the best search and rescue crew you could have — a physical therapist, a first responder, and a pastor.  Whatever would happen, he was covered.

Assessing the situation, it looks like Iliotibial band syndrome, the bane of thru hikers.  The question is it just sore and tired or an injury.

We checked in to a Holiday Inn Express, and in the hiker box I found a treking pole.  Dunkeroo only carried one.  It is a mismatch, but he has a pair now. We also picked up a knee brace.

I enjoyed my first the hamburger on trail.  It was excellent!  (So, a physical therapist, a paramedic and a pastor walked into a bar…)

He’ll spend the day RICE’ing (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) it.  The injury often takes four to eight weeks to heal.  There is some swelling, but not a lot.  Hopefully, a brace, some Vitamin-I, and slowing down will make it tolerable.  Otherwise, he’s looking at 4-to-8 weeks off trail until it heals on its own.

It is a little early for a zero for me, but I enjoy Dunkeroo’s company.  Some rest will surely do me good.

Starting Point: Neel’s Gap (31.3)

Ending Point: Low Gap Shelter (43.0)

Total Miles: 11.7 miles

Steps: 32,472

Achievements: Levelland Mountain, Wolf Laurel, Cowrock Mountain, Sheep Rock Top

We were woken up unexpectedly at 5 a.m. to the fire alarms going off.  There were ten of us in the room, nine men and one woman.  I looked over at Blaze, a retired firefighter.  He was sniffing the air and not panicking.  It was a false alarm.

It was extremely cold, so Dunkeroo and I didn’t leave until almost 8 a.m.  We said goodbye to Big Tuna.  He is a section hiker and his leave is ending.  I also wanted a picture of the tree at Neel’s Gap.  These are the shoes of those who have given up.

Our target for the day was ambitious.  11.7 miles, but also I included four large climbs.  After eating a whole pizza and two liters of Ginger Ale, I felt a spring in my step again.  The views were excellent for a change 

We had a great hiking day.  I didn’t struggle, even the last climb.

This camp seems to be filled with people who have hiked very little.  We’ll be moving on.  We’re looking at another 11 mile day.