Damascas, VA 463.5 miles

Leaving Hot Springs was difficult. Difficult enough that i walked about a half mile across the river to where camping was again permitted and pitched my tent. I found this to be acceptable because almost all of the hikers I saw at the bar the night before were doing the same thing. Unfortunately Duke won the NCAA tourny, but I made sure to let everyone know in that small NC town of my disapproval.

Returning to the trail after two great days in a town is like jumping into a cold shower. This lasted about ten miles for me. I reached a road and saw a sign for a hostel. Here I met a nice man named Fred who actually ran an incredible place. He gave me free coffee and let me use the phone. I used the Internet, got and few snacks and then it began to pour. Luckily Fred gave me a ride back to the trail head.

The next few days were amazing. The highlight being big Bald Mtn, which is over 5500 feet. Luckily the 50 mph wind gusts at the summit dried all of my wet gear in minutes. The shelter which was 400 feet below the summit was very cold and ended up being my last shelter to sleep in for sometime.

the day after Big Bald I made my way into Erwin, TN. There is a hostel right off of the trail called Uncle Johnny's. My mom actually stayed there in the past and informed me they rent bikes. Today about three of those bikes are in working condition and one has working brakes. Uncle Johnny himself gave us a ride to town to eat and resupply. i finally got Mexican food which I had been craving for sometime, however it did not compare to El Amigo, a local Valpo restaurant. Sonic, who I have been hiking with since Hot Springs ordered $21 worth of Wendys and ate it all in one sitting. After that he had a rough night.

On the way back we had a beer run and I split a six pack with a hiker nameed Pop-pop. There are many characters on the trail but Pop-pop may be my favorite. He is a retired pharmacists from WV and is in his mid sixties. He hikes like he is 30 and he lives the "highlife." I capped my night off with a viewing of none other then Forest Gump, to the delight of the entire bunkhouse.

Uncle Johnny has shuttles to town everyday so I decided to take the breakfast shuttle. I sat down at a Huddle House with James, Sherpa, Sonic and Pop-pop. The waitress gave sonic a hard time, most likely because he is from the West Coast and says the word "bro" in every sentence. Anyways a random couple walked up and laid a 20 dollar bill on our table and told us to add it to our order. We must have looked like we were starving POW's.

I returned to the hostel and got packed up and ready to go. I still had a load of laundry going and by the time it was done the lunch shuttle was leaving. How could I pass that up?

When I returned everyone was still at the hostel and hanging out on the porch. We found a guitar and started singing songs. James knew Britney Spears and the 5 of us guys proudly sang her hits at the top of our lungs. We delayed departure even further until the temp cooled and left at 4:30 pm.

Along the way we passed a train and Al flattened a penny on the tracks. Our plan was to hike until dark. At around 7:30 we were approaching a mtn called Beauty Spot. I reached the summit just as the sun was setting to an amazing scene. The best part was the spontaneity of the day and how great it ended up. We finished the hike with our head lamps and made camp at deep gap. Somehow we ended up doing 12 miles. It may have been my best day out here yet.

to be continued...

Hot Springs, NC 271.3 miles

GSMNP is the most visited National Park in the country. It also contains the country's most diverse forest. My trip through the smokies was very diverse to say the least.

Thru hikers are accustomed to very few rules. Essentially we abide by Leave No Trace principals. This changes in the Smokies. First of all we as well as all hikers must carry a permit at all time. This is easy to obtain, in fact you can fill one out before you cross over the dam into the park. On the other hand thru hikers must give way to "section hikers." Each shelter has four spots reserved for thru hikers. The remainder of the spots can be reserved by section hikers. Well there are enough thru hikers to fill each shelter every night, and once a section hiker comes strolling in, this means one of us must give way and sleep outside. We must all give way to horses. My British friend James thought this meant if a horse came walking in we all had to sleep outside.

The highest point on the AT is in the Smokies at Clingmans Dome, over 6600 feet. The plan was to leave the shelter early and catch the sunrise. What I did not anticipate were the three foot snow drifts. Thus I missed the rise by an hour, but it was still a beautiful hike/morning. Some guys even slept on the viewing tower. Highly illegal but highly awesome. I spent a good amount of time at the summit and then descended. The rest of the day was tough. The three feet snow drifts turned into six foot snow drifts. My feet became soaked and tired within minutes. I even got lost few times as it is hard to find the blazes in all the snow. Every 100 yards or so I would post hole down the entire embankment and would be unable to move for 2-3 minutes. The difficulty of this walk made the idea of going into Gaitlinburg more and more appealing. By the time I was 2 miles away from the gap I had made up my mind, I was going into town for a hot meal.

As I arrived at the gap I saw a sea of people and cars. This is something I had not seen the entire trip. I had arrived at the site where FDR dedicated the park in the 1940's. It is also the site of some 2nd round trail magic from a nice couple, WIll and Way (thru hikers of last year) and my first hitch hike of my life.

Six of us stood by the roadside and stuck out our thumbs trying to entice the sea of cars to give any or all of us a lift. After 15 minutes I finally got picked up by a driver. It must have been my great BO or the fact that I wore my best bandanna but I managed to flag down a driver. It happened to be a young women, Suzie, who was on a road trip from NY and was paying back for all the hitching she had done. After some rearranging, Samurai and myself jammed into her car. SHe was very nice and took a great interest in our hike. She also provided me with some ideas for after the hike, including opportunities to travel and work at the same time.

After a 30 min ride Suzie generously dropped us off in the middle of town. What a site. Gaitlinburg may be the biggest tourist town in America. Fake museums, t-shirt stores, old time photos, haunted houses, mini golf, etc, lined the street. This is why GSMNP is the most visited national park in the nation. It starts in Gaitlinburg. I doubt many even make it up to the mountains. All in all it is one of the most amusing/disgusting places I have ever been to. One store proudly displayed two of my most hated flags. Of of the confederacy and one of the Duke Blue Devils. Clearly I did not enter this store. In fact I sat outside it hoping my smell and general appearance would put the place out of business.

I purchased a new mattress pad, for more comfort, resupplied, and got some KFC. We quickly got a cheap cab ride, $10 for 2, back to the gap and walked to the nearest shelter. Samurai and I pulled in at sundown and of course the shelter was full. Thus we pitched our tents outside and went to sleep.

About an hour later two rangers came up looking for 2 lost hikers. No one had seen them, but the rangers gave us a "warning" for tenting and not moving on to the next shelter. We tried to explain that it was getting dark and the next shelter was likely to be full but they wouldn't hear any of it. I still haven't heard what has happened to those two hikers. The rest of the smokies were beautiful and snowy. Probably the best stretch of the trail I have hiekd so far. I was eager to hike through a section I did last March with my friend Kurt, and very eager to meet up with a man named Curtis who runs a hostel. It is impossible for me to describe him correctly but imagine a 20 year older Joe Dirt.His hostel is truely a hikers haven. Everyhitng one needs is located on his property in a different hut. There is even a hut for the interent.

I am now in Hot Springs, NC. The AT actually goes right through town down the sidewalk. Samurai, Sherpa and myself conveniently got a room above the only bar in town. hikers are everywhere. Tonight I plan to go swimming in the river and take a dip in the natural hot springs. It is amazing how much hiking the trail makes one appreciate the simple things in life.