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.

Fontana Dam 162.2 miles

Fontana Dam was built in the early 1940's by the Tennessee Valley Authority. It is also the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the AT goes through the entire backbone of the park.

Here I have decided to take my first "zero" day with the same group of guys I have been with for almost two weeks now. We are staying at the Fontana Lodge, which has all the amenities. Pool, spa, game room, library, bistro etc. About 50% of these amenities are currently out of order or closed for the season. Awesome. I can't complain though as it is only $25 to stay in a room packed with 5 hikers for two nights.

My trail name has become "slapshot." Obviously because of my love for hockey and constant craving for Capitals updates. Oddly enough slapshot is the name of the Capitals mascot.

Franklin, NC 107.7 miles

After a wonderful stay at the Holiday Inn express we hit the trail again. I am currently hiking with the same British guys, Al and James, as well as, Nate (an airforce guy) and a couple of guys from Massachusetts, Samurai and Twigs. I had seen Nate and his friend Tom at Springer and along the way. Today I found out Tom is a Phi Psi from Missouri. Small world. I also met a guy on the trail from Steamboat Springs, CO. This is a small ski town in the Rockies which I randomly drove through this summer. Small world.

Forrest Gump best describes the weather of the past couple of days. "We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night... " In this weather we reached the state border of GA/NC. The rest of the evening was cold and wet. By the time I reached the shelter I was drenched. Everything in my pack was drenched. Luckily there was no room in the shelter, as a group of high-schoolers smugly occupied every spot. Thus I set my tent up in the rain, cooked, and went to sleep. About 30 minutes later I awoke to a flash of lightning that appeared to strike just yards away from my tent. After awhile I got accustomed to the storm and feel back asleep. In the morning there were two inches of snow of the ground and on my tent. I didn't know it was possible to have a thundersnow storm but apparently it is. Fortunately my gear and clothes were no longer wet but frozen.

With a pack of frozen/wet supplies we decided to head back into a notorious trail town, Franklin, NC. This town is pretty much owned by a man named Ron Haven, who is a legend among hikers. He owns three motels in town and drives a hiker shuttle, which is a converted "short but," which looks like Ron painted himself.

Hiawassee, GA - 67.5 miles

Everyday I find a new injury that nags me while hiking. I am begging to realize this is normal and part of the process. After Neel's gap I was feeling much better and made it to the post St. Patty's day party at Low Gap. There was a group of former thru hikers that brought hot dogs and beer for all the hikers. B-Man brought a case of my favorite beer, Miller Highlife, and let me indulge. He has thru hiked twice and the past and now throws parties up and down the trail. His friend Geek was along helping, also a former thru hiker. I actually saw these guys a couple of times in the past few days. Both times Geek was taking a midday nap on the ground.

For the past three days I have been hiking with two gentleman from the Isle of Man, near the UK. This has been a perfect opportunity for me to perfect my British accent. Yesterday I had them speak in American accents while I tried my British tongue. Very entertaining. My favorite is their American pronunciation of the word "water", which we saw like "wadder."

We hiked to Dick's creek gap where we met a guy named Grits who had burgers waiting for us. Then we jumped on the back of a pickup and a man named Mike drove us down the winding road going 60 mph. We are spending the night in a small town called Hiawassee, for a resupply and hot tub.

Neels Gap - 30.7miles

The AT starts atop Springer Mountain, GA. In order to reach it you must hike the "approach trail" which is 9 miles straight up. It is more like hiking the Sears Tower than a mountain. There are literally over 500 stairs to climb just to get past the 1st section. After I reached the top of Springer I realized many people get a ride to a road that is just 0.9 miles from the summit. They are the smart ones.

I thought with my experience this summer I was a good hiker. This was until I saw my sister and her dog Taylor hike. Had we let the dog loose it would probably be to Katahdin by now.

One reason the trail is greater than the "real" world is the people. The kindness of everyone is overwhelming. I have gotten more free food than I did even in college. If you bump into someone at a bar or in the streets of Chicago you are more than likely going to end up in a fight or get shot. Here the response is, "sorry man", "my bad bro", or my favorite "no worries."

Thus far the hike has been much harder then I originally expected. After two days I finally got used to all the uphill climbs; however, my knees and feet are taking a beating. I have added Ibuprofen to my trail mix to help.

Currently I am in a hiker hostel and it may be the coolest place on earth. Bed, shower, dinner, breakfast, laundry and internet all for under $20. I am watching Moby Dick with a guy who has been here for a couple days. Fantasia is up next.

There is a St. Patty's day party at Low Gap tonight which I don't think I will be able to get to. In addition I had no green clothes to wear. Lucky the cover to my sleeping pad is green and I wore that on my head. Looked like a green version of the Pope's hat.

Tis' the Season

At this time of year, I would be making the final push at school and preparing for summer vacation. A year ago my grades were steadfast after 3.5 years of studying, barring a two month long academic meltdown. This meant I was anticipating mid-week trips to the Indiana dunes, bonfires, the 9am baseball club, and campus golf. Most of these activities required missing a class or an entire day of classes. This was acceptable. My senior year management professor told me the most important thing about senior year was building relationships. I cannot think of a better way to build a relationship than waking up for class, walking out the door, seeing a housemate return from class, replacing our books with gloves, and throwing the baseball around for 2 hours. Thank you Professor Stuck.

Ironically, I feel like I am beginning college for the first time all over again, not finishing it. Many of the same questions are going through my head. Will I like it? Who will I meet? Will I like the food? At least this time I am fairly certain I will not like the food.

I could not be more anxious. Obviously there are common concerns when hiking the AT. Bears, poisonous snakes, freezing temperatures, theft, injury, etc. My biggest fears are none of those. Instead I am worried about rodents. I have heard horror stories of mice and skunks climbing, in, over, and through peoples gear, including the bag they are occupying. If a skunk climbs into my sleeping bag while I am in it, I am dropping my gear and going home. Although it may be more repulsed of my scent than I of it's.

In a couple days I will be joining about 1500 others on the AT. Some have been on the journey for weeks, some are weeks away, some have already quit. I chose my departure time in order to avoid large crowds and the cold as best I can. My sister Sarah is graciously driving me to Amicalola Falls GA, and will join me for the first couple days of the hike.