You never know where you will end up.

5/5 & 5/6

• Miles traveled: 10 miles & a birthday ZERO
• Shelter: home, Valdese NC
• High point: JEANS, cotton socks, visiting with more family and friends
• Low point: feeling guilty about leaving all our fellow hikers in the snow and rain

When we woke up in our tent under the barn we realized it had stopped raining, finally. The sun was almost shinning but there was a chill in the air.





When we have cell service we try to check the weather as much as possible even though it is rarely accurate. We had been watching the weather for days and knew a cold front was coming. They were calling for snow at the higher elevations (right where we were).
Luckily I received a perfectly timed text message.

Lately we have been doing less "planning" and more "going where the trail takes us". We haven't been planning our days out or hitting a required set of miles. We have just been going until we are ready to stop and then we are done for the day. (Surprisingly, I am adapting well to this "less planned" lifestyle but more on that later.)
So... we opted out of snow and bad weather. Our trail angel/family friend/Russ' Godmother had offered to come and pick us up for the weekend and we took her up on it! We didn't have any other plans. My birthday was the following day. The weather was going to be pretty terrible, SO WHY NOT?!
We set a time to meet and then hiked 10 miles to meet Anita and Boyd. Those 10 miles packed a punch!
We started with Little Hump Mountain. The trail, on the left, goes all the way up the mountain in the "bald" spot and up into the clouds.

You can see Ziploc in the far left for size reference.

You can see the trail was a mess after all the rain. Hiking was very similar to trying to walk up a very soapy slip-n-slide.

The views were still amazing.


After we cleared Lil Hump Mountain it was on to Hump Mountain. More amazing views.

We have decided that this section of the AT from Carvers Gap to Hwy 19E (mile 378.9 to 393.7) would be an amazing weekend section hike. You would hike the balds, stay at the barn and catch all the views. It's on our list to revisit.
Anyways. After the balds we passed the LEAVING NC sign. We have been hopping the TN/NC boarder for almost 3 weeks. It's nice to have another state completely behind us, even if it is our home state.

We made it to Anita and Boyd and after a delicious lunch we headed home for two nights of rest.
Hiker trash comes home and airs everything out. Every thing stinks.

We visited with family and friends while we were home. We ate well and we relaxed. We also missed the snow and ice on the trail but we weren't too upset over that.

Happy to have this opportunity to visit with family and friends. Thank you to Anita and Boyd for bringing us back and Dad (Jay) for letting us in. 😂 We had no clue that morning that our day would bring us home... And it was just what we needed.

You're the only 10 I see.

5/7

• Miles hiked: 6
• Shelter: tent by the Elk River
• High point: the beautiful weather & crossing 400 mile marker
• Low point: Hot Sauce getting the bear bag stuck while "trying to help"

We hit the trail around 4pm on Sunday. Leaving home and civilization is always hard but the weather helped ease the pain. We meandered through fields and walked by Jones Falls. 

We ended the day by the Elk River. Ziploc fished while I set up camp. We usually set up camp together, each doing our specific tasks but I offered to set it all up tonight.  It went smoothly... the tent, the sleeping pads... until I got the bear bag toss bag stuck in the tree. Ziploc usually does this part without flaw. I knew I couldn't throw, I don't know why I tried. We fixed it and had a good evening by the river. 

5/8

• Miles hiked: 14.5
• Shelter: Tent site in meadow at mile 414.5

Woke up to a beautiful morning. We had a great nights sleep on a level surface. We usually sleep till about 7 am on the trail, but we woke up after 9 today. As we emerged from our tent, we saw that no one else around us had packed up, so we didn't feel too bad about sleeping in. 

We passed Mountaineer falls at mile 402 early in our hike. 

The butterflies have been everywhere. I guess it's that time of year. 

We are still catching views of Roan. 

5/9

• Miles traveled: 4
  
• Fish caught: 1
  
• Friends found: 4 out of 5
  
• Shelter: Black Bear outside of Hampton TN

We waited till the rain broke to take down the tent. It was warming up quickly but it was wet and foggy. 

Ziploc didn't have enough food to make it to Damascus (he eats so much) and I used all the fuel on grits and coffee this morning so we needed to hit the next town, Hampton TN.

We made a plan to hike 4 miles to Davis Cove Road crossing and check the hostel a half mile up the road for food and fuel. There were 2 hostels in different directions so we chose the one that said "Pizza". This is the rationale of a hiker. 

Side note: At this point we have reached "hiker hunger" stage. This is where we can eat and eat and eat and almost never get full. We are always in search of food. I will elaborate further on this in another post. 

As we walked up to Black Bear Resort at 11 am, I hear "HOT SAUCE!!!!" coming from the woods. It was Lil Veggie!!!! The crew (-1) had hiked a mile this morning and settled in at the Black Bear. It did NOT take them long to convince us to stay. Well that and the recently stocked creek that ran directly through the property. Ziploc saw the creek from a mile away. I have a feeling all our stops will be near water from here to Maine.

We stayed in the bunk cabin called Grandbob. It had electricity, a table & chairs and a queen sized bed. It was perfect. 

We hopped on the shuttle to town, grabbed our needed resupply and McDonalds. We "hiker trashed" up the post office (the appearance of being homeless but actually hikers) for a bit and headed back to the resort for relaxation and fishing.

It was a very good day. 

Mountains & Memories

5/3

• Miles traveled: 15
• Shelter: tent at Hughes Gap, mile 372, before Roan Mountain

So, during the last post I decided that I wasn't going to consistently offer a high/low point of my day anymore. I found myself looking for a low point in good days (boo 👎🏼) and a good point on bad days (which is probably a good idea and why I will continue it sometimes).
Anyways. Our day started with sunshine! We hiked about 5 miles before we got into a van with a stranger.

Robert Bird retired and moved from the north east to eastern TN. He has done a lot of hiking in his past know what hikers need. A COUCH! He outfitted his van with a very comfy couch and lots of trail magic. Ziploc and I had a seat, a snack and some great conversation with Robert. It was a nice break.
We hiked and sweated up the next mountain. The temperature has been rising lately. We found the next view.

We crossed one more view after a long day of hard work and we tucked in for the night just short of Roan Mountain.

5/4

• Miles hiked: 12
• Shelter: tent under Overmountain Shelter at mile 384
• High point: hugging my parents 
• Low point: the horrific weather

The day started out cloudy. We packed up and headed up Roan Mountain (as I knew it as a kid 😊). It was so windy. We passed Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest Shelter on the AT and continued towards Carvers Gap. The hike was filled with evergreens, short and tall, and when the wind blew it smelled like Christmas. 🌲🌲🌲

We made it up the mountain to an old hotel site. The Cloudland Hotel from the the 1900's. It's just a leveled space now but can you imagine it in its prime?

We passed by some other structure remains on the mountain and headed down to Carvers Gap to meet my parents.

It was awesome to see my parents. They met us at the gap and drove us into Bakersville, NC for some food at Mammies Kitchen. Mammies had everything you could ever want to eat. We settled on the special and a few double bacon cheeseburgers. It was delicious and we headed to Dollar General for the resupply. Yes of course my parents were a little concerned at the amount of junk food and the lack of fruits & veggies we were taking with us. Hikers need their calories and need them in lightest form possible. SALTY SNACKS. We then took a detour by our old mountain house in Bakersville and were calling out the familiar sights along the way. It was like an old trip down memory lane.
We celebrated my birthday with cupcakes and unfortunately we were so caught up in the day we didn't take a photo but we will next time! I won't miss it. It really lifted our spirits to see them and we really needed it because we had no idea what we were headed into.
They dropped us off and we said our goodbyes at the Gap. We headed towards Round Bald and Jane Bald. We faced the 60-80mph winds and rain across the bald as we hiked towards the shelter. We hiked over 6 miles in the rain towards Overmountain Shelter.
Once we arrived at the old tobacco barn turned AT shelter, we learned that over 30 people were in the top level and there was no room at the inn. We didn't know what to do. The weather was supposed to get worse so we improvised.
We set our tent up under the stairs to the upper level of the barn. We had no other choice. The wind would have destroyed our tent outside the shelter of the barn and we would have been homeless.
We set up and hunkered down. The storms died down about 2am and we finally got a little bit of rest (on a 30° slope 🙄). The next morning, we decided it was the worst night on the trail so far.
(photo from the following morning, you can almost see our tent set up in the breezeway)

Onward & Upward

5/2 Climbing Out of Erwin

• Miles: 15
  
• Shelter: stealth spot at mile 357

We prepared to leave Erwin. Packed up our stuff at the Super 8 and headed towards the post office one more time. We had one more thing to mail and then it was back to the trail. We caught a hitch back to the trail from a handy man that had been restoring the local theatre in Erwin. He has been giving hikers rides for years.

Over the river and through the woods... Just like Hot Springs.

The hike out of Erwin was the best yet! I am not sure if it was the weather or the terrain but the miles just flew by. We crossed the railroad tracks and headed up. 

It seemed like the forest grew greener overnight. Of course as soon as we entered the woods there was a stream Ziploc had to fish with the rod he was now carrying. 

We passed three different trail magic offerings today but only arrived at one in time to benefit. Brother Tom from a local church offered us sweet tea and banana bread before we headed further up the mountain.

We climbed up to a place appropriately named Beauty Spot at mile 354. It was as described, absolutely beautiful. We had to have spent over an hour here. As soon as I hiked up there I said "if we ever get married again, this is where I want to do it." Then Pretty Place will have a sequel called Beauty Spot. Perfect. 🙂

Once again, the photos do not do this place justice. The depth, the horizon, and the view goes on forever. 

The BBQ chicken was on the grill when we arrived at the next magic so we hung out but headed on to Unaka mountain before the food was served. 

At the top of Unaka mountain was another spruce forest. It reminded us of the Smokies, but without the rain. It was nice. 

We found a stealth spot a mile or so from the top of the mountain and settled in. By the end of the day we were singing Zip-a-dee do da, Zip-a-dee a, my oh my what a wonderful day.