AT ‘23 Post 2 - Day 17 (264.7 KM) - The End of a Chapter

Sunset at Brown Fork Gap

A cheerful good morning from Fontana Dam, NC. I’m writing this post from a blessed bath at Fontana Village inn. A few days ago I split up with my original hiker pod, losing Tent Peg, Body Shop, and Iceman. It was hard to say goodbye. Hence the title of today’s post. My legs are sore, but otherwise I’m feeling fine. Here’s my notes.

Fr Mar 24/23 - Day 12 - Rock Gap (170.3 KM)

Woke up around 7 and got packed up quickly. Ate a quick breakfast bar and chatted with the others, got my gear loaded up, and hit the trail.

Around 9 AM I came into Rock Gap and ran into Iceman, Mantis, and some trail magic! Coffee and donuts hosted by Captain. As I ate a donut, the 9:30 shuttle into Franklin arrived, and I decided to head into town early.

On the bus I met Captain Fantastic, Sapling, and Audry. It was a quick ride into town and to the Hilltop Inn, our motel for the night. I knocked on room 10 and was greeted by Body Shop and Tent Peg! We said hi excitedly and caught up. It seems Tent Peg hurt his knee bad trying to catch up with Body Shop on a tough section of trail. He needs a at least a double zero in town to recover. When I arrived both of them were icing something different; for TP his knee and for BS his Achilles. Looks like injuries are starting to stack up.

I checked in, took a shower, and put some clothes in the washing machine. Then me and Tent Peg caught the city shuttle to Ingles for some groceries. Franklin is a very hiker friendly town. At the Ingles alone I was asked about being a thru hiker 3 times, and given a big good luck and stay safe each time. I guess walking around in my rain skirt while my clothes wash gives me away.

We got our resupply done, ate some delicious Mexican food from the cantina in the parking lot, and walked down to the outfitters to grab some new gear. I got my first hole in my socks at exactly the 100 mile mark. Right after Miss Janet offered me a new pair of socks too. Next time I’m offered a pair of socks I’m double checking mine have no holes first! Now to test out some Injinjis and Darn Tough socks.

After picking up some new gear, TP and I headed back to the motel to chill out a bit before heading to Peroni’s birthday at the Lazy Hiker. I spent a couple of hours horizontally preparing my next blog post from my bed.

After I got the post up, Mantis, Tent Peg and I headed down to the brewery. We ran into Peroni and the group at a diner on our way. We sat down, had a malt, and chattered away. After our shakes we headed over to the brewery.

Peroni's party!

The brewery was pretty lit! Lots of normal people and dirty hikers alike shuffling around. I ordered a flight of their hoppiest and crispiest beers and thoroughly enjoyed the selection. For dinner I ordered a Philly steak sandwich with curds and onion rings. Being Canadian, I was confused by the offering of curds as a side dish. At first I thought they just gave you a dollop of raw curds with your food, but when I heard the deep fryer go off in the background, I put the dots together and realized they were selling deep fried curds. I put some of the fried curds on my sandwich and had a grand old time. Fried curds are great, by the way.

Darts and dirty hikers in the backroom

I bought Peroni a beer for his birthday, we played darts, and different hikers from all groups came by to celebrate. I ran into Firebug again, now named Firefly, Cookie, and some others I hadn’t seen in a week or two. Sky wore a giant straw hat that made him look like a pirate, and I called him as such. Later on I learned he had taken Pirate as his trail name! A fourth trail name christened! I have a knack for this.

Wise 25 year old Peroni

The bartender at the Lazy Hiker brewery was really nice! He gave me a couple of free beers over the night, making me wonder if he was always that nice or had a soft spot in his heart for dirty hikers. Maybe the better your dressed the less likely he is to spot you a pint.

Live music played from the main room while we drank and partied in the back. Around 8 I was feeling pretty buzzed and tired, so I wished the group well, thanked Peroni for a fun night, and headed back with Tent Peg. On the way I grabbed a second dinner, Hobbit style, and we settled into the motel.

I had my second dinner and got my gear ready for tomorrow. Iceman, my roommate for the night, rolled in around 10, and we chatted about what a fun night we had. He went back out and continued his night with the others while I passed out hard. Apparently he came back around 12 AM with Pirate (formerly Sky) and knocked hard on my motel door to get in. I didn’t hear a thing! I must have been in a deep beer and food related coma. Poor Iceman had to wake the motel owner to open the door to our our room! Glad he finally got in, despite my deep slumber.

Seems a lot of people are taking a zero here tomorrow to recover from Peroni’s party or rest up their injuries. It’s going to rain in the morning. I’m not feeling too worse for wear, other than some blisters. I‘ll see how I feel, but tomorrow I think I’ll stay till checkout to dodge the morning rain then hit the trail once more. Overall a blast of a day. Happy 25th Peroni! And thank you to Franklin NC for the amazing hospitality and love for hikers.

Sa Mar 25/23 - Day 13 - Siler Bald Shelter (182.0 KM)

I awoke from my beer induced coma around 7:45 AM. Shortly after Iceman got up, and we went out and chatted with Tent Peg and Body Shop. They had already gone to breaky and recommended we try the Country Kitchen around the road. Onward to the diner for Iceman and I.

We ate a delicious soul food breakfast; biscuits and gravy with scrambled, bacon, and sausages. It was amazing. The diner was full of locals and abuzz with Saturday morning chatter. We even saw a dude open carrying a magnum 44 handgun! That’s enough firepower to kill a brick wall, pleasantly sat at the breaky table. Only in America.

At breaky

We got back to the hostel and learned that Tent Peg was going to get off the trail for 5 days to recover his knee. That was a real blow; we’ve been hiking since day 2, and he’s been a real pleasure and asset to have around. His unstoppable good mood and North Carolina charm have been a real bright spot on the hike. And of course, his keen eye for building gigantic bonfires that could signal aliens from space will be missed too.

I realize I’ve mentioned Tent Peg a lot as we’ve hiked, but never really introduced him. Tent Peg is from the small NC town of Marion. He gets his trail name for forgetting all of his tent pegs after his first night on trail. He could also be named Tent Peg for how skinny he is. Where I am short and wide, he is lanky and tall. We share low hanging gorilla arms; both of our armspans are taller than we are. He’s an avid video gamer and board game nerd, which immediately drew us together. His motivation to hike the trail was frustration with work and life. One day at the factory he threw up his hands and said “screw this, I’m hiking the AT!” With no real hiking experience, he made the huge decision to thru hike one of the longest and hardest trails in NA. I was shocked by his bravery and grit to make such a thing happen. He’s also a recovered alcoholic and opiate addict, two demons that run strong in my family. Tent Peg has been an inspiration to me. I truly hope he recovers from his knee injury and gets back on trail. I want to climb Katahdin with him.

Tent Peg, Iceman, me, and Body Shop before splitting up

We’ll also be losing Body Shop, as he left early and plans to crush a much bigger day than I plan to. I should introduce Body Shop as well. His trail name comes from him always having multiple injuries to deal with, like a car that desperately needs a body shop. He’s an incredibly kind and thoughtful family man from Raleigh NC, originally from Rochester. He is an avid gardener, cook, and environmental conservationists, even growing a section of his garden just to help local bees recover. Of everyone on trail so far, he’s known the most about Canadian culture and nuisances. He said when he was younger, for some reason, he really wanted to be Canadian. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I truly appreciated his witty jokes poking fun at my heritage. We also met on day 2, and have been (mostly) hiking together since. I’ll miss his warm personality, conscientious attitude, and general “older brother/dad” vibes he always gave off. Good luck with your hike going forward Body Shop! Maybe I’ll catch up to you one day.

With Body Shop and Tent Peg going their separate ways, it really feels like the end of a chapter. You make bonds quickly on trail.

We took some pictures together and lamented our pod breaking up. I grabbed a shuttle with Stairmaster around 11:30 and headed off on my own once more.

I listened to lofi and reflected on my time with Tent Peg and Body Shop as I finished the 12 KM hike to Siler Bald shelter. On the way I met Kyle, a Michigan native seeking his own change and transformation on trail.

I arrived at Siler Bald around 4 PM and setup shop in the shelter. On the trail to the shelter I ran into Hoot, indicating to me the Melodius and Sass weren’t far behind. I caught up with them and learned how their night had went. Apparently they got pretty lit as well! Melodius had so much rum that he ended up “decorating a tree”… And not with Christmas lights!

Hoot, Medlodius, Sass, and me posing

We chatted and I drank some PBRs I had packed out. Around 7 we ended up walking to the top of Siler Bald and watched the sunset over the mountains. It was beautiful. A great introspective cap to an emotional day.

Sunset at Siler Bald

We came back and had a little pow wow around the shelter picnic table. At the end of the night I got to have a deep one on one with GratefulEd, leading to discussions of what spirituality is and what it means to experience as a person. My favourite kind of late night chat.

Overall it was a bittersweet day. I lost Tent Peg and Body Shop, but a part of me holds out hope that I’ll catch up with them both again. Let’s see what’s in store for the future.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to put a bigger day in so I can go into the Nantahala Outdoor Centre early on Monday.

Su Mar 26/23 - Day 14 - Cold Spring Shelter (201.5 KM)

I awoke with the others around 7. Seems 7 AM is my usual wakeup time now. I made some coffee, ate some dried fruit, and powered down my granola bar. After some quick banter I hit the trail, heading 19 KM away for Cold Spring Shelter.

The morning was a big climb up Wayah bald. I put on my earbuds and grinded through. The terrain was pretty agreeable, except for some muddy spots.

Around 12 I came to the Wayah bald observation tower. From the top you could see the Smokies in the distance. It was gorgeous. I ran into David, a very friendly trail maintainer who pointed out the peaks using an app on his phone. I took my lunch at the top, then headed on for the shelter.

The Smokies in the distance

I rolled in to the shelter around 4 and met Jukebox, Patches McKraken, and Lt. Dan. They were incredibly friendly! I loved hanging out and chatting.

Me Lt. Dan, Patches McCracken, and Jukebox

I tried the jalapeño Tuna Creations today. It was pretty good with my Idahoan potatoes. Will definitely spike some other food with it.

All in all a good, somewhat uneventful, day. Tomorrow I’m going to try to get a bunk at the NOC and see if I can pick up an Ursack.

Mo Mar 27/23 - Day 15 - Nantahala Outdoor Center (220.0 KM)

Woke up to the pitter pater of rain. It had stormed through the night. Around 4 AM we heard the crash of a tree near the shelter. We all awoke and thought a bear had gotten our hang. In the morning, when asked by Jukebox why I didn’t go investigate for the team, I asked “was I supposed to fight the bear for our food?!” Lt. Dan helpfully replied “well you could have at least fought for half of it”. I love this group!

Packed up quickly, skipped breaky, and hit the trail around 7:30 in the rain. My ascent lead to foggy, eerie mountaintops, and vistas completely whited out by mist. Around 9 AM the rain cleared and the sun came out.

Eerie AT hiking

I took a quick break at the observation tower atop Wesser Bald and continued down for the main descent into the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Around the top of Wesser Bald I ended up running into Sleepwalker (Rob)! We caught up and took selfies at the top. Always happy to run into him.

Rob strikes again!

Today was very technical with warm ice (mud), lots of blown down trees from the storm, and slippery rocks for most of the 3000ft+ descent.

Around 1 PM Jukebox caught up with me, and we chatted and sang our way down to the NOC. She knows a lot of songs, and often breaks out into contextual singing. For example, shaking up a juice, she’ll sing “Shake it real good!” So far it’s been cute and funny. Let’s hope it stays that way.

We got to the NOC around 2 PM. The NOC is an famous outfitter, lodging, and rafting school setup on the fast paced Nantahala river. It’s a beautiful spot. I made a beeline to the check in for the bunks. Unfortunately they were out of thru hiker bunks but did have one last private room available. The trail gods smile on me!

I had lunch with Jukebox, Mike, and Dan. I managed to once again split my room 4 ways by the end of lunch, sharing it with Dan, Juke, and a hiker I met up on the trail named Dragonfly.

A "private" room with 4, including Wildfire and Dragonfly

I got my laundry started and we walked the 1.3 KM to the local gas station to resupply (2.6 extra KM! Disgusting!). When we got back I bought an Ursack from the outfitters, got my permit to enter the Smokies, and went to beer up at the general store.

On our way to dinner I ran into Sass and a group of dirty hikers drinking by the Nantahala river. I came up with two beers and offered one to Sass and Seaweed. Sass for letting me take pulls from his flask of brandy at camp, and Seaweed for graciously giving me his spot in the shelter last night, fully knowing it would rain. They both were very surprised and very thankful. Always good to pay it forward.

We had dinner with Dan, Rob, and Juke. I ate healthy for my second meal, having a salad and mixed veggies with my chicken-fried chicken. Might I say, “chicken-fried chicken” is one of the funniest real food names I’ve ever heard. How could it be anything but? I know, I know, chicken-fried steak is a thing. It was a delicious meal.

At dinner Rob chatted about 9/11. He mentioned that a jet engine crashed into the firehouse he was stationed at, destroying one of their vehicles in the process. Screenshot below. Always great stories from Sleepwalker.

A jet engine crashed into Robs firehouse during 9/11

After dinner the others retired and I went to burn the midnight oil with Lt. Dan and Patches McCraken. We chatted, ate trail magic left in the communal kitchen, and laughed like hyenas at each others stories.

Overall a fun and productive day. Tomorrow I have another 3000ft+ climb for 12 KM straight out of the NOC. I hope to wake early and complete a 26 KM day to Brown Fork Gap Shelter. Forecast says dry until Saturday. Let’s see if the weather lives up to that.

Tu Mar 28/23 - Day 16 - Brown Fork Gap Shelter (246.1 KM)

Woke up in the dark around 6:50 AM in my “private” cabin shared with 3 others. Around 7 Juke asked for the light to be turned on, and we all rose from our slumber.

I ran through my morning routine: get dressed, poop, wash hands, eat breaky, take electrolytes, and body glide up. Breaky was some leftover Bo Jangles blueberry biscuits with vanilla frosting and a scavenged banana. Delicious.

I set out around 8 AM and began the 3000ft+ climb out of the NOC. 12 KM straight uphill. Woo.

I finished the 12K crazy climb around 12:30 and went to Sassafras Gap Shelter for lunch (pretty sure that’s the 3rd “Sassafras gap” I’ve passed). 12K and 3000ft+ climb in 4 hrs. My trail legs are coming on! At the shelter I ran into PF (polite fucker) and Easy. Lt. Dan and Patches McCracken had told me about them and the corncob pipe PF smoked the night before! I had a quick lunch, chatted and laughed with the boys, and headed out around 1 PM.

PF and Easy at lunch

The climbs and descents were covered with blown down trees and slippery rocky sections. A very technical day, on top of the crazy elevation. I finished 5400ft+ of elevation and 3600ft+ of descent today, on top of the 26 KM day. A new record for ascents and descents.

Around 4:30 I came to the infamous Jacob’s Ladder. 700ft of elevation in 1200ft of distance. It really added insult to injury after the crazy climb out of the NOC. I managed it slowly and rolled into camp around 6:30.

Everyone very kindly made space for me in the shelter, and I setup my pad and quilt in the free space. At the campsite I caught up with Melodious, Hoot, Squirrel, and Sass. I made KD for dinner, drank my pack out out can of wine, and settled in by the fire graciously started by the others.

We chatted, laughed, bullshitted, and generally had a good night as the fire roared on. Around 8:30 the others went to bed, and I took some introvert time to watch the fire. Around 10 I put out the coals with my unfiltered water, stirred the coals into the wet spots to put out the embers, and headed to my pad to sleep.

Sunset

Today was a rough day. 26 KM and over 5400ft of elevation, including Jacob’s ladder. Tomorrow I hope to make it into Fontana Dam, and the day after to enter the Smokies. The Smokies will be the first real test of my thru hike so far. There’s a lot of high elevation days, and I’ll have only 8 days to get through with my permit. I feel like my legs are ready for the test. Hopefully my willpower is equally equipped.