Leaving the Smokies Behind

We had a fun evening in Gatlinburg on Tuesday, avoiding the rainy weather - we went to the Smokey Mountain Brewery for lunch and ended up going back to try to play trivia. It was packed so we sat with three section hikers we met in Silers Bald Shelter the night before. They were celebrating one of their birthdays and had other friends meeting them in Gatlinburg so they were done hiking.

The Smokies - Wind, Rain, Full Shelters, and so far..no views

I thoroughly enjoyed my first zero day in Fontana Dam. Even though there isn't much there it was nice to relax, get clean, and rest my feet. I woke up early Saturday morning, even though I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere, and wandered down to the visitor center by the Dam. As I walked down the road a man passing in his car pulled up beside me and handed me a banana out the window! "Banana man!" he said and drove off.. curbside Trail Magic!

NOC to Fontana Dam - The Entrance to the Smokies

Maybe it was the bacon cheeseburger talking but I didn't think the climb out of the NOC was that bad! When 2:20PM rolled around I knew I had to get going if I didn't want to be hiking in the dark. A couple hikers sitting by the Outfitter told me they heard it could take 6-8 hours. I'm learning that my perception of time, distance, and difficulty is not the same as a lot of the other hikers. Most of the hikers that I talked to were doing 8-12 miles a day which is will totally respectable but I'm learning to take all advice with a grain of salt. 

State Line, 100 Miles, and New Elevations

Feeling rested and refreshed, Calves, J Biebs, Pige, and I shuttled back to Dick's Creek Gap after a warm night in the Holiday Inn in Hiawassee, GA Sunday night. We had a fun evening, sitting in the hot tub, catching up with other hikers we hadn't seen in a couple days. The neat thing about Hiawassee is that it can easily be accessed from Unicoi Gap (AT mile 52.3) or Dick's Creek Gap (AT mile 69) which allowed us to see a bunch of thru hikers we had passed earlier in the week. This trail brings so many different kinds of people together, you never know who you will meet. My first week on the trail I met a woman who had worked with my mom at the hospital in Frederick, MD for 18 years. It was kind of incredible.

Approach Trail to Hiawassee,GA

I was spoiled by the weather all week.. Tuesday through Thursday were perfect, beautiful days - warm, sunny, light breeze. Dad dropped me off at the Visitor Center at Amicalola Falls right around 7:00 am Tuesday morning and I began hiking the extra 8.8 miles to Mile 0 on the top of Springer Mountain. The hardest part of Day 1 was definitely the Approach Trail, specifically the stairs up the Falls. But they were beautiful and I thought the extra miles were worth it. The rest of the Approach was a pretty nice hike and I'm glad I didn't skip it like a lot it people do. I made it to the summit at 11AM and was the only one there. I hung out and had a snack as other hikers trickled through. I talked with a couple who were just doing some day hiking who were from outside of Chicago who had a Grandson who flies planes. When they headed back down to the parking lot I told them if they passed my parents to tell them I was hungry! I received my first trail magic on Springer - sandwich from Mom and Dad!

AT Approach Trail

I guess you could call this hike up the AT Approach Trail my last training hike before starting my thru hike. The approach trail from Amicalola Falls State Park is not technically part of the AT, the miles are 'extra' and some people choose to skip it. But I thought, what the hell - what's another 8.8 miles..