Rain

On the 21st we left Hiawassee and hiked a heroic 4.4 miles to Plumorchard shelter. The next day was more exciting as we finally made it out of Georgia and into North Carolina. As a welcome, we had two really steep climbs totaling about 1,000 feet. It was pretty difficult and yet another wake up as to how hard the trail can be. North Carolina is no joke. That same night we spent the night on the top of Standing Indain Mountain at 5,498 feet. The view from the top was great but the sunset that evening was even better. Neither of our point and shoot cameras could do it justice. The next morning we woke up in a cloud and hiked down almost as far as we had come up the previous day. The visibility was bad for the first half of the day. At the bottom, the trail was very disorienting winding through the mountains. It ended up going south for a good distance. The day ended with a very technical half mile climb that was almost straight up in certain sections. It was tough at the end of the day but also a lot of fun. We hurried down from the top the last half mile because it started to rain and we spent the night in the shelter for the first time rather than in our tent.

The next morning we left the shelter at 8am and hiked 10 miles by 11:30am. I have no idea how we went that fast but we did. It was probably because we had decided the previous night that we wanted to get a ride into Framklin, NC to get pizza. Jon and I along with two other hikers that we have been hiking with easily caught a shuttle into town, got our much wanted pizza for lunch, and hitch hiked back to the trail. We hiked about 4 more miles to Siler Bald shelter where we spent a cold night. It got down to about 25 degrees and everything was covered with frost in the morning. After packing up our frozen gear and hearing the weather forecast we decided we would take a long day to try to avoid rain the following day. In the end we ended up going 18.5 miles for our longest day yet. The terrain was very up and down and the last 6 miles or so were exhausting but somehow we made it.

Yesterday, the 26th, we hiked the last 6 miles into the NOC, an outdoor and kayaking center in the middle of nowhere where we spent last night in a hostel. Despite our best efforts to avoid the rain it came early and we got pretty wet but we're dry today thanks to laundry services and we're ready to hike uphill for 7 straight miles--I think. We'll probably stay at a shelter at the 7 mile point and do a longer day tomorrow. We should be at Fontana Dam by Wednesday. Look for another update around then.

-Dave

Hiawassee, GA

On Friday we hit unusually warm weather as we made it to Low Gap Shelter. Dave's knee continued to give him trouble but lucky for us one of the other thru-hikers is a physical therapist and could stretch him out. The next day was partly cloudy keeping it cooler but we hit two 1000+ foot climbs to reach Tray Mt. Shelter. Sunday morning we woke up and flew down to Dick's Creek Gap covering 11.5mi in 4.5 hrs. We were greeted with some more trail magic making it five days in a row we have had some magic on the trail. We caught a ride into Hiawassee with the county attorney of all people. The ride in the back of his pickup was fast and cold. We resupplied and spent the night in a cheap motel. Today we had a delicious hot breakfast, picked up some odds and ends, and caught a ride back to the trail for a really really long 5 mile day of hiking. ;) We're planning on getting to Fontana Dam in about 6 days.
-Jon

The first 30!!!

Jon and I made it to Neels gap today. So far the weather has been great. Mostly sunny with just one day of rain. The biggest problem we've had so far aside from my blisters is that we brought way too much food to start with which has made our packs heavier than we would like. We had our packs looked over by the "experts" at the outfitters here and got rid of four pounds between us. Next we just have to eat more of our food. Both Jon and I have had some knee problems caused by walking downhill. Downhill is much worse than going uphill.

We don't know for sure where we will stay tonight but it will be a short day to recover and repack. We hope to be in Hiawassee, GA 31.7 miles from here by Sunday. It's 11 miles off the trail so we'll have to hitch a ride. Next update will probably be from Hiawassee.

-Dave

The Beginning!!!

We made it to Gainesville GA!!! A shuttle will take us to the top of springer mt where we will back track 1.1mi to the top and then head to Hawk mt shelter. (7.8). Tuesday we hike 7.3mi to gooch mt shelter. By Wednesday will go 11.9 or 13.2 to woods hole or blood mt shelter. Thursday will pass thru Neels Gap maybe catching a shower, lose gear, and Resupply our food. Both of us are excited to finally get going and got little sleep last night on the train.