In Franklin NC for one month every spring there is a church group that serves a tasty breakfast of pancakes and bacon to thru-hikers. I hate mornings but this was worth waking up early for. Breakfast came with a five minute sermon, while I'm not particularly religious I do appreciate the message of people going... Continue Reading →

I've made it from Unicoi Gap to Winding Stair Gap and Franklin NC where I took my first zero day. The blog posts record the days in detail but check out the video for additional commentary on the trek. https://youtu.be/qR4s1dEAzyk

For my first zero day I slept in late and enjoyed the luxury of not caring or having to stress about whether I'd make my planned mileage before I lost the daylight. I finally left the hostel around 11 and successfully hitch hiked a ride to Walmart. I needed to re-supply on food but I... Continue Reading →

The mice struck last night, luckily they targeted one of the other hikers. They weren't after food this time, they were after warmth. They snuck up and chewed a hole in his sleeping bag. He's short a few down feathers now and his bag is in need of a patch. Today was reasonably short, with... Continue Reading →

The forecast called for rain showers in the afternoon but it was already raining shortly after I left camp at 9 am, calling for the first real use of the rain gear. The rain stopped and started a few times before it committed to raining for the rest of the day. The trail was uncharacteristically... Continue Reading →

Sleeping on the top floor of the shelter was an unqualified success. I was neither cold nor eaten by mice and I was back on the trail by 9 am. Today was a major milestone, I crossed the border from Georgia into North Carolina! I almost missed the border sign, it's so small and honestly... Continue Reading →

Slept reasonably well having the tent to myself for the first time on this hike, though it still got a little cold. Once I crawled out of the tent I realized there was even frost on it. I was on the trail by 9 am and arrived at Dick's Creek Gap by noon. Switchback, '03... Continue Reading →

The night in the hotel's king sized bed was heavenly. The guest laundry and endless hot water were excellent perks as well. We had a fairly lazy morning, Kacy's shuttle to Atlanta wasn't schedule to arrive until 11 am and he would also be dropping me back at Unicoi Gap to resume hiking. After checking... Continue Reading →

Kacy and I made it from Amicalola Falls to Unicoi Gap in 7 days. The blog posts record the days in detail but check out the video for more of the epic views and some additional commentary on our trek. https://youtu.be/K7RGAhmP7zg

The sound of drizzle on the tent woke me up earlier that we'd been up so far along this trip. It motivated us to pack up camp and get on the trail before the weather turned worse, but it turned out that was all the rain in store for the day and we stayed dry.... Continue Reading →