Appalachian Trail Adventure: The South

Note: In Spring of 2009, I took off on the adventure of a lifetime: hiking the Appalachian Trail. I started with a short spring break trip at the beginning of the trail, in Georgia, but then left to finish working through the rest of the school year. After graduation, I reunited with the Northbound A.T. thru-hikers near Blacksburg, VA, and hiked with them up to Dalton, Massachusetts. My notes from all of this hiking are recorded in earlier posts. When I left the thru-hikers in Massachusetts, I took a week off from hiking, unknowingly became pregnant, and got back on the trail where I'd left off in Georgia. Because of the fatigue and shock that came with learning I was pregnant, I delayed recording the tales from this part of my hike until now...

7/25

• Distance travelled: 5.6 mi.
• After my week long hiatus from hiking, my husband, "Mad Hatter," and I headed south with our good buddy Kate to tackle the Southern Appalachians, which I'd mostly skipped. Unfortunately for them, we didn't get started until it was just an hour or two before dark, but with it being only 5.6 miles, I'd not calculated there would be any issue. I somehow forgot that they had not been hiking all summer long as I had, and therefore, weren't quite conditioned for either high-speed hiking or night hiking. Additionally, I found this area to be rather easy hiking. Interestingly, I remember this past spring hearing rumors about the "challenge" of Tray Mountain, which we were ascending, but it was incredibly easy compared to much of the hiking I'd been doing. If nothing else, the ground had barely any rocks, by comparison to what was in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states. We celebrated arrival at camp with some wine (in which I wouldn't have indulged had I known of my pregnancy), and I encouraged them to cowboy (sleep en plein air) through the beautiful night with me. I think I'm the only one who slept that night; as with my hiking style in general, they weren't accustomed to cowboy camping either.

7/26

• Distanced travelled: 19.9 miles
• Exciting news: we crossed into North Carolina!
• Wildlife: 2 snakes, 1 bear (see story below)
• "Supertarping": at the end of the day, Mad Hatter, Kate & I combined our 2 tarps into a "supertarp." We assembled them in a modified A-line, such that the majority of the tarp was on one windward side of the line (which was hung between trees), and on the leeward side, it was mostly open air, so we could breathe a little better, have more space, and enjoy the views of nature around us. This isn't the most weatherproof set-up, which was fine, since it wasn't supposed to rain, but it offers decent protection, lots of comfort, and mainly, a little better sleep for those who don't thrive with cowboy camping. At least, so I thought.... Not even I slept well this night. Although we'd hung our food in a flawless PCT (pacific crest trail) method bear hang, since bears in this region of the AT are notorious for fooling humans into giving them their backpacks full of food, we still had a bear visit our camp in the middle of the night. From earlier experience (July 9th), I knew it was a bear when I heard his thundering footsteps pacing toward us. Naturally, I woke up and started roaring to try and scare him (or her) off. Well, he/she didn't like this much and only growled back at us, but thankfully didn't attack. I guess he/she figured there was no way to get our impeccably hung food down, so he/she retreated, and we all tried to return to sleep. Only thing is, a hungry bear growling at you in the middle of the night makes you extra sensitive to all noises in the night, so, numerous times we found ourselves waking up and shining our headlamps into the woods, just to be safe. One time, Mad Hatter apparently heard something and started screaming, so I and Kate joined him. Then we went back to sleep and woke up in the morning laughing because none of us could figure out what had actually prompted us to all scream simultaneously.

7/27

• Distance travelled: 22.1 miles
• Fun: today we climbed, among other things, a piece of land named "Big Butt Mountain." We joked the whole way that we were going to kiss it and spank it when we got to the top. Unfortunately, there was no sign marking its peak (probably, it gets stolen all the time & trail maintainers give up replacing it)
• SCARIEST NIGHT EVER: what is scarier than a hungry bear hanging around your camp at night? How about a serial killer!? We don't know for sure if that's what this dude was or not, but we weren't taking any chances on finding out, if we could help it. I never felt unsafe hiking this summer until I left the thru-hikers, and I believe it's because when you're around a pack of hikers, everyone watches out for each other and sends messages about sketchy things to be aware of. Coming back south in this "off season," there is not that same security. Barely anyone was on the trail down here, and it made us feel more vulnerable. Anyway, the story of this night is that we arrived at camp really late and mostly pooped. I think it was about as long of a mileage day backpacking as either Kate or Mad Hatter had accomplished. There was no energy remaining to run from predators or to keep hiking another ~9 miles to our car. We needed sleep. However, there was some guy walking around the area with a large knife. He was a local, he said. He didn't carry a pack of any sort, only a knife. And he was alone. He stopped by the shelter where we camped and talked for a while with (surprisingly!) another hiker, who was solo. Apparently this knife bearer wandered off in the woods shortly before we got into camp, at which point, this other, sketched out guy was packing his bags and planning on night hiking until he found someplace that seemed safer. He was quite relieved to see us! We devised a plan where we would take turns keeping a "night watch." Whoever was on duty would keep the fire going so as to alert any predator that we were awake and alert. Those not on duty got their much needed rest until their shift. While I was on duty, I was about as terrified as I have ever been in my life. For defense, I had a hiking pole in one hand and mace in the other. I prayed incessantly, but I didn't bow my head and I kept my eyes open the entire time. It all worked out fine, though. We'll never know what might have been if we didn't do the night watch. I will recommend, however, not being alone in the woods at night, at least in this area (9 miles south of Winding Stair Gap, US Rte 64, North Carolina). My former hiking partner, Hardcore, encountered sketchy people here last spring and decided to play it safe also by night hiking into town.

7/28

• Distance travelled: 9.1 miles
• Highlight: getting back to our car today, we indulged in a luxury that few thru-hikers get to experience. -- the Dillard House. It's a decent drive from the trail and is not mentioned in any AT guidebooks, to my knowledge. In spite of our showing up super grungy, the friendly folks at Dillard House fed us one of the most delicious all-you-can-eat family-style dinners I've ever had (for those of you familiar with AYCE restaurants along the AT, this is in my opinion better than Homeplace in Virginia).
• other events: saying goodbye to Kate, who had to return home, and relaxing at Fontana Dam. Mad Hatter and I drove to Fontana Dam (part of Tennessee Valley Authority and also the southern terminus of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park / GSMNP) in order to get a free shower and hike southbound to Winding Stair Gap, where we'd stopped hiking with Kate. Fontana Lake was really beautiful, and the shelter there is by far one of the nicest I've stayed in, earning its nickname, "Fontana Hilton."

7/29

• Distance travelled: 29.9 miles
• I am amazingly proud of Mad Hatter for conquering this terrain with me! Besides covering nearly 30 miles in a single day, this area between Fontana and the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) is notorious for being one of the first huge challenges to thru-hikers. It was definitely tougher than anything else we'd done in GA and NC so far. Additionally, it was a rather wet day. When it wasn't raining, the ground was still covered in puddles. Mad Hatter had his fair share of blisters on his feet at the end of the day, for sure. Thankfully, NOC had lots of fine shopping and dining, plus a hostel that offered us a private room, bathrooms, laundry, and kitchen! It was the perfect reward for a long day.

7/30

• Distance travelled: 23.6 miles
• This hike may have been tougher than yesterday's! First, the NOC is so charming that we struggled mustering the desire to leave. Secondly, we had more than 3,600 feet to ascend in the day! Third, it was really sloshy ground from the heavy rain we'd had the previous day and 2 nights. However, we got to enjoy numerous balds (mountains with no trees) and abundant blueberries :) At Wayah Bald, I heard some animal squealing and crying in the bushes and that freaked me out a little. It sounded like a fox giving birth or something. Anyway, after spending the past 2 nights around lots of other folks, it was uncomfortable camping alone again. We were also in an area with signs warning about bears that had lost their natural fear of humans, so we slept on the edge again.

7/31

• Distance travelled 3.7 miles
• We made our way back to Winding Stair Gap, where we hired a shuttle to return us to our car at Fontana Dam. During today's hike, Mad Hatter's sole completely split in half. I should have taken a picture. I've seen soles peel away from the rest of the shoe, and I've seen them simply wear thin, but never plain break into pieces. At least it was a short day, and we planned to take another break from the trail. The rest of the day was spent driving to some friends' wedding, where we indulged in alcohol (again, something I would have resisted had I known I was pregnant). There's nothing like a glass of wine or beer to celebrate an adventure!

8/10 -- Fontana Dam to Clingman's Dome (1st half of Great Smoky Mountains)

• Distance travelled: a ridiculous 32.9 miles. This is really ridiculous because it was a ton of uphill, with an elevation change of 4,943 ft., and also ridiculous because I was doing it alone and while pregnant! Granted, I was "slackpacking", but I will still never recommend that anyone else attempt this!
• However, it was a blast! The facebook post I made the following day pretty much sums up the awesomeness of August 10th:

  Question: how can a day be better than yesterday -- [nearly] 33 miles of joy, wonder, and accomplishment as I got close with a bear, 9 wild turkeys, and 2 rabbits, plus tasted tons of the best wild blueberries and blackberries, and climbed the highest peak on all of the AT? Answer: today I'm eating an entire 1/2 gallon of butter pecan icecream.

8/11

• No hiking today -- only celebrating what I've done by attempted the 1/2 gallon challenge (for having covered half of the AT). I failed because in the middle of this challenge, I took a pregnancy test and, upon seeing the positive result, decided that eating a 1/2 gallon of ice cream was a very reckless thing to do to my body and the body growing within it.

9/6 & 9/7 -- finishing the Smokies...

• Because no camping is permitted in GSMNP without prior reservations, unless you're thru-hiking (and I no longer qualified as a thru-hiker, since I'd been off the trail for extended time in the previous 100 miles), and I'm too spontaneous to make reservations, we decided to try to finish hiking the Smokies without having to camp there at all. Problem: there are not many access points to the AT in the Smokies. There's really only one road that meanders through the middle of this huge park, and then there's a little road going off of this road up to Clingman's Dome. I'd hiked the near 33 mile portion of the AT going to Clingman's Dome, and had 39.2 miles remaining. Realizing now that my body is actually 2 bodies, I decided not to push the limit and cover all 39+ miles in one day's leap, by myself. So Mad Hatter joined me in leaving one car at Davenport Gap, TN (the northern terminus of GSMNP) and leaving another at the road that goes through the middle of the park. Unfortunately, pregnancy fatigue was really getting to me before we even got to the Smokies. I couldn't wake up in the morning to drive there, and when I finally did wake up, I had to stop on the way there for a roadside nap. By the time we finally got to the trail, it was 1pm and we had about 30 miles to cover, in the somewhat higher altitude Smokies, no less. What were we thinking? I was hungry, tired, and moody the whole way. I forgot my headlamp and Mad Hatter is not a fan of night hiking. Somehow, we trudged on and made it back to the car sometime after midnight. I'm rather proud of us. The next day, Mad Hatter dropped me off at Clingman's Dome and I hiked solo for approximately 9 miles to my car. Mad Hatter needed to return home for work, but I was only doing less than 10 miles downhill, so there was no need for any concern, right? I was so exhausted, I don't know how I made it. My poor husband and family members were all calling each other to see if they'd heard from me, and they were about to call the police. As it turns out, I took many breaks and naps this day, accidentally turned my phone off, and got stuck in lots of traffic when leaving GSMNP, so it took a long, long time to get home. But I made it! 1135+ miles of the AT -- DONE!

Well, that's it for now, but the adventure isn't over! At the time that I found out I was expecting a baby, I was already so completely happy with my life; I couldn't ask for more. The news of our soon-to-be son has surely put a new spin on the way that I will finish hiking the AT, and I don't doubt that it will be just as adventurous as before, just a little different! Tune in and I'll let you know how hiking with the little tot goes...