Skills-bourne

This Saturday, Boo and I met up with 3 others (Becky, Jim, and Yvon) for a beautiful day of disc golf. We headed down to Kilbourne park around 10am and it was already warming up to be a perfect day. I finally sported some shorts and realized just how pale my legs really were. Oops.... looks like I need to spray tan some. hahaha! Seriously, it was great putting on a pair of shorts instead of a jacket. We all played pretty well, not super great, but pretty good. It's a tough course, but always a fun challenge. Boo had a sweet birdie on one of the holes. He also had a new throw called the "flick" that he showed off. It made me think that I needed to add some new tosses into my disc golf game too. So something else to work on for me. We ended the game on a good note and then Boo and I went for a nice lunch before we went home to get ready for a BBQ party that night. (You know it's a good party when the cops are called! hehehe! The Jazz band at the BBQ got a bit too loud for some of the neighbors and the cops came and shut them down.) I love this time of year. The weather is perfect, the days are longer, and there is so much to do! Hike, mountain bike, disc golf, backpack, grill out, sail... outdoors 24/7, and getting out and enjoying what your city/town offers. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Springer to Wood Gap

Day 5

SHOE and I decided to spend the next three days taking it easy and hiking from Springer Mt. to Woody Gap. I have never seen Springer Mt., so I was very excited to finally see the beginning of the Appalachian Trail and to touch the first official white blaze. We rolled into Neels Gap around 11:am, and got Cool Breeze to take us up to the Springer Mt. parking area. (No approach trail for us. hahah!) With full packs on, we climbed the mile up to Spring Mt. where we were greeted by Many Sleeps. He asked if we needed to register in as Thru hikers. (I wish! but no, we weren't thru's and out of curiosity, we asked if we had registered, what would of been our numbers? We would of been hikers #474 and 475) After taking a quick snack break, enjoying the views, and posing for the obligitory photos of the first blaze on the trail, we officially started the AT at 2pm. We climbed back down a mile to the parking area and back onto the trail, into the woods.

The trail was graded really nice and had an almost alpine feel to it with lots of huge pine trees and millions of pine needles covering and softening the trail. It was a gradual 5 mile descent a road crossing, then up for a couple of miles where we passed this older woman in full make up. She was making her way to the falls and having a rough time with the climb. SHOE actually made us take a quick detour trail that went to some falls. Once I saw the falls, I was so glad she made us check it out. It was a huge, powerful waterfall and I snapped a couple of pictures of it. We found the family members of the lady we passed and told them she was struggling a bit. They sent someone down after her to check it out. We got back on the AT and climbed some more. Finally crested the mountain, only to go down it and climb another before finally getting into Hawk Mt. Shelter. The shelter was packed! I mean there must have been at least 30 tents out. We followed the blue blazed trail down twords the water and decided to make camp right off of that trail. I found some awesome trees for my hammock and SHOE found a flat spot for her hubba tent. After a quick trip to the privy, we walked down to the water source (which was a great little stream) and filtered up. We got back just in time to start making dinner. The temps started dropping really fast and I knew it was going to be a cold night. We finished up dinner and with our headlamps on and walked down to the shelter to bearbag our food. After struggling with the bear cables (b/c there was probably already 60lbs of other hikers food on it), we got our bags hung. We started to walk back, but couldn't find the trail, so we literally, got lost for a second. It was too funny, all we could see were tents all arond stashed into the woods, but no trail. We finally inch our way back down to our campsite and call it an early night. I slip into my hammock, cover my head with my sleeping bag and try to keep from getting chilly. I felt some cold spots whenever my arms or legs were off the sleep pad, but other than that, I stayed snuggly warm. I found out the next morning we went below freezing! thank goodness for my 15 degree bag, that's all I got to say.

Day 6

We woke up around 8am, and I packed up my stuff. I had my hands full so I just moved my backpack, and shoes over near SHOE's tent so we could have breakfast together. Well, around 9:30am we are all ready to leave, when I notice I didn't grab my trek poles. I go back to my campsite and they aren't there. SHOE says I might of left them up at the shelter. I know I didn't, but she convinces me to go up there and ask. When I get up there, I ask one of the thru hikers if he saw any trek poles. He says, "where they red?" I said, "YES!" He said they were there, but someone decided to carry them down the trail to find their owners. oh man.... NO way. My trek poles started the trail without me! Then the thru-hiker tells me that one of the hikers from the GA group took them, and points them out. I walk over and ask they've seen my red trek poles. A blond guy with glasses goes, "yeah, one of the hikers in my group thought someone left them and is taking them up the trail to find the owner." He said "he just left a few minutes ago, let me see if I can catch him" And he sprints away. About 15 min later he comes back red faced, heavy breathing AND with my poles! I am so grateful I call him my trek pole hero and give him a hug. I ask his name and if I can take his picture. He is all smiles and says sure. His name is Tyson, he thru hiked in 06 and his trail name is knockknock. What an awesome guy. He's out this weekend b/c he was taking a group of hikers from UGA on a 30 mile trip. (THANKS so much knockknock, my trek pole hero! You really saved my knees that day!) Here is a pic of him.

I finally get back to the shelter where SHOE is having difficulties with her hip belt. We meet two other hikers, one was were recently laid off from their NYC job and lived in Brooklyn. He decided to hike the AT since he had the time. We all leave the shelter around 10am (late start, but who knew we would have trek pole drama? haha!) Brooklyn's infront leading the way. When we get to the turn off to the AT, they started going back twords Springer Mt. Since I don't know their names, I yell, "Brooklyn! Are you trying to climb back up Springer Mt?" I point them in the right direction and we all laugh.

I have it wrapped around my mind that today is going to be a tough day. We have 4 climbs and the first one starts right away. As I climb up, I see a camp fire smoke. When I round the bend, I have the pleasure of seeing one fully naked man squatting behind a log. Oops...(yea it will happen out here in the woods. Just when you think you're all alone and you go about doing your business, someone is bound to come up on you. haha!) I avert my eyes, step up my pace, and yell out "GOOD MORNING!!!" so he knows I'm there. From the corner of my eyes I see him bolt up, pull up some bikini underwear (yes bikini's!) and duck behind the otherside of the log. Oops. hahaha! I keep truckin' along b/c I don't what him to catch up to me and when I do this , I lose SHOE. She's hiking her own hike, I'm hiking mine. I climb the two bumps in an hour and decide it wasn't as bad as I had heard. Well, I get about half way down the second bump and I look up to see a HUGE ass mountain. I mean it was like seeing freaking Kilimanjaro. I popped my eyes back in my head b/c I thought there was no way I'm climbing THAT mountain. I just climbed (what I thought) was Sasafrass and Justis. Well I get down to Horse gap and see another hiker going SOBO. I ask him to tell me the name of that big ass mountain. He looks over his shoulder and says, "that's Sasafrass Mt." I'm stunned, I thought I had already climbed it! Come to find out, those little bumps were just a warm up for this giant beast. I take a gulp of water and decide to just do it. The ascent felt like it lasted forever, just up, switch back, up, switch back, more up. And just when you think it flattens out on top, it tricks you and starts climbing up some more! Ugggh! I finally get over it and at the bottom take a nice 45 min snack break near knockknock and his group. They are getting ready to climb Justis, which I heard was just as crazy as Kick-my-ass, I mean Sasafrass Mt. Great. I'm out of water b/c during the morning trek pole drama, I forgot to get water. So I have to climb this beast soon. I suck down my orange and hope it's enough to get me over Justis. I say good bye to knockknock and his crew and ask them to tell SHOE I had to climb it to get to the water on the other side. I start my ascent. It's steep and has plenty of switch backs, but it wasn't as bad as Sasafrass. It was alot shorter.

I get down to the creek, take off my pack, filter two liters of water and drink 1 and 1/2 liters. After cameling up I turn and meet a curious looking fellow. His trail name is Fields and he started his thru hike 10 days ago. (I think, Wow.... it took this dude 10 days to hike 12 miles... hmmm what's wrong with him...) Come to find out, Fields suffered severe dehydration, with vomiting and all, and had to be taken off trail and hospitalized. He's started back up a day ago and is taking it easy. He holds up a 5 lb bag of pecans and asks me to please take some. It's making his pack heavy. So, I oblige and chit chat with him over the next 40 minutes. He's from Burlington NC, hates the corporate world, and is keeping an audio trail journal that is not published just yet. He's interesting in a professor-ish kind of way. By this time, most of the people that stayed at Hawk mt. have pulled up and are filling up on water. I meet two girls from my town that are section hiking too. SHOE comes in and loads up on water. As we are sitting there, I see Brooklyn and his friend are getting ready to go and guess what.... I yell, "Hey Brooklyn!" He looks over his shoulder and I point and yell, "the trail is that way." He laughs, waves, and says thanks before hopping on the right trail and climbing up the mountain. Too funny. SHOE and I finally get going and I say good bye to Fields. We only have 4 miles til camp but SHOE wants to stop by the shelter to use the privy. We climb out the gap and hike 3 miles to the shelter. There we run into some new thru-hikers. Roy and Boston cap guy. Boston has about 10 lbs of spaghetti he's carrying with him. We talk to them for a bit and SHOE gives them the low down on the rest of the trail to Neels Gap. We leave to find Gooch Gap, our camping destination, and Kellye, who's waiting for us.

Gooch Gap was a cool little camp spot. I found the perfect trees for my hammock. We meet Jeff from MI who is thru hiking and another section hiker, the GA trail maintainer for Springer Mt. The five of us enjoy an uncrowded campsite and nice fire that night. I learned what the difference between a white man fire and Indian fire was. A white man fire BIG, people far away from fire. Indian fire small, people close to fire. Anyways, we called it a night around 9:30pm.

Day 7

We woke up and broke camp around 9am. With only 3 1/2 miles til Woody Gap and my car, it was going to be an easy day. We did have mostly climbs, and with tired legs that have not had any breaks it was tougher than I thought. Kellye and her fresh legs kicked our ass going up hill. We finally climb out into Woody Gap and I am both elated and disappointed that my trip is over. With mixed feelings, I change clothes and start reminicing about my trip already. We head up to Neels gap to pick up SHOE's car and then we stop for some good Mexican food for lunch. After goodbyes, we are all on the road to our homes.

Over all I had an amazing time on this trip. I wish I could of kept going down the AT all the way to Maine. I met some great people, had a wonderful time conquering those mountains, I crossed my first state line, and got to hang out with SHOE and Kellye all week long, and I got to get a taste of what life is like as a thru hiker on the AT. I realized I know alot more than I give myself credit for, but I still have ALOT to learn. And that every minute I'm out here, I feel free and I love it. Well, back to reality and my life in the city. As one hiker that I met put it. My REAL life is on the trail and my fake, manufactured life is waiting for me back home. So true. Til I can get back to my "real" life. GET OUTDOORS!!!

Dicks Creek to Franklin

DAY 1
I crossed the State line! I walked from GA into NC on this 40 mile section of the AT. It was the coolest/tiring feeling. hahah! The walk up from Dicks Creek is no joke. I would say it was 75% all up hill. SHOE, Kellye, and I stopped for a lunch break about 4 1/2 miles into our day at Plum Orchard Shelter. I sat around a tree and met some interesting thru-hikers. Nemo, who was from Vancouver, Mike from Texas who hiked ridiculous miles a day, something like 15-20 a day. And an 82 yr old guy from Greece who was out fulfilling a dream. I later got to give him his trail name. ZEUS. He was so excited and so cute. I hope Zues makes it to Maine. It was inspiring to see him out there too. I hope when I'm 82, I'm still climbing up mountains. :)

After a long lunch, Kellye decided to turn back to go to her car. She wasn't feeling the hike today, so SHOE and I continued on. On our first day we did 9 miles, crossing the state line into Bly Gap. We found a great camp spot on the upper section of Bly gap and near the famous Bly Gap tree. I've seen this tree countless times in peoples AT hiking journals, but to see it in person was awesome. It made my day. On our hike up we met some high schoolers that were out for a weekend hike. They had one guy whom I called bungee boy, cause he kept losing his bungee cord from his pack onto the trail. Anyways, this poor guy, his name was Joe, but his friends called him Stewie. Well SHOE and I found him around mile 6, just sitting on the trail. His legs and feet hurt so bad and he was out of water. He followed us up near a spring and then stopped to rest. He had never hiked or backpacked before and was really feeling it. When we got to camp we told the other boys to send someone back to help him. 2 hours later Joe rolls into camp and I cheered him on. Poor guy, he meets me at the spring and I filter some cold mountain water for him. He guzzles down 2 liters of water and I refill it for him. I tell him to make sure he eats alot tonight, drinks some propel or gatorade, and gets lots of rest. I hope after a day like he had today, he still likes to backpack.

We met some other thru hikers, one who was an ultra lightweight guy and had dehydrated all his meals for the trail. He told us he went thru 40 lbs of whole milk for his food. That's a hella lota milk. haha! He was pretty cool to talk too. After getting water, doing camp chores, and eating dinner, SHOE and I chillaxed and checked out the thousands of stars that pop out. I proudly point out where the big dipper was and SHOE goes, "that's not the big dipper." I argued, "Yes it is." And that's when a thru hiker named Peaches walks by and says, "are you guys looking for the big dipper?" We said yes and I point it out. She said, "the big dipper is over there", and does a 180 on us. We turned around and I finally saw the big dipper. She says what we were looking at was Orion's belt. We laughed and thanked her for her expertise. That night I got a new trail name, but only one that SHOE is allowed to call me. I'm now secretly known as "Star-tard" hahaha! Sorry if it isn't PC, I think it's funny though. Oh, and SHOE's trail name that only I'm allowed to call her is WAP, as in White American Princess, due to the gigantic hairbrush she brought on the trail with her. hahahaha!

DAY 2
After an awesome night's sleep, we got up early and attempted to head out by 8:30am, but got trail blocked by an old timer named Sticker. He had hiked the trail like 6 times. Boy could he talk. Even told us his wife left him b/c he was couldn't stop hiking. After finally getting away, we started our climb into NC. Our destination was Standing Indian Mountain (about a mile past Standing Indian shelter). I had a rough day towards the end of the day and it was all my fault. I didn't eat enough today and my energy level suffered. The climb into NC is really no joke. WOW... it kicked our ass up and down the trail. It was steep, long, exhausting, and a smack in the face compared to what we had hiked. I have to say though, I was secretly proud that my state represented and had some crazy hard mountains to climb. We took a quick lunch break at Muskcreek shelter and I barely ate lunch while reading the shelter registry. After lunch, we continued on and the trail became nice and easy for about 5 miles. When we stopped to get some water, we ran into Katie, who I know from back home. She was out section hiking too so we chit chatted a bit before she took off. SHOE and I got back down to business and continued on. The next few miles started us going up again. And around mile 9 I started to really feel it. I was exhausted. I looked at SHOE and told her I was toast. I needed ot take a break, soon. The good thing was we were close to camp. The bad part was it was all up hill. Our campsite was on the top of Standing Indian Mountain. I slugged it up and barely made it into camp. I set up my hammock and laid there, exhausted. SHOE asked if I wanted to go get water with her and I told her no. I started thinking about why I was having such a bad day and then it hits me, I hardly ate anything today (a breakfast bar, hand full of trail mix, some pretzels and peanut butter). So my energy level was way down. I can't believe I did what I did with barely any food. I need to rethink my trail eating if I'm going to make it this trip. About a 1/2 an hour later, SHOE comes back and says there's no water. DAMN... I was thirsty too. I finally get out of my hammock and socialize with a group of high schoolers from Newnan, GA that were spending their last spring break together before they all go off to college. They had only hiked in 3 miles and were all giggles and smiles. I also met two thru-hikers from VA, one went to VMI, that were cousins. VMI had a little travel guitar and he was playing near the fire that the Newnan kids made. He started plucking his fingers all over it Flamenco style. So I asked if he was playing Spanish style music. He said he was and was surprised I knew what it was. As we were talking, a day hiker rolls in and says he has found water just 200 yards away. So I look over at SHOE and tell her it's my turn to check out the water source. I grab the filter, and bottles and follow the day hiker. He's a nice guy, out with his kids for a day hike. We go back down to the AT trail and then start climbing down the water trail. We descended for what seemed like forever. It had to of been at least 1/3 of a mile. The whole time I'm thinking, I've got to lug this heavy water back UP to the AT then back up to the campsite. But I really appreciate this guy taking the time to show me the spring. So while I set up the filter, I watch him just lap up water straight from the spring with no filter. Well, I do the same thing, I just let the water pour into the bottles and hope we don't get the runs on the trail. After what seemed like a mile hike up hill, I get back to the campsite just in time to make dinner. It's so windy that my little esbit stove has a hard time lighting. I finally get it lit and make dinner. We sit around watching the sun set right before our very eyes. This has got to be one of the prettiest camp spots I've ever stayed at. I mean we are right on top of a mountain with an amazing view of the valley and mountain ranges below and the sun is just setting over the mountains we just hiked over. After the sunset, everyone gathers around the fire and we just chit chat and eat dinner. The Newnan kids weren't dressed appropriately so they were freezing their asses off. SHOE and I had on our down jackets so we were ok, a bit chilly, but tolerable. They all go to bed, but not before the Newnan kids give us some trail magic. They offer us two ramen noodle packets and a homemade protein bar. How sweet were they! and just when I needed it the most. I'll definitely have enough food for the rest of my hike with these provisions. Thank you Newnan! After we pack up, SHOE and I start looking at all the millions of stars in the sky again. This time we point out the big dipper and Orion's belt and that's about all we knew. I should of brought the Star Chart that Boo bought me. Maybe next time. As we are laying in the grass, we both catch a glimpse of the biggest shooting star we have ever seen. It was amazing. Even though it was a physically tough day, I loved being out there in such a amazing camp spot. It finally got cold so we went to sleep.

DAY 3
The next morning we hiked down off the mountain after a warm breakfast of oatmeal and hot tea. I made sure to keep my snacks handy and to eat every couple of hours. I was not having another crappy hiking day. Our third day's. Rolling, easy terrain with a few climbs. Aaaahhh... I needed a good strong day to redeem myself :)

SHOE got a text from Kellye saying she was going to be at Mooney Gap with some sodas for us. So I hiked towards our trail magic with a smile and I started singing (in my head) "100 bottles of Sprite on the wall" to get me going. Along the way, we met another thru hiker named Marty. He seems like a nice guy and is hiking roughly the same mileage as us. We all stop for some water and it's my turn to filter, so I go down to the spring and chit chat with Marty for a bit. He's staying here tonight, while we hiked up another couple miles towards our sodas. We arrived at Mooney gap about 20 mins. early and decided to call Kellye to see how far away she was. She was close by and when she arrived, she not only had Sprites and diet cokes, but oranges, reeces peanut butter cups, York peppermint patties, and chairs! Yes, chairs to sit on and rest our tired feet! Funny how it's the little things you really miss out here. (Thank you so much Kellye!! It made my day alot easier!) So an 1 and 1/2 later, after we feasted on chocolates and carbonated drinks, SHOE and I decided to hike up another mile up to bear pen gap to get in good head start on tomorrows climb (Albert Mountain). We finally found a nice camp spot around 7:pm, quickly do our camp chores and make dinner. After we bear bagged our food, we called it a night and both retreated to our respective tent/hammock. I fell asleep almost immediately. Around 11:30pm I heard a couple of guys passing by our campsite. They were night hiking! Thank goodness you couldn't see us from the trail. I got out and make sure everything is fine, then I slinked into my hammock and fall back asleep, thinking, there is no way those guys are hiking over Albert Mountain at night. No way...

DAY 4

The next morning looked pretty gloomy. It was about an 80% chance of rain, so we quickly broke down camp, ate breakfast and got moving in order to make it up Alber Mt. before the rain started pelting us. I could do an entire blog entry on Albert Mt. WOW. It was probably the steepest climb we have had yet. I mean crazy steep. So steep and dangerous, we literally had to put away our trek poles so we could grab onto rocks and tree roots to help us climb it. Thank goodness it was only a mile long and took us only 22 minutes to climb. The top of Albert was all fogged in with no views so we didn't bother climbing the fire tower and just kept moving along. When we got to the shelter, about a mile from Albert Mt., we got water, ate a snack, then packed up. Well guess what, it started raining. We decided to wait it out for a 1/2 hour. In that half hour, we were joined by Marty, a father and son section hiking, and two ladies from NY that had been on the trail for over a month and were only up to this section, which normally takes thru hikers about 1-2 weeks to get too. Not sure if they will finish the trail, since they were complaining about getting off as soon as they could. Not everyone is cut out for the trail lifestyle, but I wished them the best of luck. The rain let up a bit and SHOE and I donned on our rain gear and headed out. As soon as we hit the trail, the skies just opened up and the temps dropped. We had 10 miles to go to get into Franklin and we hauled ass. I don't like being wet and I don't like being cold, but I really HATE being both. By mile 2 I was getting wet and cold, I mean to the point of teeth chattering. I told SHOE I needed to hike fast to just stay warm, so I hiked on ahead til we got to Rock Gap Shelter. We were going to meet Kellye in a mile at Wallace Gap and I was, for sure, going to hop in the car and stop my hike. But when SHOE called her, we were at Wallace Gap too early and she was still too far away, so we decided to just hike the last 3 miles to Winding Stair, where she would meet us at the parking area. By this point I was soaked thru and thru and to the point of shivering, so I took off up the mountain and when it flattened out a bit, I put it in fifth gear. For a while, SHOE was just a few yard behind me so don't let her say she's the slowest hiker on earth. She was gunning up that mountain just as fast as I was. But when the wind started up, I started running. Yep, I did some trail running with a pack on my back and let me tell you,, I have never hiked/ran so fast in my life. I finished off that last 3 mile section in less than 1 hour and 15 minutes and made it to Winding stair by 2pm. As soon as I saw the car, my hypothermia turned into pure joy. I bolted down the last switch backs. Kellye had the back of SHOE's Explorer opened with the heat blasting and two hikers huddled under the tailgate to get out from the rain. I threw down my pack, grabbed my dry clothes, hopped in the back seat and changed out of my wet shirt and bra. I slipped on a dry shirt and immediately felt better. Another hiker and SHOE finally arrived and we said goodbye to Marty and the other two hikers, (they were waiting for Ron Haven's shuttle to pick them up) and we rode down into Franklin to find a place to finish changing. Kellye had brought us Subway sandwhiches, which I scarfed down, since I didn't get to eat a lunch b/c of all the rain. (Man, that sub was so good Thanks again Kellye!). We finally pulled into a Burger King and took over the bathroom stalls. I changed into some dry pants, my Frocs (fake crocs) and my down jacket. aaahhhhhh... :) I felt so much better being dry and warm.

We headed to Kellye's house to take our first shower in 4 days and to eat a real meal. After cleaning up, we met Kellye's roomate, Janet, and we all headed out to Longhorn Steakhouse for a much deserved steak dinner and glass of wine. It was so good and I ate way to much. We came back to the house and got our packs organized and dry for tomorrows hike. No rest day for us, we are hitting the trail for another section tomorrow. Later on that night we had Kellye show us how to play some Wii fit. I can tell you I totally suck at Wii. hahaa! We had too many laughs that night.

In retrospect, I'm glad Kellye was late (or rather we were early) in picking us up at Wallace Gap, b/c it forced me to complete the section instead of giving up on it with 3 miles to go. I hiked 40 miles from Dicks Creek to Franklin in 3 and 1/2 days and I'm pretty damn proud of that :) I met alot of interesting thru hikers, I got to give a trail name out, I walked into a new state on the AT, I got to see my Bly Gap tree, I tackled Albert Mt. and I hiked 10 miles in some pouring rain. It was an excellent 4 days on the trail and I wish I was walking up to Maine with the rest of the thru's. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Easter Trail Magic

Early Saturday morning, I headed down to Blairsville GA to meet up with the Trail Dames to participate in some Trail Magic. It's the third time the Dames were feeding hungry thru hikers at Mt. Crossings and my first time helping out so I was excited. I arrived at 8:30am and helped Muddbutt and Joan set up. All weekend long we grilled Nathans hotdogs, veggie burgers, had beans and chili simmering in crockpots, and a picnic table full of treats, goodies, and fruit. The faces of the thru hikers made it all worth it. They were so appreciative and grateful. I loved interacting and chatting with them. One stands out to me the most. It was Melissa Stylos, she doesn't have a trail name yet, but she was so happy, cheery, and excited that we had veggie burgers. I hope her hike goes well and she makes it all the way to Maine. I was a bit surprised to see the hikers going for the veggie burgers and fruit over the snack cakes, fudge, chips, and cookies. But I suppose after only 30 miles, their hiker appetite hasn't shown up just yet. I met so many diverse people hiking the trail this year, I was totally celebrity struck just talking to them. I really think what they do, hiking from GA to ME, is amazing and was so glad I got to meet some of them.

As for the Dames, I got to catch up with Lori, Shoe, Muddbutt, Shemea, Sherry (Thank you for organizing everything), Kellye, Sunny, Dawn, Jen and her mom, Joan (who will be thru hiking next year!), Bumpkin (you and your fudge are awesome! Good luck on the Camino de Santiago in Spain this year!) and so many more Dames. Such a great group of women.

Sunny brought out her sack of gear and I had so much fun checking out all her ultralight weight stoves. Lori and I agreed that Jolly Green Giant would be soooooo jealous of us. haha! We actually got to play around with a new Evernew 4oz stove that I know will be pretty popular. This little stove combines an esbit, alcohol, AND wood burning stove all in one. It compacts as small as a regular alcoho`l stoves. See the pics on the side. Really cool stuff, and the best part is that we got to try it out before it's out on the market! whoo hoo! I also did some shopping while up at Mt. Crossings. I bought a titanium evernew mug to boil water in. It's so light and fits perfectly on my little esbit stove. I can't wait to try it out.

It was also a weekend of reunions for me. I saw Lori (head Dame of the Delaware PA chapter) whom I had hiked with in October on the Shennies trip. We also met up with Rylan of Southeaster Backpackers podcast fame, who was also on the Shennies trip with Lori and I. He was backpacking/sectioning with some friends that weekend. It was awesome to see them both again. I really missed hanging out with them. Anyways, we caught up and took photos. Rylan and his group went hiking northbound from Neels Gap, while Lori went southbound to climb up Blood Mountain. I had a long week of hiking ahead of me so I took it easy and took a short hike up to balanced rock at the base of Blood mountain and came back. I also got to meet the famous Miss Janet of Erwin TN. She is now the care taker at the hiker hostel at Neels Gap and has done a phenomenal job with it so far. I took Lori down to the hostel for a tour and before we entered, I warned her of the hiker stench. Well guess what, Miss. Janet had it smelling clean and fresh, even in the bunk room! She really did improve the hostel. I hope she stays on, it would be a good thing for the hiker hostel at Neels Gap.

Saturday night, we had an Italian dinner for all the Trail Dames that stayed at Blood Mt. cabins. With all the appetizers, lasagna, and wine, we had a silly time. I crashed early cause I was tired. I had been up since 3:30am and just needed to sleep. The next morning I got up early and helped Mudd Butt set up for a second day of trail magic. It was another great day and I met a few more thru hikers and got to talk to some of the same from Saturday, who stayed for another hot dog breakfast/lunch before hitting the trail. In the afternoon SHOE and I moved her car to Franklin NC, where we would end our section hike, and then came back to help clean up the. After good byes, SHOE and I got a ride from Cool Breeze to Dicks Creek, where we camped out and were meeting Kellye the next morning to begin our trip. Being able to participate in trail magic for thru hikers this year was exciting. I am so glad I got the opportunity to help out. It was so much fun, but I am really looking forward to our section hike on the AT! Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Brick workout

Today was a major wake up call. I decided to join some REAL triathletes for a brick training session. By real, I mean they are training for a regular triathlon, not a sprint one like I'm doing. Here is the difference. A sprint triathlete swims 400m, bikes 12 miles, and runs a 5k. A regular triathlete swims 1 mile, bikes 25 miles, runs a 10k. And an Iron man triathlete swims 2.4 miles, bikes 112 miles, and runs a full marathon at 26.2 miles (now that is hard core!)

The guys I met are training for a regular triathlon and WOW... talk about serious athletes. While I took my mountain bike on bike paths, they owned the roads on their road bikes. I didn't feel too safe riding in traffic so I left that to the big boys. When we ran the 5k loop I slow jogged but mostly walked while they ran it, TWICE! and lapped me. The wake up call came when I realized I have a long way to go. It's no joke.

I thought I could handle a brick workout, but it's alot harder than I thought. Normally I either just jog, or just bike, but a brick workout is doing two sports, one right after the other. So I biked for 5 miles and jogged/walked a 5k. These guys biked 10 miles and jogged a 10k. But the best thing that happened to me was when one guy goes, hope to see you next time and another one says that I inspired him. WHAT!!! ME? huffing and puffing up the hill, barely able to catch my breathe, cycling on the greenway cause I was too scared of the road. How can I inspire? He just said he loved seeing new runners out there trying and not giving up. Wow... who would of thunk that I would be inspiration to these amazing athletes. From my perspective, they inspire me. The pushed me out of my comfort zone and motivated me to be a better athlete.