Movin’ and Groovin’

Some time has passed between my last post and this one. My mileage has increased, and with it my energy to write at the end of the day has diminished. That being said, many wonderful things have happened since I left the Smokies, so let me tell you about them!

Sunrise on Max Patch

After the Smokies I stayed at a Hostel called Standing Bear Farm. After a much-needed shower and a good night’s sleep, I headed out into a good old-fashioned Appalachian downpour.

Honestly, that day sucked. After the winter storm in the Smokies, I was looking forward to some nice weather and a nice view on Max Patch. I ended up only going 8 miles that day and told myself I would hike the seven miles to Max Patch for sunrise.

I woke up bright and early at 3 a.m. and started hiking. Boy was it worth it! Not only was the sunrise amazing, but the early start allowed me to catch up with the friends I made in the Smokies. Along with this, I hit my first ten miles before ten, and hiked 23 miles total!

Meet the Tram

The next highlight of this time on trail is that I finally found my Tramily! I started hiking with my pals Blue Bird, Flint, Ace, and Spirit Kick.

As I mentioned in my post about the Smokies, these guys are the best. We all have a unique sense of humor and a love for type two fun. Flint is the coolest produce salesman I know, and Blue Bird makes the best morning brew of anyone I’ve ever met. Ace is tough as nails, and Spirit Kick keeps all us heathens in line on town days.

With these cool cats, I have seen amazing sunsets, sprawling vistas, and laughed so hard I think my abs are working harder than my legs these days. I am proud of how self-sufficient I have been on trail thus far, but it has definitely been a wonderful change of pace to plan out my days in the company of others.

Roan, if you Want to!

I hope by now my readers enjoy my lame music references. Anyway, the trail soon traversed into my favorite part so far: the Roan Highlands.

Imagine huge, sprawling, bald peaks with 360 views the entire time. As we hiked through this area we were greeted with beautiful weather and some amazing trail magic.

It was also during this time I really started to feel like my trail legs were developed! It was no longer excruciating to walk uphill (well, for the most part.)

A Friendly Face

With my tramily beside me, my pace quickly increased to about 16 miles a day. The mile marks kept flying by, 300, then 400! At mile 420, and after a month on trail my mom flew down to visit.

Trail Angel Kate, as my friends now call her, greeted us at the trailhead with fresh fruit and mimosas. She then took us out to a great breakfast in Hampton, Tennessee. After dropping the Tram off at their hostel, we made our way to Johnson City for a much-needed rest.

Unfortunately, the rest of my Mom’s visit was interrupted after I caught Norovirus and spent three days violently ill. More on this in another post, it wasn’t a great time. Despite this, it was amazing having a familiar face and a nice, warm bed.

Diabetes Update

I am happy to say that I don’t have too much to report on the diabetes end of things! That normally means that things have been going well and my blood sugars have been behaving pretty normally.

Now that it’s finally getting warm, the biggest issue diabetes-wise has been making sure all my various devices are sticking to me and not sweating off. For you non-diabetic folks, imagine trying to keep an extra large bandaid stuck to you for ten days straight, all while sweating and walking through humidity and rain. As you can imagine, it’s not very easy. What has been working for me are Skin Tac wipes and Leukotape.

I did have a lot to deal with diabetes-wise when I was sick, but again I will save that story for another post.

That’s a Wrap for Now

Again, now that I am starting to up my miles and push myself harder, writing blog posts is becoming increasingly more difficult and some of my stories are a bit backlogged. I hope to get you all caught up soon, and I hope you have enjoyed my journey this far!

Don’t get Dead,

Smokey