Trail Update #1: Holy Guacamole

This is the first time I’ve blogged from my phone so if this looks terrible on your way bigger screen, sorry? Here’s a kinda abridged look at what I’ve been up to the last two weeks!

Day 1: Ron Brown (best shuttle driver ever) picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at Springer Mountain to begin our thru. The sun was shinning the first couple miles and life was good. We were actually doing the AT! And then it started pouring rain. But life was still good because we were on the AT. After many hours and gallons of water dumped on us later we got to Hawk Mountain Shelter which was full, set up our tent in the rain, and were drenched and freezing. All I kept thinking was what did I get myself into.

Day 2: My mom got her Trail name from me after she informed me that, “we probably would have been warmer last night if we were dry…” her trail name is “Sherlock”. We hiked to Gooch Gap which has pristine privy’s and a wicked nice care taker!

Day 3: We got to throw away trash at Woody Gap and it was like Christmas- seriously it’s the little things out here! Hiked to Lance Creek to camp for the night  (there are no good spots to pee here) and ate 3 servings of spaghetti! Met some really nice people- Wayne and Grasshopper.

Day 4: Hiked from Lance Creek to Neels Gap. Blood Mountain was beautiful and not as scary as everyone made it out to be. The view was the best we had seen yet on the AT! Grasshopper bought us a pizza at Neel’s Gap which was super nice. Everyone is so nice out here. Stayed at the hostel, showered, and bought a lot of snacks.

Day 5: It was hot, Cowrock Mountain was hard, ate stuffing and mashed potatoes for dinner, beautiful sunset, and a cockroach climbed over our tent. 

Day 6: The day started out easy, breezy, and beautiful like Covergirl but then got super hard. But before it got hard we met “Ellie on the AT” which was super cool. Then we got bit by 10 million bugs and the people we camped next to dumped their ramen juice right next to our tent which was really nice cause we love bears and stuff.

Day 7: Hiked from Blue Mountain Shelter to Addis Gap. We were trying to out run a huge thunder storm all day. Set up camp just in time! I heard a whip-poor-will bird, it’s bird call sounds like it’s name. Grasshopper had told me about them and it was cool to recognize it!

Day 8: Happy graduation day to me! Even though I wasn’t there. We hiked to the Top of Georgia Hostel and spent the night there. This place is awesome, everyone is wicked nice, the bunk rooms are super clean, and they did our laundry!!! I loved this place- highly, highly recommend! We met some great people too: Quick Start, Brian, and Ryan! Everyone is super nice and this place was just what I needed! Also bought a huge baguette in town which I strapped to my pack, which is how I got my Trail name “baguette”??

Day 9: WE MADE IT TO NORTH CAROLINA!!! One state down, thirteen to go! Spent the night at Muskrat Creek Shelter and watched a beautiful sunset with the everyone! 

Day 10: My feet hurt so bad that I cried. La Sportiva trail runners are not my jam. My feet were bruised and throbbing non stop. Overall just not a super happy day.

Day 11: We hit 100 miles! Albert Mountain was tough, but the view from the fire tower was so worth it! Stealth camped at mile 107.

Day 12: We ran into Quick Start again which was super exciting because we thought he was way ahead of us! Quick Start is one of my favorite people I’ve met out here. He’s hilarious and always shares cheese sticks. The balds were beautiful too! We miscalculated our miles with our food drop a little so we were running low on snacks but we found peanut butter cups on top of Wayah Bald which saved us! The trail provides.

Day 13: The goal was to get to the NOC, a 15 mile day, in scorching heat but we made it! Just in time for dinner too! TATER TOTS❤️ Brian and Ryan were here too, and it was nice to see them again! We also have AC in our room which is just so amazing. Only bad part is someone stole my debit card number and spent $705, HA.HA.HA…

Day 14: Zero day at the NOC. Beautiful day. Got our re-supply boxes, did laundry, ate food, chilled in some hammocks, traded the trail runners in for some Oboz (my favorite), and ate a ton of food. Super happy, thankful, relaxed, and ready to take on whatever is next. I love this place!

Onwards and upwards?