[slyfink]

Day 6 4/22

12.1 miles

Hogpen Gap to Blue Mountain Shelter

Got back on trail with the two guys I’ve been hiking with since last Friday. Started off in the high 30s or low 40s but warmed up to the 60s. The leaves at higher elevations are still not out yet and the ground cover is just starting to pop. So nice to be up here in early spring. Was a good day.

Got plenty of rest the previous two nights and taking a zero to deal with the tent and other things did a lot to alleviate stress. Felt way better mentally than in the beginning. The week that I left for Georgia really took its toll on me. Wasn’t sleeping, running around in frenzy, driving five hours then starting a five month long hike made me feel disorganized and stressed out. Adding a failing tent and thunderstorms to the mix was icing on the cake as they say.

Got my tent ordered and sent an email to the company explaining my situation and if there was anything they could do to get it to me in Franklin by Friday. Left my phone number since cel coverage is poor and texting would be the best way to reach me. Before I went to bed I got an email from the owner letting me now they had my back. The tent got there today. Kudos to Dan Durston of durstongear.com.

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is that a picture from inside the new tent?! nice.

I have to admit, this thread is rekindling my desire to get out and do some hiking with the kids... my trip to the Adirondacks with my youngest last fall may have been the highlight of my year. it's a good reminder that simple can be good, and sometimes be best...

good luck with the journey. I hope you find quiet and contentedness...

 

[eric strt6]

is that a picture from inside the new tent?! nice.

I have to admit, this thread is rekindling my desire to get out and do some hiking with the kids... my trip to the Adirondacks with my youngest last fall may have been the highlight of my year. it's a good reminder that simple can be good, and sometimes be best...

good luck with the journey. I hope you find quiet and contentedness...

he picks up the new tent on Saturday

 

[jdcamb]

Day 6 4/22

12.1 miles

Hogpen Gap to Blue Mountain Shelter

Got back on trail with the two guys I’ve been hiking with since last Friday. Started off in the high 30s or low 40s but warmed up to the 60s. The leaves at higher elevations are still not out yet and the ground cover is just starting to pop. So nice to be up here in early spring. Was a good day.

Got plenty of rest the previous two nights and taking a zero to deal with the tent and other things did a lot to alleviate stress. Felt way better mentally than in the beginning. The week that I left for Georgia really took its toll on me. Wasn’t sleeping, running around in frenzy, driving five hours then starting a five month long hike made me feel disorganized and stressed out. Adding a failing tent and thunderstorms to the mix was icing on the cake as they say.

Got my tent ordered and sent an email to the company explaining my situation and if there was anything they could do to get it to me in Franklin by Friday. Left my phone number since cel coverage is poor and texting would be the best way to reach me. Before I went to bed I got an email from the owner letting me now they had my back. The tent got there today. Kudos to Dan Durston of durstongear.com.

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Cool! I am with many in pushing for you.

 

[binary visions]

Last few weeks I've spent a lot of my day hikes on the AT in New Hampshire, probably did 20-30 miles of it. I looked for @AngryMetalsmith but didn't see anyone who looked angry enough. He must be slow.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 7

12.8 miles

Blue Mountain Shelter to Sassafras Gap

Left camp earlier than everyone and hiked alone until lunch where our group met back up. At the lunch spot an older hiker was bragging about his accomplishments and going around to the thru hikers offering free shitty advice. When he got to me and my friend he pointed to a tree and said it was the perfect height for a PCT style bear hang. It clearly was not and I told him so. Then I heard someone else say that bears can’t stand on their hind legs. Dude didn’t try to offer me anymore advice. Lol. Was a pretty good day.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 8 4/24

6.3 mile

Sassafras Gap to Dick’s Creek Gap

We got picked up by the owner of the Green Dragon hostel in Hiawassee for the night. Great hostel. All the amenities and hospitality that a thru hiker could ever dream of. Got to go back to Monte Alban for moar Carnitas. Nom, nom, nom. The hostel does laundry for hikers so that was nice. Got resupplied and rested.

 

[Homer]

Glad you made it to town and got your tent situation worked out! Hope you enjoy it going forward. Looks like you're getting to catch some of the rhodo bloom. Keep grinding mate!

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Glad you made it to town and got your tent situation worked out! Hope you enjoy it going forward. Looks like you're getting to catch some of the rhodo bloom. Keep grinding mate!

Thanks Homer. Pitched the new tent. Looks pretty good.

Those giant ferns from last year haven’t proliferated yet. They’re still tiny.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

I’ll have moar updates when I get to the next stop. This has been a busy zero with getting a new tent and making plans for our next town stop. Anyone wanna shuttle five stinky dudes from Fontana Dam to Bryson City Thursday or Friday ?

 

[Homer]

Where are y'all gonna be next week? I have some time off and wouldn't mind spending some time in the mountains. The smokies would be

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Where are y'all gonna be next week? I have some time off and wouldn't mind spending some time in the mountains. The smokies would be

We hit the Smokies on Sunday.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 9 4/25

11.8 miles

Dick’s Creek Gap to Muskrat Creek shelter

After a pleasant stay at the Green Dragon we were dropped off back at the trailhead. It was pretty chilly at 8:30 but the steep climbs quickly warmed everyone up.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 10 4/26

16.2 miles

Muskrat Creek to Betty Creek Gap

This was the longest day so far for our five man group. It was cold, raining and foggy.

Eli now has the trail name “411”, and the youngest, a recent college graduate is called “Marlboro Man” for his choice of cigarettes. Don’t let the smoking fool you, dude is faaast. He will pass us later in the day then get a campfire going by the time we get there. Another fast young guy is known as “Chill Will” for his calm demeanor. And “Daytona Mike” rounds out our little squad of Hiker Trash.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 11 4/27

12.2 miles

Betty Creek Gap to Winding Stair Gap

Another cold foggy morning. I decided to get up earlier than usual and leave out before the others so I could get into Franklin, NC by 6:00pm when the outfitter closes to pick up my new tent. It was Saturday and they are closed on Sunday. Made it down to Winding Stair to catch a Bryan “The Dude”, shuttle driver to take me into town. Got there in time and got the tent in my filthy metalsmith mitts. Ahhh relief.

Just after the fire tower there was the 100 mile mark. Oh, no pics from the tower because we were socked in.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 12 4/28

0 miles

Zero in Franklin, NC

We all regrouped at the Hill Top Inn, a popular motel with hikers. Stayed there last year as well. We had all decided to take a zero to clean up, eat town food and get resupplied. Chill Will and I split a room to save money. As did the others. Daytona Mike bought a set of clippers and gave the other three military haircuts.

Marlboro’s gear is kind of old and heavy and rather than ship my old tent home or try to sell it, decided to give it to him. I told him the deal with it and why I was replacing it so he would know what he was getting into. It would save him four pounds on his base weight. His tent was starting to leak as well. So at the very least he would still have the same problem, just considerably lighter. But he still needed trekking poles to hold it up. He had been hiking with a stick. So we all headed over to another outfitter that was open on a Sunday so we could help him select a set of poles. And in the hiker box (a box of used or new items hikers leave behind and always free) was a set of lightly used poles. Score !

We found a shaded spot behind the inn to practice setting up our tents. My new one was fairly easy to pitch the first time and it looked pretty cool. Then I showed Marlboro how to pitch the old tent, then watched as he did it himself. He got the hang of it pretty quickly. Since he’s really skinny he can set the poles lower than I could thus putting the rain fly much closer to the ground.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 13 4/29

11 miles

Winding Stair Gap to Wayah shelter

We decided on a short day since two of us had new tents to learn in addition to the usual trail chores one must do in camp. Daytona Mike packed out hotdogs and buns for us. Marlboro got the fire going and we all roasted hotdogs. It is truly amazing how much moar awesome something as simple as a hotdog can be when you have been eating energy bars most of the day while hiking. Perfect way to end the day.

 

[eric strt6]

we need new tent pics

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 14 4/30

10.6 miles

Wayah shelter to Wesser Bald shelter

The group got a late start due to an early morning storm. I managed to get my tent down and packed up just as it started.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 15 5/1

12.8 miles

Wesser Bald shelter to Sassafras Gap shelter

There were no tent sites that I could get the new tent into. In fact all the sites were sloped and rooty. Since it was just my group I decided to sleep in the shelter. However a couple showed up later and slept in there as well. The guy was the loudest snorer I have ever heard in my life. Earplugs couldn’t completely block out the noise. I was exhausted and couldn’t fall asleep because of the snoring. Even people in tents could hear him. So freaking awful. So not much sleep made for a very long day.

Usually hikers split this section into two days. Unfortunately we did not and wound up descending into Nantahala gorge and climbing out in the same day. We stopped at the Nantahala Outdoor Center for lunch and to get our permits for the Smokies. I knew how demanding the steep climb out was going to be and of course attempted to warn the others. I ate a fairly reasonable amount of food as to not get sluggish, but my friends gorged themselves. They devoured massive amounts of food. And one of them wound up puking several times in the bathroom then again while climbing. A sight for sure.

 

[jstuhlman]

fuck yeah angry! how you feeling at this point compared to last year? seems like other than the tent problem, you're sendin' it!!!

you'll be at hot springs, then up by roan, before you know it!

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

fuck yeah angry! how you feeling at this point compared to last year? seems like other than the tent problem, you're sendin' it!!!

you'll be at hot springs, then up by roan, before you know it!

Definitely stronger than last year. My feet are in pretty good shape. Only one bruised toe but no blisters. Was able to maintain the conditioning over the winter so the bottoms are thick like a dogs paws. Woof

Yeah, the miles keep rolling on. Looking forward to seeing everything after Marion, VA.

 

[AT turtle]

Thanks for the updates.

 

[stevew]

todays mood level

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 16 5/2

12.2 miles

Sassafras Gap to Cody Gap

There wasn’t a good place to pitch my new tent near the shelter so I set up on top of the hill. Had a decent view. New tent is working out great. Does take a little practice to setup.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 17 5/3

8.4 miles

Cody Gap to Fontana Dam road

We decided to stop a bit short of our goal for the previous day and set up camp at a tentsite that had a water source, flat sites and good trees to hang our bear bags. We were concerned that the upcoming shelter did not have decent camp sites.

It had been raining off and on all day as usual it seems. I was out front a bit when I rounded a corner and saw a huge black snake crossing the trail. It then turned and started to slither parallel to the trail. Then it stopped, leaving us not enough room to pass. Daytona kept saying it would be fine and kept I telling him it would most definitely strike at us if we got too close. While not venomous a bite could still cause plenty of problems. We made several attempts to get it off trail including poking with long sticks and throwing rocks at it. All of which only made the snake moar agitated and began to coil and strike. This left us no choice but to bushwhack around the snake down a steep Rhodo covered slope and back up to the trail. Damn snakes…

From there we hiked on towards Fontana Dam where we got picked up by a hostel owner who dropped off myself and Daytona in Bryson City and the other three went to do a little work for stay.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 18 5/4

0 miles

Zero in Bryson City

We took a zero at the Relax Inn in Bryson City. I made another attempt at re-water proofing my rain jacket and used an entire bottle of Nikwax. Didn’t work very well at all.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 19 5/5

13.4 miles

Fontana Dam road to Mollie’s Ridge Shelter

We were picked up and dropped off back at the trailhead by the same hostel owner. The first part of the morning was quiet and peaceful along the lake. After crossing the dam we began the climb up to the Smokies where we put our permits in the box. Ah another thru hiking right of passage. Or just forking over $40 to the man.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 20 5/6

17.8 miles

Mollie’s Ridge Shelter to Siler Bald Shelter

Set my alarm for 5:00am so I could get an early start on the longest day thus far and was on trail by 6:23am. The sun was not up yet and the forest was covered in thick fog. It was so bad that I couldn’t use my headlamp and could barely see the trail until sunrise. Shortly afterwards the first storm began. It rained all morning. My recent re-application of Nikwax did little to prevent my rain jacket from wetting out. Just kept my head down and trudged forward in cold hard rain. There’s not much opportunity to stop and get warmer clothes and snacks out of your pack when it’s pouring down rain. Too risky that you might end up with soggy gear to sleep in.

After several hours I was getting cold and hungry but with no shelter soon it was a bit demoralizing until the sun made an appearance and warmed things up. Stopped at the next shelter where some other familiar faces were drying out gear and eating lunch. Shortly afterwards Daytona Mike arrived and we started hiking again. And it wasn’t long before another thunderstorm pummeled us. By this time it was getting much later in the day. The storm passed but I was left drenched in sweat and began to shiver when I stopped. At this point Chill Will and Marlboro had caught up to us.

I began to get really lightheaded, dizzy and shivering uncontrollably making it very difficult to put one foot in front of the other. The last 0.2 miles to the shelter were exhausting. When I got there I immediately warned the hikers in there that I was borderline hypothermic and I was stripping down to get out of my wet clothes. While I was doing that another hiker who is a paramedic was boiling water. She handed me two ziplock bags of hot water and said “balls or armpits”. I placed both of them on my cold balls and felt my core temperature rise immediately. Was able to get into my sleeping bag and warm up. My friends got water for me, hung up my wet clothes and hung my bear bag so I didn’t have to get out of my bag. I had been on trail that day for 13 hours in the rain and I was spent.

I am forever grateful for what a group of hikers did for me without any hesitation. I was in bad shape and they had my back. These are the kind of people I like to have around me. Amazing.

Later that night another thunderstorm rolled through. But I was safe and dry for the night.

 

[jonKranked]

stay safe angry.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 21 5/7

12.2 miles

Siler’s Bald to Newfound Gap

After the previous day no one was very motivated to get up and out early. The trail was mush and puddles. We all slipped and fell several times. There were few views and Clingman’s Done was socked in. We passed the 200 mile mark. Chill Will had gotten ahead of us and was waiting at Newfound Gap and had already gotten a hitch from a former thru hiker named Early Riser. He took us into Gatlinburg for free.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 22 5/8

0 miles

Zero in Gatlinburg

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Day 22 5/9

0 miles

Zero in Gatlinburg

Most of us thru hikers took another zero day to wait out the storms. We had thunderstorms all night and into the morning. Creeks have become raging torrents. Met up with my friend @Homer last night for dinner. He’s doing a section of the Smokies and came into town to escape the rain for a night. We catch a shuttle back to the AT in the morning. Next stop, Hot Springs, NC.

 

[AT turtle]

Day 22 5/8

0 miles

Zero in Gatlinburg

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Ahh gross to the toe.

 

[AT turtle]

Day 22 5/9

0 miles

Zero in Gatlinburg

Most of us thru hikers took another zero day to wait out the storms. We had thunderstorms all night and into the morning. Creeks have become raging torrents. Met up with my friend @Homer last night for dinner. He’s doing a section of the Smokies and came into town to escape the rain for a night. We catch a shuttle back to the AT in the morning. Next stop, Hot Springs, NC.

Glad u guys stayed safe. There was a tornado in GA

 

[Colonel Angus]

i admire your fortitude but that does not sound like any kind of fun at all.

 

[binary visions]

Trail comradery is an amazing thing. Please tell me you have a plan to get a new rain jacket, though.

 

[jonKranked]

Trail comradery is an amazing thing. Please tell me you have a plan to get a new rain jacket, though.

right? maybe ultralight gear isn't all its cracked up to be.

 

[eric strt6]

Columbia Outdry rain shell. I have been through heavy storms in it has remained completely dry inside

 

[binary visions]

right? maybe ultralight gear isn't all its cracked up to be.

Eh, UL is a range not a checkbox, and different uses have different requirements. Angry has a lot of trail miles so I'm sure he knows his gear well, and sometimes jackets degrade so what used to be waterproof suddenly isn't.

But for months in the wilderness on the East Coast, a truly waterproof jacket is basically life safety gear. Monkeys don't like being wet - time for something new.

 

[Westy]

Eh, UL is a range not a checkbox, and different uses have different requirements. Angry has a lot of trail miles so I'm sure he knows his gear well, and sometimes jackets degrade so what used to be waterproof suddenly isn't.

But for months in the wilderness on the East Coast, a truly waterproof jacket is basically life safety gear. Monkeys don't like being wet - time for something new.

And a $2.00, 2 ounce emergency blanket/poncho for when shit goes sideways.

Edit: these fancy German models are $4 and 3 ounces.