We hiked up the 8.8 mile approach trail from Amicalola falls Falls (including the 600+ stairs!) The rest of the day was filled with rain and a fog that got progressively worse until we could only see a couple dozen yards. We finally stopped at the Springer Mountain...

Did about 15 miles today including a brutal ascent of Mt Sassafras, which fully lived up to its slogan, "Sassafras, will kick your ass"! When we got close to the top, we ran into a pair of hikers standing near a third hiker who was sitting down in the trail in pretty...

Today we hiked into the Blood Mountain Wilderness  (I can only imagine the terrifying story behind that name). The trail passed across  a road and parking lot high in the mountains.  A bunch of day hikers were out to hike to Preachers ledge ( I think that is what its...

Hiked up Blood Mountain today. The ascent was gradual but long. Great view from the top before a treacherous, steep descent down. We ended at Mountain Crossing Outfitter. There was a tree outside full of boots/shoes that people throw up when they decide to give up and...

Today was a sad day, we had to give one of our party back to his family.  Had a great time though with him though. Now we are down to a party of four. We left Neel's Gap, passing through the outfitter.  It’s the only building the AT passes through. We had a relatively...

Started at Low Gap and did about 13 miles, including Blue Mountain. We took a quick break at a road that the trail crossed. Ran dry on water but was able to find a stream near the trail to refill. Ended the night with Ramen noodles and a pack of pink Salmon (not...

Had another foggy start to our day. We planned on a short 10 mile day to the Deep Gap shelter in order to get ahead of a thunder storm and set us up for a short 5 mile day tomorrow into town to resupply. The trail wasn’t too bad, aside from the long trek up and down...

A small storm blew through overnight.  Bright lightening around 4am. Stayed nice and dry in my hammock though.  Cuben fiber tarps with doors are awesome! We hiked a brief uphill then a long winding down hill that took us to the bottom and ended at Dick’s Creek Gap. We...

Cold Start to the morning! It was about 28 at the Hostel, glad we stayed, it was supposedly in the low teens overnight on the trail. The Hostel dropped us off back at the trail and we started our 13 mile trek to Muskrat Creek Shelter. There was a little bit of ice on...

Spring is coming slowly but surely on the trail! We had a cold night last night, but warmed up to the thirties for the start of the day.  After an initial rocky stretch there was a lot of good switch backs on the way up to Carter Gap. Part of the ridgeline looked like...

We got lucky again, dodging rain overnight. Started the day with precooked smoked bacon, instant coffee and classic rock blaring out of my phone.  If  bacon and “Eye of the Tiger” doesn’t get you going, I don’t know what will! It was another foggy morning as we...

After a stormy night, we packed our bags hopped on the shuttle and headed back to the trail.  As we were leaving, we got a nice send off from one of the party, Naked Savage. He had to wait in town on a package, but was also in bad shape from blisters, 3 lost toenails...

It was another frosty morning on the trail. We didn’t get above freezing until well after midday when we dropped elevation and got out of the wind.  There was a little ice on the trail, but nothing too bad. The first half of the day was great, clear sky and an easy...

Started the day with high hopes of a pancake breakfast. We woke up to 18 degree temps, packed up quick and started the one mile walk to the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) When we got there, we quickly found out that not only are they not opening until 11, they don’t...

We started our day with a pretty steep climb from Sassafras shelter up to Cheoah  Bald, gaining around 700 ft of elevation in about a mile. Great unobstructed views from the top (elevation 5062) From there, it was a steep 5 mile descent down to to Cheoah Gap. The loss...

Today we had a shorter hike from cable Gap Shelter down to Fontana  Dam shelter, aka “the Fontana Hilton”. Really just a regular wooden shelter, but a couple hundred meters away, it had a brick building housing bathrooms with flush toilets and a coin operated shower....

With 100% chance of rain in the forecast and needing to resupply anyway, we took a zero day and stayed at the Fontana Lodge. [Sorry, no pictures on this update, the wifi is pretty slow and there is little to no signal here at the lodge. ] It turned out to be a good...

Hiked from Fontana dam to Russell Field shelter today.  The weather was clear and we had a good climb into the Smokies Along the way, we found a teepee tree! The shelter was pretty cool. Double decker, made of stone, with a fireplace and a tarp across the fourth wall...

Hiked from Russel Field Shelter to Silas Bald Shelter. Trail started off easy with a gradual incline and we made good time, covering 5 miles on the first two hours. Crossed a couple balds that had really nice views As we gained elevation, we ran into a little bit of...

It got really windy overnight, a consistent 30-40mph starting at 8pm around 1pm a Thunderstorm rolled in. Luckily the rain stopped by dawn, but the wind picked up to a steady 40mph, threatening to blow us off the ridge lines. Aside from the wind/cold, the trail was...

With 7+ inches of snow expected up in the Smokies and high winds, everyone got out of the mountains for the weekend. We ended up renting a car and driving to Doug’s house an hour and a half away in Virginia to wait out the storm. We could see the higher elevations...

Spent our zero day at Doug’s house, relaxing, recovering and resupplying. I took my Tenkura fly rod to the river on the edge of the property and landed my first Brown trout! We ended the day organizing our packs and getting to get back on the trail tomorrow. Going to...

Got back onto the trail today at Newfound Gap and hiked up to Cold Spring shelter.  The trail was full of ice and snow.  Trekking poles were worth their weight in gold today. I found a pair of sunglasses on the trail! They said the glasses made me look blind Even...

We woke up at Icewater Spring Shelter to a half foot of snow,freezing temps, and high winds. The forecast called for more snow and temps down to -17 with the windchill for the night.  We decided to hike back to the gap and get back to town. There was a group of 7...

With the road back to Newfound Gap still iced over and closed, we were forced to spend another day in Gatlinburg. To make things worse, the tv in the room stopped working! Eventually we went out into town and I found a mini horse! We heard from the NOC, that the park...

The road to Newfound Gap finally opened a little after 9am, so Seeker, Sunshine and I walked up to the NOC to hitch a ride back to the trail.  (Yeager and Princess Vidalia hung around the hotel a while longer and planned to meet us later. We had awesome luck finding a...

We started our St Patrick’s  day with frozen socks and shoes. I normally keep them in the sleeping bag, but today would bring us out of the Smokies and I had a dry pair in the pack so I left them out. The shoes were another story.  They were too frozen to get my whole...

It rained fairly hard over night and continued into the morning.  We stayed at the Hostel until it stopped around 11 am. We ate, packed and hit the trail with the Standing Bear, looking on. On the trail we had a good climb to start the day, going uphill for about 5...

Decided to push for a big day, hiking 26 miles from Groundhog creek shelter to Hot Springs. Got an early start, waking up before dawn, hiking the first hour in the dark. We worked our way up to Max Patch, climbing back up to 4600ft. As we got higher the wind picked up...

After our first 26 mile day we stayed in Ashville for a zero. In the morning we went to REI to replace my shoes. They were a little beat up on the outside, but the biggest issue for me was on the soles. One of them got a wrinkle on it that would not go away. Given...