The Roaming Romantics

Started the day pretty rough.  We went right into a climb, and I could not shift past second gear. I’m blaming the mashed potatoes from the night before. I switched up from ramen and won’t make that mistake again! We were treated to another break in the woods when we...

Started the day a little earlier than we have been, waking up at 7:30 to ready and get ready for the 11 mile hike down into Irwin. The first part of the morning brought us through stands of dead pine trees that had been killed by an invasive beetle from Japan.  It was...

Woke up to rain, so we took the hostel’s shuttle into to town for breakfast and ate at Huddle house. By the time we finished eating, the rain had lifted and the sun was trying to poke through. We packed up at the Hostel and headed back to the trail.  As we were...

Started the day with a goal of getting to the Roan Mountain shelter (22 miles) which was the highest shelter on the AT, at over 6200ft. The morning was nearly windless and foggy. The first part of the hike was through a really cool pine forest. The trail was covered...

Woke up to rain and heavy fog so we sat around the shelter for a bit. Eventually the rain slowed, so we stepped off.  It was still pretty foggy though. It had been very windy over the last several days and we came across a bunch of fallen trees. This one had recently...

Got a decent start in the morning.  Hanging the hammock in the barn, meant less to break down and pack up. The trail immediately brought us up to the first of many balds that make up Bald Mountain. It was a fairly steep trail, but the views were great It was a clear...

Woke up before sunrise so I could break camp and have time to fish before heading down the trail. After striking out the day before, I tried to find some worms to use for bait.  I must have flipped over a dozen logs and twice as many rocks, but only found one worm....

With rain falling until noon, we decided to take a zero at the hostel to set up our two day, 50+ mile sprint to Damascus. We napped, fished the trout stream out front, ate and watched movies in the common area. It ended up being a good rest day before a long two day...

Got an early start this morning from the hostel.  Before leaving we watched them push a broken down golf cart across the parking lot, but not before Arlo decided he wanted to ride! From left to right, Seeker, Dingo, Purge (me), Hooch and the hostel dog Arlo. The first...

Woke up at 3:30am to get an early start on our trek to Damascus. We packed and left Vandeventer Shelter a little after 4am. We hiked a couple hours in the dark before stopping for breakfast before heading on. After coming off a ridgeline, we crossed a cattle pasture...