Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Current Location: Gatlinburg, TN
Trip/Journal Details: Franklin, NC to New Foundland Gap, TN
PHOTOS: Check out my media to the right.  I’ve finally added some photos!

So here I am, sitting at a Microtel breakfast area in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, typing this blog as I await my ride back to the Trail.  I have managed to conquer 207.3 miles of Trail thus far.  Yesterday, I took what they call a “Nero” day – a day that you walk on the AT, but for a limited number of miles (in my case – 5.5), and then take the rest of the day off in a town.  In this case, Gatlinburg.

Gatlinburg – how could I pass up Gatlinburg without stopping?  This place is so bizarre.  Its a tourist mecca.  A place of many buffets.  A tacky adult arcade.  A place were people go to look at nature without having to actually BE in nature.  Honestly, this place would be a super blast if I wasn’t so influenced by my recent experiences – it’s just so weird to see after living in the woods for over three weeks.

I am officially in the midst of the grand Smoky Mountains.  The Smokies have not let me down.  The ride has been challenging, but oh so rewarding.  There is something magical about the woods here.  So many legends and lore.  After hearing many a horror story of freezing rain, snow and tough terain, I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have had nothing but blue skies and sunshine in the Smokies.  There are bugs though.  Many bugs.  I spent the good part of my first two days in the Smokies swatting gnats, bees and flies.  Even enhaled and swallowed a few as I huffed and puffed up the mountains.  Got bug bites all over my ears, where they got tangled up and ticked off in my hair.

*WHOA – BREAKING NEWS, NEWS BREAK*

A fellow hiker – Machine Gun – just walked into the breakfast area here and told me a bear walked off with his pack and all his gear a couple nights ago.  We have been warned of the bears in this area, and though I haven’t seen any personally, several hikers have told me they had.  In this case, the guy left his pack unattended at night, outside his tent, and oops – a BEAR walked off with it!  Poor dude – has to hang out in town until he gets new gear.  And this happened at the same exact shelter area I stayed at my first night in the Smokies.

Seriously though – there is a reason why you have to stay in the shelters in the Smokies.  Everywhere else on the AT you can generally tent where ever you please so long as it’s a designated tent site, but in the Smokies – with this being a preservation area – you have to stay specifically at the shelters, or tent around the shelter if the shelter is full.  We are all being super careful with our food and gear.  Two days ago, a couple campers had a bear attack their tent for food.  Their tent was destroyed and their packs stolen as well.  They were not staying at a shelter area – just a tent site, which is now closed.  There is definitely safety in numbers!  I love my tent, but I am happy to sleep next to folk in the shelter for peace of mind.

As with my previous posts, and again, due to time constraints, I will provide you with a few highlights and tidbits from my most recent trek:

– On Wednesday, April 29th, I stayed at a hobo camp site.  That’s right – a sad, little hobo tent area.  It was right outside of the Nantahala Outdoor Center, down the railroad tracks (no really, down the railroad tracks), and a dirt road that follows a river, just on the outskirts of town.  Stealth camping, if you will.  Many of us stayed there to avoid the pricier cabins and lodge.  It was actually quite fun.  We had tents crammed stake-to-stake, and a roaring fire to keep us warm.  A beer or two may have been had, and we told jokes.  Earlier that evening, Tortoise and Hare – a couple hiking the Trail for their honeymoon – let me take a shower at their cabin for free.  Good for the morale, to be clean.  Over the last week or so, I’ve spent many hours hiking with them.   That night, I also met Shaggy – a fellow Memphian!  It was so nice to have a conversation with someone from back home.

– A group of us decided Thursday night would be designated “Steak Night” on the Trail.  Shaggy and I hitched a ride into Robbinsville, NC with a lady who runs Paradise on the AT – a wonderful bed and breakfast that I happened to stay at the next night – and loaded up on meats and potatoes and seasoning, amongst other things.  The steaks were heavy in our packs, but we figured the lug was worth it for a gourmet, fire-cooked meal.  Talk about the envy of the camp site!  As everyone else ate their crummy freeze-dried packs of food, we ate like kings and queens that night.  Or maybe more like cavemen, as we had no silverware – just knives and hands.  It was the stuff of legend.

– That same day, I experienced my first real Trail Magic.  Trail Magic is when people – out of the kindness of their heart – do nice things for hikers, just because.  In most cases, it involves food.  In this case, a young couple who was section hiking stopped at Stecoah Gap with loads of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sugary ice-cold beverages, oatmeal pies, chips, apples and grandma’s homemade peanut-chocolate clusters.  Nothing like seeing that glory!  We happily snarfed it all down.  It amazes me that people will go out of their way to make someone else’s experience special like that.  So cool.  I hope to return the favor one day with my own Trail Magic.

– Body weight.  I have, as of earlier this week when I weighed myself, lost ten pounds!  Crazy considering the amounts of food I eat when I am in town.  It is virtually impossible to keep up on the calories though when you hike so much.  I have thoroughly stocked up on protein-rich, fatty foods on this resupply in Gatlinburg.  Here’s a photo of me on top of Clingman’s Dome – the hightest point on the AT – where you can not only see the glorious view, but my thin physique.  I told you I was hungry!

– One of the highlights of my week was crossing Fontana Dam.  The lake there is absolutely beautiful.  It also marks the southern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

– Though I haven’t seen any bears, I have seen some deer and wild turkey on the Trail.  In the early morning hours at Russell Field Shelter, in the calm and peace, with dew and fog around, I shared a watering hole with three young deer – just 30 feet from me – as I filled my water bottle.  Totally surreal.  The day before, I was walking behind a deer on the Trail, and a giant tom turkey as well.  Pretty neat.

Well, as usual, time has caught up to me and I must go before I can finish all my tales 😦  I am sharing a taxi back to the Trail with Chief and Toad – a retired couple hiking the Trail to raise money for a friend of theirs with stage four melanoma.  The ride will be here in 20 minutes.  I think that’s enough time to pack my gear and grab a few donuts at Duncan, no?

Til’ next time!  I will be in Hot Springs, NC.  Neal plans to meet me there in four days for a rendezvous.  Ooo-la-LA!  Can’t wait to see my man!