Days 59-61

16 May, Day 59, 18.6 miles, Trent Groceries Campsite at AT mm 605.5. What a great day! We were dry, the sun was out, the terrain was great, we passed the 600 mile mark and finished it up with a burger. :) the hotel we stayed at was great...clean, comfortable and very friendly. The husband of the lady working at the hotel provides a shuttle back to the trail head which was really great. So we had a laid back morning and got a ride back around 1030. The plan was to go 14ish and stop at a campsite. That site wasn't in my guide but it was around the 600 mile point. So off went 6 of us. It may not come as a big surprise, but I am one of the slower hikers in our group. I'm twice the age as most and my pack weighs twice as much...not complaining, just saying. Add in the stops for water and all the things with Mojo and Skye and that takes time. So A few were ahead of me and I just kept plugging along expecting I'd see them and stop for lunch. After a very quick 8 miles I didn't see them so I had a leisurely 45 min lunch and hit the trail. After another fairly quick, feeling good 6 miles I saw a campsite that might have been where we were to stay but did not see anyone so thought maybe it's across the road so off I went. Well, There was no campsite and as I started up the hill I realized I was in front and because the terrain was so favorable, no one caught me. You never want to backtrack on the AT so I just kept going. ;) I figured I'd go a couple miles and solo camp on top of the Mountain which was about 3 miles up. I arrived at the top and found a perfect campsite...but as lick would have it, 30pack, trucker, Hobo Joe and Ragweed were sitting there taking a break. They were not with us in Bland so i actually caught someone. They suggested we head to this store only 2 miles down the trail at a road crossing for a burger and i thought that was a great idea...so off I went. That is how my 14 mile day became 18.6. I felt great so less I have to do tomorrow. I will assume the 5 members of the Wolf Pack I left behind realize I went ahead and don't go back looking for me in some ditch. :)  17 May, Day 60, 13.9 miles, Woodshole Hostel at AT mm 619.4. Woke to a great morning. The sun was out and the campsite was next to a horse pasture so it was very peaceful. I walked The 100 yards to Trent's and got a coffee and some donuts and had a relaxing morning. Hit the trail at 1030. Some of the guys we have been hiking with and around had decided to do a "24 Challenge"...meaning hiking 24 miles to Pearisburg while drinking 24 beers in a 24 hour period. They started last night and drank a bunch...the tactic being less to carry today. It was fun watching the "challenge" unfold as we leap frogged each other a few times. I had lunch with three of them and they did not look happy. I had four miles to go and they had 16. I headed up the hill and said "see you when you pass me"...they never passed me. :) I made it to Woodshole Hostel which was amazing. It's a few cabins that were built in the 1880's that have been turned into this awesome hiker hostel. All the cabins were full but I tented and enjoyed an excellent dinner on the front porch in a rocking chair. There were 40 of us there so great company and a great night. Mojo and Skye had a great  night as well running around the yard and playing with the owners dog. We crawled in the tent around 9:30pm and then a huge thunderstorm hit...so our timing was excellent. :) by the way, two of the 24 challenge guys came walking in just before dinner so that was what we call a "trail fail".   18 May, Day 61, 10.4 miles, Holiday Lodge, Pearisburg VA at AT mm 629.8. Woke to another great morning and frankly, it was hard to leave Woodshole. The plan is to do a zero day in Pearisburg tomorrow but Woodshole is so relaxing I could have easily stayed and just sat in the rocking chair on the porch all day. But it's 30 Packs 25th birthday and I wanted to spend it with him so off I went. It was a shortish 11 miles into town. Some beautiful views and a nice walk all around. For my european friends, i passed the 1000 Kilometers today so that is a good milestone. Walk-n-Eats passed me on the trail so he, 30 Pack, Trucker, Ragweed an Hobo Joe were in the Mexican Restaurant when I got into town at 4pm. It was right across from my hotel which was convenient so after a quick shower, call to Vicki and settling the boys in the room I headed across the street for some birthday cervesa's with everyone. It was a fun evening. Around 8pm walk-n-eats and I headed to the Chinese buffet next door for dinner. Will not bore you with the amount we ate but suffice it to say, they did Not make any money off us. :). That pretty much ended the night as the food commas set in. So today is the end of month number 2 so here is the update. In the last month we have walked 355.9 miles giving us an average for the last 31 days of 11.86 mIles per day. That's much better than our 8.8 avg for the first month. Overall we are at 629.8 miles so our average for the trip is 10.33 miles per day. This at least gets us to Katahdin before the 15 Oct deadline. :). Our mileage and average will most likely pick up this month to give us a little breathing room with that date. The boys are still having a great time, all the equipment is still working really well, and the body is holding up great. All and all an excellent month. Having a zero tomorrow so will recharge the batteries and get back on the trail on Sunday. 

Nearly 600 miles

12 May, Day 55, 11.6 miles, The Relax Inn Motel, Atkins Va on I-81 exit at AT mm 542.2. The shelter location was excellent and the pizza had me sleeping great last night. Today's hike was a relatively short one by our upgraded standards. The scenery is starting to change a bit. VA is by no means flat, but we are walking through more open spaces...mainly cow fields. It's a nice change of pace and we all like the views. Today's short day was on account of meeting Truckers Dad at Atkins. The plan was to pile in his truck and go to a cabin he is building approx an hour away. We arrived at the road with plenty of time which was great as there is a restaurant called "The Barn" which as a hiker burger...1lb of meaty goodness. So we all had to order that, with cheese and bacon of course, and it was delicious! Even had fries and was considering desert but thought that may be too much after the pizza last night...its all about proper portion control. When truckers Dad arrived there was 14 of us and two dogs trying to figure out how to fit all of us and the packs into his truck. It just wasn't going to work so i gladly opted out and got a room at the hotel down the road a few hundred yards. Saph, Walk-n-Eats, and Golden joined me as well which was great. So we watched them cram into the truck and sent them on their way. We checked in, did laundry, had a shower, had dinner at a Gas station next door, grabbed a few beers And had a good evening just chatting in the room. All on all it worked out really great. 13 May, Day 56, 18.4 miles, USFS Road 222 at AT mm 560.6. The plan was to meet back at The Barn around 1000am. We got up around 0730, packed, checked out and went to the Barn for breakfast and to wait. The breakfast was great and fortunately they had free coffee refills as the rest of the crew did not arrive until 1130 :). That was fine with us as the four of us were in no hurry and had a nice surprise has a very nice lady bought all four of our breakfasts...We knew it was going to be a good day. They other nice thing was that Truckers Dad offered to "slack pack" us...meaning he would take all our packs up the road and meet us so we only had to hike with water and snacks. Any mile I do not have to carry 50lbs is good by me. So we loaded up the truck with our packs and hit the trail feeling very light indeed. Even Mojo and Skye got to slack pack so they were in heaven. It did start raining at about mile 9 but I had my jacket so was all good for the day. The rain just got heavier as the day went so I was pretty soaked when I got to camp. Trucker, 30 Pack, Atlas and Cheeks "volunteered" to watch our bags and hang out with Truckers Dad. It worked out great as they had everything covered and dry when we got into camp, and had a big fire going which was very nice so we got to dry out a bit.  Due to the rain though we just put up our tents and crawled in for the night. It is suppose to get worse the next two days so could be a wet week. 14 May, Day 57, 14.6 miles, Jenkins Shelter at AT mm 575.2. The weatherman got it right...unfortunately. It rained most of the night and we woke up to rain. Waking up to rain means there is this very long 10 or so minutes where you lay in your warm, dry sleeping bag and contemplate just staying there all day. Then you realize you would be bored silly and walking in the rain is all part of the journey...yea yea. So I packed as much as I could in the tent and then just got soaked packing up the tent...which means the back pack gets soaked as I pack up the dripping wet tent and the put it in the pack. Basically there is no good way to tent and pack in the rain. Not surprisingly, Rocket and I were the only ones to break camp and hit the trail. The first 4.5 miles was uphill, in the rain but it brought us too a very nice shelter where I had lunch. The rain stopped and the sun actually came out a bit so after approx 8 miles I was fairly dry. Unfortunately I had to go ten miles and the skies opened up 2 miles from the shelter. So I set up camp just as I had tore it down...wet and in the rain. Did I mention there is no good way to tent and set up in the rain either. Anyway, I crawled in the wet tent with my wet dogs and managed to dry off to an acceptable dampness and have not moved since. I even cooked in the tent which is the first time I've done that. There is a town 13 miles from here which I had not planned on going too, but if the rain keeps up I may have to just to dry out all my equipment. Watch this space.  15 May, Day 58, 11.6 miles, Big Walker Motel, Bland VA at AT mm 586.8. We woke up to a cloudy but relatively dry morning. So we actually took our time packing up. The plan was to head 14.6 miles and we had good intentions to make that. It started raining again about half way into the day. Not bad, but just enough to make us lose our motivation. We all had wet socks and boots so a few miles from the road that took us Bland, we decided our feet, which looked like a ham that has been submerged for 15 hours, needed to dry out before we did some real damage. So we got to the road, hitched a ride to the hotel and here we are. It turned out to be the correct decision as a few folks feet needed some help, and as we were eating at Subway, a flash flood warning came into effect for this area. So good call all around. Again we are at a hotel off an exit... I-77 this time, but it makes for a good phone signal and wifi. So today's walk was really pretty good but it's great to be able to dry all our stuff off. Back on the trail tomorrow with a few 16 milers scheduled the next few days. We would have hit 100 miles in 7 days if we did not detour into Bland, so our pace is picking up nicely. I am currently only three days behind my itinerary so very happy with the progress and trip so far. 

Day 49 - 54

6 May, Day 49, 10.2 miles, The Hike Inn, Damascus VA at AT mm 466.9. It has reached a point that it is exciting when I wake up and know I am heading into a town. :) it's also nice that a 10.2 mile day is an "easy" day. Today was one of those days. We tend to walk down out of the mountains into a town which makes it an easy hike. Add the fact that we are out of food the pack is much lighter...for both myself and Mojo and Skye. So today without trying we were motoring. It was 6.5 miles to the state line and I covered that in two hours. Bear in mind I normally average 2-2.5 miles an hour. The last 3.7 miles we did in just under an hour so that was some good hiking. :). We found our way to The Hike Inn which was really great. Lee and Paul are very nice and could not have been more accommodating. We got settled and headed for lunch and ice-cream...check. When you do not have a spoon i recommend the 4 pack of heath klondike bars...very tasty :) The rest of the afternoon was just relaxing and getting our town chores done. We headed to the one bar/restaurant in town and had a great evening. Our friend Atlas, the one who has been carrying a guitar and keeping us entertained the whole hike, was allowed to play a few hours at the bar so he made a few bucks in tips. The bar closed at 1030 so i was in bed by 1100...a good day indeed. 7 May, Day 50, 9.4 miles, Saunders Shelter at AT mm 476.3. Yesterday I mentioned how great it feels to head into town...light pack, etc. It always feels good though to leave town and to get back on the trail, but its always with a full food supply and so far we always head uphill out of towns...an unfortunate combination. The cabin we were in had a brand new, calibrated scale so I know I walked out of town with a 55 pound pack. That seems to be my standard weight so I'm used to it. Its a heavy pack and i don't like it but I'm used to it. :)  The boys packs were 18 and 16 pounds. We did have a nice breakfast at a local coffee shop and puttered around town a bit doing some more chores before we left...All and all Damascus is a friendly, nice little town. We hit the trail around 12ish and immediately went uphill for 2 miles. :) I was ready for it so not a big deal. It was actually a nice hike as most of the day was walking near a beautiful creek/river. By the way, For those keeping track, I have lost 37 pounds...thats "2 Stone 10" for my UK family and 16.8 Kilos for my "everyone besides American" friends. I weigh 208 pounds (14 Stone 12, 94.34 kilos). I have not weighed this little since I was at Navigator School in 1988/89. My beer belly is pretty much gone (despite my best efforts in town) and if I were to shave I would probably look sickly. :). So the AT fitness program is in full swing...even with the Klondike bars. I told you it was a great diet. I'm not really sure how much more I can lose...i would not have thought i could lose 37 so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next month. 8 May, Day 51, 19.0 miles, campsite just past Thomas Knob Shelter at AT mm 495.3. My first 19 mile day...and I had to earn it. The shelter area we were in last night was really peaceful and great so slept in a bit this morning..0745am. It was starting to rain as we were packing up so I figured our good luck was about to run out...which it did.  But I had nothing better to do so we just started hiking in the rain. It was a pretty nice morning and we managed to squeeze in lunch at a shelter without to much rain. We then hit the bottom of Mt Rodgers and the rain hit. So the next 10 miles was pretty much up and wet. It actually worked out as I've decided walking uphill in the rain is better than walking uphill in the sun and heat. Plus since I am already wet I figure I might as well keep walking on the chance the sun will come out and dry me off before I get to camp. That has worked in the past...not so much today. The trail was muddy and rocky so we just plodded along through the puddles and rain. At some places the water was running down the trail...it was like we were walking up a stream. We arrived at the shelter we were going to stay but there were no good tent sights so we just walked a bit further. We are at the top of a fairly open mountain with the wind and rain beating down so we found a great little camping area hidden in the pines on the back side of the mountain so we are protected from the wind. Ill take a photo in the am if the wether cooperates. There are only 4 of us who have made it...we did not get here until 7pm so we guessed others made camp earlier. We had a slight break in the wether and tried to make a campfire but the rain came back so we all hoped into our tents. So here I lay in my sleeping bag with two very wet, tired, but very cute dogs laying their heads on my pillow and shoulder. So much for keeping the sleeping bag dry :)  When I was in Damascus I was 6 days behind my itinerary. Thanks to not talking a zero in town and today's big mileage I am now 4 days behind my itinerary. I think I may make up a few more days as Virginia's terrain is suppose to allow for some bigger mileage days. We shall see.    9 May, Day 52, 15.6 miles, Hurricane Mountain Shelter at AT mm 510.9. A big day for us today as we passed the 500 mile mark. :). It was actually at a shelter so we had lunch to mark the occasion. The day started pretty much the way it ended as far as the rain goes. We woke up to a break in rain so spent two hours getting a fire going and just as the water was hot enough for coffee the rain came back so back in the tent we went. We planed on doing 11ish miles today and it was getting late so I just accepted the fact that I would be wet and packed everything up and hit the trail at 1130am. We walked through an area called Grayson Highland Park which is beautiful open meadows on top of the mountains. There are cows and even feral ponies running wild. Well, between the rain and wind the visibility was pretty bad, then add to the mix Mojo and Skye, and I did not see much at all. Others saw loads of ponies. Cheeks even had one poking it's nose in her tent last night as she was cooking. Oh well, I would rather walk with my boys for 6 months than see a pony for a few minutes...I'll go to a petting soon when I get done. :). So it rained all day and we just got on with it. During lunch I saw in the shelter log that Atlas and Cheeks were ahead of us and trying to catch us...they had passed us when we were in our cool pine tree camp site and didn't realize it. So Star (Spirit Wolf), activated Spirit Wolf Speed and took off after them. As you can see by the milage we did, he did not catch them until after our planned stop. Thats ok though, less mileage to do tomorrow. We're at a great campsite with the water source right next to the campfire which is a nice change. We even managed to get an excellent fire going, cook our dinner and hang out a bit despite the rain showers so a good day and evening. The one downside is that with the bad weather and our extended miles, the wolf pack is spread apart. We will leave notes and I'm sure we will all be back together in a few days. Question for my Military Aviation friends...what low level training route flys over/near Mt Rodgers VA, near Grayson Highlands, between Damascus VA and Troutdale VA? During our campfire we had a couple 2 Ships and three four ships of fighters fly over. It was between 8pm and 9:30ish pm, Any of you guys flying tonight? At any rate, it was very cool. Could not see them but it was great to hear. Made me feel like I wasn't an old retired guy. :) 10 May, Day 53, 5.2 miles, Troutdale Baptist Church Hostel at AT mm 516.1. We woke to, dare i say, the sun. We knew we had a short day today as Rocket and I had to come into this town to pick up our mail drops. So we got the fire going again and enjoyed our coffee, breakfast and drying our stuff out before packing up. That worked out well because Trucker and Rocket, who had camped 3 miles back, walked into camp as we were still there. So at 1130 off we went and covered the 5.2 miles in an hour and a half...which is pretty good time. The town is 3 miles from the trail so we started walking. We went approx 20 minutes when a wonderful couple stopped and picked us all up and brought us to the church hostel. I had actually sent my mail drop to another hostel/store but that closed a few months ago so here we are. This place is great though. Two rooms with two bunks each and showers in the church. The sun was out in full force se we laid all of our stuff out to dry and enjoyed the afternoon. Rocket and I went to the post office and got our mail drops and Atlas and Trucker hitched a ride to the nearest place for food...a gas station that made sandwiches...4 miles away. This place is like the little town of Norway that Vicki and i live near...only without the General store and the "hustle and bustle"...catch that sarcasm? This is one quite town. :) Anyway, they were actually taken to the next gas station 14 miles away but were back within the hour regardless. :) So here we sat enjoying the day and our delicious gas station sandwiches when the nice couple who picked us up earlier came by with a crockpot full of homemade vegetable soup she had canned last fall, plus crackers and peanut butter for desert...awesome!! Thank you Trail Angles. As we were enjoying our dinner, Casanova showed up having gotten a ride form the pastors wife. That was the first time we had seen anyone from the church. I also need to mention that this very nice, well maintained and clean hostel is "donation only" and honor system...what a great way to live life. We will make a nice donation as this has just been the perfect place to relax after two long, wet days. Tomorrow the plan is to hike 14 (plus the 3 back to the trail) and go to a shelter where they will deliver pizza. Anything other than camp food is always a motivator so I'll let you know how the "shelter pizza" turns out. If its half as good as our gas station sandwich... We are in business. :) 11 May, Day 54, 14.5 miles, Partnership Shelter at AT mm 530.6. It got down to 31 degrees last night so it was nice being inside a great little cabin. A beautiful sunny day today so we made some coffee and enjoyed the morning on our little porch. I actually got two boxes of food here...one for the boys and one for me so, once again, myself and the boys packed out heavy. We left at 1000 and did not get a ride so walked the 2.8 miles along the road to the trail head. It was a great, sunny, standard hiking day so not much to report. We arrived at this very cool shelter and met up with a great group we have camped with before so lots of fun people. The pizza delivery was actually Pizza Hut so we all ordered pizza...which was awesome. Remember I mentioned the "hiker diet"? Well I just ate a medium, deep dish meat lovers pizza and a liter of Dr Pepper...and I do not feel bad about it! Don't judge me...it's hard out here man. :) so dinner was awesome but it doesn't help my pack weight as I still have 7 dinners I'm carrying around. Tomorrows plan is 15ish miles. We apparently pass a restaurant on the trail that sells 16oz burgers so I may gain back a pound or two of the 37 Ive lost. :)

Day 48 last day in TN

5 May, Day 48, 15.9 miles, Abingdon Gap Shelter at AT mm 456.7. It's nice having phone service two days in a row but it has just occurred to me that I now have to make way day of walking in the woods sound exciting. :) here I go.  Today our alarm clock was a very cool thunderstorm that passed by at 6 am. My tent is working great so the boys and I were snug as could be during the hour storm...lots of cool thunder and lighting. Some folks are getting new tents and bags when we get to damascus so they didn't enjoy the storm as much as I did. It cleared up enough for us to pack up without too much wet gear and hit the trail by 845ish. This section is not that difficult so it was a fairly easy day. That was alright as the rain and clouds stuck around for the first few hours. We were high enough that we were walking in the clouds and as such, walked more "through" the rain then "under it". I'm not sure if that is possible but the folks who left before us and were lower said they walked through a big storm where we were just walking through a wet cloud. We came across a very nice couple who had some trail magic for us so we enjoyed the cakes and sodas and chatted with them for a bit. We then walked a few hinder yards an there was another guy with trail magic so we had more soda and cakes. :) the best diet in the world is the AT Thru Hiker Diet...you can eat what ever and as much as you want of anything...the downside is you just have to walk 2200 miles. But we are all taking advantage of it while it lasts. :) so thank you Bob and Betty Davis and Patriot for the trail magic. Patriot retired from the USAF and was stationed at Offutt in Omaha the same time I was so it was nice talking with him...no I did not know him then. So jacked up on sugar we headed out again. We got to the shelter around 5pm and have set ourselves up for a relatively easy 10 miler tomorrow into Damascus. The standard town plan is in effect...try to get in by 1pm to get lunch, then resupply, laundry, shower, and have a few dinners and ice creams...I told you it was a great :)

Days 45-47

2 May, Day 45, 0 miles, Black Bear Resort at Dennis Cove at AT mm 416.3. I failed to mention that the wonderful place i stayed is called the Iron Mt B&B and/or the Creekside Chalet. The main house is the B&B which is very nicely done. The Chalet is the log cabin I stayed in which is also very very nice. This is a romantic weekend type place and I would highly recommend it. Vicki is the owner an she will take great care of you. Anyway, after a very relaxing night and a great morning, I left the sanctuary of the Chalet and headed to the new Black Bear Resort to meet the rest of the wolf pack. Again, a really nice place. More hiker oriented but still very nice little cabins, on a creek and wonderful owners. I could see us building something similar to that at the Tea Cup Street house for those of you who know what I'm talking about. We took a zero here, as somewhat planed, so not much to say other then Cheeks and I won a thrilling game of "drinking monopoly" and we had just a nice relaxing day at a great spot.  Two great places in two nights so all is well.  3 May, Day 46, 10.5 miles, Watauga Lake Shelter at AT mm 426.8. Enjoyed a wonderful morning chatting with everyone and the owners and their never ending pot of coffee. :) up at 7 but we did not leave until 10ish or so as it was so nice. When we started contemplating another zero it was time to hit the trail. This was probably one if my favorite days so far. We hiked past Laurel Falls which was awesome, then a few miles along the creek/river, up over a mountain and then ended at a beach on the lake and had a nice swim...what a great day! If anyone is considering section hiking for just a few days, i would recommend staying at one of the two places I just mentioned and hiking this section...it's beautiful. I will post some photos on Facebook when I can. After a hour or so at the beach, we went another 2 miles along the backside of the lake to the shelter. we are now 40 miles from Damascus VA so are considering two big days to get in there for Saturday night. It suppose to be a fairly easy section so we will see what happens tomorrow.  4 May, Day 47, 14.0 miles, Iron Mountain Shelter at AT mm 440.8. When Someone tells you a section is easy...do not listen. :) this was buy no means a hard section but we still went uphill 10-11 miles out of the 14. When we stopped for lunch at mile 8, those hills made our 22 mile day plan hit the back burner. Add the fact that for some reason there are no rooms available this weekend in Damascus, we were asking ourselves why we were busting our buts to get there. Even if we did 22 today, that left an 18 mile day tomorrow...why the rush? So we settled on 14 today, a 16 tomorrow followed by a nice little 10 miler into town on Sunday. Again the weather has been wonderful for us, the boys are doing great so I'm just not in any hurry. :) 

Day 37-44 a week on the trail

24 Apr, Day 37 6.3 Miles, Uncle Johnny's, Nolichucky River, Erwin, TN. Excellent morning waking up to a brisk but dry day. It was nice weather so a fairly pleasant and easy walk into the hostel. I like that a 6 mile day now is considered a "nero" day, meaning nearly zero, so my hiker legs seem to be working well. It was nice walking into the hostel to see some of the wolf pack hanging out waiting there. They Had a cabin all set so walked right into the room and dropped off my stuff. I got there at 1120 so had a shower and was all situated in time for the lunch shuttle at 1230...a pizza buffet which was excellent. Not really but it hit the spot :).  Uncle Johnny's Hostel is just a great place...my favorite so far on this trip. Grym, the very cool dude that runs the place is just a great guy and a huge friend to the thru-hiker. Everyone was welcome and he just made it great. After lunch I did laundry and we had a few beverages hanging out until the dinner shuttle at 6pm which took us to a KFC buffet. Yes we destroyed some chicken then headed back for a campfire. Just a great day and evening. 25 Apr, Day 38, 0 miles. Our first unscheduled zero. So we had all good intentions of heading out this morning but we awoke to a huge thunderstorm. We were sitting in the porch trying to decide what to do when Damn Yankee added some rum to my coffee at about 0815am. :). The rain was not letting up, my equipment was thawed and dry and my choice was walk in the rain or enjoy my rum coffee. Those with Facebook already know how this mystery turned out. :) To be fair the forecast was for rain all day so it was a surprise when it cleared up around 1100. But we were already committed to our zero so we stayed put. So another really great day with Grym at Uncle Johnny's. 26 Apr, Day 39, 12.1 miles, Deep Gap at AT mm 354.1. As much as we liked the Hostel, it was time to get back on the trail. We had thunderstorms again today but we used that excuse already so off we went. It felt great to be back out again. It was overcast and stormy all day although we only got rained on for a few minutes. There was no visibility as we walked over "beauty spot" on our way to the campsite but for me it seemed like a very quick 12 miles.  We were going to stay at Beauty Spot Campsite but we walked by it in the fog and mist. We did not realize we were at Deep Gap until we woke up. So we did 12 instead of 11 so one less mile to go. :).  I did weigh my pack again this morning before i left and it came in at 55 pounds...that's with water and 4 days worth if food. Thats heavy compared to everyone else but I'm used to it now. I use everything I have so I guess this will be my "leaving town" weight until I get rid of my winter gear...so be it. The boys packs came in at 16 and 14 pounds so that is a very good "leaving town" weight for them. The weather is suppose to get better tomorrow so back to our planned 14 mile days. 27 Apr, Day 40, 14.1 miles, Clyde Smith Shelter at AT mm 368.2. Had a huge rain storm last night but the tent worked great so nice and dry this morning. Woke to a very nice morning so even the tent was dry when I packed it up. The walk was pretty good but I felt pretty tired so it was a mildly tough day.  Seems like everyone else felt the same as well so it may just be the second day out of town blues...or it could be that I slept on a giant root and did not get the best night sleep ever. For my UK friends, i climbed over a ridge-line today named "Little Bald Knob"...Yes, i know. If Vicki were here she probably would have just giggled until we got passed it. Anyway, thought i'd share that. :) The plan today was to stay at a campsite a mile short of the shelter but when we got there the water source was dried up so we came to the shelter. Tomorrow the plan is to go 14.5 miles to a shelter made out of an old barn which is suppose to be pretty cool. First we must go up and over Roan Mountain which is the last time we will be above 6000 feet until we get to Mt Washington so a pretty big climbing day tomorrow...it's 8:30 and I'm in bed already. :) The fact that I am now going onto week three with virtually no cell service, you will be able to find out straight away wether I made it or not...continue reading below.... 28 Apr, Day 41, 14.5 Over Mountain Shelter at AT mm 382.7. I made it!  It was a LOT of work but we made it. Using very rough guesstimate from my map, I think we climbed approx 4500-4700 vertical feet and probably went down 3300-3500 feet. Not much of a view from the top of Roan Mt but the highest shelter on the trail is there so stopped for an extended lunch break. When we were walking down the mountain we crossed a road junction where we met a very nice lady handing out a bit of trail magic...sodas and chips, so had to stop for another break. :) We did not realize it was Saturday, and this junction was obviously a very popular place to park to get on the trail as it was pretty crowded. The trail continued up over a few Balds which was a very cool hike, but lots of day hikers...everyone one of them wanting to know whats the names of the dogs, how much do they carry, where did you start, how far you going, etc. it is very nice but when you are climbing yet another hill it tends to break your rhythm.:) We wanted to stay at this particular shelter as it is just an old barn.G It was very cool and had a great view looking down the valley, but we arrived to find it crowded with a boy-scout troop and seven scout leaders...so we set up our tents as usual. They were all very nice so we had dinner with them and Atlas broke out his guitar around the campfire which they all seemed to like.  Another early night which seems to be the norm, but its amazing how welcoming a sleeping bag and air mattress are after a day like today. :) 29 Apr, Day 42, 15.2 miles, Elk River Camp Site at AT mm 397.9. A new high mileage mark for today...first time over 15 miles so making up for some of those unscheduled stops and zero days. Based on my itinerary I think I am currently 6 days behind. Again, the itinerary is merely a starting point from which to deviate, but I do not want to get too far behind. We also have crossed out of NC for the last time and are now in TN until we hit Virginia in a week or so. For those that did not know, we have basically been walking along the TN/NC border since the smokeys so we were never really sure what state we were camping in. At one shelter the water was in NC and the privy, 40 yards away, was in TN. Im not making any jokes about TN, just stating a few "shelter facts"...but i would not be surprised if the folks who designed and maintain that shelter are from NC. :) Any-who, the start of today had us go over two mountains named little hump and hump mountain...both Balds again so great views. I'm not sure why but it just seems easier walking across a "field" on top of a mountain...someone do a study. We then had 5 miles down into Roan Mountain. I had a food drop at a very nice little hostel just off the trail but last night we decided to press on so I popped in to get my food drop. Well some of the faster guys were there and decided to stay the night. We had done 9.2 miles by then so it was tempting but there was no wi-fi and yet again, no AT&T service with the iPhone  (which is very frustrating), plus I had the 15 mile goal in my head so myself, Atlas, Cheeks, Hobo Joe and Ragweed pushed on. It was a hot, heavy climb out of town so 40 minutes into it I was reconsidering my decision. :) But we made it and are camped out next to a nice little river/stream so we are glad of our decision. We may try to do a 21 mile day to Hampton just to make everyone else have to do a 27 mile day, but we're not sure we can make it that far. It depends on the terrain, which is getting better, so we shall see. 30 Apr, Day 43, 0 miles, still at Elk River Camp Site at AT mm 397.9. So i had an Unscheduled zero day which was a bit of a bummer. We notice that Mojo had a small limp yesterday when we got into camp. When we woke up this morning he did not want to move. He obviously had a problem with his front left leg. I checked it out but did not find anything obvious. I was worried he might of sprained it so I decided he needed a day to rest. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was in an excellent spot so could not have asked for a better location for this to happen...besides the obvious in town, with a car, near a vet. :) so Atlas and Cheeks headed off and I got busy sitting around. In case you are wondering, there really is not a lot to do on the AT if you are not walking. Thanks to the location by this "river", I was able to take a couple swims and bathed the dogs. I also went through and cleaned up my contacts in my iPhone, learned how to adjust my pack, sorted out my food and equipment and read the pet first aid book I have...so a fairly productive day. There were approximately 20 hikers that walked by throughout the day so i chatted with them as well. I knew most of them so they were all concerned about Mojo. One guy used to raise sled dogs so he had a look and found a cut between his toes that I did not see. So I have kept that clean and covered with neosporan. Mojo has not moved much at all today but has seemed happy with the rest. He is walking better this evening so I am hopeful for tomorrow. At around 3:30pm Trucker, WalknEats, Hobo Joe, Ragweed, Star, and 30 Pack all came walking up, so they all hung out for awhile.  Some of them were going to head on while others immediately set up camp as they liked the location so much. Then the thunderstorms hit so everyone set up their tents pretty quickly :) So the day actually went by quicker that I thought and then the guys arrived so it's been a good evening. I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow as two zero days here my be a bit much. I won't force Mojo, but if it is just the cut, I will put on one of his booties and see how he does. It's nearly 19 miles to the next town so have to get there somehow. 1 May, Day 44, 18.4 miles, Creekside Chalet via Dennis Cove at AT mm 416.3. Well we began the new month with an excellent start. We broke the 400 mile marker and had our first 18+ and longest mile day so far...whoop whoop! Frankly it was a surprise as I was concerned about Mojo. But he woke me up around 6:30am full of beans and ready to go. I did put some more stuff on his cut and put a bootie on his foot before he left the tent, But he virtually jumped out if the tent. So I packed up and we were on the trail by 8:30. I figured we would just play it by ear and see how far we could get before his foot bothered him. Well we made it to a shelter 12+ miles away by 2:30 and I was considering stopping. I had been fighting my pack all day so was ready to stop even though we were only 6 miles from Hampton TN. I debated for a few minutes and decided that by now, 2:30 is just too early to stop, so I put on my big boy pants and off we went. We made the last 6 miles in 2hours and 20 minutes. I had a food drop here in Hampton, but didn't realize the "hostel" was 22 miles from the trail...the hiker guide failed to mention that. Fortunately the very nice owner came and picked me up and brought me to this Really Nice "cabin". I will put photos on Facebook when I have service so you can see how nice this place is. It's more a couple weekend retreat than a hiker crash pad, so I am living large tonight. :) the rest of the wolf pack is at a really nice hiker hostel next to the trail, so I will meet up with them tomorrow. We may take a zero to allow a few others to catch up.