Day 5-6 23-24 March 50.3 of 2184 miles complete

Day 5 Whitley Gap shelter 7.7 miles. Up at Neels Gap and bought supplies  for next four days. I also sent home a few items that I have found I am not using. When I left my pack weighed 53 pounds including water. I was surprised as i thought I was sub 50. Makes me think I above 60 lbs on the first day...that's nutty. I think I will downsize my stove at the next stop to help the weight. It poured all day but walking in the rain is not really a problem for some reason...kind of refreshing. Besides, knowing that "BirdShooter" was going to meet me with a little "Trail magic" made it easier to bear...like the pun:). By the way Trail Magic is when some stranger shows up unexpectedly with treats...gatorade, pizza, donuts, etc. Well BirdShooter's trail magic was beer.  I think here I need to introduce the group of Merry travelers I have hooked up with. Everyone has trail names so I will just go with those. It's three individuals, myself, trail Name Zip as I was told bring one if you have one, "Redneck Gumby" as she Only has one green shirt and is from Tennessee, and "Walk-n-Eats" because when I asked if he as a name he said "nope, I haven't done anything stupid, all I do is walk and eat". So I called him that...turns out he is one eighth native American so it's perfect. We also have two guys who started with way to much stuff so we called one "Mattress Pad" because he was actually carrying them and his buddy "Atlas" as he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. They got rid of a lot of stuff but they kept their guitar and ukellae. Another two are "Puddle Jumper", pretty self explanatory and "Tree Piper" as he is packing his 3 foot wood flute. The instruments are awesome and they improvise a jam session every night withbus on drums etc  We call ourselves the "Off the beat and trail Band".  There are always more who come and go but we have all camped together every night.  So, I knew BirdShooter was meeting me at a shelter 1.2 miles off the trail but I asked if anyone wanted to join and all six said yes.  So we hiked through solid rain for 7.7 miles, got to the shelter and set up. The rain broke and BirdShooter walked into camp with a 12 pack and some whiskey. The 12 pack didn't last very long so BirdShooter, MattresPad and a new random guy who was by himself offered to walk 2 miles back to the car and go get more. They came back a few hours later with two 30 packs...new solo guy is now called "30 Pack" and he has joined our merry group. Also wandering into our camp was Spam, Casanova, and Saph. Needless to say it was an very festive evening. Around the campfire  BirdShooter took some video of the jam session and will post it on his web page at some point.

Day 6 13.3 miles Blue Mountain Shelter. Thanks to the fresh mountain air we all woke up feeling surprisingly well. Had some breakfast and we all decided to have our first big day. BirdShooter had one last bit of trail magic in the form of Gatorade and chocolate donuts for us at his car...very very nice. Thanks again BirdShooter!! The rest of the day was just walking. A bit easier terrain so managed 5 miles in two hours at one point. Everyone from last night made it here by 6pm. We figured at this rate we are going to en up like Forrest Gump and walk into Maine with 300 people behind us. :).  The boys are doing great and seem to love it. I do not know how to upload photos to the blog from my iPhone but I did upload some to my face book if you are interested. We will be in Hiawassee  In two days if anyone is interested in hanging out at a budget in on a Monday. :)

13 June, Photo added...We did not realize it at the time, but this was the 1st day of the "Wolf Pack". From Left to Right...Zip (Papa Wolf), BirdShooter, MattressPad (The Big Bad Wolf), Atlas (WolfMan), Gumby, Queen of the Wolf Pack, 30 Pack (Fire Wolf), Puddle Jumper, Casanova (Night Wolf), Walk-N-Eats (Hungry Wolf), Bottom Row Trucker (Red Wolf and Safety Wolf), Spam (Wolf Meat) 

Day 4 22 March 32 of 2184 complete

Day 4 7.7 miles Neels Gap. First day we were rained on but after 3 days without a shower i was ok with it. It felt like i was hiking in the Highlands...beautiful mountains but basically walking in mist, rain and fog so not much of a view. We did go over Blood Mountain which has the AT's oldest shelter made out of stone on top of the mountain...very nice. Did not stay the night as there is a lot of bear activity so you are required a bear canister...which none of us have. Nice to see though. Came down the mountain to the wonderful stone hostel and outfitters. Great place with a great staff. A local church brought up spaghetti and salad for everyone and then we sat outside playing music...not a bad Thursday.  Vicki worked her magic so my water purifier and water bladders were here waiting so that has made my day as well. Tomorrow BirdShooter (see previous post) is meeting me on the trail and has offered to bring some refreshing beverages so that will be great. Not sure the next signal I'll get so see you all at some point. :)

Day 3 21 March 24.3 of 2184 complete

Day 3 8.5 miles Lance Creek Campsite. Today was a good day! Only two smallish mountains to climb so seemed a walk in the parked compared to yesterday. I also realize that my kit and my body of come to an agreement...my left boot and foot are still in negotiations  but my shoulders and backpack have come to a very agreeable compromise. Is does not hurt that I have less food and weight but I think everything is getting broken in nicely. The boys are having no issue with their packs and are loving it. Everyone loves them which is a big relief. Tomorrow we head  into Neels Gap for resupply, laundry and a shower...baby wipes can only do so much

Day 2, 20 March 15.9 of 2184 complete

20 March 7.7 Gooch Gap Shelter stayed in Tent - day two was a pretty good day but was really tough. Three mountains to go up and over let me know this was for real. :) It took me 6hrs 20 mins to cover the same distance I did yesterday in 4+15. Still beats working for a living and the views from the top of the mountains were amazing...I saw a lot of the views as i was taking a break every few steps. One hiccup this morning was that my water purifier did not work. It uses UV light and mine was defective out of the box. Wanting to save the battery I did not check it...don't do that. Fortunately other folks let me use there's which was great. The problem is that that I hike alone and the boys and I ran out of water approx 1.5 miles from a creek...not good at all. Fortunately there was folks taking a break at the creek so we were good into the camp site another 2 miles a head. Thankfully I have a signal here so was able to contact Vicki and she has a replacement meeting me in two days. I'm good for water until then as there is basically a group of about 20 of us staying at the same shelters. We all go at different paces but we all meet up in the same spot. Needless to say, I will be buying iodine tablets ASAP as a backup

Day 1, 19 March, 8.2 of 2184 miles complete. 19 March 8.2miles Hawk Mtn Shelter - Day one on the trail was AWESOME...even though I spent the last four miles singing "it's heavy and I know it wiggle wiggle wiggle" as my pack was topping out at approx 55lbs which is pretty heavy for 8+ trail miles...but all good. Had a nice drive to the trailhead accompanied by my sister, Mom and her friend, my aunt and her husband and brother in law. To get to the start of the trail we had to actually backtrack one mile. Everyone made the hike so I made the first official mile with family which was great. The rest of the day next 7.2 miles was just getting used to the pack and plodding along. The boys got used to their packs pretty quickly. Mojo discovered that if he stopped quickly on a downhill slope the pack would slide over his head and come off...cheeky monkey. After the second time he pulled that little trick, the straps where tightened up a bit. Their packs were 17lbs a piece and they seemed to have had no trouble with that weight.  Have met lots of folks already...everyone really great and the all love the boys which is good. There is approx 30 folks at this shelter, many in tents and a few in the shelter so spent the evening around the campfire and chatting. All in all an excellent first day!

Here we go!

After a wonderful St Pattrick's Day weekend in Atlanta with Family and friends I am being poured onto the trail in a few hours so here we go.  Despite the fact the Vicki has unfortunately had to go back to the UK briefly, the boys and I are VERY excited to be on are way knowing "Troggy" will be joining us as soon as possible.  I, with Vicki's help, will post photos and updates as we go.  I will only have my phone on in the morning and evening to conserve the "juice".  No post in an evening means no signal so pretty easy.  Thank you everyone who has already donated and for your wonderful "happy trails" messages. Im off!    

The "Shakedown"

Made it to Atlanta no problem. Met up with my old friend "BirdShooter" (96" Thru Hiker, see his links to the right), who has been helping/mentoring me along the way. We went through all my equipment and he helped me realize I am a knucklehead. :)  Thanks to his "shakedown" I am now 8-10 pounds lighter then when I arrived...pretty good as I was packing out a bit on the heavy side. Once again...THANK YOU BirdShooter! We would not have been nearly prepared without your excellent guidance. Heading to the trail in 2.5 days.