Category: North Carolina
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Roan Mountain and the Roan Highlands
It’s been a weird, long, draining week. Our shortest day was 15 miles, and the majority of the time we were pushing 17s. We even hit a twenty coming out of Hot Springs, and let me tell you… 20 miles with a fully loaded pack is a long day. At least it still is for…
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The shadow of deja vu
One of the grand adventures of hiking is that there are always new faces. Every time you come to a shelter or campsite, there is at least one new person, usually more. Of course, there are people you hike the same sleep as, people you see in shelters again and again, like Happy, Drive Thru…
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Appalachian Trail version
It’s unbelievable to me that 75 miles is a five-day hike now. Three weeks ago, five days of hiking got us thirty miles to Mountains Crossing. Now it gets us through the full length of the Smokies. Oh how the miles fly. We had a good zero in Fontana Dam on Sunday before we headed…
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Burgers and trail magic
Church Mouse and I have been craving burgers, almost from the beginning of hiking. That thick, juicy flavor, the mayonnaise and sauces, the bun, the veggie toppings, hot off a grill with a side of french fries… you get the picture. However, burgers have been surprisingly hard for us to get. In Hiawassee, we thought…
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Hey, Church Mouse
“Hey Sami.” Drive Thru and Frosty were eating breakfast a tent spot away from us at Wesser Bald Shelter. We’d both gotten there about the same time last night, both of us late enough to have missed the good spots. We’d both spent the night sleeping on roots and inclines, though our incline was a…
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Wandering trails
We’ve been working on upping our mileage on the trail. To get back home on time, we need to be consistently hitting 15 miles or more a day by the time we’re out of the Smokies (aka, next week). We’ve made from 8-mile days to 11-mile days, and now we’ve been doing 13-15 mile days.…
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A zero day in Franklin
Two weeks of hiking is a lot of walking. 105 miles of walking, actually. And after the cold ascent over Albert Mountain, we were more than ready for a hot shower, dry hotel room, and a chance to restock our dwindling food supply. We’d found a dirt-cheap hotel within walking distance of everything we needed…
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Standing Indian Mountain and Albert Mountain
Today’s prompt from WordPress: Write a letter to your 100-year-old self. Dear Sparks, I hope the small things still make you smile. I hope you still find moss fascinating. I hope you still wake up for sunrises and pause for sunset. I hope you still look up at night, trace the outline of the stars,…
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The weatherful ups and downs of entering North Carolina
The wind is gusting tonight. We’re on a ridge, Shane’s tent beside us. I used one of the guylines to provide some extra support. It’s warm inside the tent, but as soon as you step outside, the wind strips away any heat. When we got here, we hurriedly set up camp, cooked food as fast…