Starting back

Well I am starting back at horse gap.  My wife dropped me off at the state park where we spent last night.  Passed thru Atlanta yesterday and ate lunch with my brother and his wife and son.  When we got here last night the lodge was closed while they were filming a movie, so we stayed in a cabin and had to drive 20 miles to get something to eat.  This morning I took a shuttle to this location. And ready to hike on. Will update later.  Time to walk. 

Watch out for these 2

These hairy vines should be avoided or you will be in for an itchy time.  These are the ones that got me. 

Good news is the itching has almost stopped and the no new blisters have formed today.  Of course I have taken 2 rounds of 1/2 dose Prednesone and used the whole tube of Benedryl cream.  I will get a new tube before returning to the AT. 

On a more exciting note, my wife and I will head to north GA, Amicalola State Park, on Tuesday, April 22.  We plan to stop in for a quick visit with my brother, Lewis and his wife, Deon on the way   On Wednesday, April 23, I will rejoin the trail at Horse Gap.  This time I will have a Bear Vault so I can take my time and not have to avoid camping between Jarrod Gap and Neels Gap.  I plan to stay in Blood Mountain Shelter one night.

I have decided to leave the alcohol stove at home and keep my JetBoil.  To me the difference in cooking time is worth the additional weight.  Also other factors that affect the alcohol stove are wind, and the amount of fuel you need to use for different cooking times.  If you need to cook longer you can not just add more alcohol while you are cooking.  With the Jetboil the flame is adjustable, so as long as you have fuel in your canisters you can vary the heat you are cooking with.  The weight of the alcohol and the weight of the cannister fuel seems very comparable, even though I have not actually weighed them.  More to come later. 

Watch Out for These

On Saturday, I decided to remove two dead trees that could have fallen and blocked my driveway.  The intention was to take them down so my wife would not have to deal with them if they fell when I get back on the trail.  Although the trees were rotting the vines attached to the trees were alive and well.  End result - POISON OAK OR IVY.  Almost every summer I get poison ivy when I use a weedeater, but this time there were no leaves to identify the vines.  Since I have a lot of wild muscadine vines, I thought that was what they were and I went to work pulling vines.  Apparently these were not muscadine vines.  Itching started on Sunday afternoon on my arm, but by 1:00 am Monday morning after eating my midnight snack I could feel  my lips getting tight and beginning to swell and it looked like I had hives.  Thinking it was a reaction to what I had just eaten, poison ivy or poison oak never entered my mind, especially since I had no blisters at this time.  After a trip to the doctor, I now know the vines were poisonous.  Since Saturday was about 80 degrees I must have wiped the sweat off my head transferring the poison to my ears, neck, and face.  At least I got treatment started early with a shot, Prednesone, and Benadryl cream to relieve the itching.  The whole point of this writing is to provide information to any reader that may prevent him, myself included, from going through the itching and blisters I now have.  Below are pictures of these poisonous plants to help with identification before coming in contact with them.  The best rule is "leaves of three let it be".  This is true of poison ivy and poison oak. Of course there are other non-poisonous plants with three leaves, but close inspection shows that the tips of the leaves on poison ivy will form a triangle and the leaves are not symmetrical, meaning the central vein is not centered, one side larger than the other.   Poison oak has the same identifying marks, but the leaves tend to mimic the other plants around it.  The leaves may look like an oak or may be rounded.  Poison sumac characteristically has either 9 or 11 leaves on a single stalk.  These plants grow just about everywhere in the southeastern states and are one of the things to be avoided on any trail hike especially on the AT or Pinhoti.  Remember the rule - leaves of three, let it be.

Ready to Start Back

Around my house plans keep changing.  My last post was posted when I was visiting two of my grandchildren in Virginia where they had about 8 inches of snow.  Last week was a trip to Georgia to see my youngest grandchild.  It looks like I will get back on the trail the week after Easter since kids will be coming to visit that week.  Once I start back I will have a couple of weeks to hike before I have to make another trip to Virginia for a week.  My wife will pick me up at whatever town I can get to and then drop me back at the same location on the return trip so I can hike on.  In the mean-time I am trying out different meals looking for the things I like to eat.  Some things I have tried, I have ruled out.  It may come down to a jar of peanut butter, along with a few other meals.  Also, I have planted my garden just in case I have to end my hike before reaching Maine.  My wife may end up tending to it if I stay on the trail.  Warmer weather has me excited again about continuing my hike, but also I am aware of the miles I will need to hike each day in order to complete the AT by the end of September.  I have decided not to worry about the miles and just enjoy the hike no matter how far I get.  Being retired, I have no deadline to make so I can take my time and not feel rushed.  More to come later.  

New Start Date

Okay, it looks like spring will never get here.  While some may like hiking in cold weather it is not for me.  I hope to get back on the trail the first weekend in April.  At that time I plan on meeting my son and his wife for a weekend camping trip, probably covering some of the trail I have already covered.  They will drop me off at Horse Gap on that Sunday so I can pick up with the section of the trail I skipped.  I now have a hardshell bear canister, so I will stop at either Jarrod Gap or Blood Mountain Shelter.  The canister is required for overnighters in that section of the trail.  Another reason for going with the canister is that I can now carry food items that would be squished or crumbled if stuffed in my pack.  There is additional weight of 2 lbs, but I have changed over to a new lighter, more compressible sleeping bag which should make up the difference.  My old sleeping bag was a synthetic zero degree bag that kept me warm at night, but it is really a heavy winter bag.  The new one is a three season down bag rated at 20 degrees.  Even though I loved the Solo Jet Boil stove, I have switched to a new lighter alcohol stove.  There is a big difference in the time it takes to boil water, with the Jet Boil boiling a cup of water in about 1 minute as opposed to the alcohol stove boiling 1 cup in about 6 minutes.  The difference in time should not matter on the trail.  I will be experimenting with cooking different foods next week so hopefully my menu of food items will improve.  Although the Mountain House dehydrated meals are edible, I will need to plan better meals.  Breakfast will still consist mainly of oatmeal and coffee, but I my try pre-mixing powered milk and cereal in plastic bags for something different.  I definitely need additional food items for suppers.  Lunches will continue to be fiber bars, candy bars and GORP (good old raisins and peanuts - i.e. trail mix).  Suppers will consist of Ramen noodles, pasta, tuna, salmon, peanut butter sandwiches, or other items I may experiment with between now and the end of the month.  Of course, I may be limited on choices since I will only carry food for about 5 days, and will have to depend on what is available when I resupply.  I will try to list exactly what foods I will be taking as soon as that decision is made.

Mountain Crossings

One of the most interesting places is the store and hostel located at Neel's Gap.  Winton Porter, the former owner, wrote a book, Just Passing Through, about the interesting people that passed through this location. Passing through is exactly what the trail does, and it is the only part of the trail that goes under a roof.

Note the white blaze which marks the Appalachian Trail on the side of the doorway.

The store may look small on the outside, but it is packed full on the inside.  It is the only outfitter located directly on the trail, and the first one you come to.  They have everything, and I mean everything, that would be needed for hiking the AT.  

One of the services they provide is a pack shakedown.  They have you lay everything in your pack out on the floor by categories, such as food, clothing, shelter, and other miscellaneous items.  Then make suggestions on things you can do without, thus eliminating weight from your pack.  The person in the picture above (sorry for the poor quality) is Logan, who did my shakedown.  He eliminated 11 lbs. from my pack.  The excess items are then boxed and shipped home.  I should have kept some of the things we sent home, but I was so tired that day that if he had said I did not need my boots, I would have shipped them home also.

Below is a picture of the current owner, George, posing with me.  I had just been given a demonstration of a lightweight alcohol stove that was on the counter out of view, and of course I purchased one.

The picture below is Baltimore Jack, one of the characters mentioned in the book Just Passing Through.

Mountain Crossings is a really unique place packed full of stuff and hikers restocking on food and accessories they need to continue hiking.

Day 10

Home!  I will start again when I know the polar vortex has ended and warmer weather arrives.  It will always be colder in the mountains, and the weather is unpredictable in the mountains.  I returned home to find sunshine and temperatures in the 60's.  What a difference a day makes.  There was snow and ice in the mountains, with as much as 6 inches in some places.  For those who thought I would last about a week, you were partly right.  For those who provided support on this blog, I thank you.  My journey is not done only postponed for 2 weeks or so until the drastic winter season has passed.  Overall the experience so far has been fantastic.  I have met people from all over the world.  One from Australia, two from Germany, one from Canada, and others from the following states:  Montana, Maine, Illinois, Vermont, Texas, Oregon, California, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, and even two from Alabama, Chula Vista, and Mobile. Two people were homeless, one of which sold her home and had a friend drop her off at Springer Mountain. As I was hiking I was passed by many day hikers, some going up a mountain and some coming down from a mountain top.  On occasion some would pass me twice while I was resting.  There was always a large tree or rock that I know was put on the trail just for me to stop and sit for a while.  Some people that I met were so into the "hike" that they did not take the time to enjoy the beauty of the surroundings.  I am glad I started early because the trees had no foliage and did not block the view of the mountains.  Before I started several people had asked about the cold, and now I can certainly see the advantage of starting later in the year.  Before I started I was not sure what physical conditioning I needed to do.  Now I know, put 50 lbs. on your back and climb the steps to the tallest building you can find and then back down at least 100 times a day.  On one occasion I had just gone over a high mountain, down and up the next one, when I looked back and thought wow I really did go over a high mountain.  Of course I did a lot of looking back while I was resting.  I know this post is getting long so I will finish by adding a few of the 200 pictures I took.

Shelters:

Typical bear hang for food storage (sorry but I took it after I took down my food bag)

Typical water sources (water treated with AquaMira drops before drinking)

Typical trail pictures: