Day 11

Game Over.  Mountains win.  I'm done.  My knees just can't take the uphill climbs or the downhill slopes.  I have tried on two attempts and that's all.  If I ever complete the whole trail it will be by doing a section at a time.  My knees just do not work like they did years ago, so I am happy to be home.  Today while I was waiting for my wife to pick me up, I was sitting in the Holiday Inn Express with my back to the lobby door when I hear someone call my name.  When I turned around there stood a hiker from North Carolina that said Jane had just dropped him off and told him that if he saw me to say Hi.  This hiker thought he might have broken a bone in his foot.  He had been sitting at Unicoi Gap for about 2 hours when someone offered him a ride.  That someone was none other than my trail angel, Jane Kuck. Here is a picture of Jane and I.

In yesterday's post I mentioned that God puts people in our path to help us or teach us something.  I failed to mention that sometimes it may be us that God is using to help someone else.  It is quite possible that we may not even be aware of it at the time.  We may never put it together that God used us in that way.  One thing I am sure of, Jane is a true trail angel.  As the hiker told his story to me, and I shared how Jane had just appeared on the trail to help me we both agreed that Jane is one of those special people, a true trail angel.

What did I accomplish on my journey?  I did cover 52.9 miles of the AT plus the 8 miles of the Approach Trail that do not count.  Added together I hiked 66 miles.  For anyone who is doing the math remember I hiked a 5.5 mile section twice.  What was the most enjoyable part?  I would have to answer the nights at Blood Mountain Cabins.  I am really a couch potato and enjoy the comforts of home as opposed to sleeping in a tent.  The reality is that I knew my knees were in bad shape because I had to have help to stand up after crawling out of my tent in the morning.  I always made sure that my hiking poles were real close when I crawled into my tent because I needed them to help me get up each morning.  I am not convinced that being overweight had that much of an effect on my knees, but it probably did add to the problem.  Another best part would be the people that I met along the way.  Every person that I met was very friendly.  Sometimes you would know and remember a persons name, like Tom who had just gotten out of the Navy and started hiking. Or you would know them by a trail name, like Slo-Mo and Green Mile, a father and son hiking part of the trail. Or, you would just remember the state where a person was from, like the hiker from Maine that I gave all my food.  Everyone who passed me usually stopped to talk for a minute or two.  Was I ever discouraged?  Sure.  This occurred almost every time I looked up and thought I was just about to reach the top of a mountain only to find out that I was wrong and the top was still uphill some more.  Or when I did reach a mountain top only to be able to see the next mountain I would be climbing and dreading the climb I knew was ahead.  I could do pretty good on level ground, but there wasn't much of that anywhere.  Was there anything I did not like?  Yes, the taste of hot water from a 2 liter bladder bag I carried.  When I was  thirsty warm water was not what I needed to quince my thirst.  I really believe that if I had found someone hiking at my slow pace to pair up with I would have enjoyed it more and could have gone further.  The old saying "misery loves company" has a lot of truth there.  Don't get me wrong, I am proud of my journey.  I now know that I am one of the 7 out of 10 that do not complete a thru hike.  From now on I will be a weekend camper, a couple of days at a time.

What's next for me?  I will turn my attention to my garden and start fishing again.  I will put my hiking equipment up for now and maybe try to do another section next year.  I will continue with this blog because it is all about my life journey.  More to come later.

Day 10

Today was agonizing.  Instead of the 7 miles that I thought I would be walking it turned out to be 9.5 miles after yesterday's 11.5 miles from Neels gap to Low Gap Shelter.  I will admit that from Hogpen Gap to Low Gap was the longest 4.5 miles I ever walked until today.  I met 4 hikers all young college kids. One was from Maine so I gave him all the extra food I was carrying.  He was glad to get it. They broke camp early and were on their way about the time I was crawling out of my tent.  The first 5 miles was fairly level.  Knees were feeling fine. Then the terrain changed to climbing up and down rocks and roots.  The uphills were tough on the knees and the downhills were treacherous causing me to go even slower.  A day hiker passed me for the second time. Once going and once coming back.  As he passed he said that "if you ever got lost just look for the rocks and the roots".  Then he was gone. With about 3 miles to go I stopped to refill my water. Just uphill from the water was a shelter.  I passed it heading for Unicol Gap   The day was running out.  I truly believe that God puts people in our paths to teach us something or to help us in some way.  With 2.5 miles to go I met a trail angel. A lady by the name of Jane Kuck (cook) appeared behind me.  She was a day hiker out looking at flowers and looking for Ramp.  She mentioned that she was from Hiawassee and parked at Unicol Gap.  I asked her that if I could keep up with her could she give me a ride into Hiawassee.  She said yes, but let me lead so she would make sure not to leave me behind.  That way I could choose when to rest.  As we walked she pointed out the different kind of plants and flowers I had been seeing along the trail.  As we talked about families and hiking the miles passed much easier.  After we got to her car we drove to the Holiday Inn.  She waited until I got checked in then I asked her to let me take her picture so, we asked a stranger to take a picture of us.  I will post that tomorrow once I download the pictures from my camera.  Two things popped into my head.  One the book by Dale Evans "Angels Unaware".  The other was the song "Angels Amoung Us".   To me she was the ultimate trail angel.  More to come tomorrow. 

Day 9

Longest hike yet.  I did the 5.5 miles from Neels Gap to Tesnatee Gap, which I had hiked before. Beautiful mountain views.  From there I started hiking up the road and was picked up by some day hikers who had passed me on the trail.  So, I got a ride to Hogpen Gap which was about 1/2 mile up the mountain road   At that point the sign said 4.5 miles to Low Gap Shelter. This was the longest 4.5 miles I have ever done.  The path was straighter but as soon as you topped one mountain you saw the next one you were about to go up.   I was beginning to think I had missed the shelter when I finally reached it just before dark.  I am way to slow a hiker only covering less than a mile an hour.  I can't go any faster.  About mile 3 I was feeling great when I stepped off a rock and felt pain in my knee.  For a while the pain only occurred when going downhills but by the end of the day it was hurting on the uphills to. There is no pain on an almost level path.  I have decided to end my hiking for this year.  I need to do 7 miles today to get to a point where I can get a ride to the next town.  That way my wife, Amy, can pick me up as she returns from her visit in Virginia.  More to come later 

Day 8

Today I am glad I stayed in.  Rained most of the day and the fog so thick visibility is about 25 feet. There are no mountain views today. Hopefully this will clear out tonight and tomorrow will be sunny.  I am beginning to get cabin fever but these cabins have a small kitchen, table, futon, and 2 bedrooms, and most important a TV.  The store has frozen pizzas and a small supply of hiker foods.  The one thing I am missing is a Cracker Barrell or steak place, or even a Mc Donald's.  I should get to a town in a couple of days maybe.  Tomorrow I will have to hike a lot more miles than I have previously just to get to a campsite.  Since I have already hiked this part of the trail I intend to skip Wildcat Mountain.  It is very steep with switchbacks every 15 feet. Instead I plan to walk up the road from Tesnatee Gap to Hogpen Gap and try to make Low Gap Shelter by dark. That's the plan but sometimes the plans change. We will see. 

Day 7

Not hiking today.  Waiting on the weather to clear. Supposed to be another round of storms coming through tonight. So I will wait it out.  Today is much cooler and I shipped home the bear cannister stuffed full of extra food and clothes.  I thought it would weigh about 20 pounds, but it only weighed 7 lbs but it took up so much space in my pack and was really bulky.  It was a great camp stool though.  Food weight is another way to cut down. I have been carrying too much food thinking I would eat more. Even Baby Ruth's don't taste good after a day of hiking in the heat. Too sweet. When I start hiking again I will hike a section that I have hiked before. There was a mountain view I would like to get a picture of if the weather cooperates. Hopefully it will.  More to come later. 

Day 6

Today is a zero day.  Scattered showers expected.  Severe weather is expected for Tuesday and Wednesday so I will plan on staying put till Thursday morning.  Call me a whimp but I have no desire to hike in storms that I know are coming.  I am still recovering from dehydration and feel 100% better. I will send home every item that has not been used so far.  There is no sense in carting dead weight in my pack. I have met some interesting people.  A father and son from South Carolina hiking to Franklin NC.  The son is an insulin dependent diabetic.  A group of first time hikers.  Three hikers from New York.  One from Ohio.  One hiker who's parents grew up in Lincoln and another who's grandmother was from Sylacauga.  It just shows that we really do live in a small world. This is the closest I have come to a bear. 

I decided to stick with my tent and not buy a hammock.  I know I can stay dry in my tent in case I do get caught in the rain.  I bought a new sleeping pad to replace the one that will not stay inflated.  I did find out that the reason for the bear cannister rule was one bear that had figured out how to get the food bags from the bear hangs, but the local people also think he may be dead by now.  I also have a picture of one of the rodents occupying the shelter on top of the mountain but I can't post it at this time   More to come later. 

Day 5

New score Blood Mountain 2 one going up and one coming down.  Water at last nights shelter tasted terrible. I drank only a half liter gagging with each swallow.  I am trusting that the aquamera drops cleaned the harmful stuff up.  So, I tackled the mountain with fowl tasting water. This was the first time the water has had a chemical taste from the drops. Instead I poured the water on me to help cool me off and would only rinse and spit when I need water thus limiting the amount I drank.

Me from the top of the mountain awesome view. It seemed like 10000 steps up and 1000 switchbacks.  Completely exhausted by the time I reached the top.  Going down was worse  with rock scrambles. I really got excited when I began to hear cars on the highway and could see Mountain Crossing. Got to Blood Mountain cabins and got the last vacancy.  Walked in the door right before the rain started. Because these cabins have 2 bedrooms I would be willing for someone to share if they need to get out of the weather.  So far I am alone but I think storms are moving in for tomorrow and I will take a zero day tomorrow.  I will wait on the weather to see what Tuesday holds.  At least I have downed a gallon of water and gotten a shower, and eaten half a pizza.  Feet were really hurting today, but so far no blisters yet.  Maybe tonight I can sleep.  My air matress has a slow leak so in the middle of the night I am on the ground which means I cannot go back to sleep when that occurs.  I will be shipping a lot of things home tomorrow   Mostly the bear cannister.  With the food I don't think I'll eat. Some other items also maybe my tent so I can try a hammock. Although there are tent sites they are not level. With a hammock all you need is 2 trees. I saw a lot of these in use at Lance Creek. It would also lighten my load about 5 lbs.  more later