Roan Mountain

Hi

I'm not sleeping well tonight so you get a blog update (yayyy).

We left ceecee's wonderful Greasy Creek Friendly two days ago a booked it over Roan Mountain to Stan Murray shelter. We were originally hoping for overmountain shelter but 20 miles just wasn't in the cards for a team half still recovering from food poisoning (poor frodo and snowshoes). By the time we got to Stan Murray it was nearing dark and it simply wasn't worth moving on. We woke up this morning to a dusting of snow and frost. Our whole morning was spent crossing high balds with wind speeds higher than the temperature. It felt bad ass and cold and also very cold. The extreme conditions are kinda fun in a "keep moving or you die"  sorta way (in reality it's more of a " keep moving or you really get a chill"  type deal but you get the point). I got some good pictures of the whole ordeal so it was worth it.

Tofay we managed an 11 mile descent to TN 19E where we hoped to in ans out to stealth camp on the trail. We walked about 2.5 into town without a hitch until we came across Jo-Ann. She took us to the grocery and then offered us a bed for the night. It is cold tonight so we took her up on it. She got us some nice southern barbecue, we got a shower, and she even let us use the washer and dryer. We are super duper grateful for her hospitality.

Tomorrow we are shooting again for high miles. We're hoping to manage 25 or so to a hostel just outside of Hampton TN.

Oh, and we're done with NC. Go us!

Anyways. Goodnight. Damascus by Wednesday, maybe even Tuesday.

Audio Blog

I'm trying to spend less time typing on my phone, and to let Hozzle and Frodo contribute, so here's a group-recorded audio blog post. While you're there check out the Ableton projects I did for school last semester.

\

Cheeers

Cap't Tying Knots

Standing Bear Farm

Hi team

We're at the standing bear hostel about to leave bound for hotsprings NC. We've had a great night and made good time through the smokeys but unfortunately the service here is spotty so I can't post pics. Also the charger I bought doesn't do the whole charging thing too well so I need to sort that out again when we get to hot springs. Let's hope for WiFi.

Anyways, know we all good. The smokeys are behind us and we have less than 2,000 miles to go (yay). The weather is looking up for the next few days and hopefully we can keep out mileages high.

Plenty of stories from the smokeys and this hostel to come. We've made two new friends snowshoes and Wolf. And pics. Such pics!

Till then,

Captain tying knots

Fontana Hilton

Greetings from the laundry room of the Fontana Lodge laundry room.

The past couple of days have brought us to the souther edge of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We've lucked out on rain and made good time getting here.

Leaving the NoC we went straight up about 3,000 vertical feet over 6 miles to sassafras gap shelter. We met flash again, and a couple dudes hiking together  who call themselves Mary and Pippin. The weather was warm and sunny that day. Only bad thing asides the vertical gainz was at a lunch break my peanut butter fell down a cliff. Sam well documented the recovery effort.

The next day (Mar. 9) we did 15.2 to get to the cable gap shelter. Mary and Pippin were there again. We managed to time our hiking perfectly in that we left after the morning drizzle and got in before the evening rains. It's been nice that it only rains at night really, though that luck will surely runout in the smokeys.

From cable gap it was only 7 to the Fontana dam shelter where we'll stay tonight. We got the sketchiest hitch yet into the resort where we were looking to resupply, eat, and launder. The only real resteraunt in town is a hotel. Luckily the three of us were the only folks looking to eat on a Tuesday afternoon so they actually let three smelly hikers eat. They even gave us a free chicken pot pie to take back to the shelter which is like, probably the highlight of the week.

Anyways. I have a short time on WiFi while the wash works and then it's back to the shelter. No service there so I guess we'll chat next when we're through the smokeys. I'll try to get pics up before then.

Oh, and I got a charge cable at a gas station. All good.

Cheers

Nantahala

Hi all

Just got a restaurant breakfast at the Nantahala outdoor center. 3 days ago we left Franklin on a 12 miler which took u an to the Wayan bald fire tower. We spent the night at the top of a tower on top of a 5,200 ft mountain. It was windy and kind of terrifying and we slept through the sunset but I guess it was a valuable experience or something. Then we absolutely killed it yesterday with a 16 mile day which took us to A. Rufus Morgan shelter just before the NOC. Today we're planning to climb 3,000 ft out of here to sassafras gap where we'll spend the night. We're hoping to make Fontana dam in the next 3 days. We've had a nice streak of weather which we hope to continue, but I think I heard about rain in the coming days.

That's it for now. I lost my charge cable so this will be my last contact before I find that one. I might be able to do that today though in Nantahala... You'll just have to stick around to find out

Franklin

EDIT: I wrote this 3 days ago but the hotel WiFi failed to publish it. Working on a new post atm

Franklin. Yesterday we hiked out from Rock Gap to Winding Stair Gap. We got there through driving rain that saturated everything, but it makes it a great day to go into town. We were an hour or so early for our shuttle so we huddled under a tree while Frodo stood in the rain for a hitch. A car stopped and Andrea welcomed us to her Kia Rio.

We've been travelling with a section hiker named Bingo. He's a veteran in his twenty's who has been attacking the trail in sections when he has time. Today he'll be doing half a day with us before returning home to figure out law school plans. We wish him the best and thank him for everything. 

Today we are trying to print our permits to hike the smokeys before breakfast and a shuttle out to the trail. Our goal is about 12 miles today, and then to make it to the Nantahala Outdoor Center by Monday morning for a resupply. Fingers crossed on a good forecast.

Ttfn, working on uploading pics.

Greetings from beautiful North Carolina

That's right. Yesterday we made the border of North Carolina. Sorry for the Radio silence these past couple of days, I've turned the phone on every night but this is the first time I've gotten service. It's not even that good right here, hopefully this goes through.

We managed a hitch out of Helen from Henry who played disc golf and listened to phish. We got out around noon and wound up making good miles. The afternoon was pretty sunny and warm and we had nice views all afternoon. A perk of winter trekking is that the leaves don't obstruct our views on the high ridges. We spent the night 13 miles north of Unicoi gap at deep gap shelter. This was the first night we spent alone so far. The shelter had lofts but it was cold so we set up the tent inside.

On Sunday we had a shorter day. We did 8 miles to plum orchard gap shelter where we met milkman and Josh. It was raining that day, which was alright because it meant the snow and ice were melting away. Since then the trail has been almost entirely clear. 

Monday we got a late start but still banged out 12 miles to get to standing Indian shelter. This was probably the best day of hiking we've had overall just because it was sunny and warm. We met flash, who is only 17 and hiking as a gap year. It's weird not being the youngest ones out. North Carolina shelters don't have the nice bear cables that Georgia ones do,  so we had to rig a beat bag. Brett and I did some great engineering and when you see the pictures you'll be proud.

Today we got another late start. They're kinda becoming our thing now and we're trying to change that. Our options were a shelter at 8 and one at 16 with a big mountain in between. I'm writing fairly early in the afternoon from the 8 mile option. It's warm but raining so I think we made the right call.

We're hoping to make Franklin, NC by Thursday where we'll get another hotel stay and supplies through Fontana dam.

Good to be warm, finally.