Pics From The Trail

Just put a few more pics on the Flickr.
Also, if you are curious how to tell who writes each post, usually I (Michael) write a single paragraph with a lot of sentences and Matt breaks it up into different paragraphs.
Also, check out the blogs of some people we have traveled with!
http://panchtakesahike.blogspot.com/
http://ihearbanjos.blogspot.com/
http://www.sidewaysgaze.com

Here is my new hiking buddy! I upgraded from Matt to this dog, Copper.

Happy Easter Y'all

We have had a great few days. Thanks again Nanny, Uncle Chad, and Will for helping us out in Asheville! We made it to REI and got some new gear - new poles for Matt, a new stove for both of us, and new shoes and shades for me. Thank you REI for your return policy! We did 18 miles Thursday, which would've been normal except that we started at 3:00 PM! We got to a shelter at 6 after seeing some incredible views from Big Bald and decided to eat dinner and then push 10.3 more miles to the next one. We hiked with Super Fast Nate, his dad, and Roadrunner. Roadrunner's the man! He's an older man from Germany who had his first big cheeseburger (a whopper provided by Mr. Smith), and he loved it! Also, Roadrunner doesn't hike with trekking poles and he's a beast at spotting white blazes. Twice he spotted blazes when everyone else missed them. We saw a nearly full moon and an awesome sunset, and then we used headlamps and got in at 11:30. I was so tired, considering that 9:00 is hiker midnight, it felt like 2:30 in the morning! Then we got to Erwin the next day and got to the all you can eat pizza buffet, which was so good. We slept at Curly Maple shelter and then today got picked up by Mr. Smith and we are at his house right now! We are zeroing here for Easter, and looking forward to a relaxing stay here with some generous hosts and a great view of the mountains!

3 feet of snow... Unreal!

, a photo by mmontheat on Flickr.

We did a tough 17 today to Sam's Gap and got picked up by my Aunt! About 4 miles of the day was through 2-4 foot snow drifts, at some points it was legitimately above my waist. The last 8 miles took 6 hours, when it usually would take less than three! It didn't help that we were the first ones out there, so a lot of the time I was the one making the first footsteps in the huge snow. It was the most natural snow I have ever seen! Another hilight is that when Justin got picked up at Devils Fork Gap, his dad brought us all Whoppers and Mnt Dew! That was a great lunch break. They were so delicious and got us through the rest of the day! We had a lot of fun hiking with Justin and Denali, although the weather didn't really cooperate. Now we are fortunate enough to be at my Aunt's house in Asheville, enjoying a great dinner (homemade Chicken Enchiladas and black bean soup), heated building (we have been sleeping in the low 20's), a hot shower, and a hot tub! We will get back on the trail in the morning!

It Be Snowin'

Headed out of Hot Springs today with Justin! It was a great stay at Chuck Norris's hostel, and the past 3 breakfasts at Smoky Mountain Diner were great! Also, thank you to Panch's mom for treating us to dinner last night! That was fantastic!

Hopefully we don't get a foot of snow tonight. And thanks mom for the cookies! It was worth carrying that extra pound.

Bro Time

Charlie's Bunion with William and Bradley in the Smokies


also, we just updated the Flickr so check out the new pics from the trail!

A Typical Day on the Trail

For those of you wondering, here is what a typical day on the trail looks likes for us.

- Wake up at sunrise or when the shelter starts to get pretty noisy
- Pack up our stuff and eat breakfast which usually consists of oatmeal, grits, or pop tarts
- Then we start hiking
- We continue hiking
- Whoever's leading will stop when they feel like eating lunch which is usually snickers, tree bark, and bugs for protein
- Then we hike
- We continue hiking
- We usually stop for the day between 3 and 4:30
- We'll claim our spot in the shelter and make dinner which is usually rice or pasta sides and such as
- Then we just hang out, make a fire if possible, or just get in our sleeping bags if it's really cold
- When it gets dark we'll read some then go to sleep

That's what our day pretty much looks like in its most basic form. We only cook breakfast and dinner which is really just boiling water and adding food to it. Every time we resupply, we'll plan our next resupply and estimate how many days it'll take to get there. Then every night we'll decide how many miles we want to do the next day. It's a super flexible schedule. Really our only deadline is getting back to school on August 19th.

As far as showering and washing clothes go, we do that every time we take a zero or when we have an easy cheap opportunity to. In the past three weeks, I've washed the clothes that I wear every day 3 times and have taken 5 showers.

We're lovin' it! If you have any questions, you can comment below and we may or may not answer them some time soon.

Also, thanks for everyone commenting. It's great to hear from all of y'all!

A Shower Never Felt So Good

We did 23 miles yesterday to be able to do a nero into Hot Springs. We went over Max Patch yesterday which was our first bald (shout out to Brad). Today we did 3.2 miles and plan on staying at the Laughing Heart Lodge and Hostel tonight and tomorrow! Chuck Norris is the owner and he's awesome. He's a super nice guy and has hiked the AT twice along with a few other trails.

We took our first shower today since Franklin (11 days)! It was a great feeling. Guess who's feet are who's. After we showered, we got some food at the Smoky Mountain Diner. We stuffed ourselves!

We'll probably treat ourselves to the famous hot springs in Hot Springs, NC and get some more pictures uploaded when we get access to a computer.

Excited to hike with Justin a.k.a. Mountain DewD in a couple days!

EX goes AT

A lot has happened since our last post was written! We hit Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the entire AT at around 6600. We met up with Bradley and William, although through some miscommunication they ended up hiking the same 3 mile stretch 3 times... So we ended up making it to Gatlinburg on a shuttle to get 5 guys burgers for lunch which was ridiculously good. Then we did a 12.5 mile day along the beautiful ridge lines on the smoky mountains, including Charlie's Bunion which was one of the most scenic views so far. That afternoon we got on the shelter in the sun and worked on drying out our stuff and getting a base tan. The next day we did a 14.5 mile day down to davenport gap shelter, right at the end of the national park. It was some great hiking with some good friends. They brought us some surprises from our boys Josh and Trav. We loved the Yoohoos and appreciated the letter! Then we woke up to some snow, hiked out to the standing bear hostel where Bradley and William left us. We got a great lunch there, two Digorno pizzas and Cokes, and got a great package from the parents. Love you Bert and Julie! Now we are at Groundhog Creek shelter with Ziggy and Ditto, who are from Montana! Big day tomorrow but still loving being out here, living stress free!

Hittin' the Smokies while it's Warm

I wrote this on March 16th but couldn't get service to post it. Enjoy!

We entered the smokies today! And surprisingly I wore shorts for the first time. We slept in 50/60 degree weather last night at the Fontana Hilton!

Last night was the last night with Dirty Mike and the Boys Plus Two Girls Minus One for a while, probably till Hot Springs. Ross and Panch took a zero day today due to an ankle injury and tummy ache respectively. And Tosh had to go home to visit his grandfather who recently had a stroke (hopefully he'll recover and Toshl be able to get back on the trail soon). So only Michael, Gummy, and I hiked today out of the gang. We had a good dam hike before heading into the smokies where we hiked about 17 miles to Spence Field Shelter (shout out to Spencer Powell). Despite almost being blown over in the fire tower and feeling the pizzas from last night (I don't know what Wessner laced them with) it was a fantastic day!

Also, last night we were in the shelter with City Slicker who invented some crazy thing when he was younger so now he just hikes and skis for a living! And the other day we met someone briefly (I forget his name) who's been long distance hiking for the last 19 years. His calves were the size of tree trunks!

Well it's getting late a.k.a. the sun has set so I gotta go to bed. Stoked to hike about 20 miles to meet up with William and Bradley!

Spring breakin'

Dam Good Pizza

Made it to the Fontana Dam! The shelter here (nicknamed the Hilton) sleeps 24 and has a bathroom with a shower, so needless to say we are happy. Got a visit from Matthew Wessner! He is the man, he drove all the way from UT to bring us pizza and snacks (I downed a whole one by myself). Excited to hit the Smoky Mountains tomorrow!

Dolla Dolla Bill Y'all

We did 15.8 miles out of the NOC today to Brown Fork shelter. It was our toughest day, we started with a 3300 ft climb! One person in our group, Gummy, saw a bear! She came around a corner and was only 2 meters away! (she's Canadian... About 2 yards for all you Americans out there). Also shout out to Bailey who we saw yesterday at the NOC!

7 deep at NOC

Made it to NOC yesterday! We spent the night at the hostel here and it's a huge climb out today, so we made sure to get a big breakfast at the river restaurant. Still in our group of 7! But today we might lose G, she's taking a zero. We are gonna go 16 miles to the Brown Fork shelter, that way we have an easy hike to Fontana tomorrow. Shout out to Bradley and William, excited to see y'all up in the Smokies on Sunday!

Beard Progress

Check out our gnarly beards. I think I am definitely winning (Michael) but let us know who you think is winning in the polls!

"How much dem cookies?"

Well I guess it's been a while since we last posted. We didn't have service for a while and yesterday and today we were a little lazy.

Last Friday the 8th, we left the great state of Georgia. It was sad to leave home but great to get 1 of 14 states done. Also, aside from the first couple of miles of NC, the terrain's been pretty easy. Rather than going straight to the top of the mountain and down, the trail gradually goes close to the top and gradually back down.

We stayed in the first shelter in NC, Muskrat Creek Shelter, where we met some more pretty cool people that we've been hiking with the past couple of days. We met Lucky, who although ruined the fire by spreading the coals to cook his meal, did redeem himself by showing us a sweet side trail which led to a great view of the Appalachian Mountains. We also met a spunky girl named G, an incredibly loud snorer named Tosh, and Gummy Bear who's Canadian, speaks 6 or 7 languages, has biked across Canada, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and has taught school in the Middle East!

Our second day in NC we spent the night at Betty's Creek (our first night not at a shelter). Then on Sunday, we hiked to Winding Stair Gap to get a ride into Franklin. Before getting there, we stopped to climb a fire tower on top of Albert Mountain to see some pretty good views. It was a good couple of days of hiking but definitely a little difficult physically, not because of the terrain but because of how much we've been hiking (we did over 100 miles in 9 days).

We got a ride into Franklin from the free hiker shuttle service at the Sapphire Inn where we stayed Sunday and Monday night. The past two dinners we've had have been at Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant across the street and we've been supplementing with some McDonalds and Hardee's!

Yeah so today we took our first zero day. We thought it would rain a lot more today but honestly our bodies needed some rest. Today mostly consisted of sleeping in, sitting around watching movies, resupplying, and gettin' Girl Scout cookies! The owner of the inn is a super southern guy with a big gut and a big beard who took us in a little bus to Walmart and an outfitter to resupply. In a parking lot we saw some Girl Scouts so we told him we wanted some cookies. So he rolled up to them, opens the bus door and yells out to them, "How much dem cookies?" in the thickest accent. He ended up parking the bus and we went out into the rain to buy some of dem cookies. It was awesome!

Sorry for the long update. We uploaded some pictures so check those out. Excited to get some good sleep before heading out tomorrow and hitting up the NOC in two to three days!

Great Stay at the Burton Inn!

Thanks Mom for taking care of us at the cabin! You're the best! We had all the food we could eat: spaghetti, salad, fresh fruit, bacon, eggs, pancakes, and chocolate amoretto cake! And thanks to Mama Blanchard for resupplying us with some more food!

Headed to North Carolina today!

Swag of the Blue Ridge

We haven't been able to post the past couple of nights, but it has been a fun couple of days.  On Tuesday, we woke up to the smell of some amazing pancakes made by Pirate, who runs the hiker hostel at Neels Gap. Coming out of the hiker hostel, we did 12 miles to Low Gap shelter.  It was super foggy weather, but luckily the real rain held off until we got set up for the night.  The shelter was tucked away in a beautiful mountainside, with two streams coming together right in front of the shelter.

We woke up in the middle of the night to snow falling on us, and then in the morning there was an inch of snow.  That day was very cold and windy so we just got out of there and made it 15.5 miles to Tray Mnt Shelter!  Woke up to this beautiful sunrise...

And thats why I love being out here so much!

I am loving the sleep schedule out here (go to bed at 7, wake up at 7), I am loving the views, the fresh mountain air, the endorphins (I'm practically running on them), and the amount of food I can put down at the end of a big day.  The people are great too, there really is a sense of community among the hikers.  Matt and I have picked up a few friends, Ross, who we met on our first night, and Ponch, who we met at the hiker hostel.  Can't wait to see what else is around the corner! Tomorrow we'll hit North Carolina!

Also, if  you're still reading, we just uploaded a bunch of pics to the flickr account so make sure to check them out, there should be a running picture feed in the top right hand corner of the blog if you're on your computer.