I’m afraid… I’ve gone soft.

Seven days off the trail. Whew. That’s quite a few. Not only did I post very little, so all of my readers were getting antsy, but I also hiked very little. Sure, we did a few hikes, but not enough to keep my body in hiker condition. Today felt like starting back at Amicalola.

Now don’t get me wrong. I have no regrets about taking my hiatus. It was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life. And if you are thinking: “Firewalker, what did you do all week if you weren’t hiking?” the answer is mostly just enjoy the people who came to see me, and of course enjoy the hot tub, jacuzzi tub, pool table, and food.

The cabin we rented actually belonged to a cousin. Steven and Sue were gracious enough to invite us over to their equally awesome house. We enjoyed conversation over pizza and pie. Talk about great hosts! Their children, Landon and Sophie, were also good hosts, who showed us around and taught me how to play Skylanders. Much thanks to all of them for such a great vacation!

They also have a whitewater rafting company in the area. I’ll have to do that next time!

Here is a link to the cabin–

And here is a link to the rafting, Steven and Sue have a little story about how they started.

The cabin was so much fun, and I would gladly go back.

Getting back on the trail this afternoon, I only did a few miles to the first campsite before I set up camp, but it turned out alright, as I met with Wildflower Willie, and Dustin, whom I had met earlier on the trail. We had a campfire, and morale was high in no time.

It’s good to be back on the trail.

There was a tower a little ways in. It was cool to see Fontana Dam from a distance again after hiking right past it.

The past few days have been wonderful. At first, I was worried about leaving the trail for a week, but it has been very enjoyable and necessary. Sure, other hikers will be pretty far ahead of me when I get back on the trail, and I will probably lose some leg strength, but it will definitely be worth it

We stayed the night at the lodge on the 28th, which was an impressively nice place. The town of Fontana Village is not a big one, but the lodge was very accommodating and had very comfortable facilities. I was able to meet up with some former hikers: Goat, Voodoo, Shroomer, and Mocha, among others.

One of the great aspects of the lodge was the game room! Pool tables, foosball, ping pong, and arcade games made for a pretty fun afternoon. Since there was no change machine (getting quarters involved walking 1/4 mile), we made a few modifications to some of the games. In mid-game, my parents arrived at the window. Despite knowing they would arrive, I was shocked to see them.

I grabbed my pack and was cabin-bound. As I had told a couple of hikers, I was headed to my vacation. We headed through the winding mountain roads, and in the midst of it all, we arrived at a beautiful, cozy cabin.

Here, there is a (free) pool table, a hot tub, jacuzzi tubs, fireplace, and wonderful atmosphere in the mountains. It has been awesome simply to enjoy being here with my family. I was able to celebrate my birthday in style with some of my favorite people. My entire family is here, as well as Logan and Eleanor, and it has been a blast so far.

We are hoping to get a few more short hikes in, in addition to the few we have already done. We visited an old farm museum, which had authentic buildings from over 100 years ago, including a mill and a blacksmith workshop. This was fascinating to me, and after I finish the trail, I plan to enter the trade of the blacksmith.

I will be back on the trail and hiking again before you know it.;

It was great to hike with Josh and Nick today, as we all had a similar pace. It was 12.5 miles to the road, but the trek was quite hilly and left us all a little winded. We then found out that it was another 2 miles into Fontana Village, but after walking 1/2 a mile, we got a ride the rest of the way! A prior section hiker picked us up and took us into town.

We ate some pizzas and chili dogs, and settled into a room at the lodge here. There are quite a few other hikers here, so I am looking forward to catching up, as well as to seeing my family tomorrow!

Last night, I stayed at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC), and the accommodations were fairly nice. Staying up fairly late socializing made this morning a little slower, (ending with The Rock hanging our food from the rafters), but I managed to leave by a decent hour.

I took my time and took a lunch break at the first shelter, where many from last night ended up staying. I moved on but was stopped soon by a stunning view of the mountains. I sat on the top of the climb and meditated for a while, feeling the majesty of the purple mountains and sun.

Continuing on to a gap with trail magic! I spotted a glorious pile of apples and bananas 500 feet away. Fresh fruit is a beautiful thing. I snacked and took a nap and was soon joined by a few other hikers: Crazy Horse, Young Gun, Blue, James, and Chainsaw. We were living large in the sun’s rays. They stayed, but I wanted to keep moving.

The last stretch was two miles of steep uphill that Crazy Horse told me was reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno. It was certainly a challenge but nothing all too terrible. I arrived with joy – the shelter was empty, and it is supposed to rain tonight into tomorrow, so I was pretty thrilled. I had just enough daylight left to complete the nightly routine. As I was eating part 1 of my dinner (an entire summer sausage, about 900 calories), Josh and Nick who were also at the NOC last night. We are just hanging out and about to get some sleep.

Only 12.5 miles tomorrow to Fontana. Good night all.

Today was, again, cold. We woke up in snow and chilly temperatures, the caravan and I: Mac, Ace, Jess, Frankie, Tank, and Listener. It is a great group, and we got quite close last night. Literally.

My clothes and sleeping bag kept me warm enough, despite the 40mph gusts of snowy wind into the shelter. After struggling out of bags and making breakfast, we hit the road. Most days out here, I have been feeling great, rockin and Rollin. This morning, I wasn’t really feeling it. Instead of cooking, I just grabbed a quick bite to eat. As we started hiking, I turned on my phone and played some music to get me pumped. I normally don’t go in for that sort of thing, but it definitely worked. The combination of Cake (the band) and beautiful sights this morning got me in the zone.

It was a leisurely 6-mile hike to NOC, where we are staying for the night. Hanging out here has been nice, with plenty of great hikers, and it is a small but comfy place.

About 30 miles to go until Fontana Dam, and the Smokies after that. I’m surrounded by awesome people and beautiful places. Bring it on.

Yesterday (Monday), I took a zero, which means I moved zero miles down the AT. Most people do this in town, but I chose to do it at a shelter, in the woods. It was quite an enjoyable day, mostly spent around the campfire, eating. It felt good to rest and rejuvenate, and simply to enjoy being in the woods without rushing to get somewhere. The overall feeling on the trail is to push forward, to make it to the next town or get the few extra miles whenever possible, so it was nice to counteract that with a day of stagnant joy near the fire.

As I mentioned, I have plenty of food this time, and I have time to make it to the Smokies to meet my family, so why not take my time? Hawk and some of the others got ahead of me, but some old friends caught up: Six friends that I had met a few nights back. They are an impressively tightly knit group yet were very welcoming and inclusive toward me. I plan to stick with them for at least the next couple of days. It has been great so far. They were glad to share the warmth of my fire when they arrived, and I was glad for the company. We were also joined later by a few other hikers and stayed up around the fire sharing stories.

The next morning, I felt right at home.

Needless to say, there would not be a morning campfire, nor one tonight (Tuesday night). We hiked 11 miles today, all of it on the snow and some of it through the snow. It was definitely beautiful but not entirely appreciated by all the members of my new gang.

Despite the frustration and sudden change of weather, we survived so far. When we strolled into the shelter this afternoon, the majority jumped into sleeping bags to get warm. The rest of us cooked up some dinner. The hot food and tea got the others out of bed soon, but it continued to snow, and we were all in our sleeping bags by 5:30PM.

When compared to other nights, it is not all that early to be in bed, but none of us were that tired yet, so we horsed around for a while, played 20 questions and talked. As I said, it is a fun group, and I better like them because tonight, we are packed into this tiny shelter, our temporary home. Tomorrow, we plan to hike a Nero (near zero, about 5 miles) into “town,” and split some lodging to avoid more snowy weather and grab some food.

Yes, yes, all of you who told me so can now say, “I told you so!” There is snow here, accumulating snow, but you’ll notice I am not complaining. In fact, I was pretty happy about it. I was in my turtleneck, while everyone else was hiking in their coats and hats. Admittedly, I put mine on when it really started snowing, but I am fully prepared for worse than this. I built a miniature snowman and had a mostly one-sided snowball fight. The snow was not packing particularly well, and as I said, most were not as enthused about it.

As I type, I lie near sweating in my sleeping bag. It is supposed to get cold tonight. Bring it on! I’m loving every minute.

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My Sunday was a fairly simple day. Though I was running on only a few hours of sleep, I had to get up to go to all-you-can-eat pancake and bacon breakfast, which hit the spot. The people were so kind (at a local church), and encouraged us to eat as much as we wanted. Oh yeah.

I am feeling good about food too. Rationing food on the trail is never fun, so I brought plenty of food this time: both food bags full and a bag of mini bagels. Sunday, I took the 11:00 shuttle (so perfect) back to the trail, and hiked a leisurely 11 miles to a shelter. The shelter is right past another tower, which had some pretty great views. Camping there was appealing, but it was too windy.

The talk on the trail is the cold weather. We are supposed to get snow, and temperatures in the teens are intimidating to many. As a Michigander, I’m not too concerned, and this time, I shall be prepared. A lot of hikers are finding buildings and beds, but I plan to tough it out for now.

It was fairly brisk when I got to the shelter, so I ate some food and built a campfire. It helped for a bit, but everyone went to bed early. After chatting a bit with Thomas and Sylvia from Switzerland and Ghengis from Arizona, I bundled up and slept for a while.

Good reception = more pics.

Today was a good day, a beautiful day. Numerous amounts of good hiking – though difficult, it was beautiful. It was also the earliest I got started hiking this far. By 7 AM (I think), I was dressed, had eaten, and was ready to go. There were a couple of people just waking up exiting their tents, but for the most part, the world was still asleep – the human world anyway, which makes for a very peaceful morning. If you’ve never hiked through some of the most beautiful stretches of the United States in the early morning, I highly recommend it.

As I mentioned last post, everyone was pretty low on food today, and they were headed for the next town: Franklin, North Carolina. As to be expected, my breakfast consisted mostly of raisins. Not a bad breakfast, but I was certainly looking forward to some real food. I was sleeping in the shelter, as opposed to tenting it last night, so I was trying to be extra quiet in the morning. I’m assuming that most of you know how shelters work along the Appalachian Trail, but many of you probably do not, so I will try to make a post about that soon.

I felt good this morning, so I started cruising pretty fast. After about 4 miles, I had made it to campsite where quite a few people had camped the night before. Quite a few of them were awake when I arrived, and they were sitting around the campfire. A second breakfast in the morning chat around the fire seemed like a good way to start the day. Before long, I set off again on the trail, and as I was the first one out in the morning, I ended up spotting a deer not too far off the trail. It was my first deer sighting so far. Surprisingly, there have not been to many wildlife sightings thus far. A few birds, few insects, but otherwise not too much. Hope to see more soon.

The climbs started out gentle enough, but that was soon to be remedied. Just before the hundred mile mark, there was a steep, rocky climb, nearly going vertical. Now don’t tell anyone, but it was a fairly difficult climb. I had to set down the trekking polls and use my hands to pull myself up a couple of times. The reward was worth it. Waiting at the top of the climb was a beautiful view and my new friend Hawk. After enjoying the views from the rock and from atop an old fire tower, we congratulated each other on reaching hundred miles in, and continued hiking. We talked about our respective plans for the day, and considered the idea of sticking together for a bit. I hiked with Crazyhorse and Young Gun for a while, and then I hiked with Hawk again for a while. For an old man, he sure had some horsepower. It always feels good to find someone who can hike your pace comfortably.

We decided to hitch in to town, as we arrived at a point crossing the road in the early afternoon. As luck would have it, we successfully hitched a ride within the first five minutes. Southern hospitality.

We secured a motel room, headed to the grocery store for food (which I got a lot of), and caught some dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. A successful and surprisingly efficient trip into town, we were both quite pleased. After business was taken care of, Goat and I headed downtown to play some pool at the bar. It felt good to be a normal person for a bit. The people managing the hotel and associated businesses have been extremely kind, and we feel honored to stay here. I got to meet Ron Haven, the owner, in the parking lot, and he was a very generous man. The all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet starts at 7:15 AM, so I think I better get some sleep. We are considering taking the shuttle back to the trail early in the morning, but we will see if I make it that early. An extra shower and a little bit of lounging time in the hotel room sounds pretty good.

As I said, I really great day for me. I managed to do 12 miles before noon, and a total of around 16 miles. I am hoping to do about the same mileage tomorrow, but I will be flexible, since I will be heading out of town. I really like the people that I have been hanging out with recently, so I hope to keep up with them, for at least a little bit longer. I expect to reach Fontana dam in four or five days, and after that come the Smoky Mountains. It’s going by so fast!

Sweet dreams,

Firewalker.