I have finally been able to complete editing the video I shot when the guys started their trip. It runs a bit long, around 10 minutes, but it plays fast.
[flashvideo filename=wp-content/videos/Starting_The_AT.flv image=wp-content/videos/Starting_The_AT.jpg /]
(QuickTime Version)
First off- We will be in Roan mountain in 3 days so if you haven’t already sent something in the mail and wanted to it is too late. You can hit us up at our next mail drop though.
Secondly I will tell you about our trip. Since leaving the Nelson’s house we did a full 6 miles to a shelter. ( You have no idea how hard it was with a stomach full of chinese). There ended up being some more trail magic there. A girl who hiked the previous year had brought in hot dogs and TONS of candy. We were with about 4 other thru hikers so we let them have the hot dogs but enjoyed the candy (even though we have too much and no matter how much we eat it is still there). That night it dropped into the teens and everything froze. So what do we do? Wait till 10 am by the fire then hike 20.7 miles through the snow.
Ended up just being Ricky and I that night but we were fortunately to pick up some mouse traps and Rick’s killed one. You have no idea how happy that makes hikers and several have encouraged us to kill as many as possible. This is in no way evil because the mice are evil. You try waking up all night to them jumping on you and on your face and constantly worrying if they are chewing a hole in your pack. Like I said. EVIL. So we hiked into Nolichucky River and there is a hostel here. 15 bones a night. Not too bad but the guy lets you borrow bikes so we rode into town. Stopped at an A&W (combo meal with a root beer float with several ice cold refills.) Couple mile bike ride to the Food Lion, stop at Mickey D’s for a double cheese burger (yes we did eat an hour earlier) and three burgers each for dinner tonight. The original plan was to hike 4 miles to a shelter but we have about 8 friends staying here tonight and figured it would be more fun.
We are telling ourselves that we will wake up early and make the miles up but who knows. We are trying to just take it as it comes and it seemed like staying was a good idea. (the fact that it snowed last night and was in the teens might (and i say might) have had something to do with it. Next update should be from Roan Mountain, TN and that means we will probably be out of North Carolina/Tennessee by the end of the month.
Brandon and Ricky asked me to remind you, If you are going to send them something to their first mail drop, you need to get it in the mail this week. They will be arriving in Roan Mountain next week.
You can mail items by addressing them like this:
Brandon McMath
General Delivery
Roan Mountain, TN 37687Hold for northbound A.T. Hiker
ETA April 2nd
The guys would appreciated anything (other than bricks) that you feel like sending.
The guys sent in several pictures to accompany their latest trail report.
(use left and right arrow keys to navigate and ‘esc’ to exit)
AT angels that is but I’ll get to that. So Hot Springs has come and gone and it was nothing short of perfect. We met Meaghan and her Mom in the early after noon. Remember, 10 days on the trail no shower. Needless to say the car ride to the cabin was windows down. Cleaning up was extremely refreshing but Mrs. O’Hanlon insisted on completely filling us up. Pasta sides and Ramen isn’t the most appealing meal to eat everyday. The lasagna we ate could have been from Italy for all we know. Oh yeah and we got to wear sweatpants and cotton t-shirts the whole time. The next day (the 19th) was our first zero day. We didn’t do a single foot of hiking on the AT and it definately felt good. We did some laundry and shopping but the day was extremely relaxing. It also rained all day Wednesday and I have since realized that rain hitting a roof is my favorite sound. Steaks and potatoes (with a salad mom) followed but a couple of extremely intense and fun games of Taboo and Pictionary. It was really nice to meet Meaghan’s mom and of course to see Meaghan again. I hope they enjoyed some of our wild tales of the trail. It was really nice to just be clean and in good company. We are extremely appreaciative of all they did for us. Including an enormous gift basket completely stacked with goodies and candy and anything we could possibly dream of while hiking.
It was weird getting back on the trail late thursday. In just two days my mind had let it slip that I was actually living in the woods and trying to hike the entire Eastern coast. But when you wake up that next morning and your back is a little sore you know exactly what you are doing. Lucky for us we heard about a little trail magic 6.5 miles up trail and we were going to make it for lunch. This is where we found the AT angels. ‘Fal’ and ‘Hercules’ are Thru-hikers who did the trail in ‘99 and fell in love with it. They bought a house 200 yards from the trail and this is their 4th year running doing magic. They have a sign (hopefully I’ll put up a picture) directing us to their house. We stopped for lunch and what we ate in order was: Rootbeer Float, Picadillo, homemade apple pie with ice cream, and a brownie sundae a little later when we had room. Then they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. It was Friday and they would drive us to a gap 20 miles North on the trail. We would then hike south (making us SoBo’s) back to their house where we would stay Saturday night and they would feed us as much as we wanted and then take us and whoever else was here to church on Easter Sunday. We immediately agreed.
So yesterday we did our first southbound hiking and boy let me tell you it was wierd. Everything in my body was telling me that I was going the wrong direction. We hiked in about 8 miles and woke up this morning to do the next 12. We made sure we made it by lunch. We passed some guys we hiked with northbound and they at first were confused but then realized they had heard about us and were jealous that we got to go to the AYCE chinese joint for lunch tomorrow. Right now at the house there is the two of us and 3 other thru-hikers that we had spent about 2 days each with throughout the smokies.
So we are clean now and get to sleep inside. Really excited that we get to go to church tomorrow and we get to sleep indoors. Last night we stayed with an Auburn grad so we got another ‘War Eagle’ on the trail. So know now that we are sleeping with True AT angels. They do this 4 months a year and have fed over 1400 people.
Brandon called today from a campground near Interstate 40. They had hiked in to re-supply with food and were talking with other hikers and planning to continue on today and perhaps hike into the night. They have hiked a couple of nights and have found their head lamps work well. I know they are hiking hard to meet up with Meaghan and her mom who will meet them with a cabin in Hot Springs NC. They will enjoy showers, beds and decent food… a nice rest stop after 18 days of hiking and 10 days of no shower!
They have completed the Great Smoky Mountains National Park section of the trail. There you must sleep in shelters; mostly because of bears. Night before last they slept in a 12 person shelter with 16 folks. Cozy ! Brandon said they have not seen any bears, thankfully, but have seen quite a few wild hogs. I asked him what they do when they see them; he said yell at them and make noise so they run away. They saw three in Georgia and another BIG one in Smoky Mountains. So big he said they thought for a bit it was a bear!
The trip is “cool” in his words, just what they expected except a bit more rain than they hoped for. The views are beautiful when the days are sunny, but it was very foggy and rainy as they crossed over Clingmans Dome so no good photos from the highest point. They are meeting a lot of thru hikers, sort of leap frog… they pass then get passed so they stop to visit and get trail reports. They have hiked the past 2 days with a kid from Texas. This week there have been a lot of Spring Break hikers on the trail. Brandon says the spring breakers typically pack too much food and have been giving he and Ricky what they won’t use as they hike out. Food has worked out well for what they planned except the rice. They thought they would eat a lot of rice but Brandon said it is too messy and takes way too long to cook. It takes over 45 min. on the camp stove and that is too long and wastes too much fuel. They have loved the couscous, eating the entire two quart container they took. It is fast, so they add the chicken and tuna packets to that rather than rice. He promises me they are taking their vitamins every other day as agreed and eating fruit, the first days of resupply, and a Snicker’s candy bar a day for good measure.
When asked about a typical day… They wake up about 7:30, eat, begin hiking about 9:00. They make a stop for lunch and at shelters to talk with other hikers, get a break from the wind ( it has been windy a lot), hike into the afternoon getting to destination about dark or dark thirty. Dry shoes and pants around the campfire, dinner and to bed. They are having fun!
He loves the comments on the website so keep them coming.
We made it out of the smokies last night. Ended up doing like 26 miles or something. At a campground now but just to buy food. Onward to Hot Springs, NC. Should be there tomorrow around lunch. Pretty chilly here. Got rained on for 2 days and saw lots of ice on the trail. What a pain. Everything is great and the views are amazing when there is more than 20 feet visibility. No bears. Thankfully. Keep running across wild hogs. I would upload pictures but this computer was built in 1996. im pretty sure. Thank you all who posted on the blog. It’s uplifting to see comments. Wanderer glad to see you made it home and hopefully we will see you in Mass. All is well but we must press on. Lucky for us Meaghan and her mom are getting a cabin near Hot Springs and are gracious enough to put us up. (after we clean up, it has been 10 days without a shower). Everyone on the trail is jealous. We can’t wait.
I spoke to Brandon on Friday 3/14 around noon. He was at Silers Bald Shelter and had borrowed “Dan’s” cell phone to give me a quick call. Mostly he was interested to see if I had secured his fall class schedule at Auburn. I was left very detailed instructions on how to arrange his schedule for his final semester on the Plains. I managed to get him what he needed when he wanted it so all is set for Fall classes. Brandon reported that they were about 4 miles from the top of Clingmans Dome which at 6,643 is the highest point on the AT. This high point marks 195.3 miles of hiking from Springer Mountain.
The weather was rainy, light rain not storms but very windy. Bet that got worse as they approached the top. We had terrible storms in Atlanta on Friday… so I am just hoping they got over the mountain and headed down by the time the storms came by their way.
I have created a Facebook Group to follow the boys. If you are a member of Facebook join our group and show your support!
The guys have checked in briefly to say that they have crossed Mollies Ridge in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. That is 174 miles from Springer Mountain (the start of the AT) meaning they now have less than 2000 miles to go. While that might still sound like a lot, and it is, it’s a milestone nonetheless.
