OPEHIKES

 After a day of laying around with my legs propped up, I was ready to hit the trail again. A “shorter” day with 16.7 miles on the agenda I decided to take it a little easy, after all today I celebrate walking out of Georgia, hooray! I called for a shuttle from town which arrived at exactly 10:15am and they carted me and 3 other hikers back up to the trailhead. The weekend was a little busy, several day hikers and a handful of thru’s, the conversations kept me busy and the spirits high. I bumped into a couple who were celebrating their anniversary on trail. Garden State and Baskets. They offered me trail magic, but I declined as I was still toting around food from the beginning of the hike. 2pm rolled around and I was getting anxious about crossing into another state, stopping frequently to make sure I didn’t miss the sign nailed to the tree. Roughly 20 minutes later, I found it! I took a moment to touch the sign, take some pictures and stop for a snack and water. Thoroughly appreci...

Chirp, chirp, chirp… What I thought was a bunch of birds outside Blue Mountain Shelter was actually my alarm… I pressed snooze a few times, reluctant to get up. I then remembered I wasn’t the only hiker to occupy the shelter last night. I sprung up out of my sleeping bag to an already awake Woobie. As I profusely apologized for the alarm, he assured me that it was actually pretty nice to wake up to. I disabled my alarm in the event the next person might not find it so pleasant.  I scarfed down some pop tarts and made my snacks more accessible for the days trek, drank some water and set off down trail. It was a foggy rainy day, the views were few and far between. Today was strictly about mileage, that’s for sure.  First big climb of the day out of Unicoi gap up Rocky Mountain was a workout. The typical hike a few, stop a few, all that work to be in a cloud, it is what it is. As I came down from Rocky to Indian Grave there was a man sitting on the ground at the bottom. There had...

I woke up in Blairsville GA after hitching a ride and smashing some pizza the night before. Laundry was done and it’s roughly 9am. I handed in my keys and made my way towards town square to attempt a hitch back up to Neel Gap. Thumbing down a ride that morning turned out to be a pretty difficult task. After some time standing out in the cold rain I opted to walk back to the motel and call for a shuttle. Sifting through the shuttle numbers I landed on a gentleman whose name was Mike, I gave him a call and he said he’d be over at 10:30, perfect. Mike arrived and we made our way back up to the trailhead. Arriving at Neel Gap around 11 there were plenty of hikers hanging out, enjoying the shop that was  placed conveniently at the trailhead. Stopping for a moment to admire the tree that was littered with the boots of hikers. I ran into a few familiar faces before starting the climb out of Neel. Animal, J3 and DaVinci. DaVinci had just completed his YoYo of the Appalachian Trail, startin...

Restless night, ugh… woke up at 4am tossing and turning. The temperatures dropped into the high 20s overnight. Fighting to stay in the sleeping bag until sunrise. At 530 I hear the clanking and clatter of Freshground digging out his cooking supplies. Just a few more minutes I told myself. At 6 I emerged from my sleeping bag and wandered over to the van to meet the quite perky Freshground who had already cooked pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. I filled up my plate and gorged myself.  At 7:30 I was packed up and ready to go. First mountain was “sassafrass, up and over, what a butt kicker… fresh legs and lungs not prepped for higher elevation, it was a struggle. I pressed on. 12:30 rolled around and I found myself coming down into Woody gap. Lo and behold, Freshground set up again to feed hikers lunch. I OBVIOUSLY had to partake. Chili and pasta salad, 16oz of Gatorade and a vast amount of water, I was full. Met a few other hikers from Ohio and some passerby’s curious about the all ...

Springer mountain to Hightower Gap I arrived to the top of springer shortly after 1 on Monday. Roughly a dozen hikers sat there to rest, each asking eachother if they were walking the whole distance, most of them were. I didnt stick around for long. I knew I had to make the most of my day, I set off for my first campsite "Hawk Mountain Shelter". The day was beautiful, not like my last trek through Georgia where it was foggy and rainy, the temperatures were comfortable. I walked past familiar places and others felt like I was walking through for the first time. I felt good, my pace was great. I approached the side trail for hawk mountain shelter and decided to push on. Shortly after 4 and my acent up hightower gap I hear a noise off in the distance a "ca-caw" - I assumed it was only some day hikers causing a ruckus along the trail, walking further down the trail I noticed a sign taped to the tree that read "trail magic". My face lit up and I ran through th...