Mt Washington!

The whites!

New Jersey!

I have made it through the dreaded rocks of PA and now almost through New Jersey. I would especially like to thank the cooter browns crew for sending a package to DWG. I am very grateful.  Now onto New York!

Harpers ferry!

Signed in as thru hiker #43 for the year. Can't wait for the half gallon challenge.

800 miles down

Well as of this morning I have hiked 801 miles. Its a great feeling to have gone this far, and I'm having a blast. Here are some pictures that I have been meaning to post.

600 miles

After 600 miles I am tired, but that's a given. Now I will just push through for the next 1600 miles. I was having a bad day today when out of no where I received back to back trail magic. Boiled eggs all colored for Easter have never tasted so amazing and then fresh fruit juice a couple miles later. So I was encouraged to get 23 miles done today. Now I'm sitting on the side of a cliff in my tent. To all who have taken some time out of their day to send some encouragement my way I greatly appreciate it. Happy Easter from the AT!

mile 419

Everything has been going well up until a few days ago when a shinsplint slowly reared its angry head at me. After trying to continue on this morning I have decided, with much frustration, that I will have to take a couple days off the trail.  Luckily these couple days will be spent at the legendary Kincora hostel run by the legend himself Bob Peoples. This man is  sort of a celebrity out here, and it is an honor to spend a couple days at his place. The history that surrounds this hostel  surpasses most places on the trail. So I will be resting up and soaking up knowledge for the next days. Hoping to be in Virginia by next Monday.

Hot Springs

Hello all, I arrived in Hot Springs NC last night around 10:30 pm.  I hiked 24 miles yesterday to get here. Longest mileage yet in one day.  I am hoping to do around 20 miles a day from now on.  Things have been going very well, my blisters have cleared up so now I just have the general hurt that comes with hiking everyday.  Since I last was able to update a lot I have gone through the Great Smoky Mountains.  We did hiked the Smokies in 5 days, which is pretty good.  It was extremely cold for most of the days in the Smokies, and I was concerned one night that I was close to hypothermia.  However, I was able to get in my sleeping bag and warm up just in time.  This trip is very different from what I expected it to be, but its been a lot of fun so far.  Hiking has almost become a job in a way.  Everyday I hike for a while, eat lunch then hike more, and lately even hike after dark.  I have become more aware of my surroundings out here, and I am really starting to appreciate nature in all its beauty.  One thing that is upsetting is that I have yet to see a bear.  I was hoping to see one in the Smokies but I think it was too cold.  Although apparently the bears didn't even hibernate this year due to the mild winter we are having.  Speaking of mild winter, I may have chosen the best year to start hiking the AT in February.  The weather is very nice most of the time. Last night around 9 JRab and I just stopped to look at the stars before we finished the last 2 miles into Hot Springs, and it was extremely warm and just clear for as far as I could see.  Moments like that are what make this trip worth it, when you can lose yourself in the moment.  I finally got to cowboy camp a couple nights ago, which means I just slept on the ground without any shelter, and it was great to fall asleep looking at the stars.  I even saw a falling star right before shutting my eyes.  I have this saying that has kept me going many times "Slow and steady wins the race.....or at least finishes it." I am a bit of a slower hiker than the rest of the crew I am with so when they take off during the day I sometimes get discouraged, but this little phrase helps me.  However, now I can really tell I am speeding up and keeping up with everyone.  Its starting to become a little easier, not easy, but easier haha.  Tonight is a celebration for JRabs bday, so we will be spending the day having a good time with a big fire and camping right on the French Broad river.  I am extremely happy to be out here doing this, and I wouldnt change a thing.  More updates soon to come. 

Squatch

200 miles down.

Today was a great day filled with many good things. First of all I woke up to a doe and its fawn eating outside the shelter. Then we climbed clingmans dome, which is the highest point of the AT. Then we crossed the 200 mile mark and made it to gatlinburg for the night. Its been a long cold couple of days so far in the smokies. I actually had icicles in my beard Haha. But we are halfway through the smokies now. My body is holding up great, and we have averaged around 15 miles per day for the last week. I will try to update more from a computer soon.

Woooooo!!

This is jack rabbit, rambo, Tetris and I(squatch)

Blisters...

Today I am sitting in a coffee haus/pub and enjoying the hospitality of the kind people of Rathskeller.  Good food and a good atmosphere.  We hit the 100 mile mark two days back which was a great feeling, and in my book a big step in my journey.  However, to show for that 100 miles I have a very pesky blister on my right pinky toe.  I realized it was infected yesterday, so I am taking a day off today so i can fix that.    At the 100 mile mark while on top of Albert Mt., which if you know about Albert Mt. you can understand  how great it feels to be on top of it, I finally felt a sense of reality setting in.  Meaning I feel that I will be 100% capable of completing this journey.  I am very excited to be out here, and everyday is an adventure.
I had recently wanted to change my name from Squatch, but Rambo says there is no way around it. So I conclude this post with

Squatch

Good morning!

What a way to start the day!

Hiawasee

Hello everyone, well today marks a week out here on the AT.  Hiawasee is our location for the day and night because it is rainy and cold. Also im trying to heal my blisters, currently there are four blisters on four toes.  Besides the blisters everything else is fine so thats good news, and no pain no rain no Maine. We have been averaging around 10 miles a day, yesterday was our longest so far at 13 miles which wasnt too bad. Hopefully those 15-20 mile days are not too far in the future.  We reached Hiawasee a day ahead of schedule which is very uplifting to my spirits. I feared i would get behind schedule by now but everything seems to be working out greatly.  Around two days ago I began to feel a little home sick, but since then living in the mountains is slowly starting to feel like home.  We have gotten to meet many current and former thru hikers all with some great stories.  The guys staying with us tonight at the hotel are Rambo and Jack Rabbit.  Rambo is 25 and from Germany, he earned his name by carrying a huge knife, living off the land, always having a fire at the end of the day and being extremely resourceful. Jack Rabbit is a 22 yr old fresh out of college at Appy state, he says his spirit animal is a jack rabbit so thats how he got his name. Heres a good story; The older man that gave us a ride into Helen two days back hiked the AT when he was 70. He told us this story "I was up in Maine trying to hitch into town and this man on a Harley Davidson motorcycle pulled up and offered a ride. Well i didnt think anything of it and just hopped on, so here i am at 70 yrs old holding on for dear life on the back of a Harley speeding down the mountain roads with a full pack on my back"! He was an awesome character to meet with a lot of good advice.  His name was Roots.  I havent been fortunate enough yet to see a bear but have spotted many scatt piles along the trail.  Seems as if they just sit close to the trail and watch us hikers as if some sort of entertainment. Its amazing to see the transformation from a normal person to a thru hiker first hand.  I can tell everyday im getting stronger and more willing to carry my load. Which is only around 32 pounds now. The guys at Neel Gap went through my pack with me to help thin out the load.  My schedule everyday is wake up when the sunrises and eat breakfast, then hike for 5-8 hours stopping somewhere along the way to eat lunch, and then get to shelter or a campsite and eat dinner then fall asleep around 7.  The weather has been great one day and bad one day. But overall we have been blessed to have weather that is as warm as it is.  A couple days back we had to call in a rescue EMT crew to get a guy who hadnt been filtering his water and we think he had a parasite in his stomach. It was very quick how it happen.  He was fine at dinner and for a bit after that then all the sudden he started to puke over and over again. He even became quite unresponsive and we had to carry him into the shelter.  But as far as we know he is doing better now.  We come out here to get away from a lot of things but its always nice to know that in case of an emergency we have some sort of back up.  This made me a little more cautious while i filter water.  But i guess this is long enough haha. I am about to go to Rite Aid and get some medicine for my blisters. 

until next time
Squatch

Pictures

Bearbell chicken

This is the hitching chicken. We are carrying it for wounded warrior.  Tetris, jack rabbit, rambo and I packed into a tiny car to get into hiawasee. The man that picked us up is starting his thrust hike on the 29th. Trail magic is wonderful. More to come on this week later tonight.

Six days in.

Hello everyone. My current location is Helen ga.  We have traveled around 53 miles so far. It has been the best and worst week lol. I have 3 blisters that are going to need a day to recover so I'm planning on taking a zero day in hiawasee. I'm updating on my phone today so I will keep this post brief. But ill blog more in a couple days when I have access to a computer.