Week 5 - 2021

Our decision to hike the AT started in 2019; we knew it would take at least a year or more for us plan a trip of this size. Our original plan was to be a thru-hiker (walk all 2,190 miles thru 14 states from Georgia to Maine, in 6 months) we were going to be doing the trek north which would have made us NOBOs (northbound). 

This excitement and planning for a thru-hike lasted a good year until we took a 16-day backpacking trek in the Adirondacks on the Northville-Placid Trail (NPT).  It was a time of “trial” on a trail to try out our gear, see what works for us and what didn’t; but mainly to see if we even liked doing an adventure like this (remember: It was always Brad’s dream, not mine).

Our adventure on the NPT was a great experience and we found that we had fun doing it together but our biggest discovery was that we BOTH knew a 6 month trek might just be too much for us at this time.

At first we felt discouraged and embarrassed that we had told so many people we were going to do a thru-hike and now we had to tell them otherwise.  At the time we were thinking it was an all or nothing, if we weren’t doing the whole thing, it was a bust.   After much discussion we realized we could still have this dream but on a smaller scale, we could become section hikers, our excitement grew once again!

(In backpacking lingo we are officially called a LASH(ers): “Long A** Section Hiker” due to our hiking a very long section.)

We went over a lot of different scenarios of sections we could do and finally came up with the one we are currently doing (545 miles, thru 4 states, within 3 months). Our decision to travel southbound (SOBO) instead of going northbound (NOBO) was mainly due to the fact that we didn’t want to hit the Smoky Mountains during snow season.   (We hit the Smokies in a week - prayers needed for nice weather!)

Being a SOBO, we have discovered, has its pros and cons.

PROS:

• No one is traveling south so we don’t feel the pressure to be walking faster or have to get out of people’s way.

• We get information from the NOBOs on what’s coming up, good water sources and tips on where to stay.

• We meet so many great people during our stops at shelters, hostels, towns, but then ...

CONS:

• We don’t have a “tramily”, a trail family.    Those traveling together become close and develop relationships.  We meet them briefly and then never see them again.

Overall, so far, it’s been a great adventure, and we are so glad we are on it. We have learned to “Hike Your Own Hike” and not worry about what someone else is doing or what they say we should be doing, how fast we are going, or how many days we take off (zero days).

Today is a ZERO day in Hot Springs and I am excited!  Don’t tell Brad, but I think I hike just to have zero days to enjoy!  . We got laundry done, our packs are full of food for 7 days, took multiple baths and showers, got Smoky Mountain permits, ate a big juicy hamburger with lots of fries, but the biggee ... went and thoroughly enjoyed a mineral bath at the hot springs! 

Might just be pretty difficult to leave this place tomorrow — maybe I can convince Brad we need to take a ZEEK (a week off!!) 

SIDE NOTE about the hot springs since I wrote this post prior to soaking:

What is a hiker to do when they don’t have a swim suit to use in the hot tub?! We had a beautiful private hot tub facing the river but what to our horror do we see?! A road just across the river with cars periodically going by. Then my husband just casually says “what would stop a teenage boy from standing over there with his binoculars?”  Tell me how a woman is supposed to just sit back and relax after that comment?!

Week Five of HOBOS going SOBO in their OBOZ ... and we never looked back.  Our In-Tents Journey on the Appalachian Trail

Hot Springs, NC to Hartford, TN - 40 miles, 4 days, averaging 10 mile days.  Highlights this week: 360 degree views on top of Max Patch, we’ve walked 300 miles so far (yay us!!) we had no rain days, and we were blessed with warmer weather!

Things learned on the trail this week:

• It’s okay if you have to go with Plan B. This week was supposed to be a big week for us:  the start of backpacking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park!  We were all set with permits and knew that we were required to only sleep in the shelters while traveling through the park. What we hadn’t planned for was a shelter being closed down due to heavy bear activity.  What this meant for us, going south, we would have had to go 15 miles to reach our first shelter, and over half of that was a steep climb to get there.  As you know, our trail legs have yet to be found so there is just no way we could possibly do this.   The change we felt we had to make was to eliminate those miles and start hiking from the only other accessible road into the park, which is about 30 miles south from where we would have originally started.   I think things like this happen for a reason and believe in divine intervention.  It’s possible we are being saved from potential harm or we just need to be somewhere sooner than originally planned — learning to F.R.O.G - Fully Rely On God.

• Our backpacks have a top section that is called a “brain” for extra storage that you can keep on or take off your pack.  Brad has a cool feature on his where his will become a day pack.  We decided to take his off and use it on one of our slack packing days ... do you think we could figure out how to snap it together to adequately use it as a daypack?!  Of course we couldn’t!  We had to humble ourselves and get help ... his backpack brain was smarter than our two brain’s put together! 

• Now that we’ve been out on the trail over a month, I asked Brad what trail name he would have given me if we hadn’t come up with one ourselves. His response: “Miss Privy” - I say, “WHAT, WHY THAT?!” He said it’s because I’m always asking if we’ll run into one — I’m just thankful he didn’t respond that it was because I smelled like one!!!

• Hikers are usually in bed by 9:00 pm (hikers midnight); but we are lucky to make it past 7:00 most nights and have gone to bed as early as 5:30 and can generally sleep the whole night through, well, unless nature calls. Which means both of us go, I’m not venturing out in the dark by myself!

• Besides the size of the backpack, do you know how you can tell the difference between a day hiker and a section/thru hiker?  SMELL!  A day hiker smells like a fresh bar of soap, a section/thru hiker is in dire need of a bar of soap!  Take my word for it, it’s truth!

•  Unfortunately it’s easy to get disoriented and start walking in the wrong direction on the trail if you stop to take a break.  We were so excited to have someone come up behind us who was walking southbound like we were (since we haven’t run into anyone yet going south) but unfortunately she wasn’t as excited to see us as we were of her since she was supposed to be going north.  Poor thing, wonder how long she was walking in the wrong direction?! Good thing we were there or she could still be going the wrong direction!

•  Brad’s daughter, Miranda asked us to place a memorial rock on the trail for her friend and former co-worker who recently lost her battle with breast cancer. She had always wanted to go to the East coast but had never made it there. Now her memory lives on in the mountains of North Carolina by a peaceful stream and beautiful flowers.