Jennifer Lawrence would be lucky to know you

I had a dream a few weeks ago that I met Jennifer Lawrence and was trying to befriend her to no avail. After telling my dream to Steph, she turned around to say "Jennifer Lawrence would be lucky to know you!" As I was mid snot-rocket. Jennifer Lawrence, you would be so lucky to know me. 

Today we are in Hot Springs, NC. Mile 274 on the AT. We took a zero day here yesterday to soak in the city's namesake and eat eat eat. We are trying to keep it sleazy by camping in free places near towns instead of in hotels or hostels, but it's difficult not to buy all of the food on the menu every time we eat in a restaurant. We hiked 18 miles in hail and rain to get here, and promptly went to a tavern still trail dirty and wet. I ate nachos, fried pickles, a veggie burger, chili cheese fries, and 2 beers for dinner. Beautiful. I could probably write my entire blog about all of the food we dream about while we're hiking. My parents made my dreams come true by mailing no bake cookies (thanks mom!) and pickles, peanut butter, jelly, and other treats. (Thanks dad and Melissa!) 

The Smokies were prefaced by Fontana Dam, a giant dam that makes a giant beautiful lake that we had the pleasure of paddle boarding on one morning and swimming in several times. We had a hard time tearing ourselves away from it, despite the fact that we had our first angry hillbilly on a horse with a golf club encounter here. Someone "went on his property and scared his wife." They do exist! 

The next morning we woke up before sunrise and hiked to the start of Great Smoky Mountains National Park after a painful goodbye to the dogs. They had to be boarded for the week at a hostel we hiked to at the other end of the park because no pets are allowed on nps backcountry land. The first day in, the weather was beautiful. Then I jinxed the rest of the week by saying "I imagined it would be rainy and cold every day we were here!" The only day it didn't rain and it was above 60 degrees serendipitously happened to be the day that we hiked to the highest point on the entire AT. We woke up at 4:30 and hiked to the top of Clingmans Dome to witness the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen. I'm not a morning person at all, but it was worth it. There are so many different flowers, trees, and animals in the park. I finally saw a bear! Or at least it's ass as it ran into the forest because I startled it on accident as I was coming up a side trail from fetching some water. 

Now that we have the dogs back we probably won't be seeing very many large animals except for them. We are putting in longer days now that we have our trail legs and the terrain is starting to level out a little more, so we are looking forward to mile 300 in two days. 

ATTN: someone make me a trail star please. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HCRR5LQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1400426259&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40

And locate me a hot pink biketard. I met a grandma hiking in one of these (but blue) and immediately became insanely jealous. I need to one-up this broad. 

My next location will be this address in about 5 days. 

Attn: Hold for thru hiker Hancock

151 River Road 

Erwin, TN 37650

Or in about a week

Attn: hold for thru hiker Hancock

1827 Greasy Creek Road

Bakerville, NC 28705 

If anyone sends anything (letters, cookies, biketards, bills, hostage letters, a swift kick in the pants, large sums of money, etc) just send me a text or a Facebook message and let me know so I know to pick it up! 

I love my friends and family and I miss you all. 

Meet thunder and lightning...

We stayed in our first AT shelter last night after braving a mighty storm that kept us up and uneasy the night before. (Some light teasing has followed because I made us sit in the lightning position off and on all night... A.k.a the kiss your ass goodbye position. But really it was that close!)  We tend to camp near but not in the shelters so we can enjoy the social benefit of them without dealing with the mice and with the snores of 10 other hikers. I'll try to remember to take a picture of one next time. As luck would have it the shelter we hiked to last night was 1) brand spankin' new, 2) next to a stellar water supply, and 3) only inhabited by some friends of ours that happen to love our dogs. It was nice to watch last night's storm with more than a thin sheet of nylon separating us from it. In other news, yesterday we hit 100 AT miles! Unfortunately the AT doesn't include the wicked 8.8 mile 'approach trail' to the trailhead on top of springer, but it still felt like a huge accomplishment to have hiked 100 official miles. Especially because the 100 mile marker was essentially on top of a 500 foot finger sticking out of the ground. Several parts of the trail were literal rock climbs straight up. Zooey attempted to sit on my head while I pushed her butt up several of the faces. Seamus was a mountain goat in a past life so he had no problem. Somewhere is a picture of me being terrified of heights on top of the lookout tower that was on top of the giant finger/mountain/100 mile marker. Unfortunately a lot of our pictures are on a camera that is holding them hostage to the Internet. Today we caught a shuttle to the town of Franklin on a whim because we were craving pizza and beer and decided that maybe we should finally shower. Cassidy mailed me some dog food via Amazon Prime (probably invented by Jesus. Free 2 day shipping!) So this morning I woke up at 6 and ran 6 miles with Seamus down a mountain and a forest road to a forest service campsite to pick up my parcel, and then back with 15lbs of kibbles in time to catch the shuttle to Franklin with Steph and some other hikers. My dog better love me. 

We will be in the Smoky Mountains in less than a week! 

At some point in recent history we also crossed the North Carolina/Georgia border! 

You can't spell crippled without ripped!

I think by the time we are through with hiking I will have an Oakland booty. If the view in front of us ever begs the question "which of the mountains in front of us are we about to go up?" The answer is just "yes." 

 

All of the views are beautiful, the hikes are incredibly tough and rewarding, and the people we've met have been interesting and helpful and nice. (Excluding exactly one individual, who everyone on the trail has been calling 'Bear Grylls' but not before they make a point to hike faster than him.) Last night we stopped at a hiker hostel to chat and resupply  a few things, with the intent of doing our business and hiking on. Before we could leave, we were urged to stay and hang out for a few beers from a previous thru-hiker and a delicious home cooked buffet free-for-all-hiking-dream dinner of Mac n cheez, green beans, salad, bread and tea from a local church. It was a good night. The experience of the kindness of absolute strangers is enough to make this trip fulfilling in and of itself. On the AT, hikers call it Trail Magic. We've already come across quite a bit of it. Add the physical challenge, the comraderie among the hikers, the beauty of the east coast, and free food and beer and I don't see what isn't to love. We've only been out for a week now, though. Maybe by next week the smell of my armpits will get the best of me. Or maybe we will make it all the way to Maine. We'll see what the dogs say. We will be in North Carolina in 4-ish days. I'm going to post an address on Facebook of a hostel we will be at about a week from now if anyone wants to mail us any goodies :) if I don't have your address already, send it to me and I will send post cards!

Does anyone know what kind of flower this is?

Bud Light Lime, Because Regular Bud Light Is Bad For My Baby...

snax on snax

Wake up in the morning thinking about why you're glad to be awake. Move and stretch. Go to bed exhausted every night. Don't be afraid of your own sweat. Be nice to strangers and the favor will be returned. Don't be afraid of hospitality and be hospitable when you can and you will always be well fed. Follow what you dream about, what stirs you late at night. Always be prepared for rain. Hike. A lot. Don't waste time. Fix what you break. There's nothing to make you appreciate a roof and coffee like sleeping and hiking in the pouring rain for days. Have a laughing fit at least once a day. If there's a porch swing, you better damn well swing on it. There is ALWAYS time to pet baby goats. Food tastes way better when you've carried it on your back for miles. Write letters. Write lists. Even if your work is what you love, do something that isn't work in your spare time. Listen to your peers. Listen to your boss. Listen to old timers with good stories. Listen to bugs. Listen to people that have done it before. Listen to your body. Listen to the birds. Listen. Listen. Listen.
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Happy Birthday America!

HEY!
Im in a hurry so this post I am just going to dump some photos and let them do the story tellin'. Off to a 12 day run starting at 1pm today. We're going to play in a creek and build fords on a trail for a few days and I can't wait. It's getting hot here! To summarize the last run- I took chainsaw training with 6 other work crew individuals. I cut down trees for 4 days and then was reunited with my work crew. it rained. so much. and hailed. I caught the philmont foot fungus but not the philmont bubble guts. fair trade if you ask me. Work crew Sierra had a family outing to Denver for the 4th of July and saw the Rockies play the Dodgers. America!

they feed us well.

Welcome to the YOLOTRILL fort

one of the turd floaters we hiked thru. wet canvas pants are a bad idea. just don't.

 

Maddie and Laura are coming to visit me mid August and I can't wait :)