Hello Everyone,,
So I have reached the safe-haven of the wonderful trail town of Damascus. This past week or so since Erwin has been the best week of hiking that I've done yet. Out of Erwin, as I mentioned I did a 20 mile slack pack South back to Erwin and then the next day I headed 19 miles Over Roan Mountain to a converted Barn called Overmountain Shelter. Nearby was a route that the Overmountain men took in during the Revolutionary War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmountain_Men . There was a plaque out in the woods that described how the men walked over the mountains in "boot high snow" to makes it to a battle. Anyway,, sleeping in a Barn was pretty neat.
The next day I did Nine Miles to Mountain Harbor Bed and Breakfast,, which was perhaps the cleanest Hostel I have stayed in so far,, I got in early and we watched Commando, Dances with Wolves and Back to the Future.. in succession. As far as taking your mind of the trail and having a moment to relax.. there really is nothing better then a Classic VHS. The breakfast there the next morning.. despite being 9 dollars was well worth it.. they had everything homeade and I filled up throughly. Thas same morning I did some slack-packing and Hostel hopped to Kinkora. The guy at Mountain Harbor Took myself, TinTin, Hightower, Thin Mint, Three Bears and D'boua's packs to Kinkora and we all hiked 24 miles to the next hostel.
Kinkora was not as clean as Mountain Harbor by any means but it made up for that in Character and Warmth. The atmosphere at that place was what the epitome of Trail Community. The first night there we played cards and then Monopoly,, and then after a 9 mile southbound slack pack the next day we all Had a Community Dinner of Chicken Parmesean and Salad and Cake and Ice Cream and White-chocholate covered Strawberries. Afterwards a few of us played Risk as well. Kinkora was everything good about the Appalachian Trail and the group of hikers that I spent time with there were a fantistic group of people.
I'm still hiking with most of them and after 50 miles of hiking we made it to Damascus.
more to come later.
Kashmir
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Next Stop... Virginia
Hey Everyone... sorry that it's been a while since my last post.
I didn't go into the Library in Hot Springs to do a blog update so I have not checked in since Standing Bear...
Wow.. that seems ages ago and it really was
This past Week has been a roller coaster of emotions and advancements.
The roughly 60 mile section of the trail from Hot Springs to Erwin TN (where I am at right now) was probably my most difficult yet. There was the fact that I was aiming to get out of Hot Springs on Saturday and didnt' end up doing a full day until Monday... so that got me back a ways.. and the hike out of there seemed to be strikingly difficult. The days were Hot and the terrain was dry and the hiking just didn't seem fun. The realization that I am going to have to increase my pace Big time if I am going to finish on time was sort of playing on my mind and mixed with what I assuming was a spout of Deyhdration just doesn't make for a good hike. I went 11 miles on my Worst day which was Thursday. The next day however,,after some powerades at a Gas Station I went ahead and had my biggest day yet 18 miles... It was just strange how you can go from almost no energy to feeling Great.
Anyway I made it into Erwin (mile number 340) very early yeasterday and Spent the day taking the free shuttles into town for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner.... then I did my First SlackPack of my AT thru-hike existence.
It was about 15 bucks alltogether and that afforded me a day where I hiked 20.2 miles with only about 4 or 5 pounds instead of my 40ish lb regular pack. They shuttled about 5 of us ahead 20 miles and then we hiked South back to Uncle Johnnys hostel,,starting at 8 and getting back at 4:30 in time for the Dinner shuttle at 6 o'clock.
Some may question the purist nature of a Slack Pack but I say it was soooooo worth it. The diference between a full pack and the latter is truly night and day.
It was the easiest day hiking yet and also my longest day yet.
Anyway that puts me at mile 360. with a LONG LONG was to go. But the weather is supposed to be clear the next few days and soon the flatter terrain of Virginia will appear. These next couple of weeks will hopefully see bigger mileage days but at the moment I've came to the conclusion not to worry too much about the Miles, I'm just goign to continue enjoying the journey. I've now had two full, stomach stuffing meals two nights in a row and I did twenty miles today which Felt Like a stroll in the park. tomorrows goal is 19 (I think) to Overmountain shelter and then after that I actually foget what's next,,, a Bed and Breakfast inbetween Damascus and then it's just more of the same.... Following the White Blazes... Another Day in the Woods = another good day.
Things are looking okay.
Later,
Kashmir
ALSO Yeasterday I bought some cheap Clippers at the Dollar General and Shaved off ALL OF MY HAIR!!!!!!!!!!! except my beard.
I'll post a picture in time,, this computer that I'm on at the moment is kind of old
I look different, kind of "tougher" but people said they like it and I kind of do as well. It was just too hot.
I didn't go into the Library in Hot Springs to do a blog update so I have not checked in since Standing Bear...
Wow.. that seems ages ago and it really was
This past Week has been a roller coaster of emotions and advancements.
The roughly 60 mile section of the trail from Hot Springs to Erwin TN (where I am at right now) was probably my most difficult yet. There was the fact that I was aiming to get out of Hot Springs on Saturday and didnt' end up doing a full day until Monday... so that got me back a ways.. and the hike out of there seemed to be strikingly difficult. The days were Hot and the terrain was dry and the hiking just didn't seem fun. The realization that I am going to have to increase my pace Big time if I am going to finish on time was sort of playing on my mind and mixed with what I assuming was a spout of Deyhdration just doesn't make for a good hike. I went 11 miles on my Worst day which was Thursday. The next day however,,after some powerades at a Gas Station I went ahead and had my biggest day yet 18 miles... It was just strange how you can go from almost no energy to feeling Great.
Anyway I made it into Erwin (mile number 340) very early yeasterday and Spent the day taking the free shuttles into town for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner.... then I did my First SlackPack of my AT thru-hike existence.
It was about 15 bucks alltogether and that afforded me a day where I hiked 20.2 miles with only about 4 or 5 pounds instead of my 40ish lb regular pack. They shuttled about 5 of us ahead 20 miles and then we hiked South back to Uncle Johnnys hostel,,starting at 8 and getting back at 4:30 in time for the Dinner shuttle at 6 o'clock.
Some may question the purist nature of a Slack Pack but I say it was soooooo worth it. The diference between a full pack and the latter is truly night and day.
It was the easiest day hiking yet and also my longest day yet.
Anyway that puts me at mile 360. with a LONG LONG was to go. But the weather is supposed to be clear the next few days and soon the flatter terrain of Virginia will appear. These next couple of weeks will hopefully see bigger mileage days but at the moment I've came to the conclusion not to worry too much about the Miles, I'm just goign to continue enjoying the journey. I've now had two full, stomach stuffing meals two nights in a row and I did twenty miles today which Felt Like a stroll in the park. tomorrows goal is 19 (I think) to Overmountain shelter and then after that I actually foget what's next,,, a Bed and Breakfast inbetween Damascus and then it's just more of the same.... Following the White Blazes... Another Day in the Woods = another good day.
Things are looking okay.
Later,
Kashmir
ALSO Yeasterday I bought some cheap Clippers at the Dollar General and Shaved off ALL OF MY HAIR!!!!!!!!!!! except my beard.
I'll post a picture in time,, this computer that I'm on at the moment is kind of old
I look different, kind of "tougher" but people said they like it and I kind of do as well. It was just too hot.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Standing Bear Farm
So I got to Standing Bear Farm at around 2:45. So ten miles in roughly 4 hours... not tooo bad. It was pretty much all downhill though. But I'm Officially OUT OF THE SMOKIES!!!!!!!!!!
The past couple days in the mountains were actually pretty great... it was absolutely perfect weather and the views and company were excellent. I'm feeling Fantastic physically and while when I started the smokies I was feeling tired and worn out after the days hiking, I feel pretty good right now. I got some Centrum Performance daily vitamins as well so that will hopefully give me an even greater boost so I can start knocking out some bigger days...
I know the next stop will be hot springs in a few days and then after that I'm not sure,, but until then..... Adios until next time
Kashmir
P.S. This place is AWESOME, it's like a Log Cabin Bunk House type of thing and everything is very "Appalachian". It's great.
The past couple days in the mountains were actually pretty great... it was absolutely perfect weather and the views and company were excellent. I'm feeling Fantastic physically and while when I started the smokies I was feeling tired and worn out after the days hiking, I feel pretty good right now. I got some Centrum Performance daily vitamins as well so that will hopefully give me an even greater boost so I can start knocking out some bigger days...
I know the next stop will be hot springs in a few days and then after that I'm not sure,, but until then..... Adios until next time
Kashmir
P.S. This place is AWESOME, it's like a Log Cabin Bunk House type of thing and everything is very "Appalachian". It's great.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Gatlinburg Rest
Hey everyone,
Well today I am simply relaxing at the hotel here in Gatlinburg Tennessee. My parents, who were on a cruise and driving up from Florida, came and picked me up at Newfound Gap, which is about halfway through the Smoky Mountains.
If you check the date of my last post, you will see that my pace this past week has been pretty downright Slow. lol In the last six days I went about 40 miles. I'm going to account that to the excessive rainy condition,, and it really was raining and windy and crappy out,, but a couple of the days,, the Russell Field Shelter to Spence Field Shelter day was pretty bad. I went 3 miles that day,,, it was raining and windy and me and a fellow hiker "Jack Straw" went down to check out Spence and when we got there it was very nice and very dry and very "not in the rainstorm" so at 1 o'clock we both said "ehhh good enough for today".
I can demean my lack of milage now jokingly,, but in reality I am glad that I stopped that day... we kind of just hung out in the shelter all day until other hikers got there. We ever hung around specifically because we knew Cotton, Q-tip, Trinket and Hyway were going to catch up.
Thusly we hung out at Spence all day and listened to my eton crank-up radio dialed in to the Knoxville Classic Rock station. A great way to pass a rainy day if there ever were one.
Anyhow, I went 6 miles the next day and then 7 the next and then I went 10 miles yesterday morning before being picked up at Newfound Gap at noon before heading into Gatlinburg Tennessee. I must say Gatlinburg is like being dropped off on an entire different planet,, it was kind of like the touristy part of Niagra Falls or Atlantic City, with about 50 Pancake houses and thousands of people walking around downtown.
It's pretty crazy, but the hotel I'm at right now is pretty nice, and I'm on my own laptop in the hotel room so it's nice to have that, I went to holy Thursday mass yesterday with my parents and it was nice, even though the priest has a little un-typical sermon.. talking about "the kids these days with the Che Guevara shirts on" and he was critical of people coming to mass with sandals one looking like they just left the beach... haha I looked at my mom and she had on black sandals,, we though it was kind of silly. but this hotel has a Hot Tub and the Golden Coral buffet is "da bomb" as Randy would say (yes that is an Idol reference that I don't know why I added) Anyways it was pretty great to have unlimited food and then afterwards yesterday we got a Stuffed Crust Pizza and I ate all but two pieces,, and I went and got a Whopper Jr. and Two scoops of Cotton Candy Ice-Cream at a Baskin Robbins,, it was just too easy when Pizza Hut,, Burger King and the Baskin Robbins were literally right next to each other on the same stretch of road.
Anyway Clingmans Dome and the Smoky Mountains were/are amazing when the sky is clear,, as I mentioned previously it was rainy the first couple days so the views were not there,, but the Smokies really are gorgeous.
What else..... oh
the collective group of other hikers that I've been hiking along with, and maybe part of the reason that I've been un-motivated to hike dawn to dusk. Our self-appointed captain "Swift" ..I believe he came up with the plan to call us "Team GoDat" Meaning that we Go "Dat Far" and then we Stop. haha We're just hiking along,, enjoying ourselves,, not trying to kill off 20 mile days just yet.
One guy in team GoDat is actually named Slackamus Maximus.
I've been hiking along with them for the past week or so and I'm loving it,, no sense rushing at this point,, the long days will come later.
Well... I will be setting off tomorrow morning,, going ten miles tomorrow and then maybe 13 the next,, who knows after that.. I'll try to keep this updated a bit more regular,, I can usually get verizon service on my phone in the mountains and it does connect to the blogger website,, the only problem is that it freezes up all the time,, I just have a normal phone (no droid or blackberry type deal_) it's a waterproof Boulder by motorola but nothing with easy access internet. my cell is 814 758 8556 if anyone who happens to be reading this does not have it already.
I'm going to just go ahead and submit this blog post at the moment,, I'll be uploading a few pictures here and to facebook as well
so until Next time.....
Have a great week and enjoy
--Kashmir
Well today I am simply relaxing at the hotel here in Gatlinburg Tennessee. My parents, who were on a cruise and driving up from Florida, came and picked me up at Newfound Gap, which is about halfway through the Smoky Mountains.
If you check the date of my last post, you will see that my pace this past week has been pretty downright Slow. lol In the last six days I went about 40 miles. I'm going to account that to the excessive rainy condition,, and it really was raining and windy and crappy out,, but a couple of the days,, the Russell Field Shelter to Spence Field Shelter day was pretty bad. I went 3 miles that day,,, it was raining and windy and me and a fellow hiker "Jack Straw" went down to check out Spence and when we got there it was very nice and very dry and very "not in the rainstorm" so at 1 o'clock we both said "ehhh good enough for today".
I can demean my lack of milage now jokingly,, but in reality I am glad that I stopped that day... we kind of just hung out in the shelter all day until other hikers got there. We ever hung around specifically because we knew Cotton, Q-tip, Trinket and Hyway were going to catch up.
Thusly we hung out at Spence all day and listened to my eton crank-up radio dialed in to the Knoxville Classic Rock station. A great way to pass a rainy day if there ever were one.
Anyhow, I went 6 miles the next day and then 7 the next and then I went 10 miles yesterday morning before being picked up at Newfound Gap at noon before heading into Gatlinburg Tennessee. I must say Gatlinburg is like being dropped off on an entire different planet,, it was kind of like the touristy part of Niagra Falls or Atlantic City, with about 50 Pancake houses and thousands of people walking around downtown.
It's pretty crazy, but the hotel I'm at right now is pretty nice, and I'm on my own laptop in the hotel room so it's nice to have that, I went to holy Thursday mass yesterday with my parents and it was nice, even though the priest has a little un-typical sermon.. talking about "the kids these days with the Che Guevara shirts on" and he was critical of people coming to mass with sandals one looking like they just left the beach... haha I looked at my mom and she had on black sandals,, we though it was kind of silly. but this hotel has a Hot Tub and the Golden Coral buffet is "da bomb" as Randy would say (yes that is an Idol reference that I don't know why I added) Anyways it was pretty great to have unlimited food and then afterwards yesterday we got a Stuffed Crust Pizza and I ate all but two pieces,, and I went and got a Whopper Jr. and Two scoops of Cotton Candy Ice-Cream at a Baskin Robbins,, it was just too easy when Pizza Hut,, Burger King and the Baskin Robbins were literally right next to each other on the same stretch of road.
Anyway Clingmans Dome and the Smoky Mountains were/are amazing when the sky is clear,, as I mentioned previously it was rainy the first couple days so the views were not there,, but the Smokies really are gorgeous.
What else..... oh
the collective group of other hikers that I've been hiking along with, and maybe part of the reason that I've been un-motivated to hike dawn to dusk. Our self-appointed captain "Swift" ..I believe he came up with the plan to call us "Team GoDat" Meaning that we Go "Dat Far" and then we Stop. haha We're just hiking along,, enjoying ourselves,, not trying to kill off 20 mile days just yet.
One guy in team GoDat is actually named Slackamus Maximus.
I've been hiking along with them for the past week or so and I'm loving it,, no sense rushing at this point,, the long days will come later.
Well... I will be setting off tomorrow morning,, going ten miles tomorrow and then maybe 13 the next,, who knows after that.. I'll try to keep this updated a bit more regular,, I can usually get verizon service on my phone in the mountains and it does connect to the blogger website,, the only problem is that it freezes up all the time,, I just have a normal phone (no droid or blackberry type deal_) it's a waterproof Boulder by motorola but nothing with easy access internet. my cell is 814 758 8556 if anyone who happens to be reading this does not have it already.
I'm going to just go ahead and submit this blog post at the moment,, I'll be uploading a few pictures here and to facebook as well
so until Next time.....
Have a great week and enjoy
--Kashmir
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