Date: 2008-11-15
To: Davenport Gap (Franklin, NC)
Miles today: 103.8
Weather: broken clouds

I'm finishing on Thanksgiving...Charleston, Sc ¢ Erwin, TN ¢ Zero Day ¢ Day 131 - November 9thAfter catching up with Juice Box, Ozzie, and Chev, we took another zero because they were taking a zero and we wanted to hang out since we had already taken 5 days off waiting for them¢¦Erwin, TN ¢ Just past Erwin, TN ¢ 1836.4 ¢ 1839.4 ¢ Day 132 ¢ November 10thWell, just as we all were about to head out today, Stretch & I realized we left our boots and poles in the back of the car that Stretch¢s Dad drove us back up to Erwin in. So, we went to Wal-Mart and bought cheap boots and poles to get us to our shoes and poles that I think are being mailed to Hot Springs. After this whole debacle, we could only manage a few miles before dark and had a nice fire and early night. We¢ll have to make up for it tomorrow and do 24 miles.Just past Erwin, TN ¢ Hogback Ridge Shelter ¢ 1839.4 ¢ 1863.4 ¢ Day 133 ¢ November 11thAbout today¢s hiking: it was long, hard, very uphill and it rained a bit. The view from Big Bald in a drizzle was still nice. I finished the last 34 mile in the dark. In more important news, the first 5 or so miles today will probably be the last that Stretch & I will hike together. He is now with Ozzie and Chev 10 miles behind. I am caught up with Juice Box. The 2 of us need to be done by Thanksgiving and really need to hit these last 16 days hard. The other 3 are in no rush and will be taking it slow. I must say that I really enjoyed hiking with Stretch and will be there when he finishes to pick him up. I¢m sure we¢ll go backpacking again after this is done with (JMT Summer ¢08???). Big day again tomorrow¢¦GO AWAY RAIN!!!Hogback Ridge Shelter ¢ Little Laurel Shelter ¢ 1863.4 ¢ 1884.9 ¢ Day 134 ¢ November 12thAnother full day today. The climb up Big Butt kicked my butt. The section around Blackstack Cliffs was a beautiful exposed section of trail. The rain held off; it was warm when the sun peeked through and cold otherwise. The wind picked up in the late afternoon and has been really strong since we got to the shelter 30 minutes before dark. I hiked with Juice Box today and have been phone tagging with Stretch to figure out the tent/shoes situation in Hot Springs. Town day tomorrow¢¦stay away again rain! Oh, and we saw a bunch of hunters and coon dogs today that followed us for a couple of miles¢¦no one got shot.Little Laurel Shelter ¢ Hot Springs, NC ¢ 1884.9 ¢ 1904.5 ¢ Day 135 ¢ November 13thNewsworthy day today¢¦It started out with Juice and I hiking in the rain for an hour or so. Then we received awesome trail magic at Allen Gap from a couple (Fal & Hercules) who practically live on the trail. After a multi-course breakfast/lunch, we headed back on the trail VERY full. We did get to Hot Springs in time to investigate our situation with shoes and poles. They are in Erwin. We haven¢t been able to reach Ozzie or Stretch in 36 hours even when they are supposed to be in Erwin with the box that contains my boots (they ended up being there the next day). The next issue is that it is about to get cold and rain. This means snow in the Smokies. A lot of snow. While at Elmer¢s tonight (great place!), we conjured up a double flip-flop plan to get around the potentially snowed-out Smokies (more on that if it actually happens). In the meantime, we enjoyed the town and especially dinner across the street. Rest time!!!Hot Springs, NC ¢ Roaring Fork Shelter ¢ 1904.5 ¢ 1922.5 ¢ Day 136 ¢ November 14thAfter getting an awesome breakfast at Elmer¢s and resupplying at the Outfitter, we didn¢t get on the trail until 10:30. Today was one of the 4 major climbs left on the trail. The uphill today totaled over 6500`. The views were few and far between, but the rain did hold off. We even got a bit of blue sky and sun a t one point. The resident bear hopefully will not make an appearance at the shelter tonight. In other news, we are going to do the double flip-flop. The Smokies are not the place to challenge inclement weather. We are hiking tomorrow to Davenport Gap where Dad (and my shoes/poles) is picking us up and taking us to Franklin, NC. We are going to hike from (somewhere near?) Wayah Bald NORTHBOUND back to Davenport Gap. This lets the snow in the Smokies come and melt before we get there. Then Dad next week is going to take us from Davenport Gap back to Franklin again where we will continue and finish Southbound. It¢s the best option right now. Hopefully tomorrow won¢t be too rainy after all the rain we¢ve gotten the last two nights!Roaring Fork Shelter ¢ Davenport Gap (Franklin, NC Round One) ¢ 1922.5 ¢ 1940.2 ¢ Day 137 ¢ November 15thThis has been the most odd weather the last three days. Today went from warm to cold, rainy to sunny, windy to calm over and over again. We had no views on Max Patch or Snowbird today. The hiking was decent and I¢m glad to be done with those Wal-Mart boots (Ouch!). We got down to Davenport Gap and Juice Box has decided to challenge the snow and continue southbound all of the way. I think he¢s crazy. Anyway, big thanks to Dad for taking the day to go to Erwin, Davenport Gap, & Franklin. In unrelated news, I ran into 2-Liter in the Bi-Lo here tonight¢¦he¢s still planning on finishing in a week. The rain has already turned to snow in the higher elevations and it is going to be close to single-digits at night the next week¢¦buuuurrrrrr¢¦just another obstacle to finish the trail¢¦235.9 to go!!!I will be finishing these last 235.9 miles as I started the AT...alone...which makes me think of the following Whitesnake lyrics:An' here I go again on my ownGoin' down the only road I've ever knownLike a drifter I was born to walk aloneAn' I've made up my mindI ain't wasting no more timeHere I go again