Date: 2011-10-14
From: Roan Mountain, TN

To: Fontana Dam, NC
Miles today: 227.0
Weather: clear sky

We are through the Smokies!!! Two days of rain and one day of sunshine ... Not bad!When last I blogged, we were taking a zero to avoid a raging blizzard on Roan Mountain. We still had to endure remnants of the blizzard, but the zero was awesome and we enjoyed another great breakfast at Mountain Harbour on Monday morning before we hiked out.Then, we had a very eventful week weaving over 160 miles in and out of TN & NC. There were lots of ups & downs, and I'm not just referring to the mountains. Let's start with the low points.#1TN & NC offer plentiful 360-degree views. I think this is one of the reasons I tripped and fell over a root, which was also covered by leaves. It was a painful fall, but I am healing. #2The mountains in TN/NC are large. Very large. They require a lot of climbing. We are tired. We hurt. Didn't we already do this in Maine & NH?#3 We resupplied mid-week in Erwin, TN. We were hoping for a real meal as well, since we were getting there around second breakfast time, but we used Uncle Johnny's shuttle and had to choose between getting groceries or going to a restaurant. At the time, getting groceries seemed more important. But later that day, we regretted that!#4The climb out of Erwin to our shelter was ridiculously long and steep at times. The book told us it was 16 miles with a 3500-foot elevation change. That didn't seem too daunting. We almost died. No, seriously. We hadn't felt that tired since Maine & NH!#5We have been hiking with a guy named Loop on and off these past few weeks. He's finishing up sections of his thru hike. He has just 100 miles left and so now he is ahead of us. It was nice to have a 4th Musketeer around for a change!#6I've mentioned that trail magic has not been so abundant. We did get some granola bars from some day hikers and also had a guy offer us Shittake mushrooms at a road crossing, but, well ... Anyways, among the million things NOBOs told us about (e.g., the rocks of PA, Ming's Chinese Buffet in Waynesboro), they told us about a couple who cooks for thru hikers at the Allen Gap road crossing in NC/TN. We tried not to get our hopes up, but we did. And guess what? There was no couple at Allen Gap offering to cook for us. Boo.The Ups#1Deal's bday! He had a very good hiking day on his bday! We had great views on Big Bald Mtn and there were some volunteers up there doing research on migrating birds. So we got to watch, learn and release some birds.#2The 360-degree views almost everyday! We have crossed a number of open, grassy balds. Apparently, the origins of these treeless balds are a mystery (UFOs????), but they sure are beautiful!#3The weather! Besides the cold snap we got, we have had 7 days of pure blue skies & 1 day of rain ... Good track record.#4Deal had a very interesting bear sighting. Typically, I fetch the water when we get to camp (sounds so pioneer-like!), but he went one evening and ran into a bear at the spring! This was after he made the comment that he was surprised they had bear cables at the shelter because we were so high up where they was little vegetation and there were probably no bear!#5We encountered some mating snakes on the trail! How interesting it was to watch! #6Privies at North Carolina shelters! I'm excited because unlike Deal, I do NOT like digging holes. And TN has something against privies.#7Lots of day and section hikers out and about! Most of them have stopped to chat and given us words of encouragement (much needed) for the rest of our thru hike!! Some of them even gave us extra food!! Many have taken our picture even!#8Camping on top of Max Patch! The balds have been so beautiful and Max Patch was no exception. It was super windy up there the night we camped, but it was so worth it.So. Ups and downs. Such is trail life. We are just tired. And entitled to complain after almost 2000 miles with 220 miles left to go!And just to clarify for everyone. We are completing the entire trail on Oct. 24. I know my original "schedule" had us finishing sometime in December, but we are WAY ahead of "schedule." Deal's sister's wedding is Oct. 28 (which also happens to be our 5-year anniversary). So in true Deal & Steadee fashion, we are finishing the trail on Monday the 24th, hopping on an overnight train that night to Danville, VA, (and hopefully sleeping), packing up our vehicle on Tuesday the 25th, driving to Louisville, then driving to Chicago on Wednesday! We will spend Thursday getting groomed & getting my dress to fit! Wedding is on Friday! Then we will collapse for at least 2 weeks.