Date: 2016-04-18
From: Laughing Heart Hiker Hostel

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 26.4
Weather: clear sky

It sounds pretty impressive, 26.4 miles, but that is a 2 day total for me. On 4/17, I hiked 11.0 miles, from Hot Springs, TN to Spring Mt. Shelter, and yesterday, I had my longest & toughest day. I hiked 15.4 miles from Spring Mt. Shelter to Jerrys Cabin Shelter. The hike was tough for a couple of reasons. 1) It was a very hot day yesterday. 2) I climbed 2400 feet 3) Some of the trail was very rocky, which makes for slow going. There will be over 5000 people attempting to hike the AT this year. That may sound like mobs of people, but the truth of the matter is that I see an average of 10 people on a typical day. At times, the woods are utterly and completely silent. I am talking about a total lack of any sound whatsoever. That total silence can last for 1-2 hours. Most of the time, the woods are nearly silent. I hear only the chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects, and an occasional woodpecker (bird) drilling into a tree. That extreme silence can put me into a deep daydream. I was in such a deep daydream yesterday when I startled a wild turkey. His/her frantic wingbeats slapping against his body as he beat a hasty retreat sounded like gunshots. Maybe the deep silence put the turkey into a daydream as well. I do not know who was more startled; me or the wild turkey. I need to bring my non-O2K readers up to speed for what I am about to say. O2K was a year long bike trip that I did with 250 other people. Some of the most dedicated folks not only rode every single mile for the entire year, they even rode on rest days. A small group of people rode over 20, 000 miles that year. I was not in that select group. On the AT, there are people who are determined to hike every single INCH of the AT. I am not in this group either. There are 3 ways for an AT hiker to lose respect among the purists. 1) "Yellow blazing." This means to find a place where the AT crosses a paved road, and hitchhike for however many miles a person wants to avoid hiking on the AT. I have not yellow blazed, and hopefully I will not yellow blaze. 2)"Blue Blazing" The entire AT is extremely challenging, but a few parts are off the charts tough. When this happens, the hiker is offered a short blue blaze hike to avoid the extrememly difficult part. The first time I had a blue blaze option, I naively declined my "get out of jail free" opportunities. I ascended 400 feet in .4 of a mile. I learned my lesson. Yesterday there was a blue blaze opportunity due to "an extremely rocky & difficult" section. I have hiked sections that were EXTREMELY character building, and they did not merit this category, so I figured this 1.5 mile section must be off the charts, so I blue blazed it. The people who took the challenging route told me they regretted it. 3) Slackpacking. This means a hiker hikes with only a very small rucksack, containing 1-2 meals and drinking water. Somebody hauls the hikers full backpack in a car, and drops it off in a place where the hiker can retrieve it. I have slackpacked 1 day, for 15 miles, but I intend to do quite a bit more slackpacking, especially when I get to New Hampshire & Maine