Date: 2005-04-20
From: zero day update number two

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Friday April 8:I woke up to bad weather at my last morning at the Blueberry patch hostel and I was excited to get another fantastic home cooked breakfast. I rained off and on all day while I was hiking and me and the other hikers leaving the b-berry patch all ended up pretty much hiking together all day and we all ended up at the same crowded shelter, that was full, but instead of setting up my tent in the t-storm, I slept on the picnic table bench in the shelter, which was actually not bad at all and I got a good nights rest, and I woke up in the middle of the night to find a beautifully starry clear night after the rain blew out. I crossed the GA/NC state line and the hike got HARD right into NC, but I was happy to be there, and it was pretty easy for me even though it was straight uphill, because it is so much easier on my feet. While I was hiking I got tired or grumpy or a bad attitude and I started thinking pretty nasty and rude things, and then I got to the shelter, and I ended up enjoying the company of my shelter mates and I was again taught a lesson about judging others, which is good for me. I realized that my journey to maine has a good chance of a successful completion b/c I have no where else to go anyways, and nothing is going to make me happy, except me, and so I will just make myself happy on the trail, I don¢t have the time to explain what I really mean here, all I can say is, is that it is a very good thing, just hard to explain.Saturday April 9:What an incredible day with great a mental attitude all day long! I was elated all day long at my journey and what I have learned thus far in such a short period of time. I have never dreamed that this many lessons can come to fruition in such a short period of time.The views were incredible today after a rather bland day yesterday. I hiked ridgeline and it was insanely beautiful. I made a HUGE hiking day today and did a 20 mile day which is a huge accomplishment on such a hard day of hiking in terms of the vertical climbs today. It was a great day. There was also well needed trail magic by this dude in a camper cooking up black beans and rice for us thru-hikers. I hadn¢t planned on doing so many miles, but I saw ¢Saxy¢ at betty creek and decided to push for the trail magic up ahead. What an amazing day! Tomorrow is franlin, nc and a well needed hotel room.Sunday April 10:I woke up after a very enjoyable night at the albert mountain fire tower and chilling by the fire with ray and saxy and Kelly and I was off to franklin for a well awaited hotel stay. I hiked with a guy named brad for a while who has a huge beard from Bloomington and he is all about nutrition so we had grand time making fun of the nutritional state of our country and its terrible habits. There was more trail magic at the road where I was getting off at the hitch into franklin and at the picnic table with all the free food was a dude that I went to high school with! That goes to show what a small world it is that three guys from the same high school are hiking the same trail that only a few people hike each year. It must be something that St. X puts in the water or something. The hotel in franklin was a dump and my room was the cheapest one they had and it didn¢t even have a phone. The owner was VERY NICE, and he was really hiker friendly, but the hotel was so crappy, and the TV was like 13¢ and barely color at all, so I watched chick flick Sunday and ended up getting my fill of chick flicks like, You¢ve got mail, and Devine secrets of the YAYA sisterhood and What women Want¢¦ I stuffed my face at the all you can eat steak buffest and then I got an extremely large six scoop ice cream Sunday that was ridiculously large at a great ice cream shoppe in franklin. It was marvelous. I learned today that I am ALWAYS asking to see hotel rooms before I check into them from now on if they are cheap-and I¢ll do it to, I¢m not joking. TV was good, and I actually like chick flicks, as most of you know, so it was welcome that TNT was showing chick flicks.Monday April 11:I woke up after a terrible nights sleep in the hotel because as soon as I would be sleeping well, the windows would rattle like an old haunted shack because the road next to my window happened to be a frequent passage for large trucks to get into town in the wee hours of the night and morning. I walked to Hardees which was next to the hotel and I ordered a surprisingly delicious breakfast of eggs, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns, and other wonderful breakfast delights. It was cheap and extremely good. After breakfast I picked up my first maildrop from the post office and everything went smoothly. I was happy to get a lot more candy bars and goodies as well as fuel for my stove which I didn¢t really need since my stove has been using even less than I anticipated. After all of the morning activities, I spoke to the owner who runs a shuttle into the wilderness again each day to take hikers back to the trail and so I boarded it around 11:30 to head back to the trail with another hiker named Stovepipe who is a girl from New Mexico with dreads. When I started my shin splints were reallyhurting and I didn¢t know how far I would make it that day, but I took it slow and did more than I thought I could do. I had to go extra distance too, because a side trail I took to see a shelter a was thinking about staying at skipped a few feet of the trail, and since I have vowed to walk every foot of the trail, I had to go back and hike that section which took extra time, but I am glad I am sticking to my convictions. After a while I saw Saxy and she was going slow too, and we decided to hike to the next shelter, but I ended up finding a nice campsight and decided to stop and take it slow to camo that night which made me proud that I didn¢t push myself and my name, Bottle-Rocket actually served its purpose. After my tent was up, I built a fire which I usually never do and it was nice to have, and then a nice german guy showed up with his dog. The guys name was Rhino and he offered me some very tasty fog newtons and a kit kat bar which was well received by me. Tuesday April 12:Wow. What a painful day. I had to push today and make huge miles so I could hit the Nantahalla Outdoor Center the next day with enough time to rest, and so I had to do this huge downhill which was bigger than any downhill I¢ve done yet or almost will ever have to do. It hurt like hell and I thought I injured myself even more by simply doing it. I was not a happy guy, and it was raining as well which was not a pleasant experience. However, I got into the shelter and took a nap finally and I then felt better. I was also happy to see green leaves show up on trees for the first time. That was the least crowded night I have spent in a shelter yet with only two others at the shelter, Me, Saxy, and Grump. I was excited to go to the N.O.C. the next day.Wednesday April 13:What a better day than the prior! The NOC was awesome. The NOC is an awesome canoe and kayak center with a restaurant and an outfitter which is nestled on the Nantahalla River in the North Carolina mountains. Me and Saxy woke and early so we could eat our favorite meal of the day and it was SO GOOD. I order French toast and eggs and biscuits and gravy and more food that was awesome, and Saxy got some great cheese loaded hashbrowns and eggs that were superb. I was great just chilling at this little bustling whitewater rafting place in the middle of nowhere. We chilled until around noon and then hit the trail for the biggest roughest climb we have made yet which climbed almost a mile high in only six miles of trail. It was nuts, but hiking up doesn¢t bother me nearly as bad as going bad and so I rocked out and busted up the trail in a hurry, AND THEN CAME THE HAIL. I got smashed on the head. I got hit in the face, I got beat on the rest of my body by hail shooting out of the sky so it was a very exciting experience. I met some nice new friends that night at the shelter and I was very happy to run into another friend of mine named Mr. Fusion who I like being around because of his hilarious comments and his singing which is funny, like when he sang Rocket Man for me as I left the shelter that morning. I laughed a lot that night with my new friends as we all told stories in the clearing night in a very awesome two story shelter. I felt very comfortable around these new hikers. It was fun.Thurday April 14:I woke up at the usual 7:30 AM with the sun and hit the trail. I didn¢t see many people at all, but the weather was awesome. When I was almost to the shelter, my shin splints started killing me once again. No one showed up at the shelter for a long time, and then my buds Mr. Fusion, Shannon, and Eric showed up and we ate some awesome burritos prepared by Mr. Fusion. The day was good,\Friday April 15:I woke up really early to hit the Fontana Dam Shelter which is renowned as the nicest shelter along the AT and it also provides a shuttle to the Fontana Inn which houses a free indoor pool as well as a big breakfast buffet that I tried desperately to hit,(I woke up early that morning to do my six miles into town and then I almost ran to the shuttle stop), but when I arrived at 9:30, it took the shuttle an hour to pick me up, and I was late for breakfast, and so I ate lunch with Mr. Fusion, Shannon, and Eric. I ate a cheeseburger fully dressed, an order of fries, a huge salad, and an order of chicken fingers. They were delicious. After that I took a swim in the pool, and ate some ice cream. It was a nice relaxing day at an abandoned resort, which I needed very much with the company I had. Then I went to the Fontana Shelter which really is nice, with running water and toilets and everything nearby. It was really clear that night and I think I slept better that evening than I had in a long time.Saturday April 16:I toyed with the idea all morning of taking a zero at this lovely resort with free everything and such a great atmosphere, but after walking to the Fontana Inn¢s restaurant from the shelter in the morning to make SURE I got to the breakfast buffet in time, I decided to go ahead and hike out today since taking a zero would require me to take a side trail to get to a road to hitch into gatlinburg, and go ten miles out of my way to make it to town in time for Stephanie¢s arrival. After an awesome breakfast with Machine Gun Kelley, Saxy Lady, Inspector Gadget, Sunflower, Funnel Cake, Mr.Fusion and others, which I mutilated the breakfast buffet and ate about nine plates of food I decided to go ahead and hike out that day, but before it to the ping pong area for a heated tourney with Inspector Gadget which we ended up in a forced tie because the shuttle arrived. When I was walking out of the Fontana Dam area, (Fontana is a dam built in the war to help power an aluminum plant in the Tennessee Valley area.) I ran into a couple who was vacationing and when they started asking about the hike they were absolutely amazed that I had walked from Georgia and I was going all the way to maine. Seeing their amazement really sparked on my hiking and I made great time that into the smokies which are highly feared by hikers as being a rough climb into their splendor. There was wildflowers blooming everywhere and it was awesome to be up at ridgeline again.Sunday April 17:I woke up to an absolutely beautiful day in the smokies and I made good mileage to a shelter I needed to get to if I wanted to go to clingmans dome the next morning for sunrise. There was a group a high school kids at the shelter who were; intrigued by my trip, scared of animals of all sorts, and they also forced me to take their homemade tasting granola and fruit leathers which were welcome. I went to bed thinking about all the food in Gatlinburg and I was really excited to meet Stephanie and actually stay in a hotel with a shower and my own bed. Monday April 18:I woke up at four in the morning and packed quickly to hike up to Clingmans Dome for unparalleled views of the sunrise. It was incedible to hike to a place I¢m so familiar with for the day I would hit mile number two hundred at. It was awesome to hike in the dark, and not realize how high I was getting and then when I thought was still in the woods I saw the lights of distant cities on each side of the ridgeline I was hiking. The sunrise was great and then I was pumped to make the almost nine miles into newfound gap to hitch into Gatlinburg. I got a ride pretty quickly from the gap by a nice guy who was visiting his daughter in Atlanta and took that way home to hit the nice scenery.It was really cool to walk through Gatlinburg looking all rough with a pack and my dirty beard and all. I waited at the hotel since I got there early and Stephanie didn¢t recognize me when she saw me at first since my face was so dark and I was hairy and dirty. I was happy to eat some homemade cookies from my mom right off the bat and then after a shower at the hotel we went to develop pictures and then we went to eat. Tuesday April 19:Today was free Ben and Jerry¢s ice cream cone day! How cool is that?!?!?! I got to run around Gatlinburg and eat awesome pancakes and buy a new book for the trail and today was great! We also drove up to newfound gap to try and give other hikers rides down to Gatlinburg and we found ¢funnel cake¢ and another hiker so were able to give some rides.We got to go to the Dixie Stampeded which was awesome and I ate a whole rotisserie chicken! I never knew anyone could really clean off a WHOLE CHICKEN! After gorging myself silly we went to the microbrewery to drink some beer and sing karaoke and have a blast with my hiking buddies. It was great, and we had an incredible time. Some guy also proposed to his girlfriend at the karaoke mic which was neat.