Date: 2015-03-25
To: The VA/TN Line
Miles today: 0.0

All packed and rearing to go, back to Damascus, VA, to finish my failed SOBO thru attempt of last Fall.My pack is a heavy 28lbs 6ozs, due to: (i) the 4 days of food I'll need to start with; (ii) some winter clothes, as I can expect a few night in the 30s; and (iii), my new legit tent--it even has a floor!--which I'll need when shelters fill up with NOBOs. (Only the earliest and fastest thru-hikers are currently approaching me in Tennessee, I'm assuming, but there is a herd in GA; some estimate as many as 30 per day will leave Springer this April, and I expect to run into lots of bubbles in the Smokies.) One other gear change: I'm debating whether to leave my beloved Oboz boots at home and go with only Asics trailrunners, as I bought the former for winter snows. I only got to wear the Oboz for a few days in November, and hope I won't miss them. I was happy with trailrunners from ME to SO-VA, and figure my ankles can handle the Smokies in them.The plan is, on Friday, March 27th, to accompany my daughter Molly on her Spring break trip to Sapphire, NC, hang out there with her and some friends for the weekend, and have her shuttle me up to Damascus on Monday. (Thanks a bill, Molly!)In 3-4 days I should be in Hampton, TN, and some 10 or so more (over Roan Mtn. and by Elk Park) to Erwin, then another week to Hot Springs, and 9 days later (5 of them through GSMNP ("Great Smoky Mountains National Park")) to Fontana Village, 4 days to Franklin, 4 more to Hiawassee, GA, and (finally!) 3-4 days to Springer Mountain and home.The 467 miles left for me on the AT should take 35-40 days, but I am going to try to slow down and relish the time out there. A major lesson of my hike last year was not to be so anxious to get somewhere down the trail, whether it be the next road-crossing, town, or state-line. Perhaps this is an unspoken disadvantage to thru-hiking as opposed to section hiking: one can easily get caught up in the calendar and feel rushed, as I certainly was in Maine and New Hampshire last July. I feared the winter closing in on me, as it indeed did, but that prevented me from blue-blazing as much as I should have.Another lesson I hope to have taken away from last year is to avoid towns as much as absolutely possible, but if you hear from me in some cheap hotel in Gatlinburg, then you'll know that I'm uneducable. I am looking forward to a couple of famous hostels in the South, but crowds may get in the way.One thing is certain: I am so less anxious about this trip when compared to preparing for Katahdin and the Hundred Mile Wilderness last summer, that I may be chill to a fault. I have minimal experience with the Smokies and Tennessee hills, lack details on re-supplying points, and have barely looked at the weather forecasts. I have only managed to squeeze in one gear-check/conditioning hike in my 4 month "break"...on the Torreya Challenge Trail section of the Florida Trail. Call me over-confident, but a Spring walk in the Southern Appalachians sounds like a grand vacation to me. Besides, I am still ambivalent about this outing, as it seems like a band's proverbial weak second act. I wanted to thru-hike, after all, so this is a relative letdown, even as I can't wait to get back in the woods.I want to thanks my family and friends for their continued support, and I promise to finish this bloody thing this time around!