Date: 2015-04-12
From: Neel's Gap

To: fontana hilton shelter/fontana dam
Miles today: 126.8
Weather: clear sky

Journal day 7:So sleeping in a cabin was as amazing as I thought it would be. I made sure to stretch out and move around as much as I could after being stuck in a tiny tent for the past week. I had a delicious cup of hot chocolate before bed too!! The morning came too fast though. I went to the hiker store and got a bag shake down to see what weight I could lose. I ended up only tossing a map flashlight and coffee cup. I guess my clothing and cookware are just too heavy. Which makes sense since I went for cheap over light. The guy also said I'm carrying way too much food. I guess carrying five days worth of food and going into town is worth it. He said that the weight is going to end up slowing me down too much. Which makes sense. He also rearranged my bag for me. It's a lot better but I now need to get some dry sacks for all of my stuff instead of keeping it all in one big bag. My parents are going to be sending me all of this stuff to Franklin, NC. Can't wait to get it all!! Hopefully I'll be there in a week. It'll be great to have all of the right stuff I need. So today I got out of neel gap around 11, a pretty late start, and then did a thirteen mile day. That's the biggest one I've done so far. My feet were killing me the whole way and I was so worried about arriving after dark so I didn't really take any breaks. Luckily I rolled into Low Gap Shelter with enough time to set up and dry my tent and eat and all that stuff. It's supposed to rain all night again. but then it should be sunny for a while!!! I'm going to go for a fairly easy day tomorrow and then push myself through some pretty big mountains the next day. Day something?: sorry I haven't been keeping up with my journal. I made it to Dick's Creek after two freezing nights in the cold. Below twenty!! The first night I camped on top of Rocky Mountain in my tent and froze and the second night I tried out the shelter thinking it would be warmer and ended up freezing just as bad. So needless to say I was grumpy, cold, tired, and my feet felt like stumps so when I made it to Dicks Creek I took a shuttle to the Top of Georgia Hostel for a nero day and then ended up taking another zero day to heal some nasty blisters. It was a great two days off and I read a lot and went into town and had some starbucks and good food. I stayed up until 11:30 (crazy late for hiker folk) talking to some new trail friends in a cozy chair with a blanket. It was very very nice. Its now Tuesday morning the 31 and I'm getting ready to head out. I was afraid of spending too much time off trail because you can get sucked in and forget your goals and I was right. I'm not ready to go back in the woods after sleeping in a warm bed!! But the weather is great and I'm sure after a couple of hours I'll be loving it again. hopefully I'll make it the 9 miles to North Carolina today!! But I'm definitely going to be taking it easy so my blisters have a chance to heal. Just waiting on the shuttle to the trail head!Tuesday continued...I made it across the border and got all camped by 5:30!! It was so exciting to reach my first state line. I feel very accomplished. today was so nice and sunny with a perfect breeze. I was anxious about getting back to hiking but it really was a great day. I made sure to take it easy since I was only doing 9 miles. I took plenty of breaks, aired out my blisters, and actually ate lunch and such!! It's so great having food I don't have to cook. I did end up skipping dinner because I didn't want to cook with all the bugs, but I'll make sure to tomorrow. I'm all settled in my tent exhausted since I stayed up so late but I've got a great book to read until dark and then I hope I get a good night sleep. No rain and a relatively high temperature so I probably will. Wednesday: today the weather was phenomenal after about 10. Of course it rained the previous night but after that the sun came out!! I'm starting to understand that it's basically going to rain every night either because it's spring or because we're so high up. Soo Wednesday had some pretty tough climbs and I wasn't really feeling it. I mostly just wanted to sit in the sunshine. I ended up catching up with Pippy and hiking with her and talking. We did about 8 miles and ended up camping at a shelter. We got there relatively early and since the weather was so nice I was actually in a sociable mood. We met a guy named Nipple Nalgene and a bunch of other cool folk and hung around an awesome fire all night. We actually ended up staying up til 11, which once again is a terribly late time for hikers. It was worth it though. Thursday: woke up cold and wet like usual. Had a ten mile day planned and since it was supposed to rain all day I was ready to get some miles done quickly. As much as I hate the wet rain I actually like hiking in it. It keeps the temperature cool and helps me move faster. Today I left around ten and busted out 7 miles like it was nothing to the next shelter. The hike was so nice. Not too steep and it went up and down enough to be interesting. I was listening to my music and in the zone for hiking. I then had a nice hour long lunch at the shelter out of the rain and then finished the last four miles in less than two hours. I got to where Pippy and I decided to stop for the day and got all set up by 5:30. Now I'm grumpy again because I'm just hanging out in a wet cold tent until tomorrow morning. I'm ready to get up and bust out the miles tomorrow because Saturday morning we should be in Franklin (NC)!!!!! Pippy and I are getting a hotel room together and hopefully a few others for Saturday night and we'll be able to get all the modern day services that I love! (Laundry, shower, coffee, good food, real beds, warmth, etc) im really hoping for some warmer weather coming up so my posts will be less negative! The wet and cold is just driving me crazy! Thursday april 9th. It's days like today that make me want to not have a career. I hear about people who work the winter months just to take the summers to hike or travel and it's sounding like a pretty awesome plan for me. I have noticed that I've been missing being able to draw and paint. I miss all of my art supplies. I've been getting pretty inspired out here with the mountains and plant life. So I know that I definitely can not wait to start art school in the fall so that I can get all of that training to start making my ideas come to life. But afterward I'm not sure if I want to settle down and do the whole career thing. I guess we'll see where I am when I graduate. I have noticed that as awesome as all this foot travel is with the views I am very much looking forward to car and plane travel. This is definitely preparing me for my Europe backpacking adventure in the future but I also feel like it's preparing me for all of the weekend car trips to national parks and places around the U.S. I'm trying not to think too far ahead but I'm very excited to get a car and load it with all of my camping gear and travel out to Zion national park or Yosemite, etc. Instagram doesn't help much with thinking about the future either since everyone I follow posts amazing pictures of all of those beautiful places!!! This has basically been my thoughts the past couple of days of hiking and zeroing so I thought I'd share it. I'm sitting in this clearing on top of a mountain enjoying the sunlight and wind. It truly is a spectacular day. In other news though....since I haven't updated in like a week.... I have made it to Nantahala Outdoor Center and am now making the 7 mile trek 4,000 feet up to Sassafras shelter. I've done roughly 164 miles I think. I'm about three days from the Smokies!!!! I'll take a Nero day in Fontana Dam on Saturday to rest up before that strenuous trek. It had been rainy and cold the couple of days between Franklin and NOC and I was feeling pretty down on everything but I took a zero day at the Noc to refresh. I had breakfast with this lady Mosy, did laundry, showered, and hung out around the water all day. Got plenty of Internet and reading time. Socialized with a ton of hikers and checked out gear at the outfitter. The Noc was probably my favorite place so far. I definitely want to go back for a vacation some time. They have white water rafting, zip lines, mountain biking, kayaking, and the strip of water there is perfect to relax by. I ended up stealth camping off of the property by the railroad and the river to save some money and it literally reminded me of a scene in Fried Green Tomatoes. Not to mention I felt like I got to experience being a little bit of a hobo. It was a perfect warm night too. I feel so refreshed and excited about the Smokies. I also feel like I'm starting to finally get my set pace and trail legs. This is a pretty big climb today and it hasn't been too painful. I'm making sure to take it easy and drink plenty of water. I haven't figured out how to post pictures on here so if you guys want to see any you need to check out my Instagram!!! (Mcjaggala) It's now 3:00 and I've got about five more miles of uphill so I'm going to get going. I swear I will try to keep up with this more in case anyone is actually reading this!! P.S. I'm sorry if my posts are kind of all over the place, that's kinda how my thoughts have been since I have so much time to think out here!!!!!Sunday April 12:Today I'm taking a zero day in Fontana Village! I got in later last night at the Fontana Hilton shelter! It's named that because it has like 20 bunk spaces and an actual bathroom with running water, toilets, and showers! Super awesome! Because of that I decided to save my money and not stay at a hotel. Even though I ended up spending way too much on food as usual. I just can't help it! After eating peanut butter and tortillas for days it's nice to get some real food. The past couple of days between the NOC and here have been kinda brutal. I was feeling great that first day despite the huge climb but then the next day was rainy and super hard. The next day was sunny and super hard. The long steep all day climbs really wore me down and put me in a pretty bad mood. Yesterday I had climbed all day for the third day and then had a three mile downhill which killed me feet and then just when I thought I was in town there was another mile of uphill. So that was kinda a drag but it was heavenly when I made it to the shelter! So today I am recovering and relaxing before I hit the Smokies. I had an all you can eat breakfast and chilled at the general store all day with free coffee, wifi, and plenty of hiker friends to talk to. A guy named Mojo ended up renting the golf cart all day so we rode that for a while and he shuttled everyone around the village to get their chores done. I'm now at the lodge waiting to grab some dinner to take back to the shelter. My mail drop didn't come in like planned so I'll be taking another zero day tomorrow to see if it arrives. It has all of my food for the Smokies so I don't really have a choice. But honestly I'm perfectly content with another lazy day. But Tuesday morning I'll be headed up into the Smokies for the next adventure!! I expect it to take me roughly seven days and I'm going to try to skip Gatlinburg in the middle so it'll be seven town-less days. I'm gonna definitely be pretty stinky!! I plan on booking a hostel right after! On a side note: as hard as this past week has been terrain wise, I am actually starting to feel a lot stronger! I'm able to hike longer with less breaks and it is coming easier for the most part. I think my "trail legs" are starting to develop. I've heard that most likely I won't be able to hike super big miles until after a month to six weeks, but I'm getting there! I've even done a 16 mile day so far!