Rob's Journal entries from 4/25 to 4/29

Friday March 25th, 2014 7:30pm 4532' 61° Tray Mountain Shelter
Great sleep at the Budget Inn last night. Late start on the trail (noon); more trail magic at the Gap that we started from. This guy broughta huge box of chocolate, snacks, etc. Packages of toilet paper. The good people and hospitality had been incredible. Only banged out 6 miles today in about 4.5 hours, 2 huge climbs, 800ft and 1300ft and a big descent. Will make up time in the next few days. Anxiously awaiting Franklin, NC as we found out there are some good craft beer spots; I'll practically be running the next few days to get there. Alas it is still 50 miles away probably looking at 4 days. Supposed to be chilly tonight with a low of 35°.

Saturday April 26th, 2014 8pm 74° 3176' Random campsite past deep Gap shelter.   Up early and started hiking a little before 9am. Wildberry pop tarts and bacon! For breakfast. Some good ups and downs today but managed to squeak out 13.5 miles by 5:30pm. Feet are a little sore and have a little heat rash. It was a warm one today and things were hot, sweaty and sticky. Hung the bear bag tonight and kinda more worried about the damn squirrels running around outside the tent. 3 more 12 mile days and we should be in Franklin on the morning of the 4th day. Looking forward to some good beer and a buffet. Tomorrow we will cross our first state line as we leave Georgia and enter North Carolina. Only a low of 50° tonight. Looking forward to some good sleep.

Sunday April 27th, 2014 8pm 65° 4580' Muskrat Creek shelter, North Carolina
Yay! Or first border crossing, we said good bye to Georgia today and hello to North Carolina. Gonna miss Georgia though the people were very nice and we received trail magic almost every day. Rough day today on the ups and downs, as usual, but north Carolina seems to stay above 4000' with very few large elevation gains or losses. So a big thank you to Georgia for getting out legs and lungs trail ready. It's beginning to rain now as we are tucked away in the tent, it will be the first "wet test" for the tent. Supposed to be scattered storms hopefully not lasting too long, I'd like to pack up a dry tent in the morning and have all out laundry that is hanging to dry. 2 more days to Franklin, if the rain holds off tonight.

Monday April 28th, 2014 8pm 63° 4520' Carter Gap shelter, NC
So it rained for a couple of hours while we were trying to get to sleep and again later at night and also in the early morning. So needless to say the laundry we did was speaking wet still in the morning. Bit the rain stopped and we got up and got to work and then with a slightly damp shirt and pants we hot the trail for a 12.5 mile day. Not a bad hike at all the uphill was gradual and there were long downhill sections that eye gradual as well. So with a late (10:30) start we were still able to bang out 12.5 miles in a little over 7 hours. Kat is still leading and setting the pace she gets stronger and a little faster everyday. 12.1 miles tomorrow and then into Franklin the next day for resupply, buffet and beer.

Tuesday April 29 th, 2014 5:30pm 4396' 65° Long Branch Shelter, NC
We braved the perfect storm last night in our little light weight 2 person tent. 50mph winds, thunder and lightening, buckets of rain. The rain was flying sideways and and we were taking on water, we were able to keep our down sleeping bag dry but not much else. It lasted from 9:50pm till 6:30am, hardly any sleep was had. O climbed out of the tent at 8am, we dragged all of our equipment into the shelter, packed up and headed out. The tent was wet and really dirty... Threw it in a garbage bag to deal with when we get to town tomorrow. We managed to make it 8 miles to the next shelter. An easy 4 miles in the morning to the pick up point to get to town, a Mexican buffet, craft beer and a motel room. The hike was fairly easy today except for a hair raising climb up to an old fire tower, Kat slipped and fell but no injuries, she was ok.



The view from just below the fire tower

Long Branch shelter built in 2012