First Milestones

Thank you everyone for all the messages and kind words, it means a lot to know people are actually following along!

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MILESTONES

I’m now done with my first state, Georgia, and into North Carolina! I’ve also hit the first 100mi, so now I just have to do that 21 more times.

TRAIL FRIENDS

(Because we hate the word “tramily”) Right after my last post, a few guys going my pace and I decided to group up and hike together, which we’ve been doing now for the past 80 or so miles. None of us knew each other beforehand and we kinda all just felt like we wanted to hang together! We’ve got Mike, a mechanical engineer from Kentucky who goes by NatGeo due to the number of pictures he takes of wildlife; Ben, who goes by Ranger as he works for the National Parks Service in the Cascades currently; and Grayson, the youngest of us at 24 who is from Minnesota and is dubbed Aloe Vera (which should be self-evident). Our self-proclaimed name is the Merry Band and our mantra/slogan is “it’s just walkin’”. We’re hoping to go far together but you gotta “hike your own hike” so that will depend on our various paces aligning. Now you know also why I’ll be saying “we” a lot in subsequent writing.

TOWN DAYS

We also had our first town days at Hiawassee, GA and Franklin, NC. For 5 bucks, we shuttled into Hiawassee with Gracie, who said this time of year she does about 2000+ miles / week purely from shuttling hikers around. For Franklin we got a free ride with Pat, a retired Forest Service worker (our first official hitch). In typical hiker fashion we split a room between four people (hiker hostels have been sold out!) and had our stuff scattered everywhere to clean, dry, or organize. Completing a town day also includes shower and laundry, a stop at the local outfitter and grocery store to resupply, and of course having some burgers and beers (or other town delicacies).

We feel a bit like celebrities as our giant packs, hiking poles, and smell give us away to locals who ask excitedly if we’re doing the whole trail with plenty of follow up questions. Since the towns are used to hikers there are also little treats aplenty like hiker lounges, free gear or food, and banners to sign. We also recognize each other immediately, sometimes clear from the “loaner clothes” places give when you’re doing laundry (usually ill-fitting pajama pants or a cheesy t-shirt). In one town stop a hiker we knew ran out of the burger joint to say hi and I returned back “ice cream??” to which he ran he over and joined us. Just as I am writing this, I was gifted a pre-stamped post card at the local brewery (Lazy Hiker Brewing) — which has hiker shoes hanging from the rafters — and invited to do some drawing for a local art project!

MISHAPS

I luckily haven’t experienced anything too crazy myself but some stories have made it through the thru-hiker grapevine. We were in camp one night when someone’s hanging food bag got swiped down by a claw and gobbled up by a hungry bear (the rest of the shelter’s hikers all chipped in food so he could make it to the next resupply). Another hiker has a mystery hole in his blow up sleeping bad and has to reinflate it every two hours in the night. One hiker we keep coming across accidentally took the wrong boots leaving the last hostel so has been hiking in a size and a half too big (worse for the other guy whoops). But the crown might go to a man we met in our shuttle back to trail from Hiawassee whose trail name is… Faceplant. Because he did such on Day 1 and went to the ER (he is fine now).

UP NEXT

The Smokies, less than a week away, are looming large — notorious for bears, inclines, and the last of the cold weather (it’s gotten down to 37 the past two nights!). Plus we are required to sleep inside the shelter (as opposed to tenting nearby) which I’ve been avoiding — I almost did one night with Grayson but we immediately saw a mouse and noped out. I am still excited to see them as I’ve never been and it’ll be another great milestone to hopefully add to the books!