Happy National High Five Day!

What a beautiful (and a little rainy) day here at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina!  Since we last blogged we've traveled 67.5 more miles and into a new state!  We hit our 100 mile mark when we stopped for a snack break in the middle of a stream.  Now at mile 135 we have the Great Smokey Mountains in our sights and just a few days away.  To recap what's been going on...

We've been meeting some fun people along the way and seeing some really cool sights.  When we crossed the NC border into Bly Gap, we met a crew of hikers we would leapfrog with the next few days - Trashman, One Life, Laid Back, Turtledove & Timber. 

As we hiked into Deep Gap we were passed by a hiker in all black that we'd seen several times in previous days.  As he passed us he muttered something about seeing a cheeseburger in his future, but we thought he was kind of crazy and laughed it off.  When we got to the gap, sure enough, Red Truck, Green Truck and Brown Trout (previous thru hikers) were throwing their eighth annual "feed the hikers weekend."  It was there we learned that our friend in black was actually "Baltimore Jack," the very same man who wrote the resupply book we are basing all of our mail drops on.  He has hiked the Appalachian Trail eight times, all northbound, starting back in 1995.  We have since hiked ahead of Jack, but hope to see him again in the near future.  After some chili dogs and beer we hiked on to Beech Gap campground where we camped right next to one of those pesky "bear sanctuary" signs.

Camping at Beech Gap was interesting to say the least.  I awoke several times to the sound of either owls hooting or coyotes howling all over the forest on different sides of us.  Thankfully I was too tired to really care, but Jeff barely slept a wink.  The first thing he said to me the next morning was that he thought a bear tried to get our food bag from the tree we hung it in, and that he thought whatever was hooting/howling had caught and killed something.  Yikes!  I couldn't help but think of the quiet lady who was sleeping ten yards from us in only a sleeping bag with head net... she must have been scared to death that night.

We had some challenging hikes the next couple days.  Albert mountain seemed nearly vertical with steps and rock climbs all the way to the top... but it was still very fun.  At the top was a fire watch tower and a fantastic view.  The next day we saw the fire tower in the distance and couldn't believe we'd hiked that far!  A couple days later we met Bad Dinner, a fast hiker who was on a mission to reach the NOC and eat a huge pizza.  It inspired us to do the same... and so we did!  We caught up with him, the big crew from Bly Gap, Number One Son and his dad all at the NOC.  We shared a few PBRs with 7 D's and Number One Son and took a break today to do laundry with Bad Dinner and watch Survivor tonight!  Anyone notice a trend with us and Survivor?

Speaking of trail names, we've been going by "Styx & Bones."  When we left CT, our buddy Dave joked that when we were done hiking we would be nothing but a pile of sticks and bones.  Since Jeff's last name is Bonelli, Bones fit.  I wasn't sold on Sticks until one day we were hiking along... I almost fell for probably the 10th time, but caught myself with my trusty trekking poles.  I shouted to Jeff, "MAN I love these sticks! If it weren't for these sticks my trail name would be Faceplant!"  Then I knew it fit... but I spelled it like Styx because, you know, they sing Mr. Roboto!  Domo Arigato!  LOL!

Styx & Bones OUT!
~highest mileage day = 19.1 miles into Franklin, NC to watch Celebrity Apprentice