Yes, after a long day of hiking Jeff did this.

Crazy bearded hillbilly!!!

Blue Ridge Mountain Madness...and 700 miles!

There are new sweet photos updated here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/VirginiaATHike#
  
We don't have a whole lot new to report, but we DO have some sweet photos updated, so thought we'd do a quick blog to say hello! We've officially crossed 700 miles and are now hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. By "hiking" I mean racing across land, stopping occasionally to take a picture.
  
The pictures here are from McAfee Knob, the site where our logo that Jeff drew was inspired by. We were, unfortunately, unable to completely re-create our logo in real life due to some very stinky and tired hikers camping on top of the rocks in the middle of the shot. I guess at one point they did offer to move out of the way, but I was too distracted by the hair-filled armpits of the girl who was with them. Oh yeah, I wasn't going to mention that, but it shocked me! LOL! I also wasn't about to do the "roundhouse kick" photo here, but Jeff encouraged me to and I'm glad I did! Thankfully he got the picture in one shot! As soon as I lifted my right leg off of the ground I started to silently freak out at the thought of losing my balance and falling right off that cliff! It was windy!
  
Anyways, so the past few days and the next several we will be hiking in the along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We have heard a lot about hikers actually hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway instead of the Appalachian Trail. I can understand why they do it. For a large part of the trail, you can see the BRP right from where you are walking, but you hike in the middle of the woods and miss the beautiful views that go along with the road. Plus, there are many opportunities to switch and hike the road, as yesterday alone we crossed the road what seems like 7 times!
  
The other pics here are of "The Guillotinel" We really thought this rock formation was going to be a lot bigger, but being smaller gave us the chance to mess around on it. I guess you can call this bunch of photos our "not so safe" poses!
  
OK -- battery going low! Check out the pics!
  
~Styx & Bones
  
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HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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Racing through Virginia

New photos have been uploaded to the the VA album http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010 (I am missing a chunk of photos I forgot to upload in CT... oops).
  
Back to the grind hiking in Virginia again and seeing what there is to see. Its very green, lots of trees, flowers and old hiking friends to catch up with. After taking a few days off the trail we thought for sure most of the hikers we'd been seeing would have been long gone, but it seems like they all took days off as well. I'm getting the feeling that people hiking the AT start to lose their mind between mile 500 and 700 as almost everyone we've grown to know has taken from 5 to 10 days off in the recent past. In our first couple days back on the trail alone we ran into Dune, Baldy, Lemonade, Hazard, Puma, Chef, Caspar and one of my jacket buddies -- crazy!

The hiking in VA is definitely less challenging than the three states preceeding. There are some difficult parts, like the climb up to Dragons Tooth yesterday, but for the most part we trudge along each day through the woods with not much to see. The most challenging part lately is weird weather! In the past if we saw a 30% or 40% chance of rain, it almost never rained. Now, it seems like that 30 or 40% comes in the form of a quick downpour almost always when we are near the top of a big climb. As we were leaving Laurel Shelter the other day we were almost to the top of a couple mile high climb when suddenly we heard booming thunder followed by popping noises that sounded like bubble wrap. It was all around us! I barely had time to digest it when I could hear the rain coming through the woods like a wave of water. Seconds later I could see the rain coming towards me. All I could do was hunch over my backpack as I scrambled to dig the pack cover out and put it on my bag. Jeff was up the trail and, thanks to the $5 poncho I mocked him for buying, had his pack and himself covered in record time. When I finally caught up to him I just laughed at myself... and took a mental note that I needed to get a poncho... LOL.

Off to hike another day!

~Styx & Bones

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HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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Virginia... and Vacation!

Hey Everyone --

 

Since we last blogged we hiked a few 20+ mile days through some of the most beautiful country we've seen yet, the Grayson Highlands of VA and surrounding areas.  We saw the famous Grayson Highland Ponies and Jeff even caught an awesome picture of the elusive Eastern Red Newt.  Hiking in VA so far has been easier than NC and TN, and I hope it stays that way at least for a little bit.  I have yet to find a pair of shoes that doesn't give me blisters each day, and both Jeff and I have been having troubles with our knees even though we have trimmed our pack weight down to the barest of minimums.  Before we started the hike, Jeff drew up a great plan of where we projected to be each week until the end of September when we would reach Mt. Khatadin, or the end of our journey.  Until now this plan  has been rigid on two events that we absolutely had to make it to -- Trail Days and a friend's wedding coming up this weekend.  Both events are in Virginia, so it was easy for us to stay on track despite the fact that we tend to hike faster and farther than we ever thought we would.  This past week we realized that despite our best efforts, we were still ahead of schedule getting to the wedding, and decided to take an impromptu "vacation" to Connecticut to meet up with friends.  Yes, we took a short, mini-vacation from hiking!  It definitely feels weird being off the trail for this many days in a row, but it was great to smell the fresh ocean air and see some of the friends who have been supporting us on this journey.  Thankfully, our friends Dave and Lina let us crash at their house, and it was in exchange only for a little hard labor by Jeff who helped Dave build the sweetest pullup bar you've ever seen in his yard... lol.

 

Anyways, I don't have a lot of time to ramble, but we wanted you all to know we are alive.  We are leaving Connecticut today, hope to hike a couple more days and will hit up the wedding on Sunday.  After that, all gloves are off!  We have no further "appointments" as we hike, and plan to continue hiking farther and faster than we have been with a new hiking strategy we will implement when we get back to the trail.  I hope this note finds everyone well!

 

~Styx & Bones

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HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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Now appearing in Virginia! Our 4th state!!!

Made it to Damascus, VA just in time for trail days!  Sure, we hiked 26.6 miles in one day to make it here, but I would say the mental break from hiking every day was well worth it.  Pictures are being uploaded to our NC & Tennessee and Virginia albums here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010 (there are some really awesome pictures in the NC & Tennessee album... check them out!  To catch you up...

We said goodbye to Mary & the Mountain Harbour Hostel after our second night tenting in their yard.  She told us to send her a card and mocked me again for the phone call I placed to her before we arrived the first night.  She told me that hikers usually  know exactly when and where they will be, but when she asked me if we would arrive before dark I replied "I dunno, I hope so!" LOL... apparently I need to get into the game a little better!!!  That days hike was great as we crossed our 400th mile!!!  The hike from Dennis cove to Laurel Falls started out really flat, but ended up as a roller coaster up, down, up, down and up again very steep stone steps.  Our feet were killing us!  It was so bad that when we actually got to the falls, neither one of us wanted to walk down to see them... so we got the best view we could through the trees and pressed on!  Terrible, I know!  Shortly after the falls is my favorite 100 feet of the trail so far -- a narrow stone walkway around a huge rock cliff right next to the river.  A few miles after that we were in Hampton, VA where we stayed at Braemer Castle Hostel in Hampton, TN for the night.  Hampton is a sleepy little town and reminded me a little of Maxwell... except it had a McDonalds.  We walked down to McD's to have a Big Mac attack and as we walked through the doors we heard a familiar voice say "Hey, tell my friend in there to get his @ss in gear!"  I have neglected to mention "The Florida Boys," Tim & Jeff, who we had seen hiking the last 2 days.  We first met them during our 10 mile slackpack to Mountain Harbour Hostel.  While we were hiking we passed Tim who, upon seeing us, told us to look out for a "big old bear" and tell him to get his @ss in gear when we saw him.  Soon after we ran into Jeff and delivered the message.  Jeff asked if the message was from his "9 month pregnant friend" and laughed that they both enjoyed "trail mail."  The next day we ran into both again and exchanged the same pleasantries.  That night we happened to run into them after walking a mile to McDonald's... lol... which worked out perfectly as they, and famous 'Trail Angel' Mrs. Janet, gave us a ride back to the hostel.  Sutton, Beverly & Alex run the hostel and were very nice and welcoming.  Alex said that another hiker had accidentally left his medical tape behind and asked us to return it to him at Trail Days... the 'other hiker' was our friend Loon and we were happy to oblige.

Leaving the hostel we immediately passed the group that calls themselves "Chicken Pot Pie," comprised of Tiny Dancer, Salty, Mr. T, Hot Sauce, Speakeasy & her dog Claire who goes by the trail name "Dragonslayer."  We crossed the Dam in Hampton and took a lunch break after a few miles.  I mention the lunch break because we decided it would be a good idea to have Pepperoni & Cheez-Its on a Tortilla for lunch today... what the heck?!  LOL!  We hiked a normal pace for the rest of the day and ended up at Iron Mountain Shelter for the night along with Chicken Pot Pie, Baldy, Powder with his dog Russell and two older gentlemen (one of whom definitely did NOT go far enough away from camp to relieve himself).  We stopped early, around 6pm, deciding to get up at 4am to knock out the next 26.6 miles into Damascus the next day. 

At 4am the alarm went off, but we weren't about to get up.  This was the day that we learned we will never, ever, wake up early to hike.  If we want to hike farther, we'll have to do it later in the evening when we are already awake.  We were up and out of camp by 7am and it felt like a foot race against Chicken Pot Pie the entire day!  Exhausting!  We made it to Damascus just before 7pm, going 26.6 miles in under 12 hours and headed straight for tent city.  Before we could get anywhere near where we eventually pitched our tent we heard a man shout "get your @sses over here and grab a beer!"  It was the Florida boys again!  After a welcome break at their tent, we navigated the mile-long strip of land that was designated as "tent city" for hikers to camp in at trail days.  We stumbled upon hikers Jason & Evan, pitched our tent next to them and headed to Quincy's pizza for some dinner.  On the way there we passed Lawson & my jacket buddies and were amazed at how many people we knew we had seen in such short time.  We even saw One Life at Quincy's and were glad to know he was still on the trail.  On the way back to tent city we wondered how we would find our tent seeing as how we forgot our headlamps... so we stopped by the general store for beers and to think about it.  We purchased a 12 pack at the counter and were directed to a tiny room in the back of a dingy bar to pick up our purchase.  There we were greeted by two men and a woman who took 15 beers out of an ice chest, packed them in paper bags and sent us on our way.  The paper bags rapidly began to fall apart from the wet beers, and since there were cops all over tent city, that was awesome.  We followed the first guy with a headlamp we saw until he turned a direction we knew wasn't towards our tent.  So there we were, fumbling around in the dark with 15 beers in shredded paper bags, not knowing where we were when a bright light shone in our faces.  Then we heard it... "Hey you two! Get your @sses in gear!"  Lol... it was Florida Boy Jeff who happily exchanged a Bud Light for leading us to our tent.  That night in tent city was madness.   After our longest hiking day yet we were exhausted and fell asleep early, but tent city was drinking, drumming, screaming and partying until just after 4am. 

Sure, maybe we are just getting old, but one night in tent city was enough for us, so we headed to a nearby town to relax the next couple days.  We had a list of people to see at trail days, and without even trying, were able to check it off as we headed out of town.   As we left our tent site we met our fundraising teammates Dayla and Jasper for the first time.  Around the next corner was Peach & Bam Bam with the rest of the goonies.  Saw Baltimore Jack downtown at the outfitter.  Headed to a diner for lunch, changed our mind and went to a different diner only to see our fundraising teammate Joe inside.  We were amazed we'd seen everyone!  Then we went to pick up packages and realized we'd missed one person, Loon, who *surprise* was at the post office!  We gave him his medical tape, took a picture of him with his parade dress, and headed out of town.

Life is good.  Rested, resupplied, saw Iron Man 2 and ready to hit the Virginia trail in the morning!

~Styx & Bones

-- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly Ready to donate?  Visit www.hikestrong2010.com  and click the "donate online" button!  Want to receive our blog updates by email?  Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Dancing With The Weatherman

Amazingly we have service here in beautiful Roan Mountain, TN!  We are tenting in the old horse stable in front of the best hostel we have seen so far... Mountain Harbour B&B run by Mary & Terry.  They have a plush green lawn for us to tent on, a nice hostel above their barn, and Mary cooks a gourmet breakfast for everyone every morning -- it is deeeelish.

 

Anyways, to catch you up...
We took another day off in beautiful Erwin, TN (birthplace of Wayne Stephens for you Spangdahlem folk).  We caught a movie (Date Night, very funny), and lightened our pack weight a little more.  We mailed some colder weather and rain gear ahead of ourselves based on the forecast at the time, reducing our weight temporarily by about 5lbs.  We also made a bold move and mailed our sleeping bags and liners home, reducing our weight another 2-3lbs combined.  We picked up some ultralight, fuzzy, cheapo blankets and some sweeeet PJ pants at TJ Maxx and have successfully used them the last few nights.  This morning we woke up with a frosty tent and a water bottle half frozen, so we are pretty excited to have slept rather warm with them. 
 
The hike out of Erwin was tough but beautiful.  We hiked around with most of the people we've been mentioning lately - Ups, Sideways, Sandman, Lowrider, Peach, Bam Bam, Tiny Dancer, Hot Sauce, Mr T and others.  Lowrider found my hat hanging on a tree somewhere and reunited it with me while we all had a lunch break at the Greasy Creek Friendly (where I saw a huge nasty snake!)  Climbing up Roan Mountain was a chore!  It was one of those mountains where you think you are at the top, but there is another "top" once you get there.  We ended up camping halfway up the mountain.  We were glad we made that choice as the Roan High Knob shelter is the highest on the AT, and even after 10am the next day there was still bits of snow falling on top. 
 
Yesterday's hike was beautiful... huge bald mountains with 360 degree views of the entire valley.  When we reached the top of Little Hump Mountain, you could see the trail across the valley going up Hump Mountain.  We figured the trail would go down one mountain and right up the other, but the trail never seems to be that easy.  We wound around Little Hump Mountain and down to the very base for over half an hour before we finally got close to the base of the next mountain... very annoying.  We have a ton of beautiful pics, but need a library to upload them. :0(
 
We arrived in Roan Mountain, TN yesterday evening.  We hiked half a mile for dinner only to find the restaurant closed early for Mothers day... bummer.  Since we were out of food, Jeff used his "magic thumb" to hitch to the only open restaurant, Subway.  Once we got there, we were so lucky to see four other hikers waiting on a shuttle back to the Mountain Harbour B&B.  So here we are in our tent by their creek for a second night.  They shuttled us up the trail 10 miles today and we had a nice, easy slackpack back.  At one point, we walked into this cozy pine tree tunnel where the ground was just a sea of needles.  Jeff was so inspired that he fell to the ground and started making pine needle angels...weirdo! 
 
Tomorrow we should reach Hampton, TN and Virginia by Thursday or Friday for Trail Days in Damascus.  The most recent forecast shows rain for the next 10 days!  Good thing Jeff mailed his rain jacket forward because he didn't feel like carrying it, huh?  He bought a $5 poncho at the Dollar General this afternoon.  Can't wait to take sweet pictures of him hiking in the rain wearing THAT! 
Oh yeah, we are 1.8 miles from 400!  Awesome!
 
Well, I'm gonna finish off my Coors Light tall boy that we just bought at the Beer Wash - the drive up beer mart where it's OK that five guys are hanging out drinking beer while watching mud tractor pulling on a 13" zenith while their wolf-dog slept on the counter next to the register where I had pay, kill Jeff in a mean game of Cribbage, and call it a night.  Hope to write again in a few days.
 
~Styx & Bones
 
-- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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Yes, we hiked 22 miles for a soda pop...

  Jorge Munoz 300 Miles Photo! Loon Phone Lasso-ing Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James Crazy Ridgeline Hike

(Pictures updated at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010)

Hey everyone!  We are alive and well and in Erwin, TN enjoying a day off to rest our tired feet.  We arrived in town very late the other night, hiking a few miles in the dark to get down the mountain and into our hotel.  I think my favorite part was walking down the road to the hotel for a mile while calling pizza place after pizza place to find one that would deliver to us.  When they asked what room we were in I said I had no idea because I was walking down the road... but that we would be there when they got there!  Yes, we were driven by a cool, refreshing soda pop that day, and boy did it taste good.
 
Its been several days since we've last blogged.  Our telephone service has been terrible and there has been no internet access for the last seven days of hiking.  To catch you up:
 
We finally kicked ourselves out of Hot Springs at noontime and still managed to make it to Hemlock Hollow Farm 17 miles up the trail.  Along the way we stopped at a pond and met a trail maintainer, the weed-wacker carrying Jorge Munoz, who had "adopted" a cemetery on the mountain.  He said he was hiking and stumbled upon it one day, so now it is his honor to maintain it when he could.  Hiking this day was sweaty, hot and bug-filled.  It was by far the most bug-infested day of the entire trip, which makes sense because I had accidentally mailed off Matt's super-bug spray in our bounce box.  Nice.  I fell down at LEAST 5 times too, which was a little ridiculous.  One time my trekking pole got stuck in a rock and when it jerked me back I almost fell off of the mountain!  Good thing I hike slow and Jeff was right behind me -- he grabbed my pack and pulled me back from certain death.  Who knows what would have happened!?!  Yikes!  Hemlock Hollow was a pretty nice place with a cute little cabin by a creek.  The weather reports were predicting wild storms, so we decided to do our first "slackpack" for 18 miles from Devils Fork Gap back to Hemlock Hollow for the night.  Slackpacking is the act of hiking with minimal gear, and it is awesome.  I carried no pack at all (which makes me just a slacker), and Jeff carried one with food and water for the day.  We hiked SOUTH, so we passed many of our new friends who were continuing north past us.  Snowman & Escargot cursed us for slackpacking, while Loon & East Wind said it was great.  They told us Madness & Mayhem had gotten off the trail due to a knee injury for Madness -- hope he gets better soon.  East Wind also mentioned that another hiker, Country Gold, was held up at the next shelter exhausted after running out of food.  Jeff & I made it our mission to make it to the shelter and give Country Gold a couple Snickers bars that we had planned to eat during our slack.  He was really thankful, which felt great!  When we reached Big Butt Mountain, our 300 MILE MARK, we met local hikers Melissa, Sandy, Tim & James.  One of the men asked Melissa if she had her cell phone and as she pulled it out of her pocket, she dropped it, and it bounced directly down a 5 foot deep crevasse in the rocks we were sitting on.  Good thing our slackpack contained the magical ingredient... hot pink duct tape.  With the help of a trekking pole and a duct tap "lasso," Jeff managed to fish it out and Melissa was thrilled!  We were too!  After that, we practically flew over the rest of the mountains and actually jogged the last 3.5 miles down the hill in approximately 48 minutes.  The best part about jogging in the wrong direction past people who KNOW you are thru-hiking is the confused look on their faces when they see you doing it.  :0) 
 
The next day Mr. Kinsey (owner of Hemlock Hollow) drove us back up to Devils Fork Gap and we started back up the trail.  Mr. Kinsey was in the Army in the 1960s over in Germany.  He was stationed outside of Munich as a welder and used to get his acetylene from a place right next to Dachau.  He said he lucked out going to Germany though because the barracks next to his got sent to Vietnam.  Crazy.  Deets, Powerpack & Slow-Go passed us on the trail right away, and we leapfrogged with them for the next few days.  We all ended up camping at Low Gap and it rained alllllllll night.
 
The next morning we woke up fairly early, but the rain was still coming down so we waited it out.  Around 10am we made a break for it and surprisingly it didn't rain on us the rest of the day!  Like normal, everyone we had camped with was already gone when we finally emerged... starting to see a trend here.  We crossed Big Bald Mountain, known for great 360-degree views, first thing that morning.  It was foggy and visibility was very low... reminds me of the time Mom, James, Jani & I visited the Cliffs of Moher and all we saw was FOG!  We hiked hard all day, reaching No Business Knob Shelter at 7pm.  Now, the problem with shelters like this one is that they are so close to town.  We always PLAN to hike to shelters like those, stay there, and then have a short hike into town the next day.  A short hiking day is called a "near-o," but I guess Jeff & I just like our "zero" days more.  Knowing No Business Knob shelter was just 6 miles from town, and a nice cold soda pop, we headed into town and didn't look back. 
 
We are glad to be at the hotel and have enjoyed doing laundry, relaxing while watching "Billy the Exterminator" (???), and soaking in the A/C.  Back to work tomorrow!!!  Last night we had a nice chat with Loon, one of four people slackpacking to Maine with van support by Bayou.  Turns out Loon has hiked the AT 5 or 6 times, the PCT 2 times, the CDT and many other trails.  He organized this van-supported slackpack and calls it a "Geezer Hike."  LOL.  He says he's 70 and we found out that he is a Dr. of Natural Resources and was a Professor in the past.  If you want to learn more about him, check out www.ratherbhiking.com/hikes/geezers/  I think Jeff & I both want to join their Geezer Hike... he and East Wind have great personalities, great stories, know a ton about the trail, and we love to chat with them.  We just hope we can catch up to them again on the trail!!!
 
Well, I think that's it for now.  We hope we have better cell service this next stretch of trail.  Hope to be in Damascus, VIRGINIA, by next Friday!!! 
 
~Styx & Bones~
 
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Hot Springs, NC

What a great city! The AT actually passes right through it!  The first thing we saw when coming off the trail was an awesome display from the Hot Springs 4th Grade class where they used different letters to write about things on the AT -- my favorite was "S is for Sticks!" (photos coming soon).  Now settled in for a night of Survivor, our residence for the night is half a mobile home situated right on the banks of the river.  Not only is this a great and friendly town, but tonight is their annual "River Fest!"  We are taking a quick break at the library to catch you up on the happenings of the previous several days before relaxing our tired feet for a few hours!  Since we last blogged...
  

We survived the Smokies!  Wow!  Some people get lucky and have a great experience wandering through the majestic Smoky Mountains... and some people get pelted with rain and hail the entire time.  We were glad to see them go, but know that they are probably awesome if you are able to look around, versus keeping your eyes directly on the trail so as not to slip and fall or step in a muddy pile of muck. 
  

Anywho's, we met some interesting characters the last few days.  One, Eric, works for awalkinthewoods.com and is very knowledgeable about the area.  Some of the things we learned from Eric:
  

A)  The coyotes in the park (like the one that Jeff saw) actually contain the DNA found in Grey Wolves, which explains why they are much larger than ordinary coyote's and appear more grey/white in color.

B) Its lichen season!  Anyone else out there excited about moss???? No???

C) Russell Field shelter (the one with the cage that we stayed at days back) used to get visited by over 10 bears a night... in 2009!  They actually had to shut that shelter down last year because of how frequently bears stopped by.  Add to that the fact that one of these bears invented "tent surfing," whereby he would jump into the air and land directly in the middle of the tent, smashing it flat.  The park service tried to catch him doing this by setting up a "dummy tent" and camera, but the bear was too smart... all they ended up with was a couple pictures of the bear and a picture of a flattened tent.  LOL. 
 

I'll skip talking about the day where we hiked in the rain and hail... HAIL! MAN!
 

We reached the famous Max Patch, a huge natural bald in the middle of the trail, yesterday.  Awaiting us at the top was hiker Mucho Gusto.  He met some friends at the top and was spreading trail love in the form of chocolate chip cookies made with duck eggs and ghiradelli chocolate --- that was seriously the most delicious cookie I have EVER had in my LIFE!  Much thanks to Mucho Gusto.  He is a fan of the trail and says he does something like that every year for the hikers -- his website is http://www.trailhound.com/.  The top of Max Patch seemed like walking on the moon -- great views on all sides!  On the top we met a nice couple who's daughter is the first female bike cop in Connecticut, stationed in New London -- small world!  The father had thru-hiked the AT in 1986 and said he still had his certificate.  When we reached the bottom of the hill we stopped at a nice grassy area to air out our tent in the hopes it would dry off.  There we were passed by a local hiking club that was there to see Max Patch.  Joker, an avid hiker, is 77 years old.  He said that he is bipolar and has hypermania during the months of April & May.  Rather than taking drugs his doctor prescribes, which has nasty side effects, he chooses to hike to get it out of his system.  He joked around with us a lot and said that his daughter says its not "hypermania," its "hiker mania."  After letting us in on those details he told us that Erwin, TN is a great place to retire and we should think about it for the future... lol.  Too funny!  This day was so pretty we just kept hiking.  Our plan to hike 16 miles turned into 20 miles, and would have been 23 straight into Hot Springs had the sunlight not left our sights.  We arrived at Deer Park Mountain Shelter at dark and set up our tent & cooked by headlamp.  We were camping by two guys, Jason & Evan, who we hadn't seen since we camped at Cheoah Bald over a week before.  20.5 miles was a loooooooong day, but it was a great day.  Today we woke up and had only 3 miles to get ourselves into Hot Springs.  After a great breakfast, showers and some clean laundry, we are ready to head out again tomorrow!   We should be to Erwin, TN in about 5 days. 
 

Hope to update some photos later... having some trouble at the library here! :0)

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HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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200 Miles and now in Tennessee!

 

 

 

New Pictures Uploaded here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010

We started our Smoky Mountain Adventure at the Marina near Fontana Dam.  Sure, the shuttle would have taken us right to the visitors center AT the dam, but we had hopped off the trail a couple miles south of there at the Marina, so the Marina it was.  We started out fairly late in the day, so after some appropriate gawking at Fontana Dam, we crossed over it and into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP).  As with any other trail town, the climb out of Fontana Dam was mostly uphill all day.  We stopped at Birch Spring Gap campground where we were lucky enough to get one of the last two tent spots left.  It was there we met Sandman, Sideways, Ups, Indiana and a few other hikers who were staying the night.  There are two things required of hikers in the GSMNP:  1) you must have a back-country permit and 2) you must sleep in a shelter or at a designated campsite. 

We woke up the next day to the sound of raindrops falling down on the tent.  I think Jeff & I both thought if we fell back asleep for a while that the rain would go away, but it never did -- the 30% chance of rain the weatherman had promised us had turned into a 100% chance of all-day rain!  Nice!  We reluctantly put on our rain gear, packed up our tent and headed out.  Fueled by a couple Pop Tarts and the freezing cold day, we pushed on and did not take a break until 5 miles later at Mollie Ridge Shelter.  There we warmed up to a fire Sandman had built and when we saw a break in the storm we headed out again.  A few miles later we reached Russell Field Shelter, one of the last shelters in the GSMNP that still has a "bear cage" attached to the front of it, and decided we would go no further.  The elevation of the Smokies stays between 5K & 6K feet most of the time, and with the cold front that had moved in, temperatures were low and we were worn out.  We managed to build a fire from a pile of wet wood, and were soon joined by Sandman, Ups, Sideways, Indiana, Freight Train & Boomer.  While Jeff was out gathering wood, he actually ran across our first Coyote!  He said the coyote was about 15 feet from him and when it noticed Jeff, it dropped its jaw open as if suprised, turned, and ran off into the woods.  When Ups & Sideways arrived, they mentioned that a bear had come into our campground the previous night and sniffed up against their tent.  They scared it off successfully... the second time it came to their tent.  Between that story and the coyote, I was glad to be staying in a shelter that had a cage on the front.  Sleeping in the shelter wasnt too bad, but the snoring and the threat of mice attacks keep you from really having a "good" nights sleep. 

The next morning we were on a 16+ mile mission to get to Double Spring Gap Shelter.  It was cold, rainy & wet so really the only things I remember about the hike that day were: 1) we cooked lunch for the first time... Ramen, 2) there was a TON more uphills than the map we had showed & 3) Jeff saw a bear right before we got to the shelter we were camping at... yes, he saw a BEAR! Gaw!  Double Spring Gap Shelter is the last shelter before Clingmans Dome (the highest point on the AT at 6,684 feet), so it was pretty busy.  O, Boomer, Freight Train, Mama Bear & Papa Bear were all there along with a bunch of other thru-hikers we have met in previous days.  Luckily, the shelter was full so we were able to pitch our tent in a grassy patch next to the shelter. 

The next morning we got up very early by our standards (around 615) with the hopes of getting over Clingmans Dome and down into Gatlinburg before some really terrible weather hit us.  I stretched in my sleeping bag and put my hand against the side of the tent only to discover that it was frozen!  LOL!  The whole area had frosted over overnight and was blanketed in white.  As we were tearing down camp we were lucky enough to see our first deer, a doe and two fawns, that came very close to camp.  After taking some pictures and chatting with our new friends Mama & Papa Bear, we headed up the mountain.  We took a breakfast break at the top of Clingmans Dome Tower and then started our sprint down the mountain and into Gatlinburg.  The trail was highly affected by the previous days' storms, with lots of trees blown over, mud and snow.  When we reached Newfound Gap we were on a mission to find a ride into Gatlinburg... we were both craving some Wendy's pretty bad :0).  After 5 minutes of trying to hitch a ride, a nice lady approched us with offerings of chocolate chip cookies and an apple --- she said her daughter had thru-hiked the AT last year and said the best kind of "trail magic" came in the form of food.  She was right and we were thankful!  Soon after a trail maintainer/volunteer named Steve offered us a ride into town in exchange for some help changing out a donation box at the gap.  He was pretty knowledgeable about the trail and gave us a few bits of information I was glad to hear AFTER I was in the car -- 1) there are over 2,000 bears in the GSMNP & 2) the reason there is still a cage on Russell Field Shelter where we stayed is because there is a "mean old bear up there that keeps having cubs"... great!  He said that there were so many bears in the park that we would probably get stuck in a "bear jam" before we get into Gatlinburg, meaning there would be a traffic jam because someone in their car saw a bear.  Sure enough, less than 2 minutes after he said that, there was a bear up the hill alongside the road with about a hundred people trying to take a picture. 

We were glad to be in Gatlinburg and took a couple days off there to rest and ride out some storms.  Luckily, the day we got into town was their annual "Rib Fest!"  HA!  In all seriousness, it was a nice break and we were glad to be out of the cold for a couple days.  My most exciting moment was when we were walking down the street and all of a sudden we were reunited with my "Jacket Buddies" from Neels Gap!  It was great to see them after so many days and good to know we were all still on the trail. 

Thats it for now... I hope to blog a little more frequently so we can all avoid these huge diary entries like I just wrote! :0)   Talk to you all soon! 

Styx & Bones

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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Photo Album Links

We were FINALLY able to get some new photo's uploaded!!! You can find our state-to-state albums by going to this link!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010

Headed into the Great Smoky Mountains!

Hey everyone! We stopped here in Fontana Dam, NC for a nights rest and to pick up one of mom's great resupply boxes! We haven't had a phone signal in a few days and probably won't again for about 4 more when we reach Gatlinburg, TN. We are headed across Fontana Dam and into the Great Smokey Mountains now... hope the rain in the forecast goes away!!! ~Styx & Bones -- HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly Want to receive our blog updates by email? Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

Room With A View

We had a long, tough, 8.1 mile uphill climb to Cheoah Bald today, but being able to camp at the top makes it all worth it!  We saw our first sunset tonight and hope to catch the sunrise in the morning.  One of our campsite neighbors said he saw a bear down the hill about a half hour ago... I hope he's just messing with us, but he was pretty excited about it.

Other things we saw today:  2 lizards, an aquamarine colored bug, a 4 foot long black snake, our new friends Convinced, Breathless, Bad Dinner & 7 D's... and a pile of human poo alongside the trail... bad form!

~Styx & Bones

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

Why oh why do we keep seeing this sign everywhere?

Including next to our campsite...

Goodbye, Georgia...Hello, North Carolina!!!

We are in Hiawassee, GA tonight, resting up and hunkered down for another exciting installment of Survivor!  :0)  We are excited to be just 10 miles from our first border crossing into North Carolina!  To recap the last few days...

 

Earlier in the week we hiked to Neels Gap, a well-known place on the trail to meet up with your fellow hikers, stay the night in a hostel and have the experts at the Mountain Crossings outfitter sanity check your gear.  We saw some new friends along the way, Orange Moon, Gingersnap & Jaime who we'd been hiking with since the beginning.  As we were climbing Blood Mountain, one of the tallest climbs in Georgia, I was wiped out and we decided to take a break halfway up.  This is when we experienced our 2nd dose of "trail magic," a 16oz Fruit Punch NOS Energy Drink left right next to the very spot we stopped -- let me say it put a huge spring in our step for the rest of the hike up and down into Neels Gap.  When we arrived there, the "Trail Dames" were throwing a BBQ for all of us Thru-Hikers, and we were so thankful for that!  Nothing better than burgers and hot dogs after a long day of hiking!  After checking into the hostel, we went to the Outfitter and had our packs audited by Logan.  We had whittled our pack contents down to the barest essentials, so there was not much for him to audit, but he did fit us with some super-sweet 2lb Granite Gear packs that we are extremely happy with.  Our night in the hostel was OK.  It was great to chat with other hikers but it was too loud to sleep -- 16 bunks with people snoring and moving around made it almost impossible to catch a wink.  Needless to say we were the first ones to leave the next morning -- out the door by 6:30!!!

 

The next day we hiked about 11 miles into Low Gap, where we arrived early, cleaned up and played cribbage on grandpa's old wooden travel set -- I brought the rules so Jeff would quit saying I was making them up :0).  We both had really sore feet from hiking, and Jeff hobbled around camp most of the evening whining about "chafing". lol!      "Bulldog", the high school principle, and "Old Blue Eyes" camped next to us.  We spent the evening talking about hiking strategy - Jeff & I decided that we needed to change ours if we wanted to make it to Maine.  Before we left the next morning "Bulldog" videotaped us for one of his high school video class projects -- he says it will be on YouTube eventually as "Bulldog on the AT." 

 

The next day we implemented our hiking strategy change from "go, go, get there" to "lets hike a bit, take an afternoon siesta, then hike some more."  So far it seems to be a much better strategy.  We hiked 6 miles to Blue Mountain shelter, relaxed for a couple hours, and then hiked the rest of the afternoon as it started to cool off.  We ran into Emily Maple on our way up Rocky Mountain and took a break with her halfway up at a nice stream.  Our original plan was to go 13 miles that day and camp at the old Cheese Factory Site.  However, there looked like there were some raging wildfires on some nearby mountains, so I agreed to go 15 miles to the shelter on top of Tray Mountain, meaning we would have to cross 3 huge mountains to get there.  On the way down Rocky Mountain, I was hiking along to "Fireflies" by Owl City when I realized I was going to fall.  My trusty trekking poles kept me from falling down the slope of the mountain, but I still toppled head-first down the trail, eventually landing on my backpack with my head going downhill.  I tried to get up, but it was almost impossible... so there I was, laying on my backpack like a turtle on its shell, wriggling around trying to sit up.  It took a LOT of effort, but I finally sat up.  You would think I would inspect myself for damage at this point, but instead I took a couple pictures... lol.  When I took my earphones out, I heard Jeff down the trail singing some random song from his Ipod.  There he was dancing in the middle of the trail completely oblivious.  Hilarious.  When we got to Indian Grave Gap we saw a sign that said the fires were a controlled burn, so I calmed down a little bit, but Jeff was still set on getting to Tray Mountain Shelter.  I was so exhausted, and whiney, but we kept going.  At the top of Tray Mountain there was a great view of North Carolina -- I can't believe we are so close!!!  We arrived in camp near dark, cooked dinner and hit the sack. 

 

The next day we had 11 miles to get to Dicks Creek Gap, which is 11 miles up the highway from Hiawassee where we planned to stop, rest, and resupply.  When we hit the road we met a great couple, Bob & Cathy from Ohio, who offered us a ride into town in their camper.  They not only took us into Hiawassee, but they stopped on the way in order for us to pick up mom's first resupply box at the Blueberry Patch Hostel.  After some much needed Dairy Queen, we checked into the motel and the desk clerk made sure to put us in a room next to the washer & dryer -- lol.

 

Headed off to Franklin, NC in the morning!

 

 --
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Want to receive our blog updates by email?  Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!

--
HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
Want to receive our blog updates by email?  Send a note to HikeStrong2010@gmail.com to be added to our distribution list!