One Month Down, Bumps in the Trail

The only sign we say all day on Tuesday, at the interstate.

I apologize to all of my readers who have been forced to assume that I became bear bait due to my lack of posting. Unfortunately my grand adventure has hit a snag or two over the past week due to forces of nature beyond my control. These forces, thankfully, do not include bears. On Tuesday the 8th, we hiked a little over 8 miles to the interstate at Sam's Gap, right on the TN/NC state line. It was a very remote section of trail, and the interstate sign at the end of the hike was the only indication of civilization we got all day. Although it was a beautiful day that day, Mother Nature quickly became angry. Over the next four days, it poured cats and dogs off and on, which was one of the snags our adventure hit. The other snag was that I got sick with a bad sore throat and cough. Much to my chagrin, I was forced to admit that out in the woods was pretty much the last place I wanted to be when I was so under the weather. It's amazing what a little modern medicine can do, though, because after a few days of rest and antibiotics, I felt much better. I made it through an entire month and over 300 miles of hiking without taking a "zero day," so I feel pretty good about that. All was not lost, since I used the rainy/sick days to work on medical school applications. Even though it was nice to have a break (the little town in TN where we stayed was pretty awesome, with some really good home cookin' restaurants and a really neat old movie theater), I was glad to get back on the trail when the weather and my illness cleared up.

The top of Big Bald, the highest elevation of the hike on Monday, and the highest campsite on the whole AT.

Meadow full of wildflowers, Big Bald in the background.

We hiked 13.6 miles on Monday, which is a pretty full day of hiking for us. We did it in less than 9 hours though, which after 4 sick days, isn't half bad. The day was beautiful, with over a mile of high elevation hiking through exposed meadows. One very interesting note - it was the first day where we saw no other hikers, at all. Some days, the trail is pretty sparse with other people, but we usually always see or pass at least one other hiker. Not this day. The only other people we saw were two mountain bikers going up Big Bald on the road. It's a strange feeling, being alone out on the trail. I felt like I had the whole wilderness to myself. Eerie and exhilarating at the same time. It rained very hard for about 10 minutes at the end of our hike, but not enough to slow us down, just enough to cool us off.

Very cool rock formations at the end of the 13.6 mile hike. See how huge the boulders are in comparison to little old me?

It's hard to believe I've been out here for over a month now. The time has flown by, and the days all seem to run together sometimes. I wish I hadn't had to put a detour in my plans because of illness, but these things do happen. It may be a few days before I post again, since I have to take another detour to the big city to take the infamous MCAT exam. Nothing quite like a 4 hour intensive test to take your mind off of your blisters.

When life hands you lemons, make smores. But not lemon smores. That's weird.

Quote of the Day:

"I feel so stupid. I have lots of book smarts, but no practical knowledge. Oh well, there's no practical knowledge on the MCAT." - Me. Daddy laughed.