Astrogirl

16.7 miles hiked

They have cabins and a lodge for hikers, but she didn’t really offer a cabin to me. I guess she assumed I wanted cheap. As that kind of accomodations go, the place is really nice. The setting is pretty too. There’s one other hiker (female) in the lodge with [...]

11.2 miles south of Sam’s Gap

I got rained on today and wound up skipping lunch. When I got here, it was pouring and I was very hungry so here I am at 11.2 miles for today.

The shelter is pretty full: C-Shot, Big Brother, Tree Work, Shadow, Me and one more are in there [...]

I couldn’t reach anyone on the pay phone at Uncle Johnny’s and my cell didn’t work anywhere. The whole town of Hot Springs is a cell dead zone for Cingular.

As it happens, nearly everything here is full. Certainly, the place I had hope to stay was (The Alpine Court). I stayed at [...]

16.9 miles hiked from Bald Mountain Shelter

Man, it was hot today. I started out at 8:30am (this is about the best I ever do in the morning), and I finished at 5pm, but I still used up 6 liters of water.

This morning it was OK. Sadly, it did not get below 60′ last [...]

7.6 miles (from Sam’s Gap)

I could have gone on to a campsite today, but this is a nice site and I wanted to stay here. Also, I thought the elevation (5500′) would make it cooler as it was HOT today (90).

Here with me are Red Arm, U-Turn and Tony Tiger. A trail angel [...]

6 May 2006, Saturday ~ 15 miles
I’m staying at the Sunnybank Inn and sharing a room with the Librarian (a thru-hiker). She really is carrying a pile of books.

When I first got here, Elmer sent me up to the attic over the utility room hanging off the back of the house and said dinner was [...]

5 May 2006, Friday ~ 15.4 miles

Max Patch was totally fogged in, misting and fucking freezing. I got rained on for six hours, but once you’re wet, you are wet, so why not go on? It’s warmer than sitting around anyway.

It was a pretty challenging day, but not because of the rain. There was a [...]

4 May 2006, Thursday ~ 18.1 miles

Great place Curtis has here. I really thought today was 16 miles and was very surprised to find I’d done just over 18. I must have mis-read the map yesterday. Curtis put me in the little cabin, which is just awesome.

I got poured on today. I guess I couldn’t [...]

3 May 2006, Wednesday ~ 15.6 miles

I either had to take a shuttle at 12:30 for $7 or arrange one earlier for $40, so I got a late start. I burned up the trail today, and man are my dogs barkin’, as the saying goes.

Here I am in a shelter again. There is just nowhere [...]

2 May 2006, Tuesday ~ 18.2 miles

It was a tough 18.2, but it was totally worth it. I’m now back on schedule, and I’m in a hotel room, clean and fed.

Gatlinburg is an odd place. We have friendly locals, goths (who may also be local) and Russians. The bartender at No Way Jose’s was a [...]