I arrived this morning at Greasy Creek Friendly, an Appalachian Trail hostel. I needed extra food to get to a town tomorrow morning 25 miles away, Roan, Tn. The hostel is .6 off trail if the guide can be trusted. It turns out it's more like a mile, and 500 vertical feet according to my altimeter. Though I was able to eat a TV dinner and get some resupplies, while watching cooking shows, Maury, and The Price is Right.
Greasy Creek Freindly is at mile 364 point something from Mt. Springer Georgia, the start of the Appalachian Trail, and 1861 to Mt. Katadin in Maine, the northern Terminus. I'm once again just shy of my 21.85 mile a day average, coming in at just 10 miles under last night. A loss due to my zero day in Hot Springs, Nc. I'm making up the miles though, and I did allow myself 6 zero days.
The trail has been a little more cruisy these last few days, though there were some really rocky sections. Leaving Hot Springs, two days of heavy rain were made better using my ultra light umbrella. The last two days were clear, hot and sunny. Ninety degrees with ninety percent humidity is not necessarily the best weather to do two thousand foot climbs in, but they need to be done. Today I get to climb to six thousand feet, hopefully getting across the high point before the potential thunderstorms this afternoon.
Yesterday, I stopped at the Nolichucky Hostel to resupply for the 25 mile stretch to here at Greasy Creek Friendly. The Nolichucky Hostel is across the street from the Appalachian Trail, where it crosses the Nolichucky river on a bridge, in Erwin, Tn. They really tried to get me to stay, but I was in and out by 10:45 AM. Tomorrow I hope to get to a Subway Sandwich shop and get some five dollar foot longs. Subs should be helpful on the 50 mile stretch to Hampton, Tn, home of the Kincora Hostel. Then it's just 50 more miles to Damascus, Va. In Damascus there is a Methodist church run hiker hostel, that's supported by donations, and more importantly, a nearby public pool. Guino is very good in the water.
Are you going to do the 50-mile stretch from Hampton to Damascus in one day, like WC and Dash? (I think that is what they did anyway).
ReplyDeleteGo-go Gadget Guino!