Our first 100 miles

We've made it a hundred miles! Only 2,000 more to go.

We decided to skip the approach trail on the advice of our friends who have hiked the AT in the past. We were dropped off around 11:00 am at USFS Road 42 that leads to Springer Mt. The hiking was a breeze, until we met Sassafras Mt., aka Kick-My-Ass Mt. Thankfully we did this climb at the end of the day. We camped at Gooch Mt. Shelter, where we first met Alex, whom we have been hiking with.

Next day we set out towards Blood Mountain, and had our first real day of ups and downs, literally. We decided not to hike as long a day so we could hit Neels Gap early the next morning. The day was sunny and warm, and a little muggy, but the hiking wasn't too difficult. We camped at the shelter on the top of Blood Mountain, which was an old shelter built out of rock in 1934, and had 360 degree views after a short climb up a boulder.

We arrived at Neels Gap early the next morning. We were promptly told by a "trail veteran" that we were going too fast and that we needed to slow down. We then hiked 20 miles that day to Blue Mountain Shelter, where someone had pitched their tent inside the shelter. Rude, so we pitched out tent along side other hikers outside. Funny thing is, the people who pitched their tent, as well as one other guy sleeping in the shelter, all moved out because of the mice, and it ended up being our first rainy night. It rained, and no one slept in the shelter.

We packed up relatively early and hiked on to Deep Gap Shelter. The hiking seemed liked a roller coaster, going down to Unicoi Gap, then up Rocky Mountain, down to Indian Grave Gap, up Tray Mountain, up and down to Addis Gap, then a steep climb up Kelly Knob and finally resting at Deep Gap. We could have pushed on to Dicks Creek Gap (Hiawassee), but we didn't want to spend money on a room just yet. We were settling in, talking to Alex and a section hiker Alan, when the most God awful noise came out of the woods. I don't know what it was, but it sounded like a cross between a really pissed off feline, and a wild turkey. Alan said it should be the wild pigs that are in these hills, and they seem like more of a force to reckon with than the bears. Hope we don't run into one of those.

We did a quick resupply in Hiawassee, including three 5 ... $5 ... $5 footloooongs, and headed into North Carolina and on to Muskrat Creek Shelter. One state down!! (And in only 4 days, unlike the 3 months it took on the PCT.) The shelter was kind of full, so we slept on the "patio." That night, it really started to rain, and thankfully we woke up and moved further under cover before we were totally soaked.

The next morning, we were discussing whether to do 12 miles, or 19, and the other guys kept pitching in "or 5." No way were we only doing 5 miles. We hiked to Standing Indian Shelter ate lunch, then pushed to Carter Gap Shelter which was full (that would have been 12 miles.) The trail had been pretty easy that day, so we pushed to Big Spring Shelter. We walked along an abandoned dirt road towards Big Butt Mountain (I'm not making that up). We traversed along a flank of it on a ledge trail carved into a sheer cliff. We didn't even notice it at first with the brush, but then we looked down at our feet and noticed it was a long way down to the valley below. Then we had to take on Albert Mt., which had a climb of 500 feet in 0.3 miles!! It was a straight scramble up a rock face to a fire tower, where we got a 360 degree view of fog. Thankfully the shelter was only 0.5 miles away. There we had our first real rain storm, with the rain pounding the roof of the shelter. We came to find out that Mooney Gap, which wasn't far away, was the rainiest spot on the east coast. No kidding.

We hiked the easy nine miles to Winding Stair Gap, where Alex called the shuttle service into Franklin, NC. Ron Haven himself picked us up and has been taking good care of us in his Budget Inn.