Day 9

At 3:00 yesterday afternoon we reached the North Carolina boarder which is marked with a simple sign posted on a tree.  After hiking 78 miles I was hoping for something more significant like a marching band or maybe some clowns but we were still very happy to have reached our goal of hiking all of the Georgia section of th AT. 

After crossing the boarder we had to climb over two very steep and exhausting peaks just taking it one step at a time. Michelle could frequently be heard singing the "put one foot in front of the other and soon..." which is from one of the claymation Christmas movies. Another popular song on the trail was the Wizard of Oz "we're off to see the wizard..."  We quickly realized there is no skipping with a 35 lb pack on your back. 

The views from the tops of these peaks were amazing when you could see the through the tees and the sweat in our eyes. 

We reached the Muscrat shelter at about 5:30 where we had planned to camp for the night after hiking 10 miles. However, the lure of knowing that our car at the pullout was only five miles further (and that we were running out of TP) convinced us to risk hiking in the dark if it meant being done.  Luckily we were able to make it before dark and drive back to Chris's house by about midnight after stopping for a celebration dinner (and ice cream) at Dairy Queen.

Day 8

We had another dry night in our tents and enjoyed our typical breakfast of instant oatmeal and coffee before hiking about three miles to Dicks Creek.  We had planted one of our two cars here. After four days on the trail it was nice to get in a car and ride into town for laundry, food restocking, showers, and a nights sleep on a real bed. 

Tomorrow we will be back on the trail again. We have just nine miles to go to reach North Carolina, and just fifteen to reach our final pullout at Deep Gap. 

Day 7

We had a great night camping at the Rocky Mountain campsite. It was at the top of a mountain at an elevation of 4,017 ft. The cool breeze and lack of rain during the night made for great sleeping. I think this was our first night on the trail that it did not rain. John made it to camp about an hour or so after us. 

Another hiker named Richard showed up just before dark. He was out of water and after talking to us realized that he had been hiking the wrong direction all day. This was the second hiker that we have met hiking in the wrong direction. The trail itself it pretty clearly marked with white blazes which are white rectangles painted on trees every once and a while. Side trails are marked with blue blazes. However, there is rarely anything to tell you if you are northbound or southbound, so if you are contemplating hiking the AT get a map and compass. 

We hiked twelve miles today, crossing two very high summits before setting up camp at Deep Gap Shelter. The shelter looked somewhat "mousy" and had not had any rain so we decided to sleep in the tents.

We did not have very good cell coverage and were there Dads missing our kids and Dads. 

Day 6

Our night in the shelter with the kids worked out well. Like us, they must have been very tired from hiking.  It rained most of the night and it was nice not to have to pack a wet tent. 

The weather was perfect today. We hiked about 11 miles today bringing our total up to 54.  Only about 24 miles left until we reach North Carolina and 34 to our final destination. 

When we got on the trail this morning it looked like an angel was looking over us. Made us feel pretty good about the day.  Isaiah 40:28-31

Today we saw two snakes on the trail. Eric unknowingly stepped over both of them before Chris spotted them. The first spotting caused some "little girl" sceams. I won't say who did the screaming but I will say that it did not come from Michelle (or me).  We have not seen a bear yet but ran into a couple that had.  They got scared and had turned around. 

Tonight we are back to sleeping in tents at a nice camp sight.  Here we have seen our first insects which are some gnats. They are a bit annoying but do not bite and have mostly cleared since we got a camp fire started.  We have yet to see a single mosquito, tic, or fly, except for the fly that was in Chris's beer at the restaurant the other night.

John is still hiking with us and just arrived at our camp sight after some restocking assistance from his wife. 

Day 5

We started the day with eggs and sausage at the cabin before getting back on the trail with enough food for another four days.

Since we had fresh legs we did a long hike today of 11.5 miles.  Our bodies seem to be adjusting well and hiking seems to be getting easier. Sometime it seems like my natural state is to walk and it is hard to stop.  Maybe I am becoming Forest Gump. 

The weather was great most of the day so we finally got to appreciate the views from the tops of the mountains. 

It was raining when we got to camp so we decided to stay in a shelter again. This one is a bit crowded with a group of high school kids and our friend John so we will see how this works out. 

Day 4

We survived our first night sleeping in a shelter. It rained again through most of the night so we were happy to be there. 

Shortly before dusk our new friend John; whom we met our first evening on the trail; arrived and we shared the shelter with him.  John is a 64 year old diabetic, ex-marine who has no problem keeping up with us. I hope I can do this when I am his age.

We found shelter life to be much easier than tenting because the set up & tear down is minimal.  The down side is it is wide open to critters, like spiders and mice.  At least the mice left us alone, the spiders not so much. Good thing they're only daddy long legs.  I think we all  prefer tenting going forward, unless it is raining.  

Today we crossed Blood Mountain which peaked at about 4,300 ft elevation. It was very steep going up and coming down it was bare granite in most places. Once again the great views were foggy but it kept it fairly cool. 

By noon we reached civilization on the trail and are staying in a cabin and taking a much needed shower and doing laundry.  Each cabin is named after an animal - ours is named "Squirrel" and has stuffed squirrels on the walls. Chris thinks this one keeps at staring at him. 

For the third day in a row we reached our destination just minutes before a downpour of rain. I'm sure it is because of my good clean living. 

We got a shared a ride into Blairsville with John where we restocked our food for the next four days and had some yummy hambers and beers.  And got Michelle her Starbucks fix. 

Tomorrow we return to the woods for another four days...

Day 3

Last night we tent camped again - this time at Gooch Gap.  It rained most of the night but let up at daybreak so we were able to break camp without getting wet.  It looked like it would rain all day but was just very foggy and cool. 

We crossed several summits which may have had fantastic views if it had not been for the fog. 

Our lunches so far have been tortillias, tuna and pickle relish. 

We have seen lots of critters, mostly snails and salamanders. Here is a bright orange lizard (salamander?). 

In addition to tent camping there are shelters set up every eight miles or so. Tonight we arrived at Wood's Hole shelter just minutes before a torrential downpour started. This one is a covered shelter with both a bunk & a picnic table.  So far no one else has showed up so tonight we will sleep here instead of tents. 

Tomorrow we will hike Blood Mountain which will the steepest summit yet.  Our reward will be a hotel for a night in town where we will restock on food; do some much needed laundry; and some eat real food.  And hopefully have a beer or two. 

Day 2

Today we hiked about 10.5 miles. The weather was great until minutes after we made camp when it started raining. Better than rain without a tent.  

We crossed several streams today which meant we did not have to carry as much water. Water is very heavy so we really liked that. In the photo above Chris and Michelle are using a pump to filter stream water.  We have been experimenting with both using a Steripen and filtering.  The filtering method takes longer to set up but is quick when you have a lot to do. 

We experienced our first "trail magic" today. Some wonderful "do gooder" left water on the trail in a section where fresh water was hard to find.  It came just as Michelle stated, "I need to find some water. I'm out"

We had to cook dinner in the tent tonight because it was raining. Beef stroganoff this time.  Not to bad. 

We were able to get some cell coverage tonight which came with a nice surprise. We got a FaceTime call from Zac who gave us a tour of his new apartment in Denver.

Day 1

We successfully made it 8 miles to our first stop at Hawk Mountain shelter. Tents are up and freeze dried lasagna is cooking!

At the southern terminus of the AT.

Crossing a stream. 

Home sweet home. 

Ready for the hike

Tomorrow we will start the hike. We are spending tonight at the Hiker's Hostel which is a really nice place. Tomorrow they will shuttle us to the trail-head at Springer Mountain and the journey will begin.

On the road

Woke up this morning in Fort Smith Arkansas. Eleven hours to go to Woodstock Georgia.

We did a final weigh-in of our packs before leaving the house yesterday, Eric's registered 32 lbs and Michelle's is at 22. This is before adding drinking water. Each of us can carry up to three liters which would add 6.6 lbs. Hopefully there will be a lot of streams to get water from so we will not have to carry that much.

Everything in our packs is a carefully considered balance of functionality and weight. This means that we do things like bring a toothbrush, but cut most of the handle off with a saw.

Today we should finish the drive, tomorrow make it to the trail and drop of a car at our expected end point, and get one last bed and shower before we start hiking on Monday.

Two Days to Go

Excitement is building at the Palmquist house as Michelle and I are making last minute preparations for our most ambitious outdoor trip yet with my brother Chris.  Today we made after-work trips to both Cabelas and Backwoods for last minute items including rain jackets to help us handle the predicted rain that we will be facing.

This will be our second over-night backpacking trip, having successfully hiked 20 miles on the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas during Spring Break.  Although we gained some confidence from this first trip, we still face a lot of unknowns.  How many miles will we cover each day?  Will we have enough food?  Will the mosquitoes carry us away?  Will we hear banjo music on the trail?  Am I in good enough shape for this?