my original plan was to hike straight through, taking no zeroes, and staying in the woods as much as possible. i had figured on taking 21 days, as i did it last year in 23, but ended up finishing in 30. i took 3 zero days, and slept in a bed or a cot 11 nights out of the 30.my longest day was 16.3 miles from mill creek to newton bald.my shortest nero was a 4 mile slackpack from lost creek campground to hiawassee outfitters in pouring rain.
--i'm loving the new arcblast50 pack i got, it performed well, kept my gear bone dry without using a liner, and carries well up to around 25 lbs. there were times i carried close to 30# which may be pushing the limit a bit. the pack carried better in the 25# range.
-im still in love with my la sportiva ultra raptor trail runners, hope they never change the design.
the rainfly zipper on my solong6 again failed, and bearpaw lent me one of his tents, a sixmoon design solo, to use for the remainder of my trip.i my be in the market for a new tent, not sure i want to go back to the lightheart after the second failure, although its possible ive kept the awning too taut.i love the tent with the exception of this issue, so im not sure whether ill make a change. ive since repaired the zipper.
on the trail, for breakfast i had a coffee spiked nido/instant breakfast shake, along with a pkg of belvita biscuits. lunch was generally a packet of tuna with tartar sauce ,along with a six pack of ritz crackers with cheese, i brought microwave bacon to eat as a snack and to add to a steady diet of ramen, which i ate virtually every night on the trail,along with mashed potatoes or stove top stuffing.
snacks included roasted salted cashews, chewy jolly rancher candies, and more cracker packs, fritos.
i treated my water with a sawyer mini around 10 times during the trip, drank it straight the rest of the time. water was plentiful, and springs running strong, due to all the rain.
i hung my food on cables in the smokies, slept with it the rest of the trip.
i saw 3 bears, 4 boars, including one had to weigh 300# easy that scared the shot out of me one morning. also saw some deer, a copperhead, 3 rattlesnakes, and a couple of black rat snakes.
the first night i camped at toccoa bridge, where trebor met me with steaks and beer!!!awesome!!, there were several other overnighters camped as well. after that i camped alone until i ran into sheepdog and superman in blue ridge.we stayed together from 4/11 till they got off at green cove on 4/21.while hiking with them we also met ned from maine, who camped with us 2 or 3 times, and i camped with later in the smokies 3 times. we met a young couple hiking nobo, dont know tthier names, but then saw noone else on the trail till after sheepdog and supe got off. the only other person i came across was tipi walter, who i ran into between cold spring gap and haoe peak.aside from ned, i camped alone every night until mt sterling my last night, where i met 2 overnighters out for their first multi day hike.
recommended places to stay-
blue ridge,ga- days inn $60/night, stayed there last year, gave me,sheepdog and superman a free shuttle back to the trail, good location for eats and resupply.
reliance fly and tackle, cabin $100/night sleeps 3 , limited st resupply, some snacks and deli meats,beer.
tapoco lodge-$179/night ++ expensive, but outstanding food and service. no current resupply, but i was able to do my laundry. although wifi is extremely limited, there is a computer available for guest use, and i got my smokies permits here.
cherokee- microtel. $69/night, laundry, close to shopping,free shuttle to casino, gave me a free shuttle back to the trail as well, 2nd yr ive stayed there
i also stayed at fontana inn for $129, but it was nothing notable.
standing bear farms hostel- lumpys running the place for maria after curtis' passing, had fun decompressing for a day and a half before they shuttled me to asheville ($80).
it was a great trip planned on hiking alone, did that for 20 days, the rest with sheepdog, superman and ned.
those are the highlights, i'll file a full diary as i find time.
--i'm loving the new arcblast50 pack i got, it performed well, kept my gear bone dry without using a liner, and carries well up to around 25 lbs. there were times i carried close to 30# which may be pushing the limit a bit. the pack carried better in the 25# range.
-im still in love with my la sportiva ultra raptor trail runners, hope they never change the design.
the rainfly zipper on my solong6 again failed, and bearpaw lent me one of his tents, a sixmoon design solo, to use for the remainder of my trip.i my be in the market for a new tent, not sure i want to go back to the lightheart after the second failure, although its possible ive kept the awning too taut.i love the tent with the exception of this issue, so im not sure whether ill make a change. ive since repaired the zipper.
on the trail, for breakfast i had a coffee spiked nido/instant breakfast shake, along with a pkg of belvita biscuits. lunch was generally a packet of tuna with tartar sauce ,along with a six pack of ritz crackers with cheese, i brought microwave bacon to eat as a snack and to add to a steady diet of ramen, which i ate virtually every night on the trail,along with mashed potatoes or stove top stuffing.
snacks included roasted salted cashews, chewy jolly rancher candies, and more cracker packs, fritos.
i treated my water with a sawyer mini around 10 times during the trip, drank it straight the rest of the time. water was plentiful, and springs running strong, due to all the rain.
i hung my food on cables in the smokies, slept with it the rest of the trip.
i saw 3 bears, 4 boars, including one had to weigh 300# easy that scared the shot out of me one morning. also saw some deer, a copperhead, 3 rattlesnakes, and a couple of black rat snakes.
the first night i camped at toccoa bridge, where trebor met me with steaks and beer!!!awesome!!, there were several other overnighters camped as well. after that i camped alone until i ran into sheepdog and superman in blue ridge.we stayed together from 4/11 till they got off at green cove on 4/21.while hiking with them we also met ned from maine, who camped with us 2 or 3 times, and i camped with later in the smokies 3 times. we met a young couple hiking nobo, dont know tthier names, but then saw noone else on the trail till after sheepdog and supe got off. the only other person i came across was tipi walter, who i ran into between cold spring gap and haoe peak.aside from ned, i camped alone every night until mt sterling my last night, where i met 2 overnighters out for their first multi day hike.
recommended places to stay-
blue ridge,ga- days inn $60/night, stayed there last year, gave me,sheepdog and superman a free shuttle back to the trail, good location for eats and resupply.
reliance fly and tackle, cabin $100/night sleeps 3 , limited st resupply, some snacks and deli meats,beer.
tapoco lodge-$179/night ++ expensive, but outstanding food and service. no current resupply, but i was able to do my laundry. although wifi is extremely limited, there is a computer available for guest use, and i got my smokies permits here.
cherokee- microtel. $69/night, laundry, close to shopping,free shuttle to casino, gave me a free shuttle back to the trail as well, 2nd yr ive stayed there
i also stayed at fontana inn for $129, but it was nothing notable.
standing bear farms hostel- lumpys running the place for maria after curtis' passing, had fun decompressing for a day and a half before they shuttled me to asheville ($80).
it was a great trip planned on hiking alone, did that for 20 days, the rest with sheepdog, superman and ned.
those are the highlights, i'll file a full diary as i find time.
its all good