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    • I've got the month of April off so I've decided to hike the Benton Mackaye Trail a third time.
      I'm renting a car to drive down from NY, and stopping in SC to see my daughter and grandkids, who I haven't seen since they moved down to Summerville almost a year ago.
      I'll a spend a day or two with them before driving to Gainesville, where I'll drop off my car, stay overnight and get a shuttle to start the trail Monday April 4th.
      It will be interesting to see what's changed since I last did it in 2015. One thing that's changed is the FarOut app, which would have come in handy when I first did it in 2014 when the BMTA re-routed it off of the Tail of the Dragon to the Yellow Creek Ridge Trail.Rasty was with me when we went through that stretch and navigation was pretty sketchy. The reroute hadn't yet been blazed.The following year it was easier to follow, and since then they've added a lot more trail markers.
      Looking forward to getting away from the surreal world we're living through right now
      its all good
    • so wednesday night we had tornado warnings but just got hit with about 2 hours of solid downpours. i camped with a hiker, bulldog, from class of 2013 that said he met me, but doesn't remember where. we camped at Bryson gap 12.0 miles in. the next day my goal was a 15 mile day to payne gap, but I was feeling tired from the first day and a rough night with the storms. there is a dry campsite on top of Wallalah mtn, but I was able to find water .3 from the summit campsite and stopped there for the night. 7.6 miles. Yesterday morning was bright and sunny, but changed quickly to freezing rain. I reached Payne Gap around 2. I was just going to have lunch and continue the next 5.1 to the next site. I went down to get water at the nearby spring, and when I got back up to the site it started sleeting again, so I set up my tent, made some chicken soup and got into my sleeping bag, deciding to stay warm and dry. A little while later, a hiker from new zealand came in to camp, Kiwi, who was hoping to hike the entire trail. I gave him a few pointers and we went to sleep with it snowing and temps falling to the mid 30s. today I hiked all fo 3.1 miles to Wilscot gap, where a friend of mine from ALDHA and the ATC, Bev, picked me up. I'm staying at her home tonight with temps dropping into the 20s. Her husband Tom is a ridge runner. Tomorrow I have a 6 mile hike and will be staying at Aska B&B . the next leg will be roughly 60 miles to Reliance,TN where I have a food drop waiting. its all good.
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      its all good
    • it's so cool that with around 40 people a day now starting the AT, the two hikers I camped with were the only people Ive seen on trail since I started Wednesday.
      but either this trail got a lot harder than the last time I did it in 2015, or I'm just getting old. And apparently the trail hasn't changed much at all, ecwpt for better signage and markers.
      its all good
    • hikerboy wrote:

      it's so cool that with around 40 people a day now starting the AT, the two hikers I camped with were the only people Ive seen on trail since I started Wednesday.
      but either this trail got a lot harder than the last time I did it in 2015, or I'm just getting old. And apparently the trail hasn't changed much at all, ecwpt for better signage and markers.
      Glad to hear about better signage and markers.
      Give it a few days and your trail legs will start kicking in again. :)
      Warmer and dryer weather should also improve things.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • It was gorgeous in N. GA yesterday and not bad today…just overcast. I’m happy the weather is better.

      I hiked and camped with my daughter then we passed through Blue Ridge heading to Murphy. When I saw the BMT hwy crossing near Cherry Log, I thought…oh no! If I see HB, he’ll think I’m a stalker!

      :)
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Traffic Jam wrote:

      It was gorgeous in N. GA yesterday and not bad today…just overcast. I’m happy the weather is better.

      I hiked and camped with my daughter then we passed through Blue Ridge heading to Murphy. When I saw the BMT hwy crossing near Cherry Log, I thought…oh no! If I see HB, he’ll think I’m a stalker!

      :)
      But a stalker bearing treats (trail magic) would probably be appreciated. ;)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Sunday was a perfect day. Friends of mine from aldha and atc, bev and tom ottinger put me up satruday night and fed me a great birthday breakfast, and I was gifted with a perfect hiking day, ending at Aska B&B right outside blue ridge. I took a zero here today, then Melissa from the b&b is running me up to bushy head gap, skipping some road walk i don't need to do for a 3rd time. I already skipped 10 miles to avoid another road walk, so this has become a lash instead of a thru hike. but I'm loving every day. so far I've been out in t storms with a tornado warning, rain sleet snow.Weather looks like it should be okay for the next week.
      its all good
    • I ended up hiking roughly 150 miles on the BMT. First night out I had to deal with a tornado warning, which thankfully, never materialized.My "thru hike" was over day 3, when Beverly Ottinger offered to pluck me out of the bad weather and put me up for the night. I decided to skip a road walk, and had her drop me off 10 miles up the trail, so that I wouldn't have to do the road walk a 3rd time.
      A few days later I stayed at Aska bed and breakfast outside Blue Ridge, and had her do the same for me for the same reason, so by the end of the first week, I'd already skipped 20 miles.
      I decide to slow down a bit, and stopped worrying about finishing.I have some mixed feelings about this, thinking I should have probably hiked a different trail, as I lacked the motivation to do the same trail completely a third time. But as things turned out, it worked out just fine.
      A few days later I ran into Kathy Anderson, who had started a BMT thru hikers class of 22 group. She was doing low mileage days, but I was happy to slow down myself, and enjoyed having some company.
      We hiked together for about a week,and after Reliance, we went our separate ways. But once I got to Reliance, I had already decided to end my hike at Tapoco, and skip the Smokies, not wanting to deal with the permit system. I had sent a pkg to Tapoco lodge, originally planning to get there by 4/21, but called them to rebook my reservation for the 28th
      I then got a shuttle to take me up to Unicoi Gap to avoid a long day I wasn't sure I could do. This put me a bit ahead of schedule. So I called Tapoco lodge and had them add 4/27 to my reservation.Then booked a flight home from Asheville, as well as a shuttle from Tapoco to Asheville for 4/29.
      When I got to Tellico river, I was way ahead still, so decided to take another rest day at Green Cove Angler and Lodge. Fly fishing season had started in earnest, and a young couple 2 doors down treated me to fresh trout for lunch, and venison burgers for dinner.
      I'm happy with what I did, and even though I didn't push the miles, the smiles were there every single day.

      The best plan is no plan.
      its all good
    • The BMT is quite a different experience than the AT.
      Tom Ottinger is a ridge runner at Springer. He told me some 35 to 40 people a day were starting the AT. By contrast, in the 3 weeks I was on the BMT, I ran into maybe a dozen other people.
      The first night I camped with Bulldog, who I actually knew from 2013, when he hiked the AT. 2nd night I met Kiwi, from new zealand, and then saw no one until I ran into Kathy. We encountered 3 trailrunners the next morning, and then no one until we hit Thunder Rock campground.
      After leaving Kathy in Reliance, a few days later, Sabine Foureyes Pelton caught up to me, as she was hiking much faster than I was. We broke for lunch, talked for a bit, and then I watched her hike away. Didn't see anyone else except for a turkey hunter,who surprised me early one morning as he hiked right by my tent.
      I reached Unicoi Crest the following day, and while I enjoyed the view, a lady drives up in an SUV to drop off a hiker, and it turns out I knew her too! Granny Harris from the BMTA! The hiker wasn't doing the BMT, was trying to walk into Cherokee for a funeral.
      My last day into Tapoco, I ran into the BMTA trail crew, who were coming up the trail to clear blowdowns. carrying the chainsaw was Dick Evans, who I also knew, having met him in 2014 when I first hiked the trail.
      Later I found them eating lunch at Tapoco Lodge, so I sat and spoke to Dick for a while.
      So out of the dozen people I met on the trail, I knew half of them.
      Crazy.
      its all good
    • If I had known in advance how my hike had gone, I could have carried a lot less weight.
      I had taken 5 days of food to get me to Blue Ridge, but because fo the stays with Bev and Tom, and again at Aska lodge, I didn't eat all of it, and needed little to get me to my next resupply in Reliance.In between, though, I stayed in Ducktown on two separate occasions, and had more dinners than I needed. In Reliance, I picked up my food box, and kept most of it, getting rid of a few crackers and things that hadn't fared well in transit. MY last food drop wa t Tapoco lodge, which I had planned on getting me to Cherokee. But ending my hike there, I was fortunate enough to meet a couple who were finishing the BMT as part of a multi trail 2000+ mile hike. They had asked about resupply at Fontana village, and I just gave the my box, which had spare batteries, fresh odor proof bags, and a weeks worth of food.
      In retrospect, I could have resupplied every 3 days and would have carried a lot less food.
      I was also carrying a heavy power bank , which probably weighed close to a pound,planning to be out 5-6 days at at time. It was useless, i was indoors every 4 or 5 days.
      its all good
    • Astro wrote:

      hikerboy wrote:

      So out of the dozen people I met on the trail, I knew half of them.

      Crazy.
      I guess that is what happens when you are a hiking legend. ^^
      lol. I'm no legend. I haven't even hiked the entire AT, although I've hiked it for over 5000 miles over 40+ years. I've just been around the trail for a long time, so I've made a lot of friends along the way. I'm also pretty active in many of the FB backpacking groups, and admin the ALDHA group.
      Notorious? maybe, but legend? no.
      its all good
    • hikerboy wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      hikerboy wrote:

      So out of the dozen people I met on the trail, I knew half of them.

      Crazy.
      I guess that is what happens when you are a hiking legend. ^^
      lol. I'm no legend. I haven't even hiked the entire AT, although I've hiked it for over 5000 miles over 40+ years. I've just been around the trail for a long time, so I've made a lot of friends along the way. I'm also pretty active in many of the FB backpacking groups, and admin the ALDHA group.Notorious? maybe, but legend? no.
      Don't sell yourself short, if Outback Steakhouse's Bloomin' Onion can be "legendary" then so can you! :thumbsup:
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
    • I have a question for Hikerboy or anyone else who knows.

      Hiking nobo, Ellis Creek Ford is the stream that you cross right before entering Hiwassee Outfitters in Reliance.

      My memory is that it’s ankle deep, sort of wide, and lacks rocks for hopping…so guaranteed wet feet.

      Is that correct?
      Lost in the right direction.