Life on the Trail

Life on the Trail has set in - it is our life - it's what we expect everyday, well almost everyday, more like 25 days a month. It's what we want to do for the next 4 months or so! As April comes to an end we 'd like to show those of you at home how we roll here on the AT.

Here's our daily life in a nutshell...

Hiking - we spend roughly 8hrs walking the trail, up and down mountains (not hills), through creeks, balds and all sorts of forest types! We start around 8am and finish around 6pm, depending on how we're feeling. On average we travel about 16mi (that's 25km) - it's like a job!

Eating - we now have 5 meals a day plus snacks! Breakfast first thing in the morning, lunch #1 a couple hours later followed by lunch #2 and a possible lunch #3 all eaten on the trail. Finally we conclude the day with a big dinner (enough to feed four) before bed!

Sleeping - the sun dictates our bedtime for the most part. We're generally in bed by 9pm - hiker's midnight - and up by 7am. That's flippin 10hrs in bed! Though the sleep is never continuous, there's always something or someone making noise like a mouse running passed our feet, buddy beside us snoring (or sleep whispering, ya it's happened), or rain pouring down on the shelter's metal roof!

And that's all folks! Our beautifully simple lives on the AT!

19 days and counting

Today is day 19 of our adventure and we are doing the exact opposite of what we usually do. We are shopping, eating, cleaning ourselves and our clothes, and trying to be lazy and stay off our feet. We are in TOWN! I want to say town is a highlight of the trip, but that would be unjust to all the beautiful things we have seen and all the joys we have felt on the trail. Town is just differnt, and in that it feels great too!

We are currently hiking through our third state, Tennessee, and are in The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. No we have not had a personal appearance from Smoky the Bear, but we have heard from a few hikers that he is around. Yesterday we hiked to the top of Clingmans Dome, which is 6643 ft above sea level! This is the highest we will be on the entire AT journey! There is a road leading to the top of the mountain so it was filled with many many other tourists. It was odd because they took such an interest in us and the other thru hikers. They examined us, our packs, and quizzed us on our adventure. Some people even took pictures or videos of us! We became one of the attractions. On the other side of things us hikers examined them, their clothes, their ability to walk the final 0.5 miles to the top of the mountain, so in turn they were a different sight for us as well.

We have so far covered just over 200 miles (320ish km's) of the AT. Soon we will be hitting the 10% mark! Our small but meaningful victory for us. We will be celebrating! Here are some pictures of our journey thus far. One day we will find the time for a full and proper update!

low X and metric.

Us at the beginning of the trip! Still in Georgia.

Our 1% complete photo on Blood mountain. (makes me think of the you tube video...blood!)

Tent city at Low Gap!

From Left to Right: Keystone, Mr.Natural, Arrow Maker, me (metric), other me (Low X), and Raisins. This is the cabin we rented on our only zero day.

Low X in an old old fire tower in the Smokies.

Clingmans Dome view

Nick and Mel no longer...

One week has officially passed us by! One week of walking, walking, walking, eating and sleeping in the great outdoors! The week has been filled with so many highs and fortunately very few lows! How lucky we feel!

The greyhound to Atlanta was entertaining, to say the least. We were serenaded by no less then three rap shows, and once we reached Atlanta we were shown around by a kind homeless man named "gateway". Shortly after we met up with Hotrock, our first trail angle. He gave us a ride to Amicolola and gifted us our first snickers bar of the trail! YUM.

As soon as we hit the trail we started meeting all the fantastic people we will be seeing for the next six months. Some people, like Arrow Maker, Keystone, and Mr.Natural (aka salad dressing) we keep the same pace with and camp with every night. Others like Raisins, Lost and Found, Fling, John Wayne and many others we run into at unexpected times. Nighttime is hilarious, filled with exhausted people who find the silliest things a riot.

When I say we are Nick and Mel no longer I am somewhat eluding to the changes that are guaranteed to happen to us out here, but for now I am more referring to our new names. Nick = low expectations and Mel = metric.

I am already in love with this trail. There is so much to say but we must get back to walking. Hopefully on our next stop in town we will have more time to update the blog and put some pictures on!

Good-Bye Canada! Hello USA!

Its finally here! All the planning and saving and waiting for this day! Tomorrow we head on down south to Georgia where a kind veteran of the AT will take us to the start of the trail!

So good-bye Canada! We will miss your beautiful summer, swimming and canoeing in your plentiful lakes and hiking your forested trails! Good-bye loons, beavers, and swamp donkeys (aka moose which are aka bucket faces). Good-bye poutine, Tim Hortons, and maple syrup.  Good-bye playoffs, vinyl cafe, and Rick Mercer! And good-bye families, friends, and all Canadians!

We will be back in 6 months before our provincial health care gets cancelled!

xoxo!