I love Shennies!

Its day 65 and we have covered over 860 miles (1390 kms) on the trail. We are just finishing our resupply in Waynesboro, VA and heading into Shenandoah National Park. We have been anticipating this park for weeks and will be the first to admit that it is not because of the promise of beautiful views and scenery. In fact our 100 mile hike through the Shennies will cross Skyline Drive (a road) about 30 times! The excitment stems from the concession stands that we have been told are at about almost every road crossing along the way. Apparently the blackberry smoothies are a must have! The park also is the beginning of the "easier" terrain that we were promised in Virgina.  Last week, leading up to Waynesboro had four 3000 foot climbs (not something you want to be doing daily) so the 1000 footers in the Shennies are looking pretty darn good. From there we hit some of the flattest trail till we reach the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Its a good feeling knowing that we have some of the hardest terrain behind us and a month or more of sweet sweet flat lands ahead!

A beautiful foggy sunrise somewhere on the trail.

Low X

A trail shelter.

Always following a white blaze.

McAfee knob! This is a classic AT photo.

Celebrating after a climb to the knob.

We believe in magic!

The trail offers so many amazing things, but this is a shout out to all the trail angels! These are the people who for some reason or another give to the thru-hikers in many ways but mostly through food! You can be walking along the trail, reach a road crossing, and be greeted by a cooler filled with pop and gatorade. Or sometimes you suddenly smell BBQ as you walk and low and behold a trail magic feast! Twice now at shelters angels have brought the trail magic right to us. Rico walked in pizza and a case of beer to our amazement and another angle hiked in a cooler of icecream!

This past weekend was Memorial day weekend and the angels were out in full force! On Sunday we were planning on hiking 25 miles. We woke early and were on the trail by 6:30 to beat the scorching heat we have been dealing with lately. Within 2 miles we had reached a road crossing and there to greet us were past thru-hikers with a delicious breakfast of fruit, doughnuts, cakes, and drinks! We stayed and chatted with them for awhile and learned their plan was to serve lunch as well, just 7 miles up the trail. We set off thinking that it would be great to get lunch as well, but we surely would be well past their planned lunch spot by the time they moved.

We hiked up a huge mountain, sweating and puffing. As we rounded the last corner and could see the top we were met by yet more magic. Another former hiker was camped on the hill with coolers of pop and beer! At this point we realized that 25 miles was not going to happen and we embraced the magic of the day. Beers went down really easily, and as noon approached we headed back down the mountain to the lunch we knew was awaiting us!

Trail magic is one of the unexpected and most amazing pleasures on the trail. It always has the ability to uplift your spirit when you are feeling the most down. The people are out here purely because they love the trail and the trail people. We have already started scheming about how we are going to give back in the future.

Our Community

We have now made it 460 miles (740 kms) into our hike!  Along the way we have been growing as a community of committed thru-hikers making the pilgrimage to Katahdin. Arrow Maker met a hiker one day who was on the trail for the community, not the final destination like most others. He described the AT hikers as one of the last remaining nomadic communities left in North America. I really liked thinking about us this way. Our nomadic community moves northish almost daily carrying our homes on our backs. Sometimes we stay in the shelters left by "ancestors" of our community. We all have trail names (no need for a first and last anymore) and we communicate in a more simple way, through trail journals left in the shelters. We consume excessive amounts of food (about 3x's more then average) yet as a community we probably have the lowest BMI's as a whole. We all smell like swass most days, but hey, if we all smell bad who can tell! Friendships and bonds are solidified over extreme highs and lows that come with trail life. Our community... its GREAT!

Yesterday we walked into Damascus, known as the friendliest town on the trail! Here we are all gathering for a celebration for us, the AT thru-hikers of past and present. It is called Trail Days and is the largest gathering of thru-hikers for the whole journey! We even get to parade through the town (though I am wondering who will be watching). There is free food, gear, drinks and a very "lost boys" type forest party brewing.

In a few days we will head back on the trail. There are a lot of rumours that Virginia is "flatter" then what we have hiked so far, but a huge part of me is scepticle about the whole thing. A famous hated saying among hikers is "It's all down hill from here..." when truth be told you almost always feel as though there is a punishing amount of uphill every day. I hope the same principal does not apply to the "flatter" statement.

A highlight of this section of the trail is the Grayson Highlands where wild ponies run free! Apparently they are pretty tame and will come lick the salt from your hands, but I will be wary knowing that some hikers were attacked by the ponies a few weeks back (this may be a trail rumour).

Hopefully next time we can post some pictures!

Happy Trails!

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!