March 2019 – d20 & Happy on the Appalachian Trail

Tugboat’s trail magic

We made it to Standing Bear.

Our stage.

This morning at the shelter.

And the trail magic.

Admittedly a terrible picture.

But Tugboat is a man among men.

Zero day

A week on the trail and a zero in Gatlinburg.

We did laundry and ate one town meal a day. It is a resort town, but pleasant.

They even have a line for hitchhiking down from the gap.

The rain today and tonight is melting snow and should clear by tomorrow when we will be back on the trail.

I’m surprised by how pleasant it is and how peaceful.

Otherwise, it gets close to 8:00 and I start to feel like going to sleep now.

Moving towards Gatlinburg.

Our first day out of the NOC was 40k steps.

Some good days. Some days more up and down than others.

So we ended up going to Wolf Creek Hostel instead or about 16 miles. Then Cable Gap Shelter. At Fontana Dam right now. Will continue to the Fontana Hilton (a Shelter nick name, not a hotel) then into the smokies tomorrow.

Weather has been beautiful. Down to slightly below freezing at night.

Beautiful clear days. Perfect company.

NOC to Sassafras Gap Shelter

That was the plan. Early to bed. Get up early and then have an easy break in day.

It was cold. Ice on the ground in places.

Mild wind.

Then we got to Sassafras and it is lunchtime, dirty, cold and empty.

So, just a few more miles.

Instead of 6.9 …

Closer to 17 instead of 7.

Beautiful views.

Caught a shuttle. Warm. Real bed. Did laundry and showered. Met a 68 year old retired farmer and hiker. Great guy. Just Alan. Earlier we were given trail magic muffins by Too Bad.

Passed nine hikers, passed by seven. The numbers are backwards.

3:30 AM walk to airport

It was an early morning. Hiker midnight for us looks like 6:00 pm today. We started early enough to start walking to the terminal at 3:30 a.m.

Eventually we got to an old fashioned airplane –walk across the tarmac to board, no snacks or drinks. Surprisingly smooth flight.

Eventually we ended up at the NOC. Got fuel for the stove (you can’t fly with it). Hiker box had lots of almost empty fuel canisters but mostly things that had weight.

The river was really cold. Those kids didn’t go swimming after all.

Beautiful day. Sunshine and barely a breeze. Met a German couple who were not finding the AT fun (early start, rain, cold and full shelters) and J-Man who cowboy camped all the way from the approach trail to the NOC.

He bought a new tent at the NOC (Nemo one person tent).

But it is a beautiful day.