Dirk's Rambles

I am sitting in Laughing Heart Hostel in Hot Springs, NC as I write this. Rolled in last night around 4:45 pm, did my laundry, ate stew donated by a trail angel, drank beer also donated by a trail angel.

April 1st started off at Standing Bear Hostel around 7:45 am, anticipating cold weather and 1 to 2 inches of snow. It was a cold walk with high winds but only a dusting of snow. It was still tough walking even without the snow. Hike 16.5 miles and camped a Roaring Fork Shelter. Longevity, ...

I am sitting at Standing Bear Hostel just outside of Davenport, NC. Finished the Smokies yesterday. Completed it in 5 days, averaging 15.48 miles per day. So happy I made it thru and that I covered it so fast.

So it has been an eventful five days since I last wrote in my journal. Brad decided to take a zero at Siler's Bald on the morning of Sunday, March 28. We had covered almost 31 miles in two days. He said he was hurting from his head to his toes. When he came in to the shelter ...

So Wednesday, March 24th, we walked 5 or 6 miles to Fontana Lake. We found Hammock there setting up trail magic. Hammock is a guy we met a few days ago at another trail magic set up done by Bacon. Hammock works for Indiana University in Bloomington in one of the athletic offices. On Wednesday, he gave us a couple of Gatorades, then we took the shuttle to Fontana Lodge to wait for Sam to pick us up.

We had lunch with a bunch of other hikers including Howdy. They I went to the computer ...

A long day on the trail. Got up at 6:15 am, began packing and hit the trail at 7:30 am. Hoped to cover over 15 miles today so I only have to walk 5 or 6 miles on Wednesday morning. I was the first one up and the first one out of camp.

Since Brad stayed at least 2 miles up the trail, I had some catching up to do. I caught up with him at about mile 6 where some trail magic at Stecoh Gap. A guy was making egg and cheese sandwiches there. Brad was waiting. The trail magic was really good, ...

Sam Cosgrove, Brett and Vanita's friend, picked us up at 8 am for a quick breakfast then took us to Winding Stair Gap where he picked us up on Friday. He has been so good to us!

So off we went on the trail! We hiked 12.3 miles and camped at Licklog Gap. Climbed two mountains- Siler Bald (5,216') and Wayah Bald (5,342'). Good day!

Stayed a licking Gap. There were three middle aged women staying there at the campsite across the trail from us. They were really nice. We ...