Dirk's Rambles

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 ...

We are packing up after taking a zero in Franklin, NC. Stayed at the Sapphire Hotel. There is an Native American mound in town that marks the spot of an Indian village. The Little Tennessee River flows through town.

We visited Outdoor 76, an outfitter in town. I bought a new rain coat and pants. My old ones' Goretex was shot and worthless. It was nearly 20 years old. We ate at a Mexican Restaurant twice. It was a good stay though somewhere here I lost my sack cover for my tent. Don't ...

Wednesday, March 17th was a rough night. It was rainy and windy. A slow steady drip and steady mist was inside my tent all night. My sleeping bag got wet on the outside but stayed dry on the inside, thank God! I woke up at 1 a.m. to something that banged into my tent. My first reaction was "Bear!" So I began yelling "ha! ha!" and turned on my light. After a few minutes I didn't hear anything so I stopped. Eventually I fell back to sleep. When I woke in the morning I saw a big ...