B.A.T.H. by Sam

I hike 15 miles, and that's normal for me.
But I'm not crazy, I'm a thru-hiker you see.
I walked for 9 hours across mountains and streams.
Dreaming of nothing but hot Krispy Kremes.
Though now the privy's in use, to the woods I must go.
But I don't want to pee in the fields of snow.
I just want to stay in my warm sleeping bag.
Getting out in the morning is the biggest drag.
Cooking breakfast however, is well worth the cold.
Just don't wake to discover it's all covered in mold.
It will make you mad and tremble and shake.
Not having breakfast is too much to take.
One can't pack down without a belly that's full.
And when your water is topped your ready to pull
yourself up the mountains, down valleys, 'round cliffs.
But make sure to stretch or you'll become stiff.
When you think you are done and at the end
Just stop at the shelter, take a minute to mend
you're aching shoulders and blistered feet
but there are others here that you want to greet.
Someone you've not seen in a week!
You'll want to wave and call out their name
you laugh and catch up and talk of the fame
of walking from Georgia straight up to Main!
But now it's past dark and you're falling asleep.
So into your nice toasty bag you creep.
If you think this is crazy and are having no fun,
Just remember that this is just one
of the days that measure half a year.
But when you're done you'll want to be here.
Back where the trail will stretch for miles.
Bringing you nothing but good times and smiles.

-Sam (A.K.A Magicman)

4/11/2014

Leaving Standing Bear

The last couple days I completed quite a few milestones/achievements since starting the Smokies. I've hiked over 200 miles, I've hiked into three states, I've done a 20 mile day, and I've night-hiked. Almost forgot I also was at the highest point on the AT. The Smokies were very pretty, had a ton of fun, but will never hike them again. I would never want to re-hike this section, ever. Now that we're out, the group that I've been are definitely going to stealth camp. The forcing to stay in shelters thing in the Smokie over did it for me. It is also supposed to be gorgeous 'till Monday anyway so definitely gonna keep learning better ways to hang my hammock. Got a second camera and most of the pictures are of the last half of the Smokies. Won't send that back yet though.

SO glad to conquer the Smokies.

- Sam

4/10/2014

4/10/14                                Standing Bear Farm

16 miles from two days ago and 20 miles ending last night at 10pm. Not by myself and no regrets. About 3 miles today only, but I think my feet need a break. 3 days of good weather and 34 ish miles to Hot Springs, not zeroing here but might do so there seeing as Monday is supposed to thunderstorm. 

- Sam

4/9/2014

4/9/14                   Cosby Knob Shelter (resting)

16 miles yesterday to Pecks Corner Shelter and now 13 to Cosby Knob. A group of us however are going to night hike to Davenport Gap Shelter. First night hike so far, I'm excited to go! Night HIKE! From Davenport it's only 3 miles to Standing Bear Farm/Hostel. Instead of getting there after lunch, I'll be rolling in for breakfast. That doesn't sound like much nut that's HOURS of hiking saved which makes me happier. Also need to pick up a bump box anyway and will spend the night there. 16 and 20 mile days, you need a slight break.

**Made it the whole 20, got in at 10pm!

-Sam

4/7/2014

4/7/14                   Ice Water Spring Shelter

It is currently raining cats & dogs. I seriously hear barking. The trail so far has been a muddy trench thanks to the thousands of people who visit the park. With pouring rain it's as if you're walking up and down a stream. Definitely not fun, or at least type 3 fun.

(Editor's note: Sam will type out the explanation of Types 1-3 fun.)

-Sam

PS: I heard thunder and saw lightning. NOPE.

4/6/2014

4/6/14                                   Mt. Collins Shelter

Last couple days are a little blurry. There's also a bit too much to write. Long story short Gatlinburg was pretty awesome. Total redneck paradise; plenty of moonshine, plenty of wine, tons of food. Out Gatlinburg and back on the trail. Only 3ish miles cause we had to wait for Tex to get out of town. [He needed to grab some medication from CVS.] Either way I didn't get back to the trail till 12:00 noon. Supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow, we'll see how far I get.

- Sam

(Insert floating ninja here) <--- no idea

4/4/2014

4/4/14

Quick rundown of mileage: From the campsite, I hiked 11ish miles to Spence Field Shelter. That night (4/1 night) as the 10 of us or so sat around the camp fire, someone using the bear cables was like "uh.. guys? There's a big something over there..." We look over and sh'es backing up slowly. All of us immediately jump up with a 'holy shit!' mentality and look around the forest. I look over and see a bright shiny pair of eyes staring into the camp site. I look back to everyone and back at that spot and saw nothing. what we all agreed upon was that a long coyote came around and left rather quickly. Kept us all on edge the rest of the night. Especially when Grizz shouted "BEAR!!!..... April Fools!!"

-Sam

4/3/2014

4/3/14

Quite a bit of stuff has happened since the last time I wrote. However what's happening right now is there is a group of us trying to start a D&D game. Seriously, we're making Dungeons and Dragons characters. (Editor: Sweeeeet! Be the elf! Be the elf!)

- Sam

4/2/2014

4/2/14                   From Spence Field Shelter

I hiked 13 (ish) to Double Spring Shelter. Reason it's called that is you can get water from a spring in NC or a spring in TN. It was kinda neat. During the day I figured that being only 3 miles from Clingman's Dome, I could wake up super early and hike to watch the sunrise from the highest point on the AT. As I got to the shelter I found the whole group I've been hiking with on and off were there. They left me behind in Fontana when I had to take an extra zero due to the post office not being open till Monday. Funny enough they all were planning the exact same thing. The entire 9 of us were Luna, Lobo, Admiral Caboose and Catnip, Huskers, Tex, Junebug, and Treebeard. All of us got up at 3am to hike in the dark to Clingman's Dome. Sadly as it got lighter out we realized we were in a cloud. No views to speak of, just white swirling fog drifting everywhere. Doesn't matter though, I still was there as the sun rose. Went from there to Gatlinburg because I had run really low on fuel and would have run out of food. Thunderstorms kinda solidified the need of a zero. Onward tomorrow!

-Sam

4/1/2014

3/31/14  --> Hammocked at Campsite 118

4/1/14

That's it. I'm outta here. Only did 5 miles cause I couldn't leave till after 1pm. Got to the last campsite in the Smokies to pitch my hammock for the first time. Halfway through the night the hammock slipped and I found my ass painfully on the ground. I had to reset everything back up cause even the tarp ridgeline slipped lower. Did get it all set up, but in the middle of the night I heard an entire chorus of wolves. Like one would start howling and the entire forest chimed in to make the creepiest howling I've heard so far. Not to mention, first time NOT in a shelter and the farthest camp spot from everyone else. I go back to sleep once it's quiet again and wake up to something walking around. Everyone else was probably asleep and far away in their tents anyway. I swear one or more wolves were circling my tarp set up last night. I also heard it start raining. I woke up to find a mouse hole in my wet food bag.

Apparently they love climbing bear lines, specifically for that reason. I'm done. Most miserable night ever and only 5 miles into the Smokies. Screw this....

APRIL FOOLS!!!!!

Though I DID hear a crazy amount of wolves/owls last night, and it DID rain about 5 minutes, it was really nice.  My hammock worked perfectly (nothing fell down) and everything was dry this morning. Need to learn to tie a better tarp ridgeline. Going 11 miles to a shelter and will remain in shelters till the end of the Smokies. Hobey-Ho let's go!

- Sam

PS: Today feels like true first day of Spring

28th-29th of March

3/28/14-3/29/14                               Fontana Lodge

Took a zero and lost then found my journal. That is pretty much all that happened. The only truly noteworthy thing was that there was a sketchy guy that's been on the trail since Georgia. Earlier today he got a arrested. Way long story short he had quite a lot of drugs....

It rained all day today, the reason I took a zero. I don't think I'd have made it 7 miles uphill where it was gusting 40 (Editor: looked like *upside down carrot* 10mph; haha Sam) miles an hour as well as probably snowing  at the higher altitudes. Split a room with 4 other people. Tonight I'm sharing a room with just one other guy. It's fun getting a bed by yourself. Start the Smokies tomorrow with 13 miles. 70 miles is all it is; hoping to be nearly out by the end of the weekend.

-Sam

                PS: Sorry for my shitty writing

                                (Editor: It's okay. I still wuv you!) 

3/27/2014

3/27/14                                                Cable Gap Shelter

I seem to either A) forget to write or B) become too tired to write. the 25th I left the NOC a little later than expected. I got breakfast and had no motivation to pack. I figured that I could finish the chapter to my audiobook (Divergent) and then pack and go... About 3 chapters later I wake up at 12:10 and am like 'shit, I need to leave!' It was nice and sunny albeit a bit windy as I left. As I climbed it started flurrying. But at first I figured it may have just been shook off the trees but then it started actually started snowing. As I got to one high up large ridgeline it started snowing really decently. Halfway across it started really coming down. Literally sideways. I had never experienced a sideways blizzard, much less hiking in it; with shorts and my base layer. I did have my beanie on but I couldn't really stop without getting snow on everything. Snow drifts up to my knees made me really hate cold weather. Lost the trail, found it again, and miraculously made it to the first shelter. Not 16, just 7ish; to Sassafras Gap Shelter.

That night it got down to the single digits, too. The sleeping bad I have is a 30 degree bag; with the liner maybe 18ish degrees. But that night I kept waking up freezing. I managed to take a picture from the shelter that afternoon with snow everywhere. I woke up to the sunrise feeling like utter shit. I was nauseous and dizzy and still freezing. I couldn't/didn't want to move cause I was so cold. As I got back into my sleeping bad a couple that were leaving the shelter that morning were like, "oh we're leaving out sleeping bag here if you want it" "hell yeah!" I thought. I ended up wrapping their bag around mine, finally getting arm enough to pass out. I woke up a few hours later thinking, "I need to zero here. I still can't/don't wanna move." I was literally a day after already zeroing but I didn't care. It was either that or get off the trail. Another guy (Caveman) also zeroed and a few more people did eventually show up. That was the 25th.

This morning I woke up feeling much better and pushed 15.2 miles, 5 miles out from Fontana. Got here dehydrated as hell but still made a personal best. Today was fairly uneventful save for a small amount of Trail Magic for lunch. Met a couple (Deer and Doe) who literally stopped at the gap I was at on a whim. Got a coke, some trail mix and some moon pies for lunch. Actually I lied. the trail was slightly eventful. I had to climb "Jacobs ladder". You looked straight up the mountain, "you gotta be kidding me...." I basically was walking at 45 degrees because the path got that steep. (Editor: Insert picture of crazy mountain and stick figure here) Literally straight up the mountain. HOLY SHIT most difficult climb of my life. Supposed to rain tomorrow, but going to try to split a hotel/motel room with Lynx and Wrong Way.

5 miles in the rain, woohoo... least it isn't snow. Screw snow.

- Sam 

3/24/2014

3/24/14                                NOC

                Got here yesterday at about 2pm - 3pm with Catnip and Admiral Caboose. Also ran into Huskers, Luna & Lobo. They all decided to zero yesterday and left to do the ridicuous climb out of the NOC this morning at 9. I also learned that Craftsman and Grizz left the day before I got here, which means I almost caught up to them! They were 3 some odd days ahead so I was glad to learn that I was goig slightly faster. I got the care package my grandparents sent me today around noon, too. I think I can honestly say I've never been happier to see socks before. However one of the drinks they sent broke in the box and made everything sticky. It was a very "yaaaay.... oh god... why....?!" It made everything sticky. All the postcards were ruined and stuck together. It went from very happy to see socks to "how am I gonna wash and dry these!?" Last night I opted not to do laundry cause it was coin operated and I didn't want to deal with all the quarters, but I now had the perfect excuse to do laundry; besides the clothing I was wearing smelled awful. The downside is that after laundry I would be hiking till 7:30 which would mean some night hiking. I am not confident enough to night hike by myself yet. Also it is supposed to rain/sleet/snow tonight so I figured I might as well stay the rest of the day/night here at the NOC hostel. Here's to hoping to push big miles tomorrow, even through snow/rain. =/ 2nd zero day in 137 miles isn't a bad thing, right?

- Sam

PS: It's supposed to stop snowing at 8am so I might push 16 miles tomorrow

22nd-23rd of March

3/22/14-3/23/14                               Wesser Bald Shelter

                Yesterday I only hiked 10.6 miles. At Burningtown Gap a large church group had trail magic. Basically they were making as much food as you could eat. Fortunately for me I pulled into the gap right when they were finishing up breakfast and starting lunch so they 'almost' forced me to stay and eat both meals. I was trying to push for 15-16 miles but 1 1/2 hours later I was still at Burningtown Gap. The food was definitely worth staying around for, but I was trying to get to the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center). Either way I got to Wesser Bald Shelter at about 4:30. I could have pushed on, but ominous clouds were drifting around. It was supposedly going to start raining that evening and continue into today. As I sat here debating whether or not to leave, a couple from North Hollywood showed up at the shelter (Catnip & Admiral Caboose). The 3 of us decided to just sit tight instead of possibly getting caught in rain. Also the last deciding factor was that the NOC closes at 5, so we would have been stuck camping out in the rain. The evening became almost perfectly cloudless though and didn't start raining till about 3 am. But hey, they had whiskey, so I'm not complaining. 10am-ish now and I'm hoping by noon-1pm the rain will let up at least a little bit. Planning to stay tonight at the NOC. Gotta wait till Monday to see if they have a package for me.

- Sam 

3/21/2014

3/21/14                                                                Wayah Shelter

                I wrote the other half this morning but I thought I should add a smidgen more. 11ish miles later and a couple of mountains walked over. I snapped a pic on top of the bald but most of the miles were nondescript. Same kinda scenery all day. Either that or I kinda get tunnel vision looking at the trail trying not to trip.