Monthly Archives: November 2014

From Hay Rocks, here’s a view of Daleville.  I could also hear a high school marching band practicing from up here, it was nice to hear something other than the sound of leaves crunching.

Almost crushed the little fella. BTW,  he made a great soup!

This is probably the most photographed point on the trail and I had very much been looking forward to being here. No, I wasn’t gutsy enough to hang my feet over the ledge, didn’t need that adrenaline rush.

I passed my personal halfway point yesterday, then came across this super deluxe marker letting me know only 700 to go…

We have a couple of days of bad weather happening. Stayed here in this 3 car garage last night with 5 other people. Heading out later today in what will likely be snow on the mountain tops…not looking forward to it but it’s good practice for what the Smokey Mountains will be like…

It was a bit of a climb getting up there but the view was quite spectacular. Luckily this photo doesn’t include smell-o-vision…

The memorial for the most decorated soldier of WWII.

Very happy I got to cross this one when it was dry. I have a bad habit of walking across wet wood way too fast.

The recent storm that passed through was quite cold, it snowed 2 nights in a row. Some remnants here…and a preview of what the next 6 weeks or so is going to be like…I fell 3 times today, I hadn’t fallen once before today, fell twice going uphill and once going downhill.  No serious bruises … Continue reading »

It was in the 30’s on the top of the ridges today with windchill.  Then came down off the ridge and walked through some farmland where I got to warm up before climbing up and doing another ridge walk. Quite lovely, eh?

Stopped and had lunch on the top of a mountain today, was able to block the wind and was in full sunshine (rare on the AT). Spent 30 minutes here enjoying the views and crisp air.

You see some interesting signs along the trail. I had no idea this was coming up today, kind of an unexpected surprise.

Every day some feature unexpectedly scares the crap out of me. Today, as I was walking across this ridge the wind was gusting to 40 or so and it was twisting me around with my pack on. It got the adrenaline pumping, that’s for sure!

This tree is over 300 years old and is about 18 feet in circumference.  It’s the oldest and largest Oak on the Southern portion of the AT. Spent some time admiring this beauty, can you imagine the history this tree has seen?

This is the first flower I have seen I’m quite a while. Was crossing a field and it caught my eye, being a plant geek, had to share.

I have written the posts tonight while sitting around a campfire. I don’t light one often because it’s too much energy to expend but had to dry out my shoes so they weigh less than a brick. Enjoy!

Stopped at a shelter for some water but the spring isn’t running…so had to improvise.

Some spots are better than others, quite liked this one. To give you an idea how remote I am, this is the tallest peak around and I still couldn’t get a cell signal. Still a great lunch spot though!

The snow on this ridge was about 6″ deep, just enough to completely hide what’s underneath. As a result, I ended up doing a pretty sweet faceplant with the splits thrown in for extra style points, sadly no video of the event to share…this is me about an hour before the event, if only I … Continue reading »

My original plan was to hike 25 miles today but once I hit the snow and rocks I knew I would never make it without hiking at night. So I changed plans and ended up at this shelter with an indoor fireplace. Basically everything I have is wet from either snow or condensation so I … Continue reading »

Ok, this was odd, literally the trail runs 10 feet behind this privy…must make for some interesting conversations when hundreds of north bound hikers pass through in the summertime.

Unfortunately, life happened and I needed to pull off the trail last week and deal with a personal matter. With winter coming early, it makes picking up where I pulled off quite dangerous so I will finish this journey at a later point in my life. I will say this was truly a fantastic experience, … Continue reading »