Well I know a lot of you are curious as to where Nick is, so here are the newest happenings.
As you may know, hiking the Appalachian Trail is not cheap. Getting the right gear in the first place is actually quite expensive, not to mention making no income while you're hiking, while still paying $600/month towards your student loans, and on top of that having your car break down back home at a $3000 expense.. So unfortunately, at the end of his bank account's wits, Nick has come home for the summer.
We're on the job hunt for him, but as it stands now he's planning to get back on the trail next year.. with a 340-mile head start!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Heard from Nick
I don't know when Nick will post again; for all I know it could be later today! But just to let you guys know, he called about 5 days ago from Erwin, Tennessee. He's been looking at doing some "aqua blazing" on his trip, that's where you hop in a canoe and paddle up a river that runs along the trail. I'm sure he'll tell us more about it in his next post.
Otherwise it still sounds like he's having a great time. What an adventure!
-Tania
Otherwise it still sounds like he's having a great time. What an adventure!
-Tania
Monday, May 3, 2010
Hot Springs
In the library in Hot Springs, NC. I got hit with a rainstorm three miles out of Gatlinburg. Over the next four days the rain turned to sleet then snow then all three at once. All the shelters were full of soaking wet people trying stay warm around a tiny fire. I was only moving five to seven miles a day to stay out of the bad weather for the most part. After thirty miles I walked out of the mountains, moving from 6000 feet elevation to 2000. The skies cleared up and life was good again.
After the Smokies I stopped in at the Standing Bear Farm Hostel for a day. This is a pretty rustic looking place, but extremely comfortable. The owner, Curtis, runs a store full of hiker supplies and food on site. Whenever you take something from the store you just write it down on a piece of paper and pay for everything at the end of your stay. It was convenient. Also, there are beer runs into town at 4:30 every day! After I left Standing Bear it was medium sized mountains and rolling hills all the way to Hot Springs. This town is only a block long. It was made famous hundreds of years ago by the nearby mineral springs that are said to "bring vigor to a wasted frame." I paid twelve bucks to spend an hour soaking in the springs and I feel pretty invigorated, but I think the chocolate covered coffee beans I got in the mail helped. Thanks Mom, David, and Tania!
My chores in town seemed to take longer than usual here. Every time I stop I have to do laudry, find a good shower, resupply on food, clean out and reorganize my pack, try to find internet and a new book. It barely leaves any time to get drunk. I had to do a big resupply here since I'll be walking seventy miles before I hit the next town. I am getting faster, though. Before Hot Springs I did two thirteen mile days in a row.
Trail Days, the annual hiker party in Damascus, starts in ten days. Damascus is 190 miles away. I'm not going to make it on foot, so I'll have to take a break and hitchike up there sometime.
I saw another snake. This one tried to bite me. I also met a guy who got bit by a timber rattlesnake in Franklin. I don't like snakes anymore.
Alright, gotta cut this short, library is closing. Summer is nearly here. Huzzah!
After the Smokies I stopped in at the Standing Bear Farm Hostel for a day. This is a pretty rustic looking place, but extremely comfortable. The owner, Curtis, runs a store full of hiker supplies and food on site. Whenever you take something from the store you just write it down on a piece of paper and pay for everything at the end of your stay. It was convenient. Also, there are beer runs into town at 4:30 every day! After I left Standing Bear it was medium sized mountains and rolling hills all the way to Hot Springs. This town is only a block long. It was made famous hundreds of years ago by the nearby mineral springs that are said to "bring vigor to a wasted frame." I paid twelve bucks to spend an hour soaking in the springs and I feel pretty invigorated, but I think the chocolate covered coffee beans I got in the mail helped. Thanks Mom, David, and Tania!
My chores in town seemed to take longer than usual here. Every time I stop I have to do laudry, find a good shower, resupply on food, clean out and reorganize my pack, try to find internet and a new book. It barely leaves any time to get drunk. I had to do a big resupply here since I'll be walking seventy miles before I hit the next town. I am getting faster, though. Before Hot Springs I did two thirteen mile days in a row.
Trail Days, the annual hiker party in Damascus, starts in ten days. Damascus is 190 miles away. I'm not going to make it on foot, so I'll have to take a break and hitchike up there sometime.
I saw another snake. This one tried to bite me. I also met a guy who got bit by a timber rattlesnake in Franklin. I don't like snakes anymore.
Alright, gotta cut this short, library is closing. Summer is nearly here. Huzzah!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Trapped in Paradise
Hey. I'm in Gatlinburg, Tennessee now. I haven't had good luck with finding working computers over the past week. I'm hiking the portion of the trail that runs through the Grand Smoky Mountain National Park. Yesterday I climbed Clingman's dome, which is the highest mountain on the AT. I got rolling at eight in the morning, summited at noon, and ended up at the road crossing in Newfound Gap at around six. Then I hitched a ride into town and now I'm at a motel with hot water and a soda machine. Yee-haw! The guy that I hitched with was named Jim. He lives in Gatlinburg and makes fiber art like bracelets and hatbands. On the way down the mountain we saw a huge crowd of people standing by the side of the road taking pictures of something. When I looked over there was a little old black bear eating something about thirty feet off the road. We passed similar scenes two more times after that. Three bears in fifteen minutes! I haven't even seen any while actually hiking or camping. Jim guessed that the crowds around the bears were probably tourists throwing food. The Smokies are the most visited national park in the country. Things sure are crazy in the south.
On the way down from Clingman's Dome the hip strap on my pack broke. Without that strap my shoulders hold all the weight of my forty pound pack and I can't go very far without having back pain. I called the pack maker and they're sending me a loaner until they repair mine. The loaner won't get here for three days though and I'm stuck in Gatlinburg until then. Three days of hamburgers and 'Law and Order' marathons. What a bummer. All the hikers I've talked to think that I'll go crazy from boredom but I think I'll be just fine.
It's been a while since I posted. I hiked for three days from Franklin until the trail crossed through the Nantahala Outdoor Center, which is a river rafting/outfitter outdoors place. A bunch of us stayed in the hostel and left in the morning. It was three more days of hiking to get to the Fontana Dam, which is the tallest dam in the eastern United States. There's a small resort area called the Fontana Village there. Me and LB split a room and took a zero there. Then I was back on the trail for four days til Gatlinburg. Altogether thats about a hundred miles. I hit the two hundred mile mark coming off of Clingman's Dome. Someone had written '200' across the trail in snow. When I got to town I found out that it was LB that wrote it. I've spent most of my time on the trail with LB and a fella named Country Gold at this point. LB is a thirty year old guy with a thick red beard and a big laugh. Country gold is a forty-seven year old guy with a southern accent and a constant hankering for cigarettes and coffee. I've appreciated having them as hiking buddies. They'll be moving on to Hot Springs tomorrow and I'll be left here to make new friends.
Even though we took a day off at Fontana I felt pretty rough hiking out of there. At the end of some days my feet hurt so bad that I can't move. I just sit in the shelter and wait for the pain to lessen to a point where I can cook dinner. My energy level has been dropping at a pretty constant rate. I can't eat enough to make up for even half the calories I use every day and sometimes it feels like my body is just about to give up and collapse. This all sounds melodramatic as I write it but it's fairly accurate. I think that being trapped in Gatlinburg is a blessing in disguise. I definitely don't want to give up yet but I think I need a long break to pull myself together physically. I'm starting to live the trail life with some feeling of normality. That is to say, hiking all day and sleeping on the ground at night doesn't feel like a big strange adventure anymore. I meet new people every day but I've known a good number of these folks long enough to be totally comfortable around them. It's still always an adventure but I roll through the days with much more confidence than I did at the beginning. I've managed to stay alive and independent through two-hundred miles of walking over mountains and I feel pretty good about that. Less that two-thousand miles to Maine!
And I've seen seven snakes!
On the way down from Clingman's Dome the hip strap on my pack broke. Without that strap my shoulders hold all the weight of my forty pound pack and I can't go very far without having back pain. I called the pack maker and they're sending me a loaner until they repair mine. The loaner won't get here for three days though and I'm stuck in Gatlinburg until then. Three days of hamburgers and 'Law and Order' marathons. What a bummer. All the hikers I've talked to think that I'll go crazy from boredom but I think I'll be just fine.
It's been a while since I posted. I hiked for three days from Franklin until the trail crossed through the Nantahala Outdoor Center, which is a river rafting/outfitter outdoors place. A bunch of us stayed in the hostel and left in the morning. It was three more days of hiking to get to the Fontana Dam, which is the tallest dam in the eastern United States. There's a small resort area called the Fontana Village there. Me and LB split a room and took a zero there. Then I was back on the trail for four days til Gatlinburg. Altogether thats about a hundred miles. I hit the two hundred mile mark coming off of Clingman's Dome. Someone had written '200' across the trail in snow. When I got to town I found out that it was LB that wrote it. I've spent most of my time on the trail with LB and a fella named Country Gold at this point. LB is a thirty year old guy with a thick red beard and a big laugh. Country gold is a forty-seven year old guy with a southern accent and a constant hankering for cigarettes and coffee. I've appreciated having them as hiking buddies. They'll be moving on to Hot Springs tomorrow and I'll be left here to make new friends.
Even though we took a day off at Fontana I felt pretty rough hiking out of there. At the end of some days my feet hurt so bad that I can't move. I just sit in the shelter and wait for the pain to lessen to a point where I can cook dinner. My energy level has been dropping at a pretty constant rate. I can't eat enough to make up for even half the calories I use every day and sometimes it feels like my body is just about to give up and collapse. This all sounds melodramatic as I write it but it's fairly accurate. I think that being trapped in Gatlinburg is a blessing in disguise. I definitely don't want to give up yet but I think I need a long break to pull myself together physically. I'm starting to live the trail life with some feeling of normality. That is to say, hiking all day and sleeping on the ground at night doesn't feel like a big strange adventure anymore. I meet new people every day but I've known a good number of these folks long enough to be totally comfortable around them. It's still always an adventure but I roll through the days with much more confidence than I did at the beginning. I've managed to stay alive and independent through two-hundred miles of walking over mountains and I feel pretty good about that. Less that two-thousand miles to Maine!
And I've seen seven snakes!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Franklin
I'm in Franklin, North Carolina for the day. I just passed the GA/NC border then the hundred mile mark in quick succession. I've been rolling with the same guys for the past four days. Brian, Gonzo, Last on the Bus, and Country Gold. Bunch of clowns. Been putting in more miles so I'm pretty tired. I found a John Grisham book in a shelter. Think I'll go sit out in the sun and read it. Here are some pictures from the trip so far.
Baby Grumps.
Controlled burn. Later that day the smoke settled over the mountain I was on and I had to walk through it for a few miles. That was the same day that the bugs started biting. Good times.
The silly little town of Helen.
One of the fancier shelters. Home sweet home.
Often-pretty hiking.
The tree that marks the GA/NC line.
Mr. Needs-a-shower-more-than-usual.
Trail wisdom for the week: "Never make a big decision on a rainy day." -Some guy.
Baby Grumps.
Controlled burn. Later that day the smoke settled over the mountain I was on and I had to walk through it for a few miles. That was the same day that the bugs started biting. Good times.
The silly little town of Helen.
One of the fancier shelters. Home sweet home.
Often-pretty hiking.
The tree that marks the GA/NC line.
Mr. Needs-a-shower-more-than-usual.
Trail wisdom for the week: "Never make a big decision on a rainy day." -Some guy.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
New Pictures, Map Updates
There are new pictures up on the Pictures page from Nick's send-off in Georgia.
Also keep an eye on the map, it's being updated with his progress!
Also keep an eye on the map, it's being updated with his progress!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Dying by miles
Hey, I'm staying in a town called Helen in Georgia right now. I hadn't planned to stop here but it started raining yesterday and I got wet. Things sure are crazy in the south.
Actually I'm in town for a number of reasons. I hiked fifty-one miles in the past week and my feet and legs have gotten beat up to the point where just standing is painful. On Saturday night I stayed in a shelter that was overcrowded. Every time the people next to me rolled over I would get body slammed. When I woke up it was pouring rain that didn't stop all day. The person who I've been hiking with most(a woman named Rice & Beans) told me that she was going home for a while because of a foot injury. Then during the middle of the day I found out that I had dropped one of my water bottles somewhere, which was the straw that broke the overweight camel's back. I limped to the next road crossing and found a married couple who were willing to give me a ride into town. Twenty minutes later I was laying in a king size bed at a Super 8 motel. This motel has hiker rates of 35 dollars a night AND a soda machine. Helen is a tourist town that has an old German village sort of theme. It's pretty strange, I'll try to post some pictures sometime.
My first week out has been pretty busy. The hiking seems to be either straight up or straight down all day. These mountains seem unforgiving to one so out of shape. I've been staying at shelters with pretty much the same people every night. After a week of seeing nobody else we've gotten to be fair friends. So my life has been hike all day then sit around a campfire laughing until the sun goes down. We've all been so tired that nobody stays up after dark. I sleep for about ten hours a night, but I feel like I need it. On the fourth day the trail crossed through a hiker hostel called the Walasi-Yi Inn. This was a marvelous place which was designed entirely for thru-hikers. Upstairs is a well stocked hiking outfitter. Downstairs is a two room hostel for hikers. It cost me fifteen dollars for a bunk in a crowded room and two family style meals. We got there early in the day so we all sat around on our beds goofing on each other, comparing gear, and playing Yahtzee. The woman who runs the hostel is a former thru-hiker named Miss Janet. She cooked us a huge pasta dinner and forced us to eat until we couldn't move, then made us eat apple cobbler for dessert. It all seems like some wonderful dream. Now that I'm in town it seems weird that the whole thru-hiker community is still humming along up in the mountains, disconnected from everything else.
I also have a trail name now. One day I was supposed to meet Rice & Beans 8 miles down the trail. When I showed up at the creek where we agreed to meet she wasn't there. I continued on to the shelter and acted angry at her when I arrived. I made her cook my dinner and replied snidely to most of the things that she said. One of the other girls there told me, "we should call you Grumpasaurus!" Rice & Beans decided to shorten it to just Grumps. So that's what they've been calling me.
Additional memories:
There was a big furry cat at the hostel who sat on my lap all night. We called it Baby Grumps.
I've seen two snakes!
I came up with the idea to make a Grumps Trail. It runs parallel to the Appalachian Trail but it goes around all the mountains instead of over them. It also goes past a lot of candy stores.
And I'll finish off with some words of wisdom from my fellow hikers:
"Anything said confidently...is true!" -Yahtzee
"Y'know Nick...some stairs...are crueler...than other stairs." -Rice & Beans
Actually I'm in town for a number of reasons. I hiked fifty-one miles in the past week and my feet and legs have gotten beat up to the point where just standing is painful. On Saturday night I stayed in a shelter that was overcrowded. Every time the people next to me rolled over I would get body slammed. When I woke up it was pouring rain that didn't stop all day. The person who I've been hiking with most(a woman named Rice & Beans) told me that she was going home for a while because of a foot injury. Then during the middle of the day I found out that I had dropped one of my water bottles somewhere, which was the straw that broke the overweight camel's back. I limped to the next road crossing and found a married couple who were willing to give me a ride into town. Twenty minutes later I was laying in a king size bed at a Super 8 motel. This motel has hiker rates of 35 dollars a night AND a soda machine. Helen is a tourist town that has an old German village sort of theme. It's pretty strange, I'll try to post some pictures sometime.
My first week out has been pretty busy. The hiking seems to be either straight up or straight down all day. These mountains seem unforgiving to one so out of shape. I've been staying at shelters with pretty much the same people every night. After a week of seeing nobody else we've gotten to be fair friends. So my life has been hike all day then sit around a campfire laughing until the sun goes down. We've all been so tired that nobody stays up after dark. I sleep for about ten hours a night, but I feel like I need it. On the fourth day the trail crossed through a hiker hostel called the Walasi-Yi Inn. This was a marvelous place which was designed entirely for thru-hikers. Upstairs is a well stocked hiking outfitter. Downstairs is a two room hostel for hikers. It cost me fifteen dollars for a bunk in a crowded room and two family style meals. We got there early in the day so we all sat around on our beds goofing on each other, comparing gear, and playing Yahtzee. The woman who runs the hostel is a former thru-hiker named Miss Janet. She cooked us a huge pasta dinner and forced us to eat until we couldn't move, then made us eat apple cobbler for dessert. It all seems like some wonderful dream. Now that I'm in town it seems weird that the whole thru-hiker community is still humming along up in the mountains, disconnected from everything else.
I also have a trail name now. One day I was supposed to meet Rice & Beans 8 miles down the trail. When I showed up at the creek where we agreed to meet she wasn't there. I continued on to the shelter and acted angry at her when I arrived. I made her cook my dinner and replied snidely to most of the things that she said. One of the other girls there told me, "we should call you Grumpasaurus!" Rice & Beans decided to shorten it to just Grumps. So that's what they've been calling me.
Additional memories:
There was a big furry cat at the hostel who sat on my lap all night. We called it Baby Grumps.
I've seen two snakes!
I came up with the idea to make a Grumps Trail. It runs parallel to the Appalachian Trail but it goes around all the mountains instead of over them. It also goes past a lot of candy stores.
And I'll finish off with some words of wisdom from my fellow hikers:
"Anything said confidently...is true!" -Yahtzee
"Y'know Nick...some stairs...are crueler...than other stairs." -Rice & Beans
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