Distance Covered: 32.9 Miles
Miles to Finish: 2135.7 miles
As predicted Charlie had a horrendous nights sleep as the rodents and lack of a comfortable sleeping surface were accompanied by a loud thunderstorm that lasted several hours. When it rains it really pours eh. A humbling introduction to life in the great outdoors. Music tip for those who wish to be amused - go and download 'Outdoor Type' by the Lemonheads. It gives an accurate description of our feelings on day 2.
After starting at the crack of dawn, 11.30, we decided to hike a whopping 7.3 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter where we started cooking by our tents, only to be informed by a veteran hiker that in bear country thats not the best idea as the smell lingers into clothes and tent fabrics.
On the same note food must hoisted into the air via ropes or cables, which is known as bear bagging the food. All food must go into the bag, inlcuding toothpaste apparently, and hoisted into the air several hundred metres away from the tents.
Charlie and Michael somehow forgot about the packs of Tuna (a bears favourite snack) in the pocket of their bags and duly had another sleepless night. This became a recurring theme for the rest of the week as they both battled with between the choice of safety first or fatigue, i.e. do I leave my warm sleeping bag and go and get the bear bag down in the dark, or risk it and enjoy the cosiness of the tent?
The lazy option always prevailed with disastrous consequences on the imagination front, not to mention the anxiety dreams of a hungry Yogi Bear.
As predicted Charlie had a horrendous nights sleep as the rodents and lack of a comfortable sleeping surface were accompanied by a loud thunderstorm that lasted several hours. When it rains it really pours eh. A humbling introduction to life in the great outdoors. Music tip for those who wish to be amused - go and download 'Outdoor Type' by the Lemonheads. It gives an accurate description of our feelings on day 2.
After starting at the crack of dawn, 11.30, we decided to hike a whopping 7.3 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter where we started cooking by our tents, only to be informed by a veteran hiker that in bear country thats not the best idea as the smell lingers into clothes and tent fabrics.
On the same note food must hoisted into the air via ropes or cables, which is known as bear bagging the food. All food must go into the bag, inlcuding toothpaste apparently, and hoisted into the air several hundred metres away from the tents.
Charlie and Michael somehow forgot about the packs of Tuna (a bears favourite snack) in the pocket of their bags and duly had another sleepless night. This became a recurring theme for the rest of the week as they both battled with between the choice of safety first or fatigue, i.e. do I leave my warm sleeping bag and go and get the bear bag down in the dark, or risk it and enjoy the cosiness of the tent?
The lazy option always prevailed with disastrous consequences on the imagination front, not to mention the anxiety dreams of a hungry Yogi Bear.
Decided to cut our day short due to Charlies knee playing up. Fingers crossed it won't be a recurring injury. Camping at Dan's Gap is where we resided for the night.
Next up was the dreaded Blood Mountain, a stern test for overweight beginner hikers.
We were in jubilant mood when we reached the top as it was downhill all the way to Neels Gap, where an outfitters/hostel lay in wait. We spent 2 nights devouring pizzas and burgers, watching classic films such as The Big Lebowski and readdressing the equipment as our packs seemed awfully heavy. Winton, Felicity and Adam found the amount of kit we carried highly amusing. They shook their heads with a knowing smile and set about the downsizing process.
Came across the legendary 'Big Turtle' for the first time and also the unyielding, unstoppable 'storyteller'. Seeing is believing. This man had so many interesting stories to tell us it was astonishing and painfully funny. He'd been working at the hostel as a handy man for weeks and was basically a resident by the time we arrived, he kindly took us to our first all you can eat buffet for only US$8, unfortunately we were in a 'dry' county i.e. no alcohol allowed, which was disappointing mainly because we were intrigued to know if if it was humanly possible to tell stories at a faster rate than he was managing.
Adam was another with a few tales to tell, our favourite was of his thru-hike a few years back, when he backpacked all of the trails part or Connecticut in one go. Thats 52 miles in 22 hours without stopping for sleep. His lunch consisted of getting a king-sized snickers and using it as a spoon to finish a full jar of peanut butter. An inspiring tale which we may try to emulate. His stories of being awoken by mice eating out of his beard were not quite as comforting, escpecially considering the vow we've all taken not to shave for the duration of the trail.
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