4/14/17

Day 34 on the Trail

It was another pretty easy day today. We did a little over 19 miles landing us at Thomas Knob Shelter. Although we took it pretty easy it was still a very rewarding day.

The hike today wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. We had to climb 2 mountains with over 1000-1500 foot of elevation change. Luckily Virginia is kind and the climb was very gradual on both occasions.

Also we are a mile away from the 500 mile mark on the trail! Along the 500 miles the most we saw when it came to wildlife were birds and squirrels. Until today, while hiking we were able to see 4 deer. One of them let us get within 15 feet of her which was insane. I had never been that close to a deer that wasn't in captivity. Also we finally met the wild ponies I've been hearing about. As we walked into camp this evening we were greeted by them and one of them actually let us take selfies with it and let us pet it. Such and awesome experience.

Views today have been about like usual with one or two great views a day. One of the great views today was at lunch. We ate on top of Buzzard Rock which overlooked a huge set of mountain ranges. Definitely a great lunch spot.

Didn't really meet too many people on the trail today other than some day hikers. Only saw one thru hiker today other than this morning. It was Plant, he is know out here for hiking the PCT twice already. He has also been putting in some big miles on the AT. With a pack weighing no more than 18lbs, I can see why he can do that.

I have found out that out here for me at least it is a mental game. Physically and spiritually I'm doing great but sometimes my mind gets the best of me. I get to missing home or focus on getting today's hike over with so much that I loose focus on the real task at hand. I remind myself a lot that this hike isn't about me but everyone else on the trail.

Ready for tomorrow though, gonna try to push a little harder and add a few more miles if my body allows. Thanks again for the prayers and support, please continue!

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Location:Thomas Knob Shelter

4/13/17

Day 33 on the Trail

What a great day it was. The weather was awesome here, sunny and 75! I woke up this morning to Scare Crow putting on coffee. I'm a huge fan of coffee so I waited for it to brew and then got me a cup. He introduced me to putting hot coco packets in my coffee to make a mocha. I instantly fell in love with it.

When Max woke up we decided to go down to Mojo's Coffee Shop and get some higher end coffee. I sided with another mocha and a order of blueberry pancakes. This was an amazing meal, well at least for my first breakfast. After Mojo's we went back to the Broken Fiddle Hostel and Barbara (a local) had started fixing breakfast for everyone in the hostel. I couldn't pass it up, that would just be rude. So I ate a plate of biscuits and gravy, sausage, bacon, eggs, and an assortment of fresh fruit. I would call this morning extremely successful food wise.

After breakfast we headed down to one of the outfitters in town and purchased some new shoe insoles. I got some called super feet green. They are really rigid right now but the guy at the outfitter said it would take a week to break them in. Hopefully it will be sooner than a week.

After the outfitters we swung over to Hey Joe's again where I at another helping of chicken nachos. They are the bomb dot com. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who visits Damascus.

Once it was time to go we settled out debts with the hostel and were on our way back to the trail. Of course it was after one game of corn hole with the owner of the hostel. We won after a long intense game. We then made a pit stop by subway for a sandwich for dinner and then to the ice cream parlor for a treat for the heat.

We left Damascus around 3:30 and hiked 9.2 miles to Saunders Shelter. Here we met a guy named joker and another father and son from Kentucky. The hike was easy which was great coming off a rest day!

I would say the stay in Damascus had one of the biggest impacts on our ministry. I felt like it really took off at the hostel. We volunteered a ton around the hostel, helping with any and everything we could. I found it to bring my spirits up and I also feel like people are starting to wonder why we are so nice and are so helpful. This is a good thing, maybe there will be a lot of questions to come. Please pray for questions and opportunities to arise!

So thankful to be out here doing one of my favorite things while serving God. Blessed is definitely an understatement. Thanks again for all the continued prayers and support!!


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Location:Saunders Shelter

4/12/17

Day 32 on the Trail

It was a short but great day of hiking. This morning we got up around 8 and did 12 miles into Damascus. Most of it was downhill though which is worse on my body than up heals. So my body was sore coming into the town. This led us to the Broken Fiddle Hostel, along with Kevin the gnome (a 6lb garden gnome Max carried 42 miles from hostel to hostel).

Once again staying in town this evening was great. My body is recovering all while we are hanging out with fellow hikers and getting to know one another. It's awesome that a few we have been hiking with made it here this evening as well. The owner of the hostel bought stuff to make dinner tonight so all of the hikers pitched in and cooked a ton of meatloaf and other side dishes. This was cool to see and be a part of as all of us worked together to make dinner.

We have yet to decide if we are gonna leave tomorrow around lunch and get back on the trail or take a zero and continue to rest our bodies. This last week has been rough on us and this time is much needed. Also we can fellowship with other hikers way better in town rather than on trail.

Thanks for all the love and support from everyone!


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Location:Broken Fiddle Hostel

4/11/17

Day 31 on the Trail

Today was our longest day yet. We did 30 miles from Boot's Off Hostel trying to get to Damascus. We ended up a little short but after hiking for 14 hours we were give out.

The day surely is gonna be one that I remember though. We got to hike with some off the people we left the hostel with this morning. We normally hike alone because no one can keep our pace but today we made sure that we breaked more often and for longer. It just so happened that the people from the hostel were able to keep up.

The terrain other than hiking around Lake Watauga was kind of boring. It was the same thing for most of the day with small ups and downs. Later in the day we did go through a pasture that had a decent view. So that's why we were able to do so many miles.

Still fighting a head cold and I know I will be sore tomorrow but today I was grateful for. I'm ready for Damascus in the morning, we have a few things to get done as well as resupply. Please continue to pray for opportunities and for our health! Thanks for the support!


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Location:Mile 456

4/10/17

Day 30 on the Trail

Today was a really humbling day for me. We woke up this morning early, around 6:15, and started our normal routine of getting out of camp. We knew we had our work cut out for us today after looking at the topographical maps. 24 miles is what we planned to do from Moreland Gap Shelter to Vandeventer Shelter.

We didn't make it. Along the way today my body just started breaking down on me. My feet had blisters popping up all over the place, the front of my right ankle started flaring up, my cold felt like it was getting worse, and the terrain was just putting me in a horrible mood. That sounds fun doesn't it? Yeah, it really wasn't my best day.There were parts of today when I questioned myself on why I was even out here.

My day turned around at lunch. I realized that my body needed me to slow down. So Max and I ended up a few miles short of our goal at the Boot's Off Hostel. As we were having lunch at the shore of Watauga Lake we met Leach and Snacks. They are SOBO's that had gotten off the trail for the winter months. Which I think was very smart. After talking to them a while they offered us a ride into town with one of their friends, Gonzo. We accepted this offer especially since we wanted some good food to eat. So we stopped at the local dinner. I had a BBQ sandwich with slaw on it and a BBQ bacon burger. Then we went by McDonalds for resupply via cheeseburgers. Max and I both bought a few to get us to Damascus.

Taking this short day because of my body conditions almost embraced me. Knowing it was my fault we didn't reach our goal. Although Max was very supportive of our stay because of my condition. During this down time this evening, I was able to do a lot of thinking and come to the realization that it's not how fast you can get somewhere but more so who you meet along the way. Through this delay we met so many new people and met back up with a lot more.

I was also able to really get into my Bible more tonight than regular which was nice! Usually I'm stuck to a routine where I read 2 chapters a night and no more so I can get enough sleep. Tonight was a different story and I can tell it helped me get back focused on the task at had.

Out here it is easy to lose focus and that is something that I pray will change. Today has been such a rewarding day! I hope and pray that the days to come will be just as rewarding.

Please continue to pray for Max and I!

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Location:Boot's Off Hostel

4/9/17

Day 29 on the Trail

What a day it was, 27.6 miles down and a few blisters later I have made it to Moreland Gap Shelter from Overmountain Shelter. The day was relatively easy terrain wise with beautiful views for most of the day. This morning consisted of ridge running a bunch of balds close to grandfather mountain.

Around noon today we made it to the Doe River crossing where we ran into a bit of trail magic. It was an owner of a hostel giving away some cokes to thru hikers which was quite nice when it was around 70 today.

The next stop was at Jones Falls which was where we ate lunch at! It was beautiful and while we were there we met a hiking club from Tennessee. Different from the hiking club we met from the University of Tennessee last night.

After lunch we still had around 13 miles to go which turned out to be the hardest by far. A few times I got really down on myself because of how long and hard it was. What got me through it was some Big Daddy Weave and a lot of praying.

We rolled in the shelter pretty late and met crow and energizer. Energizer was the sister to pig pen from along time ago. Pig pen couldn't keep up. We had a quick dinner after it was dark and got ready for bed quickly. I don't care for getting in this late but at least we made it here.

Hopefully my body will recover overnight and we can hit it hard tomorrow! I can definitely feel the wear on my body though. Please keep me and Max in your prayers. Thanks again for everyone's support!


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Location:Moreland Gap Shelter

4/8/17

Day 28 on the Trail

It was a day full of ups and downs today literally. It was a tough day as we did around 21.6 miles from Iron Mountain Gap to Overmountain Shelter.

As we hiked today we had to climb Roan Mountain. It was really difficult with a bunch of elevation change. I think we climbed over 2200 ft of elevation over 6 miles. It might not seem like it was that rough but the mountain side was covered with snow melt which made an awful slush and mud. The views from the top was pretty cool though. We also saw where the guide book said there was a hotel up there. So we were thinking about doing lunch at the hotels little restaurant, unfortunately the hotel was from along time ago and it was just the last remains of it. So we settled for a snowball fight and the lunch we had packed from our resupply.

From the top of Roan Mountain to the shelter my feet started to bother me. At first I thought it was my sock wrinkling up under my foot but then I realized that it was just nerves that were tingling and causing discomfort. I hope it is better by tomorrow!

Still going strong though, we have another big day tomorrow but it should be way easier terrain! Thanks for everyone's support and prayers!


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Location:Overmountain Shelter