Our tent leaks! That’s the news of the day. We discovered this after hiking 12.5 miles in the nasty fog and drizzle and showing up at a site with not 1 but 2 shelters that were both full of people, some who had only gone 3 miles today. I know they have every right to the place, we just want to gripe!

After a very rocky morning that saw one of us fall for the first time (don’t worry, that particular person is okay) we stopped for a cold lunch with Whiskers and Kbarracus. We then headed up and over Standing Indian Mt, the highest we have done by over 1000 feet. On top the sun was actually out for about 30 seconds, which was the first we had seen of it since Friday. It wasn’t much, but on a day like this it was enough to lift our spirits. Kbarracus found an awesome hand carved hiking stick along the trail, which we are hoping wasn’t left by some poor hapless soul taking a leak or something! Anyway, it had Phil 4:13 on the side and I got to tell him about that verse and how appropriate it was to have out here. We are really enjoying their company and hope to stay near them for a while. After Standing Indian, we had a lot of downhill and I actually now have a blister on top of a blister. I’m pretty stinking excited about that. Melissa’s quad feels better but her right calf is a little tender after all the downhill. It is interesting how one thing stops hurting but another always starts for both of us! This is certainly the most taxing athletic endeavor we have ever done. It’s also still a whole lot of fun! Even with the rain
that is beating off our tent now, the sore muscles and blisters, and the pounding rain we’re supposed to have tomorrow, we really do still feel like God is allowing us to live a dream. We’ve been reading in Acts about the early church and I was reminded yesterday of the passage where Peter and John were flogged and warned not to speak of Jesus anymore and they left rejoicing that God had allowed them to suffer for Him. While this adventure is certainly of our own choosing, we do hope and pray that in the midst of our “suffering,” mild though it may be, that Christ will be glorified, both out here on the trail, but also by everyone who reads this journal.

Have a wonderful night and God bless. Tomorrow we should be over 100 miles!

Mr. Bones and Stubbs

Another day, another state! We officially left GA at around 3:30 today. As far as weather goes, today was definitely THE WORST we have experienced. I’ll start from the beginning.

After a late night pizza at The Blueberry Patch, we sat around just chatting and getting to know everyone a little better. I also named my second hiker. Hunter is now known as Kbarracus. It is just like B.A. Barracus from The A Team but he wanted to add a silent K to the beginning! He and Garrett are great guys. We had a wonderful b-fast of eggs, sausage, biscuits, and pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup. The love and concern of Gary and Lenny Poteat, who own the place, was remarkable. We packed up and jumped in to Gary’s little truck, with me in the back, and headed back up the mountain. When we hit the trail it was very foggy, a light drizzle, and about 50 degrees. My feet felt much better and we did the first 4.3 miles in no time. We stopped for a break @ Plumorchard shelter and met a lady named Rainbow, her 2 dogs, and a guy who is also thruhiker but doesn’t have a name yet. We waited for Garrett to catch up but he kept going. We didn’t find him until the end of our day, 8.7 miles later. All told we did 12 miles today and since he snuck past us, Hunter gave Garrett the name Whiskers, since he was sneaky like a cat.

We crossed into NC is a deep fog and it quickly got nasty. We gained over 2000 ft in elevation today and lost about 10 degrees. Just after crossing the border the wind picked up, it started to rain, and we had about 1000 ft to climb in around a mile. It certainly was not the welcome we were hoping for. Melissa also developed a lot of pain in her left quadricep, so please pray that she is feeling better tomorrow. We arrived at Muscrat Creek shelter at around 6 and are sleeping in the shelter for the first time on the trip. It is a small one, with room for 8, although the 6 of us here fill it up pretty snuggly. We met a new thruhiker from Montana named Pop-Tart and he is staying here with us tonight as well. Barracus is snoring right next to me on the right and Mel is next to me on the left and against the wall. The wind is blowing in a bit so hopefully we’ll stay warm enough. Tonight is the first night on the trail that I am wearig my long johns. It isn’t below freezing but is still pretty chilly. Tomorrow we are shooting for another 12.5 miles and are hoping to reach Franklin, NC by Wednesday. That will put us over 100 miles and we’ll take our first zero day there. We are probably on pace to hit The Smokies by the 6th or 7th (my birthday) and are looking forward to hiking with our friend Todd Rielage there for a few days.

Well everyone is falling asleep and it is getting close to 9 so its time for bed for me too. Please pray for better weather tomorrow and thanks for the messages of encouragement. We read the ones from yesterday a few minutes ago and they always us smile!

Just a quick update on the status of pictures and videos. I know you are all anxious to see them as much as I am. I just heard from Joe a few hours ago that he has sent back a couple of memory cards that should be to me by the end of this week.

As soon as I get them I will be releasing some of the pictures and videos!

Keep checking in as I’ll update as soon as they’re available!

Okay, so its been a couple days. Very sorry about that. We had some technical issues but are good now. I will give you an abbr. version of the last little while.

Thursday we woke up early at Low Gap, after a great night of sleep for Mel and a terrible night for me. Low Gap shelter is the place that a 2000 thruhiker reported waking in the middle of the night to a bear straddling him! I’m not afraid of seeing a bear, but the thought of an overly amorous 250 lb omnivore sharing a tent with me was a little unsettling! Thursday turned out to be our biggest day on the trail thus far. We did 13 really tough miles and camped at a place called Cheese Factory. There were only a few others who made it that far. Jake was there, along with Garrett, Hunter, Jinx the dog, and his owner Aaron, and two other guys named Eric and Clay. The campsite used to be a dairy farm owned by some eccentric guy from up north who built his farm 15 miles from the nearest house. Now all that is left is a spring and a great campsite. Our new friends Jami Rae and Shawn didn’t make it in with us because of some knee problems coming down Blue Ridge Mt. They stopped at Unicoi Gap and hitched in to Helen. We stopped and waited at Unicoi for almost an hour and enjoyed a little sunshine on a big rock near the highway. OH YEAH, I NAMED MY FIRST HIKER TODAY! We passed a guy named Mike who was wearing Crocs (fancy sandals) cause his boots were bothering his feet so badly. As we came past him heading up Blue Ridge, I smartly (in my own estimation) referred to him as “Crocatoa.” He just grunted from being out of breath, but later shook my hand and thanked me for giving him his trail name! It was a good day. We closed the hike on Thursday with a tough climb up Rocky Mt. and for the first time my feet started to hurt a little on the downhills. I hope that is only temporary. It could just be from putting in so many miles early on.

Friday morning was overcast and a little dreary. It was probably our first blah day of the hike. We left cheese factory and thought about heading all the way into Dick’s Creek Gap and hitching to The Blueberry Patch, a highly acclaimed Christian owned hostel near Hiawassee. However, we stopped for an extended break at a place called “Swag of the Blue Ridge” and decided our feet hurt a little too much to push on. We ended up only doing 9.5 miles and stopped at Deep Gap, a beautiful shelter with a great view of the sunrise. We had our hardest climb of the trip up Kelly Knob and Melissa was not a happy camper! I was feeling great and made the entire climb of around 1200ft in a mile without stopping! It was one of my highlights of the trip thus far. We got drizzled on for the rest of the afternoon and finally reached the shelter around 5. We were planning to stay in the shelter but there ended up being around 20 other people who came through that thought they were entitled to being loud, rude, and obnoxious the entire night. As such, we tented in the rain as far away as we could. This would be a good time to say that proper hiker etiquette is to be quiet as soon as it is dark since people want to sleep. The weekenders at the shelter were apparently not aware of that concept and I had to keep my beautiful wife from jamming a hiking pole down their throats! At least we scored some free bagels, cheese, and summer sausage from them! We stayed with Aaron and Jinx, Garrett and Hunter, and some others we had just met. We like Aaron, Hunter, and Garrett a lot and hope to keep hiking with them for a while. Aaron is a welder by trade who loves mt. biking and Hunter and Garrett are both grads from a TN music school. Since Mel and I are interested in both biking and music we have a lot to talk about. Hunter is actually getting published this fall for a book he is writing on drumline and percussion technique. He makes his way up to Indy to teach from time to time and we invited him to stay with us when we all get back. Friday was a good day, a hard hike, and a great nights sleep. One final note, Jake left us tody and headed on down to meet his dad in Hiawasee. “Jake, I know you’ll be reading this so take care, it was great hiking with you, and look us up this summer. Don’t judge Jesus by His church. It’s a place full of imperfect people who miss the boat sometimes. Take a chance to get to know Him and see if He’s not better than you thought. Peace and love our friend.”

This morning we awoke to the same annoying voices that kept us awake last night(Have a little respect people, or go stay at a Holiday Inn). We had a short 3.5 miles up and over Powell mt and down in to Dick’s Creek Gap. We also had the first chance to check our rain gear, as it poured the entire way down! We left close to last but quickly caught the others heading north. I got the chance to talk with Hunter about what God is doing at the camp and all sorts of other things. It was a great talk and helped to take my mind off of my aching, blister ridden feet. We got down in 1.5 hours and met several friendly folks at the gap. We chatted with a former thruhiker and got our first real “trail magic.” He had cold Dr. Pepper and Mt. Dew in a cooler in his truck and was handing them out. We gladly accepted and waited for the next excitement of the day…the Foust family - Monty, Patti, Trent, and Brent met us and took us in to town for resupply and a great lunch at the mexican restaurant! Thank you all so much for coming to visit us and for your generosity. You were a true blessing and it was great to see you. The fresh fruit was great and everyone else here was singing your praises! We are staying tonight in the world famous Blueberry Patch hostel with Garrett, Hunter, our old friend Hungry Jack, and a man named Ed. We got warmed up and dried off by the fire, and got the best shower you could ever imagine. Melissa wanted me to add that she brushed her hair for the first time in a week and finally shaved her funky armpits! We have an oversized bunk bed to share and are very happy to see Hungry Jack again. His blisters are healing and he hopes to be hiking again by Monday. My feet are very sore and feeling the effects of heavy miles early in the journey. I have blisters on the pads of my toes and the pads of my heels. Hopefully they will callous soon and stop giving me problems. Thus far I am just lancing them each morning to drain them and dealing with it. Mel is doing fine on feet but her hips have been a little tender lately. Keep us in your prayers that our bodies will soon catch up to our hearts. We have experienced heat, snow, and rain thus far and are still just as excited as when we started. We are now officially farther than we have ever gone on a hike and will be finished with our first state by tomorrow afternoon! Talk to you soon and keep giving us those comments. We love and miss you all.

Wow, so much to say. The weather today was beautiful and by far our warmest yet. We got a good and warm nights sleep at the hostel @ Neels Gap and were treated to breakfast by a former thruhiker working at the hostel named Pirate. He was a hairy and friendly old fella who woke everyone up with a blaring old boom box stereo playing “purple people eater!” Breakfast was pancakes, sausage, potatoes, fresh fruit, and some great coffee! We mailed a couple things back to the camp and headed out around 9. The first mile was very strenuous but the next 4.5 were fairly up and down. We stopped for lunch in a grassy field in Tesnatee Gap and waited for Jake and Hungry Jack. HJ was first down the mountain and was not doing well. We took some pics to show later, but he had the biggest blisters on the side of his foot that we have ever seen. He was in a lot of pain and had to call for a ride in to Hiawassee. Hopefully we will see him again (Hungry Jack, if we don’t see you and you read this, know you meant a lot to us after only a few days). Jake came down shortly after with a very sore toe but managed to make the whole distance we did today, albeit a little more slowly. Speaking of blisters, I got my first one today and Melissa is dealing with 6, she thinks, but may have lost count!

After lunch we headed up Wildcat Mt which turned out to be our hardest section of uphill the entire trip. Luckily my PB&J tortillas did just the trick. We actually passed 6 people and a dog named Jinx on the way up. The final 4.4 miles of the day seemed to take FOREVER. Every gap seemed like the end and it never was. We also didn’t have a good water source for the final 5 miles so we were pretty parched (Bruce, we don’t need a filter, as we are using aquamira drops. Thanks). We really felt those final miles on our feet from having pushed so hard the day before but we finally made it. We are sleeping at Low Gap with about 30 other people. It is a big area and we caught up with a young married couple we met briefly yesterday who are also thruhikers. Their names are Jami Ray and Shaun. They are very nice and we may end up sharing hotels with them if we are ever in town together.

Tonight, after a great dinner of mac and cheese and Spam, we sat around a fire with a dozen or so others and just talked for a couple hours like we were old friends. Everyone seems interested in our marriage and in how we have managed to stay in love these last few years. It is awesome to be able to model the plan God has for a solid married relationship and to see others be so interested in it. Please pray for more chances for God to work. There were several others around the fire and we got to know many more than just Shaun and Jami Ray. There was Jinx, the dog we mentioned earlier, and his owner, whose name escapes me. They are thruhikers too. There was also Captain Hook, a former thruhiker, and his lady friend, Meredith. They are very sweet, but only out for the week. There was also Hunter and Garrett, 2 friends from Nashville, as well as Jake and a few others. Jinx is a very sweet dog and took a special liking to Melissa’s foam pad!

At around 9, hiker midnight, we all headed off our separate ways for the night. I’ll close with a few milestones passed today and a couple thoughts:

1. We are now in the top 60% - as many as 40% of all thru hike attempts end by Neels Gap.
2. We have crossed the highest mt GA has to offer on the AT.
3. We are roughly 1/50th of the way through our journey.
4. At 41.1 miles in, we have hiked roughly from downtown Anderson to downtown Indianapolis.

2 final things:

Since I promised him I would post this and forgot on the first night out, as we were driving to the top of Springer, Melissa’s dad told me that if she doesn’t come out of the woods alive and I do, then he’ll hunt me down with a gun like that guy on “No Country For Old Men!” Rest assured Papa Bear that if anyone loves and would die for your daughter, it is me!

Secondly, but on a totally different subject: some have wondered if we are on, ahead of, or behind schedule. Well, we planned to do no more than 7 or 8 miles each day for the first week or 2 until we got in good hiking shape and we have been doing more than that each day. We have been surprised with our conditioning and are a little ahead of where we had hoped to be at this point. Hope we’re keeping you well enough informed and we hope to keep hearing from you.

Last night was COLD. Roger, a guy whov runs the camping area of the trail on top of Springer, said it got down to 25 with a wind chill of about 10. We shook the ice off our tent and headed north not knowing what all to expect. We stopped for free coffee from the back of a truck and met some other hikers heading off at the same time as us. We dd the first few miles fairly quickly and stopped for water at Stover Creek. It was ther that we had our first incident. We took out our water filter and discoved that it had broken sometime in transit to the head of the trail. As such, we had to depend on the goodwill of others to keep us from goin thirsty. We got some Iodine tablets from some college guys out for Spring Break and that helped to get us through. We were able to return the favor by loaning Jake, a 17 yr old hs kid our stove when his wasn’t working. Pay it forward, I guess, is one of the names of the game out here. The only other casualty of the day was Mel’s sunglasses, which she stepped on before we even started hiking! No worries though, since she can borrow mine and look cool if she wants.

Tonight we opted to hike past Hawk Mt. Shelter, at about 7.5 miles, and we are camped on top of a beautiful mountain seemingly away from everyone. We got in around 4:30, did some devos, crossword and sudoku. Then we had dinner and are headed to bed. Our first full day was great and we are looking forward to many more to come.

Thoughts on the day:

1. We might have pushed alittle too hard over the first couple days, as we’re both excited, but pretty sore by the end of day 3.
2. Friendships come easy and conversation even easier.
3. Miles come much easier before lunch than after.
4. Sunny skies and a fallen rock to sit on are some of the best things imaginable!

We left our camp just short of Woody Gap this morning around 8. It was below freezing again last night but the sun was bright and it was great for hiking. We put in over 7 miles before lunch and crossed Big Cedar, Burnett Field, and several other mts in the mid-3000 range. We stopped for lunch at a great site with Hungry Jack and Jake. We were passed by lots of other hikers today, but always managed to catch back up on the uphills!

Speaking of uphills, this afternoon was our biggest test yet. We crossed Blood Mountain right after lunch. At a height of 4453 ft. it is the highest mt in GA that the AT crosses. It was a challenge to say the least. Actually the way up was a fairly gradual climb, but the way down was just a killer. We dropped 1500 REALLY ROCKY feet in a little over 2 miles. At the end of an 11.5 mile day it was enough to make us miss northern Indiana, almost!

We stopped for the night in Neels Gap at the Walasiyi visitors center. Its a little store with lots of food and gear for hungry hikers who have broken stuff. It cost us more to visit than I will say, but we seem pretty set for the next few days. We are also staying at the hostel attached to the center. For 15 bucks you get a warm bed, shower, flush toilets, and the company of 15 or so fellow hikers. There are too many cool people to mention, but just know it has been a great night for both of us.

There is also a small catering company from a nearby town that brought in an AYCE spaghetti dinner with all the fixins’. It was hard to beat for only 8.75. I’m sitting in the living room area watching a movie with a few other sleepy hikers and am getting ready to call it a night. Mel is already in bed and trying to sleep off some sore shins and calves. My knees are a little sore from the trip down Blood Mountain, my back is stiff, and both of our feet are pretty sore. Other than that, life is great. We miss all of you and love reading your comments each night before bed. Keep them coming and make sure to have everyone check out our site. Talk to you soon.

To start off, sorry for no post yesterday. I wrote one and it wouldn’t send for some reason. I will try to resend it from Neels Gap tomorrow. We did 8.4 yesterday and 11.3 miles today. We are camped at an awesome site just short of Woody Gap, GA. The name of the game today was WEATHER! This morning we had ice all over our tent and it was about 25 when we got up. The sun was hit and miss all day and every cloud that came brought snow with it. We were cold all day, except when we were walking up hill! We crossed Sassafras, Gooch, Justus, and Ramrock mountains today. There may have been a couple others as well. Ramrock was by far the hardest climb of the day, as we did it last. Gooch Mountain gets the award for the coolest name, and the best shelter. We stopped there just after lunch to get out of a quick snowstorm that dropped about an inch on us. It is a double decker shelter and we met some nice older ladies and a guy who had lost his wallet. One of the ladies, who is attempting a thru hike was on the verge of tears due to a broken hiking pole. I fixed it easily and gave it back after assuring her that it was probably hard to fix just cause she was having a bad day!

We contemplated stopping at the shelter for the night but are trying to get another 10 miles to Neels Gap tomorrow for a hot shower and some food! We were glad we pressed on because the weather cleared this afternoon for a while and we were able to enjoy an awesome view from Ramrock. We’ll have pictures to post in a few days.

We are camped with a kid named Jake and a fellow thru hiker named Hungry Jack (in case that name seems odd, go check out our post on trail names from a few weeks back). Hungry Jack is a nice man who has a similar pace to ours, so we see him often thru the day. We also discovered a few minutes ago that he snores like a banshee! If you listen real close you can probably hear him! We had a great talk tonight about Jesus and other stuff and we are hoping to pick that conversation up again soon. Jake seems turned off by the whole thing but is curious. He is here on spring break and was planning to leave tomorrow since he is out of money and food. We told him we’d hook him up if he wanted to stay so I think he’ll be with us at least through Saturday. If you get the chance, pray that we get to talk some more with him about our faith. He’s really an awesome guy.

We also think we have landed on trail names for ourselves as well. Melissa will be Stubbs, because of her short little fingers and toes. I will be known as Mr. Bones, because of my incredibly bony feet! For most of the trip that will be what people call us. If you’d like to refer to us a such, feel free. Just remember, its MR Bones to you! Later.

Just got a call from Joe a few moments ago. Joe just called me a few minutes from the top of Ram Rock Mountain. He wanted me to be sure to let everyone know their progress.

He worked on a post last night but had technical difficulties when trying to post late last night but it didn’t go through. Here is their current update:

Their first night out they hiked 8.2 miles. Their plan is to complete tonight at 19.9 miles. Tomorrow their goal is to be at Neel’s Gap which is about 30.5 miles.

They are going to try and send something out by tomorrow evening.

MEL’S PACKING LIST:

Gregory z55 Backpack
Raichle hiking boots
Frogg Toggs rain gear
Outdoor Research gore-tex hat
Backpack cover
Petzyl Tikka headlamp
Squishy bowls (2 sets)
Leatherman Squirt mini tool
Hiking shirt (2)
Baselayer top and bottom
Ex Officio pullover
Hiking pants
Smartwool trekking socks (2)
Liner socks (2)
REI PrimaLoft jacket
Shorts
Fleece gloves
Stocking cap
MountainSmith trekking pole
Crocs
Marmot 20 degree sleeping bag
Pacific Outdoors sleeping pad
Spork
Underwear (3)
Buff/Bandana
Toothbrush/paste
Tent poles and stakes
Personal Items
MSR SuperFly stove
AA Batteries (6)
Katadyn water filter
Phone charger
Ibuprophen
Multivitamins
Sudoku book
Camera memory cards
First aid kit
Bug Spray
Face Soap/Body Soap/Lotion
Phone
Pen/Pencil
Sunglasses

TOTAL SKIN OUT WEIGHT  - 25.2 lbs (includes all items and all clothing)
TOTAL COLD WEATHER PACK WEIGHT - 18.2 lbs (items in pack, not including food and water)

TOTAL COLD WEATHER PACK WEIGHT WITH FOOD - 30.2 lbs (+/- 4 oz.)