Day 8
Deep Gap Shelter-Dick's Creek Gap
3.9 miles
We woke up at 6AM to get to Dick's Creek Gap by 9AM, for the shuttle to the Budget Inn.  We got there at 8:50AM, and made it to town for our breakfast biscuits.  We had a nice day in town for re-supply and relaxation, but we are excited to get back on the trail again because we cross our first state border tomorrow!  North Carolina here we come!!  We're both excited for our first big milestone on our way to Maine.  Thanks again, Case, for the dark chocolate peanut M&M's.  They are delicious!  

We thought we had more time, but time seems to fly when we are in town, so look for pictures at our next town stop in Franklin, NC!

Day 7
Cheese Factory Site-Deep Gap Shelter
9.4 miles
Because we only had about 9 miles today, we slept in and made pancakes.  We had a pretty relaxing hike, but we did have two decent climbs that already seemed easier than earlier in the week.  We are getting pretty excited about stopping in Hiawassee, GA for Hardee's breakfast biscuits.

Day 6
Low Gap Shelter-Cheese Factory Site
13.4 miles

Our biggest day yet!  We camped by oursleves tonight as most of our friends decided to stop in town for the night.  It turned out to be pretty relaxing and we felt even better after soaking our feet in a cold stream before bed.  As Mr. Coffee said, "You gotta take care of your feet because they're you're wheels."  Although the night was relaxing, Missy wasn't sure about the last six miles.  We had two big climbs at the end of the day, but we did it, and she found she had more in her than she thought.  

Day 5
Neel Gap-Low Gap Shelter
11.5 miles

Missy's foot is feeling much better after some pampering and a couple nights out of the woods.  Today we stopped at a shelter and we got to hang out with some of the friends we've started to make on the trail and had a good time around the bonfire.  What up Mr. Coffee, late start, 2-mules, Wendigo, and Carry-on!?  We're pretty happy to be meeting some good folks already, the nights are warmer and the hammocks are awesome!  The dogs are both doing well and Tess is well fed and back to normal.

Day 4
Woody Gap-Neel Gap
10.5 miles

What an awesome day!  With Missy's foot needing some babying, but us not really wanting to take a zero day only three days in, we decided the slackpack was a good idea.  We were right.  We had such a good hike and the view from Blood Mt. was awesome.  We even saw snow up there!  Once we had gotten to Neel Gap we made a call and got ourselves a small cabin at the Goose Creek Cabins in Blairsville, GA.  This gave us the opportunity to meet the man who ran the cabins and was our ride to our home for the night.  Keith is one of the most pleasant people I've ever had a chance to meet and he was able to tell us all sorts of interesting things about the area.  Thanks again Keith for the hospitality and pleasant conversation!  Say hi every once and a while to let us know how your summer is!

Day 3
Justus Creek Campsites-Woody Gap
6.2 miles

It's been colder and windier than we thought it would be and with Missy's foot hurting her we decided to hitch a ride into town and stay at a hostel near Woody Gap.  What a pleasant surprise that was!  THe Hiker Hostel is run by two former thru-hikers and they have one of the best places a thru-hiker could ever stay at.  They provide a free shuttle to Wal-Mart where I was able to get some more dog food and a few things for Missy's foot.  We felt so good and relaxed hanging out with a few other hikers watching movies and eating Chinese food, we started to think this whole thru-hike thing was gonna be pretty easy (hahaha!).  One of the other hikers even found out we could get help with a slack pack for the next day on our climb over Blood Mt.  Why wouldn't we do that!?

Day 2
Stover Creek Shelter-Justus Creek Campsites
12.2 miles

Last night was colder than we thought and we weren't quite prepared for the almost freezing temps and the cold rain.  Although we stayed dry underneath our tarps we didn't get as restful of a sleep as we had hoped because of the low temperature.  Oh well, what can you do except get up and hike when that happens. And that's exactly what we did!  We didn't mess around with a hot breakfast, we grabbed some granola bars and hopped to it.  Although we wanted to start out with 10 mile or less days we decided to see how it went with a 12 miler.  It turned out to feel longer than it looked, especially for one of Missy's feet.  She ended up brusing her foot pretty bad and by the end of the day was not feeling too good about it.  Another issue we ran into was Tess needing more food than we thought she would.  After the dogs were fed, we began making our dinner, Molly and Tess were begging more than they usually do, and all of a sudden Tess just snapped at Molly!  So after Missy's foot and Tess' hunger freak-out we were kind of feeling a little rough. Although, Tess' hunger is an easier fix than Missy's foot.

Day 1

Springer Mt.-Stover Creek Shelter 
2.8 miles

We woke up to a cool, rainy morning in Helen, GA, where my parents, Missy, the dogs and I were staying.  We decided to take it easy in the morning to see if we could avoid the rain on our first day.  The rain stopped before noon and that was our cue to head on out to Springer.  We skipped the aproach trail up to Springer Mt. because I wanted my parents to be able to hike the first mile up to Springer with us.  The hike was mellow (especially without our packs on!) and the temperature was good for walking.  We got to the top, signed in to the log book and hiked back down to the parking area where we had left our bags.  Once we were all settled and us and the dogs were all loaded up we said our farewells and headed on down the trail!  It had been a hectic week leading up to this day and we were still pretty exhausted from our driving schedule from California to Wisconsin to Tennessee.  Missy and I made the decision to only hike a couple miles to the first shelter we came across and set up for the night.  Our first day out was pretty easy and I'm glad for that now.
 
Hey folks, thanks for following along so far!  We've been on the trail for three days now, and are stopped at the Hiker Hostel in Suches, GA.  Things are good so far, we've already hit rain and pain...so I guess we are going to make it to Maine. (The saying goes, "No rain, no pain...no Maine).  This is just a quick update, to let everybody know we started and we're getting used to life on the trail!  Our next stop will be in five days, where we plan on staying in Hiawassee, GA.  Look for a more detailed update then, about our first week on the trail. 
 
As our time in Mammoth nears its end, I'm left with a bittersweet feeling.  The season was pretty dry and I'm leaving still waiting for winter.  This has helped me get ready to leave only because the snow is pretty much gone already.  I'm also more excited than ever to be hiking, but I'm also sad to be leaving again already because this area of the Eastern Sierras feels so much like home.  As I sit at the top of chair 4 on June Mountain, staring out at Mt. Wood and Mono Lake, I'm constantly thinking about the hikes I've been on and the ones I still want to do.

The friends I've made here feel like my family and it was so good to see and work with them again.  The three-and-a-half months here for the winter season feels too short and I will miss every one of you.  I knew that we had limited time when we moved back out here, but it feels much shorter than I thought.  I can only dwell on the bitter for so long though.  What I really want to take with me when I depart California are the good people and memories we share, the experiences and opportunities given to me through friends and working for Shane Dean at June Mountain (I'm very thankful for every opportunity Shane!) and my love of the outdoors that was re-kindled here.

The bittersweet feelings will only last so long, because before we know it, Missy and I will be on the Appalachian Trail!!  I don't know if I've ever been so excited to do anything before.  I was pretty nervous about it a couple weeks ago, but now all I feel I can really do is just hike it.  I've done as much preparation as I can, and I leave it to the fates the rest of the way.  I can no longer let myself worry about every little thing.  I'm confident I've prepared for most situations we might find ourselves in and if I forgot anything I'll just have to deal with it as I can.  This reminds me of a John Muir quote that seems very fitting for this moment: "But to the few travelers who are in earnest- true lovers of the truth and beauty of wildness- we would say, Heed nothing you have heard; put no questions to "agent," or guide book, or dearest friend; cast away your watches and almanacs, and go at once to our garden-wilds- the more planless and ignorant the better.  Drift away confidingly into the broad gulf-streams of Nature, helmed only by Instinct.  No harsh storm, no bear, no snake, will harm you" (an excerpt from his essay 'Twenty Hill Hollow')
 
First off, I want to apologize for the inconsistency of my posts the last couple of weeks.  It’s “Spring Break Season” here at June Mountain and I felt the need to take my own unofficial spring break.  Part of my spring break consisted of camping a couple nights at the Saline Valley Hot Springs (part of Death Valley National park).  There aren’t many trees available for hammocks, but we rigged something up to help us beat the sweltering, mind-melting heat of the desert.  (when I find the camera, in a box full of our trail "stuff" crammed in the back of our truck, I will post a picture of our set-up)

I felt revived after my much needed break.  It’s been getting harder to talk about the trail the closer Missy and I are to starting it.  After a year of planning for our hike I’m ready to be hiking rather than talking.  With only two weeks to go before we start in Georgia, a trip to the desert with no Internet, cell service, or too many people has helped motivate me to finish up my last week of work in California,  as well as the last minute prep we have for the trail.  Now to get back on track, I believe there was a question about storms from a couple weeks ago that I have to answer.

What do you do when you run into bad weather, like summer thunderstorms?

Hopefully most of the storms will be like the ones that we experienced on day hikes during our brief interlude in Tennessee; afternoon thunderstorms that help to lift the oppressive blanket of heat and humidity, even if for only a brief reprieve.  Some of our more memorable hikes included hail.  It was exciting running from tree to tree, down the trail, dodging bullets of ice that the sky seemed to aim directly at us.  Although there were a few storms where the proximity of the lightning made us nervous, we fully expect to run into more than a few storms this summer that may require us to hunker down until the tempest calms itself.

When a storm does come through that requires us to wait it out, hopefully we’ll be near enough to a shelter that we can settle down under a roof for a while.  Otherwise, we will probably set-up a tarp (if it isn’t already) and wait out the storm while we listen to the rain drum out a beat on the nylon.  This actually reminds me of a tip I learned in high school.  It’s about preventing a lightning strike while waiting out a storm with lightning in close proximity.  Basically it deals with surface area and how much of your body is touching the ground.

If you happen to be waiting out a storm that has a lot of lightning striking close to you, you want to minimize the amount of surface area your body has in contact with the ground.  What you can do is sit on your sleeping pad with your knees tucked up underneath your chin so that you are sitting in the fetal position.  This should leave only your feet and your butt resting on the pad.  What this does is minimize body contact with the ground, which can conduct a lightning strike right into you.  With less body touching the ground, that’s less ground that can conduct the lightning into you.  As for at night, Lisa, pretty much the same thing applies, except that I hope we set our tarps up right so we don’t have to scramble in the middle of the night to keep rain out.

I enjoy a good rainstorm, especially after living in the high desert for so long.  I’m ready to see some storms, but I know there are going to be those times where it’s been wet non-stop for several days and we’re just going to want to get off the trail for a night so we can dry off.  I’m looking forward to that too.  Huddled up in a hostel or motel, gorging on pizza and beer while we dry out and watch T.V. and the world outside gets saturated.  Hopefully that doesn’t happen too many times, but I will be ready for a pizza and beer day, when those storms come in!