A break from the trail...

This is Luke typing from the Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock, NC (left the trail in Roan Mountain, NC, 387 miles up the trail).

Sorry about the abrupt end to the last post. The Hot Springs Library was sort of a low budget operation that had about four or five computers to accomodate about twelve thru-hikers that were in town. After thirty minutes the librarian politely asked me to leave so others could use the computer. Apparently, she was not a blog follower.

I left off talking about how awesome my cousin, Stephen ("Steve-o" to hikers), was. He hiked 15 miles (and up 4,400'!) into the Smokies to meet us at the most remote shelter in the whole park. The next day he hiked with us back the 15 miles he had already come the day before, which was almost entirely downhill and really tough on the joints. His last day, he hiked 17 miles to the summit of Max Patch where we all camped. That is just shy of 50 miles in three days! Stephen was out-hiking other thru-hikers who had had a month of conditioning already. Stephen was definitely soar and limping when we parted, but he has earned some crazy mad respect from the two of us and the other thru-hikers we introduced him to.

He also was super crucial in getting us to Hot Springs. With a day left to get to Hot Springs, Caleb and I were low on food, but Stephen left his trailmix and triscuits which were a huge help. Without that food, Caleb was planning on the following menu for our final day before Hot Springs: Breakfast - NutriGrain Bar, Lunch - Bottom of a Peanut Butter jar, Supper - pack of Crackers. For a hiker who burns 4,000-5,000 calories a day, that may not have been sufficient. With Stephen's food, however, we comfortably arrived at the shelter that was just a few miles shy of Hot Springs.

Just as we finished our supper at the shelter, another hiker we had met the night before named "Mule" approached the shelter from the trail holding up a huge Dillard's bag that was stuffed with something. He shouted, "Luke? Caleb?" Since everyone on the trail calls us by our trailnames, it was a shock to hear our real names and we answered, "Yeah?" with a great deal of confusion. Mule excitedly explained, "I met your mom down by the road and she gave me a ton of food and I've carried it for 3.5 miles and it is time to eat!"

We were shocked. We had no clue mom was trying to surprise us along the trail and feed us. She slightly underestimated our hiking speed and missed us, however. Other thru-hikers that we had passed earlier in the day told her that we were probably at the next shelter. Since she missed us, she didn't want the food to go to waste and fed a few thru-hikers (Ketchup, Lonewolf, and Mule) that came through. After being fed, Mule offered to carry us some food to the next shelter and, man, did he carry some food. He delivered us a 15-pound bag of pasta salad, fried chicken, chili, fresh fruit, spinach dip, crackers, and cheese. And we thought we were going to go to bed hungry earlier that morning! Mule said my mom was a great trail angel (someone who provides trail magic) and that she even gave Ketchup and Lonewolf a ride into town. I was in disbelief, but so happy.

I gave you the rundown of Hot Springs in the last post, pretty much. It was a great little town with everything a hiker needs. After getting kicked out of the library, we went back to the Smoky Mountain Diner for supper (cheeseburger with all you can eat pinto beans, onions, and cornbread) where we ate with about ten other hikers and ended up leaving Hot Springs around 8:00 PM on Monday night to venture back into the woods for our first night-hiking experience. Since we had 116 miles to cover by Saturday (where my parents had rented a cabin with jacuzzi, beer, and Final Four access to motivate us), we wanted to knock off a few miles that night instead of taking a complete zero day in Hot Springs. We hiked with our headlamps on for a good while until we got tired. I asked Caleb what time he thought it was and he said, "I don't know, like 9:55?" I said, "No way. It's got to be close to 11:30." We got out my phone and checked...it was 1:00 AM! We hiked 8 miles in the dark that night! We still managed to wake up at dawn the next day and covered 23 miles Tuesday, 24 miles on Wednesday, 21 on Thursday, 23 on Friday, and 15 to reach the cabin on Saturday around 4:00 PM. This was a huge feat for us, because we had not hiked 20 miles in one day up to Hot Springs. We passed all the other hikers we knew and reached another bubble of hikers that were all new to us. We did catch up to one of our closest friends on the trail, Mullet, who had been about a day ahead of us since Fontana Dam and it was great to hike with him for a while. We have some pictures of him up on the blog that you can check out. He is a recent graduate from UF whose band broke up pretty recently. You can listen to his solo stuff at www.myspace.com/boynton. We are fans regardless of how his music sounds (we haven't really got to listen to it, yet).

The weather hasn't been great during this stretch. There has been rain for probably 8 of the last 10 days. It has managed to clear up for some nice views on Big Bald, Little Hump Mountain, and Hump Mountain. We could see Table Rock and Hawksbill from the Hump Mountains, which was really cool. We've been seeing and hiking mountains this entire trip, but never mountains I recognized. To see a pair of mountains that I saw everyday while at home was cool and comforting. Caleb is planning on putting up some pictures once I get done with this post.

The cabin was great. It was everything we were dreaming of while we were hiking those long days. My whole family came, along with Michael, Stephen, Uncle Huss, Aunt Denise (who brought the big one-year-old), and Grandma Peggy. Caleb's dad, Lory, met us at the cabin, as well. He took us to Ingles and bought our groceries, which was great. Caleb and I have decided that we are the most spoiled thru-hikers ever.

We were getting ready to head back onto the trail this afternoon, but have decided to take two additional zero-days. My shin has been acting up since we did those big days but the real reason is the weather forecast. It says that the mountains are expecting 4-8" inches of snow tonight and the high is 33 degrees with a windchill in the low teens. I also want to watch the tar heels play in the national championship tonight since it seems pretty certain I am going to be a law student there in the fall. So, it just seems to make sense to take a couple of zero-days right now. We're already ahead of our expected schedule and are in no rush to arrive in Maine. So, now we are at the Meadowbrook Inn (which has a jacuzzi) in Blowing Rock, NC, and are planning on leaving Wednesday morning for the trail.

Thanks for following us on our journey. Reading your comments is a highlight of my week. To know people actually care about what we are doing makes it feel all the more awesome that we are doing it. Each day I am thankful for the situation I am in and the people around me who are so supportive. Thank you, so much.

-NoseHose