Food: lessons and exceptions

Lets start with lessons...

There are a number of lactose-free cheeses. Cabot and Cracker Barrel make an extra-sharp cheddar that is lactose free. It appears that most, if not all, of Cabot's cheeses are lactose free.

Quinoa takes a long time to cook, and is difficult to prepare because my jetboil... well, boils. Simmering is not an option. I kind of have to boil for a half a minute and let it sit, covered for a bit and repeat. The process takes like 20min, worth it, but I have to plan ahead and watch my fuel usage.

Hormel pepperoni is gluten free. Add lactose-free cheese and a corn tortilla and you've got a great high-calorie meal/snack.

Okay, exceptions...

I have found that chocolate is magical! I have yet to turn down chocolate because it was milk chocolate, especially when it's free! I know I'm not supposed to eat it but... c'mon! It's chocolate!

Oatmeal. I eat two packets almost every morning. Some people with a gluten intolerance tolerate oats, I guess I'm one of them, because I've been eating oatmeal virtually every morning. No noticeable reactions so far. And, boy, it's nice to have a warm breakfast.

When a resuply gets away from you!

Ha ha, here is a fun one. Today was my first full resupply (without any mail-dropped items), and I went wild! I bought SO much food!!! Given my recent appetite increases, and therefore need to stop in for a resupply, I attempted to 'buy more than past me would have thought I'd need.'

Good idea right?

Well...

Food is heavy!!! This is my heaviest food bag so far, but also the highest quantity of food I've attempted to carry. I should have at least 8 days worth of food here... Gee, I hope its more, given the weight!!!

SO MUCH FOOD!

The Smokies

So Pesky has taken to calling the two of us the "Axis of Feeble" because our pace slowed considerably after Atom Bomb left us at Fontana Dam. A combination of wet/cold weather, minor ailments, and Smoky Mountain National Park camping regulations has made it easy for us to ease through the Smokies.

My appetite has increased dramatically with temperature drops and elevation gains. So, we have decided to zero (again) to resupply (as we have both eaten just about all food we are carrying) and get a little relief from the weather. This time we are in Gatlinburg, TN huddling in a hotel room and listening to the thunder booms!!!

Sometimes you gain and sometimes...

Pointless

Ups and

DownS...

P.U.D.S

Mail drops

Oh, there is nothing like getting a package while you're in town! We had rain a few nights and rolled onto Fontana Village damp and hungry... I knew mom AND Lexi had sent me stuff but was unsure exactly what I was getting... EXCELLENT GIFTS, THAT'S WHAT!!!

New photos

Sunset at camp first night out of Franklin and the view from the top of Wayah Bald the next day.

I've been feeling especially strong since our impromptu zero day in Franklin. Wish me luck, as we haven't planned another one in the near future. Gotta stop in 3days to pick up the box Lexi sent me (thanks dear, super clutch) and may not find myself in civilization again for quite some time. As it is now, I'm poaching power and internet off a plug outside the only restaurant at the junction of the AT and the Nantahala River.

So far I've walked 145.9mi

Jetboil

I love my stove! Specs cited 12L of water could be boiled per 100g canister. I got in the 12-14L range per 110g canister! I love when things work the way they are supposed to!

Great Coffee Shops: Part One

Those of you who know me well know that I LOVE chill coffee shops and eclectic bars... Guess what I found in Franklin, NC?! Both in one!!!

Rathskeller Coffee Haus and Pub

Located right off Main St, this sweet coffee shop/bar opens at 11AM and has live entertainment on weekends... As I'm sipping on a dirty hippie (chai with espresso made in 'weird' milk like soy or almond), I'm perched on a bar stool blogging, and watching the owner, Heidi, bake cookies behind the bar. She knows all the regulars by name and remembered my drink when I came back for my second blog session of the day!

Excellent!!!

Coffee flavored-syrup bottles, pint glasses, plastic containers filled with chocolate chips/brown sugar/baking soda etc. an espresso machine, and old tap handles line the back wall above an oven, stainless countertop covered in baking ingredients and standard bar sink. The walls are cracked plaster over brick, giving the place the sort of old-world feel that sucks you in and invites you to stay for a while.

This place is excellent. Hopefully the first of many great coffee shops on my journey!

Curried Quinoa... trail diet change up

So I sent myself a box of quinoa and a jar of Thia Kitchen red curry paste. I'll let you know how the cultural mix goes for me! I'm thinking it might be a nice change from rice noodles, which I'm not tired of yet... nor do want to be anytime soon.

If you're interested, Brian found this great article on quinoa for me... too good NOT to share!

http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/bolivian-farmers-quinoa-boom-both-boon-bane-093806693.html?orig_host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=us&.lang=en-us

Glad to have some new diet items waiting at the Nantahala Outdoor Center today after the squirrel break in I had last night :(

Encouraging words turned prophetic!

The beautiful and prophetic Lauren Hacker wished me off with:

"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warmly on your face.  Have an amazing journey my dear. I love you."

And so far, I have seen many a sunrise and sunset in addition to soaked up the rays on many a good rock. I've gotten myself sunburned on occasion too! The trial has risen up and supported sure footing and also tripped me many a time. Oh, and the wind! Buh, the wind! Let's just say the past few nights the springtime Gunny weather has found me in NC! 50s in the daytime, 20s at night... did I mention the wind? Gusty, multi-directional, unrelenting, and cold for 2.5days straight! No relief at night, either! Buh!

It HAS been a journey for every last one of the 118.6 miles hiked so far!

Lauren, you are a prophet, but I'm still waiting for the positive aspect of it being windy.

100mile lessons: what I failed to learn from other blogs

You WILL get the biggest blisters you have ever had in your life. And then you will force yourself to walk on them for days. Changing your socks mid-day, applying mole skin to hotspots before walking, draining (not popping) blisters that are causing pressure, and experimenting with the way you lace your shoes can greatly reduce discomfort.

Everyone out here has a story, and most of the time they can teach you something new if you choose to listen.

It took about a week for my appetite to catch up to my activity level. I have had to increase the number of 'snack items' I carry, so I can eat about 3 small mid-day meals between breakfast in dinner. Yes, 5 meals a day (at least).

Crying is okay, in fact it is a great way to relieve tension and rid your hike of self doubt and other types of negative energy.

Carry tp. You will be digging cat-holes even if you plan on staying at shelters with a privies.

It takes 2-3 weeks of hiking for your body get used to hiking daily. Many people drop out due to injury in these weeks. The consensus seems to be that pushing too hard too early on leads to these injuries and drop outs. Taking time off is respectable, not shameful. Plus, towns close to the trail are extremely receptive of hikers.

Never skimp, short yourself, or plan food/meds etc. to the hour you anticipate to resupply. Always carry enough and then just a little more. It's okay to have a little extra 'just in case'. This phrase is not a jynx. Its simply being smart, an acknowledgment that plans and appetites sometimes change.

4G on Top of Ablert Mountain in NC!!!

Feet: Neel Gap Science

At mile 32 the Appalachian Trail goes right through Mountain Cossings an outfitter and hostel at Neel Gap that offers help to weary hikers. They gave a short talk relating blister location to problems hikers have with boot/shoe fit. Here is my short, secondhand version: on toes, shoes may be too narrow...on heels, shoes are either too long/short...on bottoms of feet, lacing isn't holding shoes down in shoes.

Rain, fog, and sunburns

The trees are blooming but only just starting, so the first couple of days when it was sunny all day everyone got sunburned. There was a brief hailstorm one afternoon, but no real rain until the afternoon/evening I stayed in Neel Gap.

So far, I've only had to camp in the rain once. The rain started after sundown sometime and contunued all night. It was funny, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that one of my hammok straps was slipping down the tree. So, I found myself laying there feeling like any minute the strap was going to slip enough to drop me flat on my back. After much wet, midnight investigation, I learned that the vibration of the occasional rouge raindrop landing on my hammock strap was being transferred down the line and being misinterpreted by my brain.

I slept peacefully and dryly after this discovery.

The following day was foggy with an intermittent drizzle, very beautiful in a different sort of way.

Hiawassee, Georgia

This town is super friendly to hikers!

Walking down the street we were stopped by a group who wanted to know how our hike is going and the ladies at the store where i bought a pair of flip flops (camp shoes... invaluable) were incredibly kind and chatty.

Also, random fact... I have learned that just about every local knows where Gunnison is because they go hunting out there and/or have land out there. Its fun to be a tourist in a town where 'tourists' live :)

Hopefully, spending tomorrow here and off my feet will help my blisters recover a bit before we enter the woods for like 10 more days!

The photo is last nights sunset at Addis Gap

Of sherpas and stray dogs

There is a guy out here hiking with his sons. I think they live in Georgia somewhere and are out for about a week. People have started calling him the Sherpa Master and saying he's training his sherpas in the ways of the mountains. Sherpa 2 (the second oldest) is extremely friendly with the other hikers. He is intensely interested in learning all about the gear people are using because he believes he will thru hike one day too. The sherpas are a super nice family and a wealth of knowledge on local flora, landscape, fauna etc. Also, they are a family of hammokers, so I can learn from the different ways in which they set up camp.

The Sherpa Master portions the sherpas' food out by the day and whatever they don't eat by the end of the day gets handed out to the scraggly thru hikers in camp. Adam, Pesky Beaver, and I figured out this rationing system the very first night we camped with the sherpas at Gooch. Since then, we have followed them around campsite after campsite like a pack of stray dogs waiting for the day's supply of leftover candy bars, gorp, granola bars etc. The stray dogs are sharing a motel room in Hiawasee, GA and taking a zero day here tomorrow.

Pictured in the photo (clockwise) are the sherpas, daniel, adam, socks, pesky beaver, turbo.

Team Mayhem

Because we stayed in the hiker hostel the same night and we were on the same shuttle in the morning, i started hiking with the Germans (Daniel and Socks) in Amicalola State Park. They speak German to each other a lot, but i don't really feel left out; I kind of like to let the energy of conversation wash over me and not feel obligated to contribute just because I'm sitting in close proximity.

Daniel is like 17 and is hiking in the US while he is waiting to hear if he got accepted to any of the universities he applied to. Although we kept pace with each other on day one, subsequent days proved his physical and cardiovascuar fitness to be superior to mine, as each day i found myself pulling into lunch breaks and shelters a minute or two farther behind than on the previous day. We have chosen the same camp every night so far, and although quiet, his warm smile makes for good company.

Socks is a total doll, she is always smiling and has mastered the use of the word 'yes' in place of just about any other word to make herself understood. She fixed up my feet really nicely after my warm shower in Neel Gap a few days ago.

We picked up three more hikers at Stover Creek Shelter, and team mayhem was born. Other members include John from Caifornia who adds jokes and laughs to every situation, Adam from Connecticut who is super generous and a slow walker like me, and Papa Bear (Tom in real life) who shows us all neat tricks and keeps us all in line. The Sherpas have joined us off and on too (more on them, later).

All of us but Socks camped at the Gooch Shelter and the whole gang was reunited at Lance Creek for a night. We hiked most of the past few days together, but Papa Bear moved on after Neel Gap. It was sad to see him go. The rest of us got a hot shower and doctored our feet before we moved on.

We were in Neel Gap a little over an hour before the rain set in, making us happy we had chosen to stay the night in the hostel. We have had fair weather for the most part (more on that later), and so far my feet have fared better in my new insoles (thank you nice sales rep at Neel Gap. Super feet live up to their name!).