Matt and I went to North Carolina/Tennessee border to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail for his Birthday weekend. The drive was beautiful! Believe it or not, I took this while in the car through the windows. :) We drove through Hot Springs, NC (our endpoint) to somewhere in Tennesee. I can't remember the name of this place. Matt got us a room at a Days Inn. I know. It was only for one night, so no big deal. Well, it turned out to be very scarey. The place looked like a place someone would get murdered at or a seedy place to meet seedy people to do seedy things with. hahahaha! I laugh now, but I had that creepy crawly feeling the entire time we stayed there. Plus, I thought the cracks in the wall and ceiling were lovely and added dimension to the place. But after the 7-8 or so hours spent there, even Matt said never again. So we woke up at 4am on November 13th and headed back to Hot Springs to meet our shuttle who would take us to our start point. We came to a place called Half Moon Outfitters where the owner, Daniel, drove us. If you ever want to meet a liberal hippie who hates the forest service and the government, he's your guy. He was cool though- not my cup of tea, but good for a laugh.
So we finally got to the start of our hike. There was a mixture of nerves and excitement as we began. Did I mention that it was cold? Good things we started out with several layers of clothes. The first few miles were fun. We laughed and took lots of pictures (and probably wasted too much time) We made it to I-40 and that's when we crossed over to the most hellish climb.
Matt pointing the way for us. :)
But in actuality, we followed these. They are called White Blazes- they are marked along the way to let the hiker know they are on the right path. Always keep your eyes out for these. I kinda led us astray (not terribly) once b/c I wasn't paying attention.
We broke for lunch and peeled our capilene layers away. The beauty of this amazing material is it dries in minutes.
v We took our shoes off too, to let our feet air out. The weather was so mild, almost a little hot. Lunch was peaceful. If we would have found a flat place, I might have even fallin asleep. We even were stalked by a chipmunk. You wouldn't believe how quiet it was out there.
It took us 6 hours to get here- 7 miles straight up for 3000ft, we reached the summit of Snowbird Peak. It was very beautiful, but we couldn't stay. We basically took a couple of pictures and started back down. We were trying to get to the campsite or shelter area before dark. So we booked it downhill for the next couple of hours. By the end my toes were killing me!
Yay! We made it- we were so gross and sweaty- I stole Matt's only short sleeve shirt-actually he gladly gave it to me. He was so good to me and took really good care of me during this trip.
Stop taking picures, Jaime, we have to go!
Our tent that Matt set up while I regained my vision. You're walking on uneven ground and bouncing for hours carrying a lot of weight, so when I stopped, the platform in the shelter was moving in waves. My equilibrium was so off. Matt set our tent up and I got the sleeping bags and everything else set up while he cooked some soup for us for supper. It was dark, we'd eaten, written in our trail journals, and by 6:30 we went to bed. LOL! I know, right? But I slept all night until 6 the next morning, except for a few bathroom breaks. ( I made friends with this super nice tree) Matt had trouble sleeping because I kept rolling and pressing him into the wall of the tent. oops. I can't help that he set the tent at a slight incline. hahahahaha!
I woke up to Matt making breakfast- we ate some not so creamy grits... they were actually quite gritty and plain (no salt or butter) but they were super good! We broke camp, got our bags packed, and nursed my blister bubbles from the day before with some moleskin. But before we left, I had to check out the privy.
This. was. the privy. It was not a privilage to use. It was disgusting and scarey. If it were warmer weather I would not have gone near it. This picture does not even do it justice. It was not pretty. It's basically a hole in the ground with a putrid toilet on top of it. You throw in leaves or something to create a natural compost pile. bleh.
Matt and I began hiking again... uphill. Which was not helping my blisters. My feet were so tired and I was so tired. I was beginning to feel sick, but I was determined not to ruin this for Matt. He kept taking things off of my back and putting them on his pack, but the hike was slowing going and my feet and not to mention my pregnant body (yep, that's what I said) was not working to our advantage. So a few miles in, Matt called it. I was in tears (mostly out of anger at my body for not being able to finish, but also because I felt I was ruining Matt's hike and his birthday weekend. He pulled out our SPOT communicator and let everyone know we were calling it and then found a signal to make calls for a pick up. We hike another mile or two to Brown Gap which also had road access. Daniel, our liberal hippie shuttle guy came and got us. On the way to road, we came across this.
Yes, a blue cooler- AKA "Trail Magic" left by some "Trail Angels"
We'd heard about these gifts along the hiking trails, but never thought we'd come across some.
Inside we found soda, M&m's, and honeybuns. My spirits were down because of having to quit, but it definently brought a smile to Matt and I. We actually laughed and were in awe at this. It was a nice surprise and uplifting during those moments.
Thus ended our hike. Daniel reached us, took us to Hot Springs, and we got our car and headed to Asheville to find a hot shower. ;) We ended up at a Holiday Inn and Suites (I think) which was sooooo nice. Seriously. It was new and the room was beautiful and the bathroom was all granite and had bath and body works stuff in it. We showered, ate dinner at Carrabba's, and went to watch a movie. We slept in a bit, explored downtown Asheville and then headed home (but not without an out of the way pitt stop at IKEA). It was a great weekend. Our adventure started out in the woods and took us to a place Matt had never been. It was all spontaneous after the hike and that was fun. I hope that Matt and I will continue with more adventures. I love you, Matt.
