Hike faster, I hear banjo music

It's day 10.5 on the trail and we're still alive! We've hiked 165 miles and made it into our second state (thumbin' our way into North Caroline...heyo) and more importantly out of Northern Georgia ("Deliverance" territory). It's been a pretty tough and interesting but very fun experience so far. Our first big realization was how tough it is to hike up mountains with a heavy backpack. Skye was doing ok, because he had done the most relevant training, but me and Gen, having done little to no specific training, were struggling a bit with the heavy bags. I was hoping that running fitness would translate to hiking fitness (and it has) except that it has nothing to do with getting used to carrying 30 plus pounds on your back the whole time. The thought of having a lighter pack dominated my thoughts the first few days. We found out real quick that this was gonna be no cakewalk, and if we wanted to average 20 miles a day, we'd have to get lighter. At the first hostel on the trail, 20 miles in, we decided to go "lightweight", ie get ride of everything we didn't absolutely need. Trimming packs seemed to be a very common practice for noob hikers at the first stop. We sent home out tents/hammock, stoves, pots, half our clothes, fancy 1L water bottles in exchange for lighter gatorade bottles, water pump, books, harmonica and anything else that could be sparred or downsized. It's possible to go tent-less because there are shelters every 7 or so miles on the trail, with an open side, that hikers can sleep in. They usually fit around 5-12 people. It's a bit of a gamble but we thought it was worth it. The hostel had a big tree beside it that was full of hundred of pairs boots flung over the branches from hikers either quitting or buying better fitting boots. Apparently 25-50% of hopeful thru-hikers quit at or before the first hostel. I can kind of see why, and I bet the biggest issue is that they're carrying packs that are too heavy. We're trying to camp the whole time, so we moved on with a jump in our steps, walking with 10lbs lighter packs. Our no tents strategy was tested that first night. We arrived a little after dark at the shelter (as seems to be our custom, still transitioning to hiker hours... I heard someone refer to 8pm as "hikers midnight") and a family had set up their tents in the shelter (??), taking up pretty much the whole thing, because they were scared of the mice (which populate every shelter... fun). Gen and Skye squeezed in barely, but I had to pull up a nice piece of ground under the picnic table and drape a tarp over it to keep out the rain that had started to trickle down... the luxurious life of hiking.

Luckily since then we've pretty much had no rain. The weather's been pretty perfect, and the trail is almost all shaded. It's noticeable colder the higher we go. One night I couldn't sleep in my sleeping bag because it was too hot, the next night, 2000 ft higher I was freezing my butt off in my bag with all my clothes on. With our lighter packs we were able to get up to 20  miles a day within a week. The "lightweight" strategy does lead to some depressing meals and sleeping situations... but so far we're laughing off our complete lack of luxuries... hopefully we can keep that attitude. It's also faster not setting up/taking down tents, and not doing dishes. Sleeping for me has been a bit of a challenge, getting used to my skimpy sleeping pad, the mice running around the shelter, the coyotes and the loud snorers. Our shelter last night had a thriving mouse community. We decided not to intrude and sleep under the stars.

The hiking is beautiful and challenging. The trail is mostly through thick forest, so you don't usually see too far ahead or around you, but there are many amazing lookouts. It's fairly similar looking to Ontario forests, but at times a little more jungle like which is pretty cool. On Day 3, me and Gen stopped for water and Skye went ahead, then we promptly took a wrong turn and ended up doing an extra 5 or so miles loop. We knew something was wrong when we passed a group going the opposite direction for the send time. It worked out ok though because the trail lead to a campground with a lake and showers(!). We ended up being separated from Skye for 20 hours, but we figured it out.      


We've also earned our trail names. Skye was initially the raver, or ravin', because if his music choices, but after a week of observing his diet, it was impossible not to go with Pop Tart. Gen's trail name is Killer, from an incident on Day 2 when she captured a squirrel, bit it's head off and drank it's spinal fluid. Kidding... it's more of an ironic nickname on account of her laid back personality. And mine is Swassafras, a mix of swass for sweaty ass and Sassafras mountain (along the trail when we were thinking about names and a name I've liked for years).


A couple things left out from the first post:: the border guard was not too pleased to hear about our plans. He was very suspicious, and was grilling us on our plans and why exactly we all quit our jobs. He checked our bags, and super nice Gen couldn't help but respond a little sarcastically when he asked what the big bag of powdered milk was. I  hear sometimes they make people pull up their bank accounts to make sure they have a decent amount of money so they won't squat in their country... good thing he didn't see mine. Also big thanks to my Dad for letting me borrow his hiking shoes and Ipod, and paying for me and Skye's travel insurance. 

Gotta go... entering the Smokey Mountains tomorrow. Sorry about the probably sloppy post, our computer time is pretty limited. Thanks for reading!