On 3/30, I only did 4 miles before going into Franklin, NC to resupply. On 3/31, I did 15.8 miles from Winding Stair Gap to Cold Spring Shelter. On 4/1, we only did 11.9 miles to NOC (I cannot pass up a beer list I have never heard of it's one of my few faults). On 4/2, we did 21.7 to Cable Gap. On 4/3, we did 20.6 to Russel field. On 4/4, we only did 9.2 miles to Derrick Knob Shelter (find out below why it was such a short day).
I'm 100 miles in, well to be exact I'm 125.6 miles in but whose counting. Physically I feel fine, a little swelling of the big toes from my shoes crashing into them on the down hills, some tingling on my right hip from my pack and a couple burnt fingers from my stove... overall no real issues. The thing that has suprised me the most about the first 100 miles of the hike is the amount of logistics and planing that is done every night during dinner, or in the sleeping bag. We are constantly looking a head at the terrain and the weather to determine how far we can travel, what time to get up, how much food do we have left, when to get water, when and where can we get resupplied, whether or not we are going to shelter or tent (that's right I now have a tent!) are we travelling alone or in a group, etc. I'm sure as I move down the trail it will become second nature, but currently it's taking a lot of time to plan out my next days moves and coordinate resupplies.
Well, after drinking a few beers at the NOC, Proudfoot and I came up with a genius plan to make it to Clingmans dome on Easter, the only problem with this is there are a few mountains in the way. We left the NOC at 6:00 am on 4/2 and started the hike with headlamps, we had a 3,762 foot assent before hitting the ridgeline, I managed to sprain my ankle going down Stecoah Gap, but I was able to duct tape it up and push on to Jacobs ladder (duct tape and beer will fix almost all ailments on the AT). Jacobs ladder is a section that climbs 600 feet in 0.25 miles, it's the type of climb that people let out a howl after they finish, or in my case a growl. We finished 4/2 with a little less than 22 miles under our belts (my 900 calorie dinner still left me hungry and I ended up eating one of my lunches as well). On 4/3 we got another early start, we crossed the Fontana Dam and entered the Smokies with a 2,820 foot climb, and then followed the ridgeline to a shelter (they make you stay in shelters in the smokies). After putting in a little over 20 miles, we should have no problem making it to Clingmans Dome, and might make an early break for it on the 5th to catch the sunrise.
I learned another new term. Hikers Midnight- it's when ever you go to bed, which in my case almost every night is 8pm.
Well, 4/4 started off like a normal day, it had poured rain the night before and temperatures dropped below freezing, but we had stayed warm and dry in the shelter. Proudfoot and I got up and hit the trail by 7am. We typically go to the next shelter or campsite to eat breakfast (by this time we should be warm enough to sit down). When we got to the next shelter (Spencer Gap) we were met by one of the campers and she asked if we were rangers, at which we replied no. At about the same time a 20 year old kid, named Phil, comes running into the shelter saying that he had found him, but didn't have enough gear to stay out there and keep warm. The background to this story was a hypothermic section hiker came into Spencer Gap at 4am saying there were two others out on the mountain who needed help. The shelter got up and looked for them, they quickly found one hiker, but could not find the third. Three guys went out looking for the third hiker (with no gear). One of the three was Phil. Phil told us the guy was in realy bad shape and couldn't talk due to the onset of hypothermia and was maybe 3 miles down the trail, Phil also lost contact with the other two guys in the search party and did not know where they were. Proudfoot and I set out down the trail, we were moving as fast as we could, but due to the intense fog (we couldn't see 20 feet infront of us) and not knowing exactly where the down hiker was, we were not able to move at our normal speed. After about an hour and a half we came across the down hiker who had managed to crawl under a rhododendron and was next to one of the guys in the search party, Kevin, who was trying to share his body heat (at this time we don't know where the third person from the search party was). Kevin did not have any gear with him and was also now hypothermic. We broke down our gear and covered Kevin up, giving him our sleeping bag, hat and gloves. I was able to make a wind screen out of my tarp poncho (glad I did not burn it), and tried to get the guys warm. The injured hikers name was Brad, who was out of shape with a bad knee and only had minimal clothes on. I asked him what was cold and he said his feet. I pulled out my thick winter socks and said it was going to be a pain to get these on in his sleeping bag, but that we needed to do it. He then sticks his feet out from under his sleeping bag, which is when Proudfoot and I realize he just had blankets and a sleeping bag on top of him and that he is not actually enclosed in anything. After realizing this Proudfoot set up his sleeping system and my mylar blanket across the trail on flatish ground. We then picked up Brad (he weighed 270 lbs) and moved him across the trail into a sleeping bag (it wasn't pretty put we got it done) we setup my sleeping system next to Brad and put Kevin in it. By the time we had Brad and Kevin in sleeping bags it was 930am. We were told rangers were called at 4am and they should be coming up any minute to assist. While waiting we learned Kevin and the third guy in the search party, Chris, initially walked by Brad in the dark, they ended up making it to the next shelter on the trail, but Chris was to cold to go back out, so Kevin went back by himself and found Brad on his return to Spencer. We started to feed Kevin and Brad candy bars and hot chocolate to get their energy levels up. By 1130a we got them to stop shaking, but there was still no sign of the rangers. Proudfoot ran back to Spencer to get an update on our support. I stayed with the guys. It got to be 2 o clock and I hadn't heard anything back from Proudfoot. I started to worry about dark since there was no flat ground to setup a tent, I also figured the only way to get this guy out was going to be by helicopter but we were in a dense part of the forrest. My best bet was to move the guys 700 yards to Thunderhead Mountain top, where a helicopter extraction would be easier, and worst case I could set up my tent and we could shelter overnight. Kevin was weak but when I told him what we had to do he got up and the two of us lumbered up the trail propping Brad up until we got to the top of the mountain around 3 o clock. I got Brad and Kevin back into a sleeping bags and started to setup my tent. Before I got my tent setup I could see Proudfoot leading the rangers towards us. When the rangers got up there they came to the same conclusion that the only way to get him down was a helicopter. I stuck around as they were taking his vitals and called in the helicopter, but once he was in the care of the rangers, and just waiting for the helicopter, I took off down the trail to salvage a few miles before night fell...
Breakfast on top of Wesser Bald with Proudfoot
It's good to take a load off at Nantahala Outdoor Center (left to right: Proudfoot, Wildman, Cain, Buffy, Hunter)
Entering the Smokies
Crossing Fontana Dam
View from the fire tower (the Fire tower looked like it was abandoned and going to fall down)
Brad is in the blue sleeping bag, Kevin is in the green sleeping bag with the turquoise poncho on him. I'm the orange blob on the side of the hill sitting down kepping them from rolling down the hill (photo by Proudfoot)