Day 4,5 & 6

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4/5 by Vic

4/2/13 Woke up in an actual bed. Up to this point I have been somewhat of a gypsy for the past month sleeping on living room floors, couches, futons and of course my sleeping bag. You see, when I left California over a month ago I went to work with my previous marketing companies. This entailed putting on several hats, all of which fit just fine. Well, thanks to my Great Friends (mainly the two who man my "command center" - AR & BF, I know have a little earned cash in my pocket to spend on jerky, mashed potatoes and 4oz canisters of fuel. The point is, it feels great to wake up in a bed.

After a slow start to the morning (nothing unusual to this group) and a Starbucks Via packet blended with hot cocoa powder (yum), we begin to reevaluate our gear in our packs, reset our minds and decide to take a zero day.

Zero Day: a day of not hiking and nor accumulating miles toward your goal or destination.

When I first left the Hikers Hostel five days ago my pack weighed just over 50lbs (with food and water). It's time to trim the fat. Now that we really got to experience what the next 5 months are going to be like, we are able to make semi sound decision on what we shoulda send home and what we should bounce to ourselves in the near future.

Bounce Box: Supplies you send yourself down further along the trail. This usually resupplies certain toiletries, medicine, food or weather regulated clothing.

I ended up sending home: Belt - too thick and cuts into my hips when wearing with a heavy backpack GoPro2 - I lent Bo this, but as it turns out, out his phone seems to me more functional Fleece Jacket - it was between this and my hoody. I'll miss you Nalgeen - A while back ago someone advised me to bring 1L smart water bottles instead. This was good advice as it is very sturdy, light weight and collapses easily. Other: GoPro accessories, extra toiletries, compression strap, data book,

All the others sent home items of the same caliber. Mainly repetitious items or gear they could easily downsize in weight with a new purchase from the outfitters store in Neels Gap.

Bo joins us in the afternoon as he has taking a liking to slack packing and will most likely choose this method for the rest of the trip.

Slackpacking/Yellow blazing: A form of hiking that allows you to hike but still enables you to spend the night indoors. Usually you bring a 7-15lb mini backpack or enlarged fannypack and hike the trails. You end up near a hostel/B&B/hotel or are picked up near a road intersection and brought to lodging for the night.

Bo also brought us some delicious snacks and meat for dinner. What a little trial angel he can end up being. Sounds like it could be a win win for everyone. The rest of the afternoon is spent catching up and planning for the next week. We get to the Mountain Crossings store ( food, outfitter, etc) before it closes and mail our combined 21 lb of goods home. A small box was "bounced" but that just contained hammocks and some of our toiletries.

We finish the evening with homemade hamburgers (with all the fixings), cold beer and a warm fireplace. Sleep

4/3/13 Woke up for the 2nd night in a row in a bed -I know I can't get used to this. We start moving around at 6am but don't actually get out the door until 11am. With a fresh pair of legs we start our days hike. Very scenic views from the tops of several of the summits we hiked. We starting to learn the people within our bubble

Bubble: The group of individuals you hike along with as you leapfrog each other on the trail as each group takes their own breaks, lunches and breathers at various locations on the trail.

About 3/4 through our hike for the day we come across a group of trail angels. They are from a baptist church, outside Atlanta and are here as a mission trip for their congregation. We dine on hotdogs and chips.

Trail Angels: These can be groups or individuals that help hikers in any shape or form. More often than not, they appear next to road access points near the trail and have hot food, drinks and a place for you to sit. They often encourage you to take a couple snacks for the road as well. Sometimes these angels will be a large cooler on the trail with refreshments and work by the honest system - only take what you need.

As the day darkens, Lauren, Eric and myself keep an eye open for an "epic" camping spot (such as our 3rd night we camped at the summit of a mountain with a great view of the sunrise and mountain valley. We find a location not "too epic" but it had to do as a night and a storm was approaching. Rookie mistake. You should never camp on a ridge line when you know a storm is coming as it very windy from all the wind rushing up the side mountain and channels over the crest at this location. Well we soon find this out later that night as we are awoken by the howling winds and icy rain pounding our tents.

Well as Lauren was preparing the fire for the evening I decide to give her a hand collect some firewood. In doing so I came across this large dead tree which I wanted to take some branches from. Well needless to say, the tree fought back and now I have a large gash in the side of my cheek. After the blood stopped dripping from my face, we were able to wipe it down with alcohol, schmer Neosporin, place butterfly bandages and cover it was a large, very large bandage. Rookie mistake...

4/4/13 With the Wind still howling and icyrain semi slowing down I check the weather (using my Verizon 4G Android Motorola Droid Razr Maxx), and learn that the weather is supposed to pick up in the next hour. I wake up Eric and Lauren and we begin to break down camp in the icy rain - fun. We grab a couple granola bars and put them in our side pockets as there was no way we would have had time to make something hot (oatmeal) before the thick of the rain set in.

Much of the hike this day was done along a ridge line. Freezing rain on and off, we are layered thick with under layers, thermal layers and rain shells. Usually as we ascend one of the ridges, our hoods and gloves come off in hopes to cool down with out takin off all our layers. Our goal for the day was to get to Blue Mountain Shelter. We have been averaging 9 miles a day. The last 2 miles of our hike follows the ridge line as well, but its completely made up of large (slippery) boulders. Very beautiful with the moss growing on them, but not for traversing over.

I hike ahead of the group and make it to the shelter 20 mins before they do. I scout out if there is any room in the shelter but it was already full with hikers getting warm. I make some soup (bouillon cubs, hot sauce, minced garlic and herbs) and wait for Eric and Lauren to arrive. After they warm up with some Ramen noodles, we pitch tents in the rain and take an afternoon nap.

I wake up and most the cam is still asleep. I cook myself some Lipton's red beans & Rice along with some SeaBear Ready to eat Sockeye Salmon. Yumm. With that I rinse out my pot and head back into my cozy yet rain moistened tent and write this recap. Sleep.

TOTALS Pooped in the woods: 4 Wildlife: Squirrel, Chipmunk, Birds Miles Hiked: 50.5 Don't want to admit: I lost my FitBit (pedometer) hiking today Lesson learned: Sleeping on ridge lines are only epic If its nice out Hiking Quote: Hike your own hike.