Miles Hiked Today - 23.3
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 864.3/2,193 (39.41%)
Peck’s Corner Shelter (218.2) to Standing Bear Hostal (241.5) - hotel in Newport, TN
Total ascent - 3,788’
Total descent - 7,707’
TOTAL STATES COMPLETED - 3/14
** No rain (perfect weather all day)
———-
Georgia. Tennessee. North Carolina. —- done, Done, DONE!!! For the first time since March 20 (Day #8 of the hike) - I am able to increase the total number of states completed. HUGE!!!
The last couple of days have been straight up ballistic. Hammering through the entire Smokey’s in 4 Days - 75 miles with 18,000’ vertical - has been nothing short of extremely challenging for me.
Why do it? What makes you do what you do? Man - sometimes I get this question. And you know what - it’s that feeling I have right now. That feeling of internal satisfaction, that feeling of accomplishment, that overall belief in myself. I don’t know - it’s hard to describe. But remember on Day #1 - I talked about this - it’s ultimately about that energy - that feeling of being alive - that fire burning inside that makes me want to continue to improve and be a better person.
“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious” —— Vince Lombardi
It’s 10am here on Sunday morning at the Bestwestern hotel in Newport, TN. I was so tired last night - I chose to write the blog this morning. Believe it or not - it’s the first time I’m doing this. (I may only post the blog a day later - but I always write it at the end of the day). I do it this way because I really like to capture what I’m feeling at that moment. When I go back and look at my entries 10-20 years from now - it helps bring me back to that very moment in time.
Well - yesterday couldn’t have gone much better. Difficult and tough for sure - but smooth execution. I was the only person in the shelter on Friday night (there were 6 others in tents) - so getting up around 5:30am in the dark went OK. I gathered all my gear and got on the trail at 6:38am. I texted Greg/Korby - letting them know I was headed their way. They had made it to Standing Bear the previous night and stayed at a cabin at the Hostal. I started at Mile 218.2. They were starting at Mile 241.5. We both were headed toward each other.
Both of us had challenging miles to start the day (especially them - they had a nearly 4,000’ climb to get out of Standing Bear). As the morning progressed - I would text my location whenever I got a signal. The weather was perfect - sunny skies with a slight breeze. I had some great scenery on my ridge line walk the first 5-10 miles.
About 11:30am - I was around Mile 11. Greg/Korby were just 4 miles from me. We ended up meeting right at Mile 13 for me. It was a convenient spot on the trail - Cosby Knob Shelter. We sat down for lunch and had a total refill of our water. They had asked me the other night: “Anything we can bring you?” I said: “I’m out of Snickers - one of those would be awesome”. Well - as good friends do - once we sat down to eat - Greg handed me an extra large snickers. Outstanding!! They also shared some snacks that I hadn’t had on trail - which was really great.
About 1:30pm - we headed north together with about 10-1/2 miles to go. The conversation was great and the miles ticked away pretty fast. It was a long way down the hill. I had over 7,000’ vertical descent yesterday - far and away my largest downhill of the trip. The legs were struggling as we progressed. I did pretty good up until the last 1.5 miles. The temperature was really warm at this point and we had a pretty significant climb back up to Standing Bear. You know how when you’re mind sort of shuts down - it’s hard to ramp up again. That’s what I was dealing with. My mind sort of told my body that I was done climbing after 4 really hard days. But no - I was just smacked around with a grueling 1.5 miles to the finish. I struggled mightily- but I got it done. Greg/Korby are strong - they had an incredible day. They did 21 miles themselves with a 4,700’ total vertical ascent. Their hike was harder than mine - plus - they didn’t have 64 days on the trail like me.
We rolled into Standing Bear a little before 7pm. We all drank a soda, ate a snack, and then had a celebratory beer. AWESOME!!! We formulated a plan to drive 15 minutes to Newport so we could stay at a hotel. It went great. We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant and then capped off the evening sitting outside the lobby of the Bestwestern drinking a couple beers in rocking chairs. About 11pm - we were all about shot and called it a night.
Those guys texted me this morning - they left pretty early to head back to Raleigh. I stayed in my own room and slept in until 9am or so. Thanks guys for joining me for a portion of my AT Hike. It means a ton to me that you would drive that far and hike over 20 miles in the Smokey’s. I appreciate you greatly!
All good stuff! I need to get ramped up here and drive north to Waynesboro today. On to the next chapter of this journey.
Here’s to a relaxing, healthy, and safe Sunday. Have a great day out there!
End of the day at Standing Bear
The green tunnel
Great early morning views
A vast national park
Do I look tired
Sunrise in the Smokey’s
Nice
The northern end of the Smokey’s
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