Updates from the Trail IV...
[This is a few days old, and has lots of fun stuff in it. Enjoy!]
3-29-2006
It's so nice to be sitting here in the sunshine. The past 4-5 days have been extremely difficult. When I wrote the last letter to you, I think I mentioned 4 inches of snow or something there-about. Well, we hike many miles in snow at least twice as deep as that over the past few days. And if you remember, I wore tennis shoes for this trip. This means I have had wet feet for the past few days..... which means blisters. So my feet have really taken a turn for the worst, and yesterday's 16-mile hike into Erwin almost killed me. Well, not really, but I was definitely in a lot of pain. And then imagine putting these blistered feet into FROZEN shoes in the morning, which I had to do a couple mornings. I really wanted to cry then. lol
Dave (now Bleach) asked me my favorite part of the trip so far. I've decided that one of my favorite parst about the mountains are the balds. I didn't really know what a bald was before I came out here, but I have since learned that they are grassy patches w/ no trees way up in the mountains. Some of them are just huge, and you can see 360 degrees around of just gorgeous mountains. It's breath-taking. If I get around to getting some pictures online, I'll put one up of my favorite bald so far: Max Patch.
[Note: this has been done; check out Kim's picture post!]
So I decided to take a "zero" day here in Erwin. So far it's been wonderful. I came into Erwin yesterday at about 3:30pm after a 16-mile day, checked in to Uncle Johnny's Hostel (which is fantastic, by the way), and relaxed the rest of the evening. Bleach, Bigfoot, Hatteras Jack, & I all went to a pizza place where I got an all-you-can-eat salad bar and pizza sticks. I ate soooo much. And then to top it off, I ate a pint of Moose Tracks ice cream while we all sat in the bunk & watched some hilarious '80s Arnold Swart (however you spell it) movie. LIfe couldn't have been much better. Oh, & we have a fire going in the stove, too. It was just lovely. And so today is my zero day, and I'm just writing letters & hanging out. I hope to make it to the library to use the internet today. I'd love to be hiking in this weather, but I know I need the day off. This means I am staying 2 nights here... but what's really cool is most hostels will offer a work-4-stay, and so one of my nights is paid for because I scrubbed toilets & shower curtains this morning. How about that? I enjoyed doing some work that didn't involve hiking up a huge hill. It felt really good.
Oh, a few things about food that I wanted to tell you. One day when the weather was nasty, Bleach went into Gatlinburg while I toughed it out in a shelter, and I guess that day, in 16 hours, he ate 15,000 calories. Can you imagine? And I know he won't gain a pound. It really is amazing what days in the woods of hiking mountains will do to your body & metabolism.
Well, by the time you get this, I will have hopefully conquered another tough section of the trail: the part that includes Roan Mountain. The trail goes back up over 6000 ft in elevation, and word on the street is that there is about 2-3 feet of snow up there right now. The weather has definitely turned, though, & so I'm hoping most of that is melted off by the time I get there, but I'll have to let you know in the next letter.
Oh, you'll have to tell Christi that I have climbed over quite a few "knobs." She'll appreciate that.
[Christi, please read above. Thank you.;)]
Well, time to go. We are all getting a ride into town to get some chow & be bums at the library.
Kimberly Ann
3-29-2006
It's so nice to be sitting here in the sunshine. The past 4-5 days have been extremely difficult. When I wrote the last letter to you, I think I mentioned 4 inches of snow or something there-about. Well, we hike many miles in snow at least twice as deep as that over the past few days. And if you remember, I wore tennis shoes for this trip. This means I have had wet feet for the past few days..... which means blisters. So my feet have really taken a turn for the worst, and yesterday's 16-mile hike into Erwin almost killed me. Well, not really, but I was definitely in a lot of pain. And then imagine putting these blistered feet into FROZEN shoes in the morning, which I had to do a couple mornings. I really wanted to cry then. lol
Dave (now Bleach) asked me my favorite part of the trip so far. I've decided that one of my favorite parst about the mountains are the balds. I didn't really know what a bald was before I came out here, but I have since learned that they are grassy patches w/ no trees way up in the mountains. Some of them are just huge, and you can see 360 degrees around of just gorgeous mountains. It's breath-taking. If I get around to getting some pictures online, I'll put one up of my favorite bald so far: Max Patch.
[Note: this has been done; check out Kim's picture post!]
So I decided to take a "zero" day here in Erwin. So far it's been wonderful. I came into Erwin yesterday at about 3:30pm after a 16-mile day, checked in to Uncle Johnny's Hostel (which is fantastic, by the way), and relaxed the rest of the evening. Bleach, Bigfoot, Hatteras Jack, & I all went to a pizza place where I got an all-you-can-eat salad bar and pizza sticks. I ate soooo much. And then to top it off, I ate a pint of Moose Tracks ice cream while we all sat in the bunk & watched some hilarious '80s Arnold Swart (however you spell it) movie. LIfe couldn't have been much better. Oh, & we have a fire going in the stove, too. It was just lovely. And so today is my zero day, and I'm just writing letters & hanging out. I hope to make it to the library to use the internet today. I'd love to be hiking in this weather, but I know I need the day off. This means I am staying 2 nights here... but what's really cool is most hostels will offer a work-4-stay, and so one of my nights is paid for because I scrubbed toilets & shower curtains this morning. How about that? I enjoyed doing some work that didn't involve hiking up a huge hill. It felt really good.
Oh, a few things about food that I wanted to tell you. One day when the weather was nasty, Bleach went into Gatlinburg while I toughed it out in a shelter, and I guess that day, in 16 hours, he ate 15,000 calories. Can you imagine? And I know he won't gain a pound. It really is amazing what days in the woods of hiking mountains will do to your body & metabolism.
Well, by the time you get this, I will have hopefully conquered another tough section of the trail: the part that includes Roan Mountain. The trail goes back up over 6000 ft in elevation, and word on the street is that there is about 2-3 feet of snow up there right now. The weather has definitely turned, though, & so I'm hoping most of that is melted off by the time I get there, but I'll have to let you know in the next letter.
Oh, you'll have to tell Christi that I have climbed over quite a few "knobs." She'll appreciate that.
[Christi, please read above. Thank you.;)]
Well, time to go. We are all getting a ride into town to get some chow & be bums at the library.
Kimberly Ann
3 Comments:
WOW! kim it seems that you are conquering a lot being out there. wonderful! i hope your learning alot about yourself. everything here is going ok i think. well for me its not bad. only a few more weeks of school left and i am trying to bust my butt to get things finish. keep up the good hike and see you in a couple of months.
By
Justin, at 4:50 PM
Kim,
I am so proud of you! I am currently reading a funny book about the AT called "A Walk in the Woods." It is about one man's experience on the AT. He mentioned the rock wall called "Big Butt" and I was so excited because of the picture you posted of that same rock wall. I hope that you continue to keep your good attitude and keep on truckin'. This is quite an accomplishment and such a unique experience. I love reading the updates on your blog. You are an inspiration, and I truly mean that.
Love,
Pam (Abbott) Carver
By
Anonymous, at 9:40 AM
LOL! Does anybody actually call them "knobs"? That's awesome. heehee...
By
Christi Lee, at 2:18 PM
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