Walnut Mountain Shelter to Hot Springs - AT Day 2

Day two started out great. It didn't suck until later. We woke up in the shelter, dry despite the night's downpour, and I miraculously felt well-rested despite not really sleeping very well. I made instant oatmeal and hot tea for breakfast, laced up my boots and off we went. We had originally planned on doing around nine miles, but the people we stayed with were all headed past the next shelter to Hot Springs, a town, to eat a real meal and sleep in a real bed, so Jill and I decided 13 miles couldn't be that bad. Besides, from the campsite we had one steep climb up to about 5000 feet, and then it was about 3000 feet downhill to town. Downhill! That sounded easy! We set out optimistic. Look how smiley Jill is!

We learned a lot of things on this trip that will make my next hike easier. One of these is to pack a HELL OF A LOT LESS than you think you need. Another is that downhill is just as hard as uphill. And sometimes it's worse. The climb up to Bluff Mountain, the highest point of the day, was hard. And then it WAS all downhill. And the downhill sucked.

This attractive photo was taken with 6.6 miles to go. We did figure out that the trekking poles we saw other people with were not just for old people and cripples, so me and Jill each found ourselves two sticks to use. Not quite as nice as the real deal, but they made a huge difference climbing hills, and helped absorb some of the shock going downhill. Trekking poles are on my list of things to buy before hiking trip number two.
Although the hike itself felt brutal, we saw some cool things along the way. This bear print was in the mud near a spring where we stopped for water. It kind of freaked me out, but it was so perfect I figured I should take a picture of it.

I'd been making an effort to talk a lot, or to sing when me and Jill weren't talking, so as not to come upon any bears unawares. Some people wear a bell for the same purpose, but that just seemed really obnoxious. Although, really, my singing got pretty obnoxious. Especially when I thought I heard a noise in the bushes, and started singing louder and louder. The bear track prompted a substantial uptick in the amount of obnoxious singing.

On the gentler side of nature, there was a big luna moth chilling on the side of the trail at one point. So beautiful!!
Eventually we rounded the far side of the mountain, and could hear the town in the valley below. We could hear it for an agonizingly long time before seeing it, and we could see it for an agonizingly long time before actually getting down off the mountain and walking into it. To make sure I felt as utterly depleted as possible before getting to our destination, an hour or so before we actually got to town, it started raining. Jill was doing better than me, and was a good bit ahead by the time I staggered down the mountain, soaking wet from rain and sweat, exhausted, with my feet hurting more than they ever had.

It was almost 8:00 by the time we sat down in a diner to eat. We ate quickly, then walked up the hill to Elmer's, a kind of bed and breakfast for hikers, where Jill and I got a room, a real bed, and a shower. I felt kind of pathetic being as excited as I was about a bed and a shower when I'd had a shower and woken up in a bed only the day before. But still. For our first time backpacking ever, 13 miles in one shot was kind of ambitious. I was glad for a bed, and I slept like a baby.

We left a lot of food behind at Elmer's for other hikers to grab if they wanted. I sadly abandoned two big ziplocs of homemade granola I'd made two days before. The weight of the left-behind food was significant though, and I was optimistic that the next day's hike would be easier with a somewhat lighter pack.

Appalachian Trail Hike - Day 1

Jill and I started our Appalachian Trail hike last week by getting up at four in the morning and driving to Devil Fork Gap, on the TN/NC border. We'd made arrangements with a guy at a local outfitters to pick us up and drive us to our starting point - my little Camry would stay in a gravel pull-off on the side of the road until we hiked the 56 miles back to her. The weather was sunny and clear and gorgeous by the time Jill and I pulled off to wait for our shuttle. We took a few pictures, watched some guys cut tree limbs away from power lines, and waited for our ride to show up.
The trail crosses 352/212 at this point, and heads north out of the woods (where we'd be coming from) over a stile, through a field and onward up to Maine. I was a little nervous getting started, but really just because I had never done anything like this before, like, ever, and had no idea what to expect. I've done lots of day hikes, and lots of car camping, but I've never hiked out somewhere with all my stuff on my back, never camped more than a short walk away from a road, and I'd never hiked more than maybe five or six miles in a stretch. We were setting out to do 56 miles, over eight days (we would actually wind up cutting this down to a quicker-paced five and a half days), and I had no idea if my body was up for the challenge. Or even what the challenge was, exactly.

Our shuttle driver Dan rolled up from Hot Springs, NC, a little town directly on the Appalachian Trail. He drove us the hour and a half to our starting point at Max Patch. As he drove, he talked. Constantly. He told us about a guy and a girl who hiked up to Max Patch one day, because the guy was going to propose to the girl at the top. They got to the top, a storm blew up, they both got zapped with lightning, the girl died, and the guy had to crawl back to the road because he couldn't use his legs. He also talked about hunting mushrooms (something I really really need to learn about), and collecting bee balm to make tea from (he pointed out the red flowers along the road) and about the reintroduction of elk to the region.

We arrived at Max Patch, hauled our packs out the minivan, and Dan drove off. And then up the hill we went!
It was basically a path that went straight up. We got to the top incredibly winded, sweaty and after all of 15 minutes or so of walking, wondering what in the hell we'd signed up for. Six days later, I can look back and say psh, poor little body hadn't gotten in shape yet. But for someone whose only physical activity is running 2 or 3 miles a few times a week...carrying a giant (wayyyy too heavy) pack up a hill in the hot sun wasn't quite the gentle introduction to backpacking I'd imagined.

We moved off over the hill, through a clearing, and down into the woods. It rained. We put on ponchos and pack covers, as it started to pour, and kept on walking. A flock of wild turkeys flew up out of a ravine as we walked through.

Jill bought a water pump, so once the rain let up we stopped and topped off our Nalgenes from a stream, where I almost stepped on the first of many salamanders we'd see over the next week. I kind of love reptiles and amphibians, and I got overly excited about this salamander and took a zillion pictures. How cool is he?!
Our first day's hike was only 7.5 miles, and we made it to Walnut Mountain Shelter by late afternoon. One of the best parts of the trip, and one I really hadn't anticipated, was the cool people you meet, eat dinner with, and then sleep next to, at the shelters. Our friends the first night were Nick, on the left in the photo, a guy from Australia trying for 1000 miles in the three months his visa lasts, and Seth and Rachel, a brother and sister from Asheville. Rachel was only 15, but made me feel like a huge baby for thinking our little seven mile hike was hard. She and her brother had done 20 miles that day, and she arrived with the most hideous collection of blisters I'd ever seen. Between her and her brother doing 20 miles that day, and Nick on his way to cover 1000, I realized I was going to have to push myself a lot harder if I wanted to cover 56 miles.

My first night sleeping in a shelter wasn't very comfortable, and I slept in fits and starts. There are mice in most of the shelters. We heard them running around the walls and across the sleeping platform, and I felt one run across my feet at one point. Nick had one run through his hair. There was a big rain storm all night, which was actually kind of soothing and made me feel safe. The noise of the rain on the tin roof drowned out any sounds from the forest that might have been scary, and I told myself that if it was pouring rain surely the bears would stay in their little bear dens and not come out. I had never slept this far away from civilization (I know 7.5 miles isn't exactly far, but from the middle of the woods it felt far), and it was a kind of cool feeling to wake up and realize that I hadn't died, I was safe and dry (thanks to a tarp we hung over the door) and I didn't need an apartment and a bed to sleep. It sounds obvious, maybe, but when you've really only ever slept in buildings, or in big roomy tents staked next to cars, it was a freeing thing to realize.

The Adventure Approaches

Jill is on her way from Chicago as I type. She'll get here tomorrow. We leave the next day. Holy hell.

I went to REI today, spent a lot of money, and bought a lot of stuff. Despite my Dave Ramsey-indoctrinated hatred of spending money, I was okay with my purchases. All of it is stuff we need - no backcountry ice cream maker, or camp kitchen espresso machine - and it's stuff that now I own and won't have to buy the next time I go camping (which hopefully is sooner than next summer). When I got home, I watched some youtube videos about how to hang a bear bag. Then I read up on lightning safety. Then I pulled out my maps and freaked out...but just a little.

Things I am afraid of: 1) tornadoes/lightning storms/flying branches/hail, 2) bears, 3) dehydration and heat stroke, 4) ticks carrying Lyme disease.

Things I am excited about: 1) being outside with trees and birds and such, 2) the most gorgeous mountains ever, 3) watching the sun rise and set on a landscape that isn't my driveway, 4) not looking at a computer for a week, 5) knowing that I can live just fine without all the civilizedness I'm used to.

I bought a little bottle of iodine tablets, and a little bottle of 'neutralizer' tablets that you put in after the iodine is done working. The neutralizer tablets are just ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and they really do magically make the water not taste like iodine (something about molecules bonding, I think). So that's nice, because I was not trying to buy the $90 UV light water purifier device, but I didn't much want to have to gag down my water.

Dinners are going to be instant mashed potatoes (of which I have fond memories from my wisdom tooth extraction recovery...and they have cheesy ones!) and those foil packets of tuna and salmon. Got some quinoa too. I made a big bag of trail mix, and I'm going to make another bag or two of granola. Peanut butter was buy-one-get-one-free at Harris Teeter, so I've got two jars. I'm going to miss fresh vegetables for a week, but I'm pretty sure I won't starve.

I'm really excited, but I think I'll be more excited once we make it through the first night and haven't died, starved, fallen gravely ill, been mauled by anything, zapped by anything, or had our tent blown away by gale force winds. I just have to keep reminding myself that people lived in the woods for thousands and thousands of years just fine before the white people showed up. And they weren't, as far as I know, routinely zapped by lightning or eaten by bears. Granted, they had some serious skills, but the fact is nature isn't some hostile, alien place. We're just oddly isolated from it, and so it just seems a little scary. But. I'm really excited to go get acquainted with nature a little better.

Summer is actually here, though, which is pretty surreal given how long I've been looking forward to it (since sometime around the first day of school this past August). Speaking of, I still don't know where I'm going to be next year. My friends at West Meck who were in the same situation have both found out their placements, and my email to our principal has thus far gone unanswered, so I'm getting kind of antsy. There are now social studies jobs posted internally, but I feel like if I signed a contract then someone, somewhere must have a job for me, right?

Custom Vans for Portal fans

The shoes I made for my sister were much admired by her friends at college. I was happy just to get the compliments, but a friend of hers asked if I could paint shoes for him, too. Given that I'm also happy to make a couple bucks where I can, I agreed. He wanted me to paint characters from some video game called Portal. I don't play video games, and had never heard of Portal, but evidently one of the characters from this game, the Weighted Companion Cube, is very popular. I googled it to find reference photos, and discovered crocheted versions, costume versions, cakes made to look like it, plush toys, one made out of chain mail, and so on. (I didn't see any shoes though....!) The other character is some kind of robotic guide with a British accent named Wheatley. I don't know. It was all very confusing. But...it doesn't matter if I understand the appeal of this Portal game or not. I just had to put the pictures on the shoes.
I'm very happy with how they turned out. And given my incredible ability to procrastinate any artistic endeavor that might take longer than twenty minutes, it was good to have the accountability of someone paying me for them. Plus, it's always fun to start from nothing and wind up with something that looks cool. Anyone want some shoes?

I'm 26, and I have a job (again!)

The school year is over! I write that with an exclamation point of surprise and near disbelief, rather than the exclamation point of relief. And that's a good thing. I ended the year loving my job, loving my kids, and hoping to God that I'd get the chance to do the same job (better) next year. Because there are approximately 389 things I will do better the second time around. I spent the last two weeks administering the end-of-course standardized test (this included giving five read alouds, in which you read, aloud, 100 questions and 400 answer choices) and saying goodbye to kids with "I don't know if I'll be back next year." I'd been reading the Observer religiously, hoping for news on the Board of County Commissioner's budget, and found out they'd be making a decision on my birthday, this past Wednesday. The day after my birthday I found out they'd be restoring a bunch of positions. And then on Friday...I got a contract in my email! The county voted to give the district enough money to bring back many of the jobs they had initially said would be cut. Not everyone got their job back, although the State still has to solidify their budget, but I got mine, and I'm grateful. Well, I don't know yet if I got MY job back, but I got SOME job back. I could be back at West Meck teaching Civics, which is what I really want, but I could be placed at some other school, teaching World History. I don't get any say in it though, so I get to wait and see. We're supposed to get an email this week with our assignments.

But for now, I'm ready for the summer. Tuesday is the last day I have to show up for work. And a week after that I'll be heading out with my friend Jill to hike for a week. Not sure if I'm anywhere near ready for that, but what the hell...I've got a backpack, a sleeping bag, and boots. Figure I'm good to go, right? Day after I get back from that little excursion, me and Sarah set out across the country to California, and then at the end of July it looks like me, the sibs, and our dad are heading down to Parrish, FL to visit my dad's side of the family. I've got a nice little summer planned out, and now that I know I'll have a paycheck come August, I can start to relax and enjoy it!

How to make granola!

So, since the only commercial breakfast cereal I can eat these days is Rice Chex (and Corn Chex, but it's not as good), I've been making a lot of granola. It's gluten-free if you aren't sensitive to oats (which sometimes are manufactured on equipment that does wheat and has trace amounts of gluten in it). Oats have been no problem for me and my joints, so I've been eating a lot of them.

The fun thing about granola is that once you get gist of making it, you can make it with anything you want. My mom made this when we were kids, with just oats, almonds and sunflower seeds, so I took the basic idea and threw in whatever else I could scrounge up. The flax seeds are for nutrition rather than any exciting flavor (they've got the Omega-3s and a lot of fiber) but they add a little extra crunch. Here's the recipe I've been making lately...

Coconut-Almond Granola

4 TB of salted butter (if you're anti-butter for some reason, you could use vegetable oil, but I will recommend you to the Weston Price folks who, slight bit of kookery or not, have convinced me that real animal fats are good and that fake, freaky margarine-style fats are evil.)
3 TB honey (or more)
2 cups of rolled oats
1 cup of sliced almonds
1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup of raw sunflower seed kernels
1/4 cup of flax seeds
2/3 cup raisins (or however much you want)
2/3 cup Craisins (or any other dried fruit you feel like)

Here's how it works:

1. Melt the butter and the honey in a big sauce pan.
2. Dump in everything except the raisins/Craisins/dried fruit.
3. Stir it all around thoroughly until everything is coated in butter and honey. The mix should look glossy but not wet, and still be crumbly.
4. Spread the granola out onto a jelly roll pan. Bake at 325 for 10 or 15 minutes or until its mostly golden brown, or a little darker. (Check on it periodically...ovens are tricky, and you don't want it to burn. You can bake it at 200 for longer, if you'd rather be more careful.)
5. Take it out of the oven, and mix it up while it's still warm or it'll cool together in clumps. It will stop being sticky as it cools. Once it's cool, dump it in an airtight container (or a leftover Quaker Oatmeal tub) and add whatever raisins, Craisins, or other dried fruit you want.

Done and done.


I eat mine with milk, like a regular cereal. Or with yogurt. Or straight out of the tub.

I miss Billy Mays.

Last night my passenger side mirror nailed the trash cans for the last time.
So, I did what I always do when something breaks: I called my brother. After a quick photo email exchange and discussion of adhesive options, I picked up some epoxy. They didn't have Mighty Putty, so I had to get another brand. I hoped Billy Mays wouldn't be too disappointed in me.

Within two hours I had the epoxy rolled out, smushed into my mirror, tweeter speaker removed, screws unscrewed...
...and I fixed it all by myself! I feel like a little kid who like, ties their own shoes for the first time or something. Success.