Panch's Big Adventure

Sunday, April 7

April 4th - Day 34

We decided it was best to take a chill 15 mile day and hike to cheap hostel because we heard it was going to rain and it would give us the opportunity to dry our gear. After hiking for about 10 minutes, it started to rain. It wasn't that bad because it was light rain. As the rain picked up I noticed the temperature was going down. After about 6 miles or so it was 29 degrees with steady rain and all the trees around me were freezing over. I didn't notice for a while but after touching my hair I noticed that it the water was freezing in my hair. I had frozen drops coming from the luscious bangs. It was quite uncomfortable! Ae all hiked as fast as we could to get to the warm hostel. We got there around 3:00 and it was the coolest hostel I've stayed at so far. It's run by an awesome older man named Bob People's who loves to hike and was full of stories he liked to share with the younger hikers. The hostel had all the amenities most hostels have for a 5 dollar donation. All I wanted was a shower and laundry. Luckily it had both. We stayed for the night and had a great time with the other hikers we hadn't seen in long time.

April 3rd - Day 33

After waking up at Overmountain Shelter Ross, Ben, Coffee Pot, Tarzan, Smuggles and I left around 10:30 (another late start) to Mountaineering Shelter. It was an 18 mile day but we knew there was a lot of people in front of us that were heading to same place. The shelter slept 15 so we thought we would have space. Today's hike was very enjoyable. The weather was good; there was no snow; and we passed an awesome river that went along the trail for a few miles. The beginning of the hike was up some very scenic balds that were famous in North Carolina. You could see for mile. The day was calm and warm. For the past 100 miles or so we have been going across the Tennessee and North Carolina border spending a little time in both states everyday. However, today we left North Carolina for good. It felt great because it was another state we were done with and only had about 80 miles until the Virginia border. Right before the shelter we passed the 400 mile mark. I have walked over 400 miles in just over my first month. Thats a pretty good start. We got to the shelter relatively late and I was the only one to get a spot for the night. I slept on a 3rd story loft that fit 3 comfortably. It was a really well built shelter.

April 2nd - Day 32

While I was in Erwin, Tennessee I got a text from Michael telling us one of his buddy's father from home, Mr. Smith who helps maintain the AT, was going to hike in charcoal and burgers to an awesome shelter called Overmountain Shelter. Mr. Smith had already given us the best road side trail magic a couple days ago that included Mountain Dew, Snickers and other candy, and a cooler full of WHOPPERS. He showed up today with hamburgers right before a big climb and I was so happy, by far best trail magic I've received. It would be a 23.9 mile day to Overmountain but the hamburgers and the fact we heard it was a really cool shelter would keep me motivated. It was also the one month anniversary I have been hiking so I thought it was appropriate to have a big hiking day as a celebration. The day went by pretty slow. We had to do a long climb towards the end of the day that would take us over 6000 feet elevation, which meant that the snow and ice we thought was over was still very present. It was a long day, about 11 hours of hiking. I got to the shelter around 8:00 and there was a burger saved for me so I was excited for that. Overmountain Shelter is an old barn converted to an enormous shelter that could sleep around 50 (if we tried) but there were only about 30 people sleeping in there that night. It was the longest day I've done so far but it was well worth it. We were back in the big group that we had been in before and the shelter was very cool.