Back in Georgia, I ran into a couple of ATC workers who let me pet their dog and I stayed to have a good chat with them. I had just passed Neels Gap and was feeling good about my hike. It was great not to be part of the “twenty-five percent” who abandoned the trail at Mountain Crossing, but I admitted it was only a small part of the journey. One of the workers said the following milestones were also great starting points: Franklin, the NOC, Fontana, the Smokies. . . He said that if I got to Virginia safely, my chances of finishing would increase. So I began to think of the hikes between these points as a series of crucibles that a hiker must pass through to emerge on the other side with trail legs.
Leaving Franklin, there was another big crucible behind me, but the hike from Winding Stair Gap to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (the NOC) started with a brutal climb, as did the hike to Fontana Dam afterward.
My strategy was to hike to NOC in two days and then hike to Fontana two days later. I resupplied in Franklin for four days to do this hike. (I now consider it a flawed strategy, forcing myself to take those hills with four days of food when I could have resupplied at the NOC and only carried two. But I guess it made sense at the time.)
I knew that the NOC had a riverside restaurant, as well as a vendor where hikers could print out the permit required to hike the Smokies. I was going to walk around, stuff myself with restaurant food, and then print my pass at the clothing store, before spending the night at a must-visit hostel: Rambling Roots.
Another bites the dust
With my plan fully formed, a new hat on my head (replacing the one I’d lost days before), a new Garmin inReach ringing on my shoulder, I was ready. Shortly after beginning my hike, I ran into my friend C., the retired Army veteran with no trail name, coming in the opposite (wrong?) direction.
«Hey! I just finished my zero in Franklin,» I said. «Where are you going?»
She said it was over. «It’s cold. There were icicles. CHANGE THEM! Plus, I need to finish up some business with the VA.»
We talked a little more. I planned to do the Camino de Santiago when it was warmer. I wished him luck and he mentioned seeing the post with my trail name on Facebook. The thread exploded with every user commenting on route name suggestions. She added hers and called out to me as she started walking again: “You should say ‘BOLO!’ Read the comments! I had seen the comments. BOLO means «Be on the lookout.» Funny, but I was already introducing myself as «Rescue.»
new friends
I kept walking, climbing the long hill, planting my trekking poles, taking short, steady steps to the beat of the KPop Demon Hunters song “Golden” that was playing on a loop in my head because it was saying “Up, up, up.”
My morale was good and I arrived at a fire tower where I met a couple of former hikers who were doing a section to commemorate their previous hike together: Treats and Barbie. Treats, showing how he had earned his name, offered me a donut from a Dunkins box he was carrying. I chose a Boston cream.
At the end of the day, I arrived at camp at Cold Springs Shelter, where I met up with C.’s former hiking partner, and we were both sorry that he had gone off trail. I pitched my tent up the hill from the shelter and, to my surprise, found the missing black hat wrapped inside my tent. I was excited and lucky, but now I had an extra hat.
I went back down to the shelter to heat up dinner and chat with the other campers. Barbie and Treats joined in, as did a few others, including the man from Portugal I had been hearing about for the past week. He had a head of gray hair and a permanent smile. He spoke perfect Queen English, as if he had walked straight off the set of a BBC show, and introduced himself as Good Vibes. He was personable and boisterous, and I really enjoyed his company. He left a can of Guinness to cool in the spring next to the shelter.
The air grew cold as dusk approached, so I retired early to my tent to warm myself under my quilt.
The next day I got up and made a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee next to my tent while I packed my bags. Once I began my hike, I fell into a rut and only stopped to photograph a well-camouflaged bird I had seen. That’s when another hiker caught up to me. I explained what I saw, but by then he was gone, well hidden in the undergrowth.
«Looks like it was a grouse,» the hiker said. He was tall, with short blonde hair. He introduced himself as «Peaks.»
We continued on together and, surprisingly to me, he kept up my pace, even as I climbed the hills. I offered to move aside so he could pass, but he liked my pace. We had a great conversation about ourselves that led us to discuss some current events, and it was interesting to see how informed I was on some of the open source geopolitical topics I followed in my former life as an intelligence professional.
In the end, he not only kept up with me going up the hills, he survived, so I stopped to drink some water while he continued. I found him at the top of the climb, where I saw him enjoying the view from a rickety fire tower with another hiker, a young woman named Lucky Dragon. Somehow we got to the discussion about carrying instruments, and I said I knew someone who was hiking the Pinhoti Trail on his way to start the AT, carrying a ukulele.
«Are you a Trek blogger?» -Picos asked. «Because I also know a guy who walks along the Pinhoti Trail who carries a ukulele.»
It turned out that Peaks and I already knew each other through The Trek bloggers’ group chat, but now we met in person. (The hiker with the ukulele is Justin Sleep, and Peaks is Chase Peaks.) Peaks moved on, but mentioned that he had a reservation at Rambling Roots, where I also planned to stay.
A little further down the trail I met Good Vibes again, and we began walking and talking, discussing the wonders of nature before us and the good fortune we had to be on the Appalachian Trail. I hadn’t seen many animals in my time, but the day was warm and Good Vibes was a good luck charm, so we were able to find a colorful lizard and a small snake while we walked together.
The NOC and Rambling Roots
He and I arrived at the NOC at lunchtime, which was perfect timing. We crossed the street to the bridge and saw the River’s End restaurant nearby. Hanging our backpacks and poles on the stakes outside, we went inside to ask for a table. There was a wait, so Good Vibes and I walked up to the bar and ordered beers.
Soon after we sat down at a table and ordered large burgers and another round of draft beers. It turned out that we had a lot in common, as Good Vibes was half German and I also had a lot of German family, as I grew up spending a lot of time at my Oma’s house.
The food was great, the conversation was great, and when it was over, I had my reservation at Rambling Roots. Good Vibes said he felt ready to continue on the trail after lunch, and would tackle the notoriously brutal NOC climb on an afternoon hike.
Shortly after we said goodbye, I met Peaks in front of the store, where he picked up the Rambling Roots shuttle. I hadn’t had time to print my Smokies pass at the clothing store, but I was able to do so the next day before starting my hike.
We arrived at Rambling Roots at a great time. There were four guests in total, and Bookie, the owner of Rambling Roots, was in a lull before her busy season, so she relaxed and hung out with us. He took us into town for dinner at a food truck and beer at the adjacent tavern. Peaks and I took a photo together, and one of the other guests livened things up by wearing axolotl pajamas from the borrowed rack that accompanied us into town.
It was a nice evening, and on top of it all, Bookie helped me print out my Smokies permit right there at the lodge so I could head straight to the trail the next morning.
Starting the Fontana Crucible
The next day, he dropped Peaks and me off with the guy in the axolotl suit to begin our uphill climb. As she said goodbye, she offered me the option of a fist bump or a hug, and I accepted the hug. The spikes went up after we separated from Bookie and I honestly didn’t expect to see him again, as fast as he walked.
For me, the day was hard work. I was prepared to leave the NOC. What I was not prepared for was the subsequent climb. I had limited myself by setting a goal of making it to Fontana on the second day, and the shelters weren’t spaced out well, so I had to stop much earlier than I wanted to or push my way to my highest mileage day yet. I opted for the latter.
As I reached mile 14 of the day, I encountered another steep climb right after a road junction that I wasn’t prepared for. I later learned that this was the famous section of Jacob’s Ladder. It was a fight the whole way, and I struggled, angry and cursing for the whole fight.
When I finally arrived at the Brown Fork Gap Shelter, I was happy to run into Good Vibes again, as well as the hiking couple Moss Man and Chapstick, whose entries I had been seeing in the shelter logs, and a mother-daughter duo from Canada, Mudder Goose and Newfie. Better company improved my post-climb mood, but after the rough day, I got lazy at the camp setup and slept in the shelter that night.
The big topic we discussed was the weather forecast for the next day, which was going to be bad. He had survived the NOC crucible and was in the middle of the Fontana crucible, but the worst was yet to come. . .
