Allagash, Jen and Phils 2023 AT Hike

Day 26 Apr 27, Days miles 12.6 AT Mile 223.4 Hike time 7hrs Camped at Tri Corner Knob shelter Last night was the first time we stayed in a shelter and was quite pleasant, everyone was nice, no one smoked in the shelter and all went to bed at hiker midnight (8 pm). So today was another cold, wet, rainy, muddy, miserable day. We did make good time with an average speed of 1.8mph!  We only did 12 miles because you have to camp at a shelter and that was the best distance foe us to do.  Options were 8 miles (too short), 12 miles and the 20 miles(to far!). We were in the clouds for almost all day but did get about 3 minutes on one ridge to have a view. Alot of today was walking on the top of ridges that are like knife edge on Katahadin, very cool. We made it to the shelter just before 4pm and it started to pour from just a steady rain. All fed and set up we were in our sleeping bags by 6pm. As the evening wore on more an...

Day 25 Apr 26, Days miles 15.3 AT Mile 210.8 Hike time 11hrs Camped at Icewater Spring shelter It was a day of adjectives, cold, rainy, muddy, slippery, windy day. Did I say it was cold? Today was a big day again, crossed into a new state(not yesterday) at Newfound Gap. Climbed clingmans dome highest point on the AT, crossed the 200 mile milestone too. We did not bother climbing the dome viewing platform as there was so much fog/clouds and no view so we just marched on, seemingly still up!  How! One exciting thing that happened as we crossed NewFound Gap there is a parking lot with a trash bin and bathrooms!  Never thought we would be so excited about those two items. We did get one view before we were socked in the clouds. Then this happened. Some of the climbing today. We stayed in the Ice Water Spring shelter to avoid having to set up and tear down in the rain as it's expected to be real...

Day 24 Apr 25 Days miles 14.7 AT mile 195.5 Hike time 9hr 8-5 Camped at Siler Bald Shelter 2 days in and 30 miles done. Second day in the Smokies and it was still uphill hiking all day. I honestly didn't write anything down for the day other than the stats of the day as I was dead tired after settling for the evening. Three miles into hike from Russell shelter. Did I mention it was alot of up! Jen checking on her Amazon order ;) We read about this old school graffiti and we saw it! Taking a break at Derrick Knob shelter. We did do another 15 mile day so that's great!

Day 23 Apr 24 Days miles 14.5AT mile 180.8 Hike time 8hr 830-430 Camped at Russell Field Shelter So many milestones today: Entered the Smokies Finished a second state we are in Tennessee! Hiked our furthest yet Hiked our fasted average, 1.8mph! Saw our first large game animal, a deer. Also got our trail names I'm Misplace and Jen is Finder. The day started out great, the first shuttle to the trail from Fontana Resort was 9am and with a long 14.5 mile day we wished we could get an  earlier start.  We got ready early and went up to the lodge at 7:30 to make sure we would be on the first shuttle, and since no cell service or wifi at our cabin we figured we could catch up with the internet.  While there we saw a fellow hiker Evac who is from Maine who we met yesterday.  He said he spoke to a shuttle driver that was off today but agreed to give him and another hiker a ride at 8am, we asked if we could be included and he said he would ask.  He then went off ...

Day 22 Apr 23 Days miles 0 AT mile 164.3 Today was a zero spent at the Fontana Village Resort at a cabin and going around catching up with hiking friends and getting ready for tomorrow. Cool seeing the clouds roll over the mountain ridge. Now how did this get here! Allagash gets picked up today at 4pm for her kennel resort stay. She probably will be SAD but if she knew she was missing 7 days hiking huge mountains and probably most in the cold in rain it appears, she would be happy. Yes weather is cold and looks like on Wednesday it will be raining for the rest of our hike in the Smokies.  We hope to do in 6 days but may take 7. In preparing for the Smokies we are leaving anything we do not need with the kennel, its feeling like 10lbs of stuff!  Should help us move faster and further each day. We checked out the hiker box and got some things we could use like we borrowed some shaving cream, some gold bond powder, ...

Day 21 Apr 22 Days miles 6 AT mile 164.3 Hiking Hours 4.5 Staying at the Fontana  Village Resort Cabins We need to meet the person at the kennel picking Allagash up and it was a logistical challenge to set a date/time.  She will get picked up tomorrow, Sunday so being it poured last night and we are filthy and haven't had a shower in 6 days!  So we are zeroing (not hiking any miles) tomorrow to clean up, dry up and resupply for the Smokies, which we will start hiking into it on Monday. Today was a fairly easy day some elevation gain but about 4 miles down into the Gap where Fontana dam is located.   We stealth camped a mile before this shelter Cable Gap, it looks like one of the original ones, hikers said the roof leaked like a seive! Made it! Allagash was excited to see a shuttle van and happily hopped in and didn't say any bad words to anyone in it!.  She also loved sleeping on th...

Day 20 Apr 21 Days miles 10.9 (I say 11!) AT mile 158.3 Camped at Yellow Creek Gap stealth Hiking Hours  8.5 many breaks! We have 17 miles to Fontana  Dam where Allagash AKA Maddam gets picked up by the kennel so we wanted to get as far as we could today to make Saturdays hike shorter as we have a cabin waiting for us. We got up early in the dark packing up to get an early start and beat the heat of the sun, we were on the trail at 7! A record for us. On the apps map it looked like an easy roller coaster hike but right off there was a hard straight up climb, ugh! The uphill climb of yesterday continued! The most notable thing that happened today is after taking a break at Brown Fork Gap shelter, Jen was saying one experience of the trail she would pass having was to see a snake.  Shortly after that she let out a screech and jogged past saying rattle snake.  I heard and saw it and held onto Allagashs collar and rushed her by.  I've never see Jen t...

Day 19 Apr 20 Days miles 8 AT mile 147.4 Stayed at Locus Cove Gap campsite Notable 2600ft Ascent, 1900 descent We climbed up a double peak mt today in the heat, Cheoah Bald, at 5052 ft elevation. It was tough on all of us with the heat. The thing about the sun down here is the high noon hot sun lasts from 11 to 3pm! Note Jen finally saw a mountain marker! We made it to the Locus Cove Gap campsite that has water and called it good for the day. Several hikers we knew and several new ones also joined us at this campsite and we stayed up to hiker midnight (8pm) and chatted it up.  For my memory there is Caveman, No name Michael, Magic from Germany, Firefly also from Germany.  We have only 17 miles to reach Fontana Dam where Allagash is getting picked up for her kennel stay while we do the Smokies. She won't get picked up till either Sunday or Monday so no rush! Logistics is the second hardest p...