Day 64 - Friday, May 14, 2021

We ended up camping in the back of the truck last night staying at the Mountain Harbour B&B Hostel in Roan Mountain, TN. It was actually very nice as far as hostels go. It had the usual common bunk area as well as several private rooms in the lodge and bunk house.  It was only $10 to camp which included hot showers and use of the main lodge - free WiFi, coffee, electric to charge your electronic devices, laundry room and a boot dryer. You couldn’t beat this deal with a stick 😉.  It also had a well stocked general store. We added an buffet breakfast ($13) for today. We may stay here again tonight, it all depends  how wet we get as rain is the forecast in the afternoon.      

It was 36° when we woke up but I was snug as a bug in a rug in my sleeping bag… until I got out of it 🥶.

And look who we ran into at breakfast... Meredith “Sunny”Eberhart... had a great conversation with Sunny sharing a meal 👍🏻.




A very humble, unique individual and Ambassador of the AT.


The daily breakfast buffet cooked for the hikers... amazing meal.


We met “Soup” who is from Central Florida. He left Springer on April 1st. “Soup” is a Type 1 diabetic so eating healthy on the trail can be challenging for him at times. 

Today we continued hiking from Walnut Mountain Road (405.7 NoBo) to Bear Branch Road (395.5 NoBo) for a total of 10.2 miles. Had a late start but it’s no worry as we should be done within 5 hours. We finally started hiking at 11 am which also gave it more time to warm up; the temperature was already 52°.





Turtle Power under Mountaineer Falls.



You see many things on the trail when you watch each step you take. 






The North Carolina/Tennessee border.









I seldom take blue blaze trail side  hikes off the AT trail but going to the Jones Falls was worth it.



The 400 mile milepost from Springer Mountain... we’re beginning to close in on the southern terminus 🙏🏻.





Just chuggin along...





Views from Walnut Mountain.







Making our final descent of the day...



Having my days end treat... I certainly don’t drink it for the taste 🤢😂.

We finished hiking at 4 pm. The high for the day was 57°... another great day for hiking 👍🏻.

And we went back to camp at the Harbour B&B Hostel. Like I said, you can’t beat this place with a stick!








Till next time.... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋


“You gotta have passion for life and passion for something that you're going to get up and do,".    

                                Meredith “Sunny” Eberhart  





 

Comments

  1. ErinMay 15, 2021 at 12:33 PM

    Hey splinter do you like that protein drink? Just wondering!!!! Love you!!! Happy hiking 🥾!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 163 - Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Image
Looks like we may get wet the next couple days but short of a hurricane we will be hiking to stay on track for an October 8th completion of our thru hike 🙏🏻.  Today was not quite a “Nero” but it was a coincidence that it was shorter aligning with our slack packing parking 😉. We hiked  from  PA 645 (1194.0 NoBo) to Pass Under PA 72 & Across PA 443 (1183.2 NoBo) for a total of 10.8 miles. We began hiking at 9:00 am under threatening skies. Pre-gaming thanks to some Trail Magic left in the parking lot. Since before I have been on the trail I can’t recall the last time I drank a real Coke or any soda for that matter; it’s nearly the norm now as you want to consume all the carbs you can 🤭. And it was too early for the PBR 😂. Crossing the old canal at Swatara Gap. Going underneath I-81. The trail wasn’t as rocky today… and I’m not complaining 🥵. Turtle Power is doing his part to save the environment as he has a new aversion of killing every Spotted Laternfly  he ...
Read more

Day 95 - Friday, June 25, 2021

Image
There are definitely pros and cons when you compare sleeping in a shelter vs sleeping in your tent. Some pros are:  you will stay drier in inclement weather in a shelter (notice I didn’t say “dry”,  just drier or not as wet 🙄) , you can break camp quicker in the am - not packing up a tent, you have more room (if shelter isn’t crowded) and a biggie is -  you can take a chance and hope to always use the shelters and not pack a tent optimizing base pack weight (this could also be the #1 con if you had to sleep outside in the rain w/o a tent 🤭) just to name a few.  Some cons are: sleeping on a hard floor - which I believe is the #1 con against shelters (getting a good nights sleep is key to rest and rejuvenate your weary body), could be noisy, the little varmints 🐁 sneaking around in the middle of the night,  some hikers don’t have a clue about maintaining their “personal” space or they just don’t care, on occasion you have to deal with some “personalities” (I ju...
Read more

The Final Chapter

Image
My favorite scene on the Appalachian Trail near Petites Gap/Highcock Knob, VA, March 26, 2021 (Day 31). Reaching Springer Mountain, the Southern Terminus, June 13, 2021 (Day 90). Summiting Mt. Katahdin, the Northern Terminus, August 25, 2021 (Day 131). Completing our thru hike at Harpers Ferry on October 9, 2021 (Day 174). In the Beginning … This adventure actually started about two years ago in the fall of 2019 when Jim asked me about how I’d like to hike the Appalachian Trail with him. I gave it a good 2 seconds of consideration before I wasn’t politically correct at all in my answer telling him NO…LOL. I was just getting over an injury with my right Achilles tendon as I ruptured it a couple years prior and long distance hiking was the farthest thing on my mind to do.  Now lets back up about 57 years when Jim and I first met. His dad owned and operated a local campground, Coldbrook Campsites in Port Leyden, New York. Port Leyden was also the home of my father and he knew Jim’s da...
Read more