Since going back out we have upped our mileage. We did 3 days of 12 mile hikes, one 15 mile hike, a 10 and then a 6 mile hike into town. Elliott and I were out for a full 7 days with no shower... yikes. I showed twice today. Dan and I may have poison ivy... we are trying not to scratch it. Pretty much it sucks. If it does not calm down by the next town we will be wiping all of our belongings down with rubbing alcohol (which shouldn't take too long because we keep sending stuff home). I got a new pack yesterday. It is 2.5 lbs lighter then the one i had and packs down smaller. This should make my hike easier each day. Elliott's foot seems to be getting better and he will be getting a new pack hopefully in a week or two.
Today we will be hiking up a mountain about 10 miles. We will go from an elevation of 1,000ish to about 5,000 ft. Uphill is the hardest so today will be interesting. After that is should be relatively soon sailing to Fontana Dam. At this point one of the guys we were hiking with will be heading home, he is a section hiker, and we will miss him.
Well I am running out of time for today. I will try to update in more detail next stop.
Hope everyone had a great Easter!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The views on April 23rd
Karen: Check out that view 5498 ft. up. What a climb. And we only had to ascend 1400 of it.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
More fun from the first few days
Mom, Mary Reible, got all the facts right. Thanks mom!
Here are some fun, and funny situations, we have encountered so far.
Day one- after our ten miles we got to the top of Sassafras Mountain and i said "Elliott set up the tent please." He did and I took a 2 hour nap before I had enough energy to eat dinner... after which I fell back asleep.
Day Two- Dan left early to get to Justice Creek so he could cook breakfast because there was no water on Sassafras Mountain. Elliott and I left about 30 minutes later and after about a mile we passed Hat Rack, another hiker, at which time dog started following us. We assumed it was Hat Rack's dog so we let it hike with us the next mile and a half to the creek. It got there before us and stole Dan's tortilla bag. When Hat Rack arrived we asked if it was his dog... it wasn't. Cooking was quite the challenge with Hiker, this is what we named the dog because it just loved to run on the trail. Four ladies came along and fed Hiker 2 sandwiches so we thought that she would for sure stay with them, but once we started hiking Hiker followed us again. Later a another hiker passed us and we thought that Hiker would follow him so we took a break and let Hiker and the hiker go on ahead. Finally rid of the dog! JK about a half mile down the trail Hiker came running back. Poor thing was so skinny that we couldn't just leave her out there. We waited on a forest road to try to get cars to stop and take her into town, but no luck. So we hiked on. Finally, we got to a paved road and decided enough was enough, though we all loved the dog that adopted us, we had to get rid of her because we couldn't take care of her. Elliott and I started down the mountain road toward a town to find someone who could help us get the dog somewhere safe. After about a mile and a half of road walking we ran into a lady who knew a man that had lost a dog. She called him and he took us back to the parking lot were we left Dan and Hiker. It wasn't his dog, but he was kind enough to take her and get her to a shelter. His son had hiked the trail the year before and had a great time doing it. He also invited us to eat dinner with his family, but we had to keep moving. In all we hiked about 9 miles with Hiker... made for a long second day on the trail.
Day Three- Hiked up Blood Mountain which has the highest elevation on the AT in Georgia. It had a great view! After we hiked down to Neels Gap, the first civilization on the trail after you leave Springer. A man that had hiked the trail the year before donated some money for the hikers to have a good meal so the hostile host cooked up a huge spaghetti dinner with garlic bread, salad and ice cream. This very welcome after 30 miles of hiking. We met a lot of other hikers that night too and were glad that we had only been doing ten mile days instead of 15 because many of the hikers at the hostile were already suffering from injuries.
Day Four - 11 mile day. Elliott's foot started swelling and hurting. We got to Low Gap before the storm hit. That night there was a fierce thunderstorm with rain that just poured on our tent.
Day Five- Everyone woke up with wet gear, but for the most part we all stayed dry in our tents. We got a late start that day because we were drying everything off. This day Elliott's foot hurt to the point that he was struggling down hills. After about ten miles of hiking and not wanting to do another 1.5 mile 1,000 ft incline we chose to hitch hike into Helen so Elliott could see a doctor. We shared a room with Denis, from Iowa, and got a sweet hiker rate. Unfortunately, there were no medical services in Helen, but it was nice to shower and get a full meal.
Day Six- Back on the trail. Elliott decided to start taking aspirin for his foot and wait until Hiawassee to get his foot checked out. We did not lose any mileage due to the town night. We camped in Sassafras Gap with Sam W., Thunder Foot and Panda Bear and had a great time. This was the first night on the trail that we had a campfire. We went to bed later than usual. Hiker midnight is about 9:00 pm.
Day Seven- We hiked 6.5 miles to highway 76 where we ran into Tatter Chip, a man that hiked the whole last year. He had a truck bed full of soda, water, Gatorade, moon pies and cookies. This my friend is what you call Trail Magic. It is almost like and oasis. Tatter Chip was very encouraging. He informed us that if we can make it through Georgia then we can make it through the Smokies. He lost all of his toe nails by the end of Georgia. Luck for us we still have all of ours. :) We hitched into Hiawassee got a hotel room. We all started sifting through our gear to see what we could send home to save on weight.
Day Eight - Zero Day. Elliott is finally getting his foot checked out, we are resupplying, resting, rebuilding our tired muscles, eating, sending gear home and updating the world outside of the woods on our happenings. Elliott's mom informed us that the shelters from Woods Gap to Neels Gap had been closed due to bears. Lucky we went through before that happened. Some of the other hikers were there a few nights ago and the bears were shaking their bear bag lines and smelling guys in hammocks. After some yelling and throwing of rocks the bears ran away.
Mom K, Nyoka Kasprzak, has been sending us food drops. Thanks Mom K.!
What an adventure so far... tomorrow we will be done with the Georgia section and will move onto North Carolina.
Here are some fun, and funny situations, we have encountered so far.
Day one- after our ten miles we got to the top of Sassafras Mountain and i said "Elliott set up the tent please." He did and I took a 2 hour nap before I had enough energy to eat dinner... after which I fell back asleep.
Day Two- Dan left early to get to Justice Creek so he could cook breakfast because there was no water on Sassafras Mountain. Elliott and I left about 30 minutes later and after about a mile we passed Hat Rack, another hiker, at which time dog started following us. We assumed it was Hat Rack's dog so we let it hike with us the next mile and a half to the creek. It got there before us and stole Dan's tortilla bag. When Hat Rack arrived we asked if it was his dog... it wasn't. Cooking was quite the challenge with Hiker, this is what we named the dog because it just loved to run on the trail. Four ladies came along and fed Hiker 2 sandwiches so we thought that she would for sure stay with them, but once we started hiking Hiker followed us again. Later a another hiker passed us and we thought that Hiker would follow him so we took a break and let Hiker and the hiker go on ahead. Finally rid of the dog! JK about a half mile down the trail Hiker came running back. Poor thing was so skinny that we couldn't just leave her out there. We waited on a forest road to try to get cars to stop and take her into town, but no luck. So we hiked on. Finally, we got to a paved road and decided enough was enough, though we all loved the dog that adopted us, we had to get rid of her because we couldn't take care of her. Elliott and I started down the mountain road toward a town to find someone who could help us get the dog somewhere safe. After about a mile and a half of road walking we ran into a lady who knew a man that had lost a dog. She called him and he took us back to the parking lot were we left Dan and Hiker. It wasn't his dog, but he was kind enough to take her and get her to a shelter. His son had hiked the trail the year before and had a great time doing it. He also invited us to eat dinner with his family, but we had to keep moving. In all we hiked about 9 miles with Hiker... made for a long second day on the trail.
Day Three- Hiked up Blood Mountain which has the highest elevation on the AT in Georgia. It had a great view! After we hiked down to Neels Gap, the first civilization on the trail after you leave Springer. A man that had hiked the trail the year before donated some money for the hikers to have a good meal so the hostile host cooked up a huge spaghetti dinner with garlic bread, salad and ice cream. This very welcome after 30 miles of hiking. We met a lot of other hikers that night too and were glad that we had only been doing ten mile days instead of 15 because many of the hikers at the hostile were already suffering from injuries.
Day Four - 11 mile day. Elliott's foot started swelling and hurting. We got to Low Gap before the storm hit. That night there was a fierce thunderstorm with rain that just poured on our tent.
Day Five- Everyone woke up with wet gear, but for the most part we all stayed dry in our tents. We got a late start that day because we were drying everything off. This day Elliott's foot hurt to the point that he was struggling down hills. After about ten miles of hiking and not wanting to do another 1.5 mile 1,000 ft incline we chose to hitch hike into Helen so Elliott could see a doctor. We shared a room with Denis, from Iowa, and got a sweet hiker rate. Unfortunately, there were no medical services in Helen, but it was nice to shower and get a full meal.
Day Six- Back on the trail. Elliott decided to start taking aspirin for his foot and wait until Hiawassee to get his foot checked out. We did not lose any mileage due to the town night. We camped in Sassafras Gap with Sam W., Thunder Foot and Panda Bear and had a great time. This was the first night on the trail that we had a campfire. We went to bed later than usual. Hiker midnight is about 9:00 pm.
Day Seven- We hiked 6.5 miles to highway 76 where we ran into Tatter Chip, a man that hiked the whole last year. He had a truck bed full of soda, water, Gatorade, moon pies and cookies. This my friend is what you call Trail Magic. It is almost like and oasis. Tatter Chip was very encouraging. He informed us that if we can make it through Georgia then we can make it through the Smokies. He lost all of his toe nails by the end of Georgia. Luck for us we still have all of ours. :) We hitched into Hiawassee got a hotel room. We all started sifting through our gear to see what we could send home to save on weight.
Day Eight - Zero Day. Elliott is finally getting his foot checked out, we are resupplying, resting, rebuilding our tired muscles, eating, sending gear home and updating the world outside of the woods on our happenings. Elliott's mom informed us that the shelters from Woods Gap to Neels Gap had been closed due to bears. Lucky we went through before that happened. Some of the other hikers were there a few nights ago and the bears were shaking their bear bag lines and smelling guys in hammocks. After some yelling and throwing of rocks the bears ran away.
Mom K, Nyoka Kasprzak, has been sending us food drops. Thanks Mom K.!
What an adventure so far... tomorrow we will be done with the Georgia section and will move onto North Carolina.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Update
(submitted by Mary Reible)
We arrived at Springer Mountain at about 6 p.m. on April 11th. We hiked .9 miles to the starting point of the trail, Elliott, Karen and Dan wrote in the log book and we took photos. That night we stayed in Dahlonega, GA. The morning of the 12th we went back out to Springer and after gearing up at about 10:00 they set out on the trail in a cold and foggy drizzle.
They got to Neels Gap on Thursday and received their first food drop sent by Nyoka.
On Friday several storms passed threw the area. They were in a valley between two mountains. The sky opened up and poured on them. Karen said it was the first time she had ever heard a lightening strike before seeing the flash.
On Saturday there were strong wind advisories out. They were going to go the shelter on Blue Mountain but decided to stay in Helen because of the wind.
Today (Monday) they are in Hiawassee. Elliott's foot is swollen and needs to be checked by a doctor. So they will take a zero day tomorrow, get rested up, and make sure Elliott does not have a stress fracture.
So far they have hiked 67.5 miles, averaging about 10-11 miles a day on very rough terrain.
Dan has earned the trail name of "Uphill Jackrabbit" and Karen was known as "downhill Karen" but has been changed to "Avalanche". It sounds like they are very much enjoying their adventure of a lifetime.
They should be entering North Carolina on Wednesday.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Springer Mountian
Here we are at the starting point. We had to drive on a bumpy mountian road for about 45 minutes, then hike a mile up the mountian just to get to the starting point. My mom and grandma went to the top with us to check out the view and take photos. The rocks had a sparkle in them that was beautiful, especially on our way down because they were reflecting the light from our head lamps. Tonight we are staying in a hotel for one more good night's sleep and because there are tornado warnings here.
So one mile down- 2,174 left to go.
Elliott and Dan's first sight of the AT. I saw it in PA when I went on a road trip with my sister.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Rain Gear Test
All of our gear worked great! Check out the video on Dan Brunner's facebook page.
The shower test is very important :)
Elliott learned that his gear will keep him dry even though it feels wet because it is very thin.
Dan's gear may rip easily, but it is pretty light, cheap and it keeps him dry.
Karen's coat was awesome, but she was nervous about the open pockets.
(later that week elliott duct taped and super glued karen's pockets)
Well that was fast
This last week went by super fast. I can hardly believe March 29th was my last day of work and now i am in a hotel somewhere in Indiana trying to sleep and ready to get to Georgia tomorrow! Tomorrow we will most likely check out the top of Spinger Mountian, the AT Trailhead, take our begining photos, be sillly and then stay in the town one last night before we become one with nature.
Lets review what happened the last 12 days...
Quit my job, moved from MI to WI, went to two birthday parties, packed everything Elliott and I own, except our backpacks and hiking gear, into boxes, put those boxes in closets and corners, went through gear, hiked with nephews, dehydrated food, seperated food, packed food, hated to look at so much food, tested our rain gear, treated the tent, tried hanging out with what ever friends we could, sorry nikki, patti, erik and emery that i got sick and couldn't make it, figured out bills, figured out bank accounts, bought gear, realized getting gear is really expensive, weighed our packs, unpacked, repacked, hung out with family, went to pool with my brothers, sold Elliott's car- thanks Bork, had a going away party (thank you to everyone that could come elliott and i really appreciated seeing you all), went to church, got in a car and started to drive.... what a busy couple of days! I am really ready to slow down and smell the flowers... although after a couple of days with no showers i will probably just be smelling body oder - yuck.
Springer Mountian watch out! Here come Elliott, Dan and Karen ; )
Lets review what happened the last 12 days...
Quit my job, moved from MI to WI, went to two birthday parties, packed everything Elliott and I own, except our backpacks and hiking gear, into boxes, put those boxes in closets and corners, went through gear, hiked with nephews, dehydrated food, seperated food, packed food, hated to look at so much food, tested our rain gear, treated the tent, tried hanging out with what ever friends we could, sorry nikki, patti, erik and emery that i got sick and couldn't make it, figured out bills, figured out bank accounts, bought gear, realized getting gear is really expensive, weighed our packs, unpacked, repacked, hung out with family, went to pool with my brothers, sold Elliott's car- thanks Bork, had a going away party (thank you to everyone that could come elliott and i really appreciated seeing you all), went to church, got in a car and started to drive.... what a busy couple of days! I am really ready to slow down and smell the flowers... although after a couple of days with no showers i will probably just be smelling body oder - yuck.
Springer Mountian watch out! Here come Elliott, Dan and Karen ; )
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