Day 8: Dick's Creek Gap to Muskrat Creek Shelter
It is pretty amazing what a night of good food and people can do for your moral. I hiked out of Dick's Creek in much much better spirits than the previous day. The ascent out of the gap was very gradual and helped ease out the morning muscle stiffness. I picked up a cheap knee wrap at the Hiawassee Ingles for the time being which helped, but I could still feel a little twang here and there on the downhills. Otherwise it was a gorgeous day to cross over my first border line! I am officially in the state of North Carolina! Crossing over into a new state on foot is an incredible experience, and North Carolina decided to welcome us with a near vertical climb up a mountain. I thought I was about to keel over and die right there. The last 2 miles were a struggle with my knee, but I made it to the shelter around 3:30. Nomad and Skipper decided to push onto the next shelter, but with my knee I decided to stay. I met Burl and Tree Beard, a married couple from Washington, at the shelter and we quickly started becoming friends. It's pretty amazing how quickly people bond out here. The first day in North Carolina was pretty awesome, and rewarded us with an incredible sunset.

Day 9: Muskrat Creek Shelter to Carter Gap Shelter
Another gorgeous day on the trail! The sun was out and the birds were chirping. I hiked the entire day with HoBo (Homeward Bound) from Maine and Wall-E from Norway. I met them the first night at Stover Creek Shelter, and we have pretty similar paces. We took it pretty easy all day due to the fact that we were all nursing hurt knees. The big climb of the day was Standing Indian Mountain, which compared to the other stuff we have climbed it wasn't really that bad. The climb was very gradual and the trail was about 5 feet wide. We ate lunch on top of the mountain with one of the best views so far as our backdrop. As we made our way down the mountain my knee started to scream at me. The last couple of miles into camp were pretty brutal. Too tired to set up camp, I decided to sleep in the shelter again for the second night.

Day 10: Carter Cap Shelter to Rock Gap Shelter
The wind from the previous night was so strong that I hardly slept. I woke up in a dense fog, figuratively and literally. I ate a few Pop tarts and Slim Jims to try to get some energy flowing, but nothing seemed to work. We left camp around 9 and made our way north. The big climb of the day was Albert Mountain, which was also another milestone. The 100 mile mark! We started the climb around 11 in the dense fog which was rather creepy at times when you have a shear drop off to one side of you. I imagine there would have been some pretty incredible views on the climb up, but we were offered none. As we neared the top we stumbled on some trail magic. I was absolutely dumbfounded. Here we were, almost to the top of a 4000ft mountain; and, here was this guy, sitting in a camper cooking pancakes for hikers. Only on the Appalachian Trail. I ate about 5 pancakes loaded with butter and syrup and made my way up the last ascent up Albert Mountain. We had reached the 100 mile mark and a pretty cool fire tower! We ate a quick lunch and made our way down the mountain. My knee felt pretty good for the most part on the way down. A little twang here and there, but nothing like the previous days pain. We got to the shelter around 4, and since we were only .1 miles from a road we decided to order a pizza. An hour and a half later seven large pizzas showed up in the middle of the woods and not a slice was left over. Life is beautiful.

Day 11: Rock Gap Shelter to Franklin, NC
We walked down the .1 miles to the road and picked up a shuttle from Ron Haven to the Budget Inn. Franklin is a nice little town with a small main street. I split a room with Dan from Maryland (stayed at the Blood Mountain Cabins with him as well). There are tons of familiar and new thru hikers around town, and it is pretty nice to be able to sit down in an actual chair and drink some beer and swap stories. We hit up the local McDonald's dollar menu and then a Walmart for a resupply. In all it was a perfect day to rest my knee and take a "Nero" (almost a zero mileage day).


This morning I am going to catch the 11:00 shuttle back to Rock Gap and do 8 miles to Siler Bald Shelter. There are rumors of flurries tonight, but it looks like I should have pretty good weather the rest of the week. Also, I should be entering the Smokies in about six days! I'm not quite sure when I will have WiFi next, but I will try to update as soon as I can!

Day 5:
A birthday on the Appalachian Trail is certainly an interesting experience. Heading out of Neels Gap with a full four days of food and full water supply after a zero day really weighed me down, and of course once you come out of a gap you go straight up a mountain. Clouds and fog had hung around from the previous day as we made our way to Low Gap Shelter. I hiked alone for most of the day completely engulfed in clouds, not being able to see 15 feet in either direction. Certainly a lot of time to myself and my thoughts. Not the kind of birthday I was used to, but it was pretty refreshing. I got to the shelter around 3 and quickly pitched my tent just before it started to drizzle. I hung around the shelter talking to all the new faces, and I whipped out my small bottle of Fireball that I had been carrying since Springer and passed it around. After the bottle was gone, everyone at the shelter christened me with my trail name, "Fireball." A truly awesome way to end a Birthday.

Day 6:
The morning was a nice hike. It was relatively flat and skirted a lot of mountains. No big views per say, but the scenery and weather were pretty nice. We got up pretty early because everyone said that there would be awesome trail magic at Unicoi Gap. We covered the 9.7 miles by noon only to find a parking lot full of cars and day hikers. Lesson learned, never trust someone when they talk about mythical trail magic. We sat around the gap for about an hour eating lunch and talking before heading 1000 feet up Rocky Mountain, a true ass kicker. The uphill was hard, but the down hill was destroying my knee. Just before I hit the bottom of the mountain I spotted a car with a table set up, Trail Magic! Just when in my time of need. These people are truly angels. They served us BBQ sandwiches and an assortment of snacks, delicious. We left them with happy faces and full stomachs, only to go 100 yards up the trail to stumble upon another Trail Magic set up. We couldn't say no. With our third lunch of the day we continued on. We ended up doing about 15.4 miles. A little more than I wanted, but there was nowhere really to camp. I ended up setting camp at Tray Mountain Shelter and was asleep by 7.

Day 7
Today was a down day. I don't know if it was just from the high mileage from the previous day or what, but physically and mentally I was not there. My knee was absolutely killing me on the downhills, but completely fine on the uphills. Kelly Knob nearly broke me. It felt like it went straight up into the sky and then straight down into hell as my knee was set a fire. It was a pretty low moment on the trail. Right when I reached Dicks Creek Gap I headed to the Top of Georgia Hostel for a hot shower and warm meal. The people here are really nice and turned my day around 180°. They shuttled us into Hiawassee for an all you can eat country style buffet and a resupply. We all tore the buffet up, food never tasted so good.

Tomorrow I hope to cross the GA/NC border! I've got enough food to reach Franklin, NC so my next update may be from either there or the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Again, I can't express how much all of your support means to me. It really helps me through days like today. A lot of you have been asking how to send me stuff. The easiest way would be to contact my mom through the facebook page, she is handling all of th drop boxes.

Well I am three days in and already made it to Neels Gap! The weather has been absolutely beautiful the past couple of days, and after a really long day yesterday I am taking a zero while it rains.

Day 1 was pretty tough. I signed in at the Visitor Center with an official pack weight of 34 pounds and I am the 479th person to register. The Approach Trail up to Springer Mountain kicked my ass and was a nice wake up call that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park. Those 600 steps were pretty killer. I think I stopped about every 10 steps to catch my breath. I reached the top of Springer around 1 and saw my first white blaze. I had a nice lunch on top of Springer and signed the log book. From there I hiked 2.8 more miles to Stover Creek Shelter for the night. Met a bunch of really cool people around the campfire. Everyone out here is so generous and amazing. We gave out some trail names and headed to bed around 9.

Day 2: I left Stover Creek Shelter around 9:00. Surprisingly my body felt great. No sore legs or feet. It was a beautiful morning for a hike. Made it to Hawk Mountain Shelter around 11 and had lunch consisting of trail mix peanut butter on a tortilla. It was a little interesting to say the least. I think I am going to change that up. After lunch we had two steep climbs up Sassafras Mountain and Justus Mountain. Whew, they were tough and pretty vertical. I am definitely getting in my cardio. I hiked most of the day with two guys that I met at Stover Creek, Skipper and Nomad. We ended the day at Justus Creek. It was probably one of the coolest places that I have camped. It was basically a big ravine with a big creek running through it. We camped out right on the side of the creek. Turned into a 10 mile day.

Day 3: Another killer day, 18 miles in total. The weather was calling for rain the following day so we decided to push through the bear canister area and into Neels Gap. Still, with the high mileage, it was an awesome day. We received Trail Magic twice, once at Gooch Gap and then some hotdogs at Woody Gap. People are absolutely amazing. Blood Mountain was tough but very rewarding once we got to the top. At the top there was a guy passing out Mountain Dew, so so tasty after a hard climb. From Blood Mountain we basically ran down the side of it in order to catch the last cabin. It was really nice to sleep on a comfortable surface . And 60 bucks for a cabin split 4 ways plus free laundry, I'll take it.

Day 4: Today is definitely a zero day to recover from the high milage from yesterday.  My body still feels pretty good, but my knee is hurting a little bit. I don't want to push too hard yet. Plus it is pouring rain today and foggy, so it is a nice day to catch up on things. I apologize if I don't get to everybody's messages today. My service is very spotty and I only get wifi at the main office of this cabin place. Thank you everyone again for all of the love and support! Life is beautiful!

So here I am, in my plush and comfy bed here at Amicalola Falls Lodge on the eve of one of the greatest adventures of my life. I would be a damned liar if I said I didn't feel like I was about to pee my pants a little. This past week has been nothing but restless sleep. It seems that all of my fears of what is to come like to pop into my head as soon as it hits the pillow. I am absolutely terrified, but at the same time incredibly excited and anxious. It is a strange mixture of emotions. I have checked through my lists, rechecked my lists two more times, and then repacked my bag again just to make sure that I was not forgetting anything. I feel like I am as prepared as I will ever possibly be, but I know that it is impossible to prepare for everything. Each step tomorrow morning will be a step towards the unknown, towards adventure!

The love and support I have already received has been absolutly overwhelming! I already received my first bit of trail magic from some long time family friends the Richardson's, and my Louisiana family over at WHLC Architecture sent me a good luck video! I am truly blessed to have such a strong support team that I can lean on whenever things get tough out on the trail. I cannot truly express into words how much everyone means to me that is following along on this journey of mine.

Tomorrow morning I will take my first steps toward Katahdin. 600 steps up the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi will be there to greet me first thing in the morning as I make my way up the 8 mile Approach Trail to Springer Mountain, the official start of the Appalachian Trail. It should make for an interesting first day out on the trail. This is my first update from my phone so please forgive any formatting or spelling issues. My next update will be from Neels Gap. I should be there in three to four days. This whole experience is going to be life changing, or in the words of the great Barney Stinson "It's gonna be legend... wait for it..."

The following day, I decided to drive up to Athens, Georgia to visit some very good friends. It has been awhile since I have had a chance to hang out with my UGA friends, and it felt oh so good. It is always good to see friends that you have known for years. It was as if I had never left Georgia. Also I must admit, UGA has a way better downtown atmosphere than LSU. That is the one and only advantage I can give UGA over LSU.

Well, as I pack up the last of my gear and gather my first four days worth of food; the whirlwind of emotions are really setting it in. I am super excited and super nervous. It is kind of like that feeling that you get the night before your first day of school or first day at a new job, but magnify that by about 10. In all, I am just ready to get started. My next update will be from Amicalola Falls, the start of the Approach Trail to Springer Mountain! In the meantime, enjoy these pictures from my Kennesaw Mountain.