June 25-July 7

"Is that a TV? There was a sound in my ear and I heard voices" LOZ, in a shelter far from TV land.

June 25
The hot tubs last night were everything I had imagined and more...They had a beautiful fire blazing for us when we were done in the tub and we spent an hour drying off and talking to a motorcycle guy originally from PA...We gorged on ice cream and watched the funny old drunk people dance. There were even 2 ladies with sweet tap shoes on who were having a blast with the music.
We came to realize yesterday how bad town food is for our stomachs- all 3 of us felt sick most of the day after we had eaten greasy hamburgers and chicken tenders and french fries-BLAH!! Hopefully we learned our lesson in Hot Springs and will try to eat healthier in our next town.
This morning-Elmer-the owner of the hostel we stayed at made breakfast for us hikers-it was an amazing Sunday morning feast: seasoned scrambled eggs, homemade biscuits and gravy, juice, corn grits, mild and organic cereal, fresh canteloupe-oh man, AMAZING. by 9:30 AM. Loz and I headed out-stopped to spend our coins and got an apple and two cookies. Headed up out of Hot Springs back to the beautiful, quiet mountains. I was ready to get away from all the motorcycle noise. Met a guy on the way up who predicted rain around 3. Sure enough-at 3:00, 2 miles from the shelter, the rains let loose. We sure booked those 2 miles and 400' up-got in with nearly dry boots and we've been chilling here, waiting for dinner time. There's still a light rain-but nothing menacing. Don't know if pinkfire will show up tonight or not-he may have decided to stay another night in Hot Springs. But once again-our shelter arrival time was perfect. My toes are still numb- Loz has complained of the same ailment-and the blister on the bottom of my left foot hurts a lot-but otherwise, I feel great. Dad sent a ski cap to keep me warm at night and already at 5:00 its being put to good use to keep me warm. Oh- I bought new socks in town-my feet couldn't be happier.
While lazing around town and the hostel yesterday I felt so carefree-so much like a kid. I loved it. I spent an hour by myself swinging on the porch swing, I walked across the street to the dollar store and bought a fudgebar. I messed around with the guitar and the banjo for a bit, I looked at the pictures in some big books, and everytime I saw a mirror I would stop and look and wonder if that person smiling back was really me. I would also stop every once in a while and look at my calf and thigh muscles and be impressed with their obvious mass. We found scales-definitely have lost weight. I'm going to let you all guess as to how much at the end of the summer. Well, the rain is still coming down and my tummy is beginning to rumble, thanks for reading my ramblings tonight...signing off from Spring Mtn. Shelter.

June 26 and 27
Didn't get a chance to write yesterday because we woke up to rain. Pinkfire and Loz voted to go back to sleep and we slept. HA. I finally had to leave around 1 PM in the rain- Loz waited till 3 when the rain stopped. somehow we did 15 tough, wet miles by 8:30 pm-rolled in late, cooked, set up with the 25 other people there and went to bed. It rained most of the night, but let up by morning. Put in a slow, easy 15 miles today and now we're at hogback ridge shelter with Tyler, John and Rachel...Good company. One of the best parts of the day is getting to watch PinkFire hang his bear bag. Free entertainment. Then they turn around and watch me-but tonight I got it up first try. Its a little chilly tonight-but I'm counting on this sweet ski cap to keep me toasty. Pinkfire saw a bear in a tree today. All I saw was a fat little brown salamander while I was getting water. Oh, and there was a pretty sweet waterfall earlier today too. Toes are still numb-blisters are increasing die to continually wet socks and boots-but life is good and spirits are high despite our past few rainy days. There's nothing like watching the rain fall from inside a shelter. Funny too-the woods smell different when it rains, or when its sunny or even in the morning.

June 28
Fun 20 mile day today- a lot less painful than the previous one-still have sore feet though. We were able to share some H2O with a man in need today and in return, we got bottled water and ice at lunch-from forest service guys on top of a beautiful, sunny, breezy, grassy bald. Loz cooked us some ramen for lunch but she also managed to catch the grass on fire...I attacked it with my boot and it was all under control. Saw some refreshing water falls today-Tyler took a bath in one-BRR!! Pinkfire and Tyler are the only 2 with us here tonight-Tomorrow we reach civilization again near the Nolichucky River and Erwin, TN. Talked to Jessica Peters on the Cell phone today-Miss you, Girl!!

June 29
Another Good Day. Woke up, all 4 of us before 6:30 AM-First words out of Pinkfire's mouth "Pizza, Pizza". Ha. We all scrambled to get down the 5.7 miles to the Nolichuky River-got there before 10. Not bad. We were nearly to the river, not 10 steps from the road, I'm in the lead, practically running, when Loz and Tyler stop dead in their tracks and Loz asks, Jenga, did you just step over that really big snake in the middle of the trail? Indeed I had. Pinkfire showed up moments later and identified it as a copperhead-my first one. So I took its picture while the others cautiously inched past it. I got lucky, I guess. But the day got better. At the hostel they did our wash. We gathered our nasty clothes and happily handed them over. Then, we found out that they offer a shuttle to the pizzaria, grocery and dollar store for a dollar per person. It was amazing. I have not been that full for as long as I can possibly remember. Auce is crazy. Tyler-the skinniest of us all, out ate us by far. Then we all stocked up on food-candy bars and oatmeal cream pies and milk, cheese and bagels. We took the shuttle back, walked a few hundred yards to the "beach" on the river and enjoyed ourselves a lazy, sunny afternoon with cold water and yummy cherries. Loz sat on the beach while Pinkfire and I stood in the middle of the river...saw 1 water snake...heaved rocks across the river...dried off and returned to the hostel...Around 6:38 PM we weighed our packs: Pinkfire 41 lbs without H2O (7 days food), Tyler 45 lbs (3 days food), Loz 25 lbs (5 days food) and Jenga 35 lbs (5 days food). We left for our 4 mile trek out of the river valley and up, back to our home-the mountains. Twas lovely. We all made it in less than 2 hours- only about a 1300' total increase in altitude-but as we were going, I thought perhaps there are people who never in their life or wildest dreams could hike what we just did. These are killer hills we tackle daily. Roan Mtn. is still to come-Highest mtn. left until New Hampshire. So, Happy Birthday Jess and Keith...Here is an update on my normal eating schedule...I've been bit by the hunger bug.
7am 28 dried banana slices dipped in PB
8:30 am 1 whole chocolate peanut cliff bar
10:30am 1 whole snickers marathon bar
11:30 am 1 whole ramen, 1/2 bagel with PB and nutella, 2 pieces jerky, 4 handfulls of trail mix
3pm 1 whole chocolate peanut cliff bar
6:30 pm 2 whole ramen packages, 5 handfuls trail mix, and any other random food I can find

June 30
Happy birthday, Ben Leech
We finished our third 20+ mile day-feeling pretty good. A few minor blisters- easily fixed by knives and neosporin. There's 8 people in the shelter here tonight, unexpected because aside from the 4 of us, we saw no one today...We had a debate around the campfire tonight about Wal-Mart, the pros and cons-it was funny since we're so far from civilization. Taking a low-13 mile day tomorrow, up Roan Mountain, so it should be a good climb. We're hoping to stay in a big old barn for the night. July 4th is going to be our one month anniversary. I'm going to watch the fire and hit the hay. Kind of. Cheers.

July 1
Happy first day of July everybody! I made the mistake of calling home and talking to the grad party people (at my brother's high school graduation party) about the good food they're eating...We went 6 TOUGH miles up Roan Mountain (over 6000') and stopped there for what turned into a 3 hour lunch. Loz and I ate, then Pink Fire showed up and we watched him eat. Then Pink Fire and I decided to take a side trail to see rhododendrens, and Loz make friends with some super amazing church women and when we returned from our walk, there is Loz sitting at a table with more food than we ate at the Pizza Buffet. Pinkfire literally ran back to the trail to find Tyler and Pops and the 5 of us pigged out. Cheetos, chips, Ho-Ho's, cookies, pop, bread, huge country fried chicken chunks and half a ham. It was unbelievable. We carried out what we didn't finish there. Loz said these God-sent women all prayed for her and us, and all gave her hugs, it was amazing. Just when Loz's motivation was a little down, God sent a crazy unexpected group of angels to lift her up. God is good.
We ate well today, we had smiles all day. A nice 7 miles from Roan Mtn. is this old red barn that was converted into a shelter, beautiful view. Pinkfire's starting a fire right now and Loz is on the phone with home. We saw LOTS of deer today- so this is where they all have been hiding. Life is good, indeed.

July 2
Woke up to a fantastic sunrise this morning. The barn was a spectacular choice of shelters in which to stay...Met a few people before lunch, but didn't see a soul the second half of the day. Worst part of the day-being at super low elevations, walking uphill through brilliant, burning sunshine and sweating like its no one's business. It was actually miserable. But-today was really the first time we had to deal with prolonged sunshine all trip. We are thankful for the trees over our heads. Best parts of the day: Jones Falls, a breathtaking waterfall, and Loz and I ate 4 dinners between us. Talk about a good night. Hopefully to Karina's tomorrow; clean, full and time to sit around. All good. Laurel Falls tomorrow, too. Everyone's all smiles here.

July 3
6:30 AM wake-up call. 10 easy miles by lunch and then we ate for an hour and a half. We tackled the last 6 miles with a vengence and by 3:30 we were at the rendezvous point for Karina. So we dropped our packs and flew the mile to Laurel Falls and junped in the cold water, sunned ourselves on the rocks and waited for Pinkfire to catch up to swim again. After our second swim, we ate a bit and then Karina showed up at the falls-what a pleasant surprise!! We left Pinkfire at the falls-plan to meet up again in Damascus-and hiked out with Karina. First stop-McDonald's! Yum Milkshakes. Next stop-Walmart where we bought lots of good food. When we finally got to Karina's she had an ice cream cake for my birthday-so special! Thanks love!
We slept on soft cushions and well...It was amazing. I woke up at like 2 in the morning and saw the VCR and DVD lights and was convinced there was some kind of weird animal in the shelter-then I realized I was in a house. LOL.

July 4
Slept in, ate a lot, watched Batman Begins...just an amazing way to celebrate one month and our first zero day.

When you stop hiking you'll have to watch what you eat or you'll blow up-Loz's mom

July 5
In celebration of the first day of our second month on the trail, Loz shaved her head.
Karina dropped us off at the parking lot at 6:40 AM. We did a tough 10 miles to lunch at the Watugea Beach. Threatening rain soon pushed us on the we ended 17.5 miles on the day here at Verdaventure shelter. H2O is a long walk away, so I am eating multiple milkyway bars to gather the energy that will be required to walk down and get it. It's chilly here tonight. Yay for clean, dry clothes in my pack.
PS Loz didn't really shave her head...she just wanted to make your heart beat a little faster for a few minutes.

July 6
In place of a journal entry today, we present FAQ's

1. How is Loz's knee? A lot better than it was. I'm wearing braces on both knees and I'm only feeling pain on really sharp descents like at Laurel Falls Gorge on the 3rd. They're stiff in the morning...but so are all my other joints. At Karina's (a zero day), they both felt really good by late afternoon.
   
2. Have you lost weigh? Yes, both of us.
3. What's your favorite trail food? Cheesy potatoes-Loz Twix-Jenga
4. Do you get bored? It doesn't work like that-everyday is so different, you never really know what to expect. Plus any down time you do get (we walk 8-10 hours/day) is spent eating and writing and getting H2O. No, I haven't been bored yet-Jenga Something different is always going on-new people we meet briefly or hike several days with make the days most unique-Loz
5. What do you think about all day? Mostly food. Sometimes boys, occasionally the internet-Jenga Boys, college, food, happy thoughts. Anything except I'm sore, tired and sweat soaked-Loz
6. How many miles do you walk a day? We try to average 15. As of late we try to do at least 17 or more. We usually end up walking most of the day and take longer or shorter lunch breaks to compensate-Loz
7. How fast do you walk? We're usually just over 2 mph, but on flat sections we can top that easily-Jenga
8. When do you wake up and go to bed? It varies. If we set an alarm, we're up at 6:30 AM; it not, we generally are up by 8:00. Bedtime is sunset (9pm) or earlier-Jenga
   
9. What is one thing you want to do when you get back to civilization in August? Get a pedicure-Jenga Shave my legs and get a haircut-Loz
10. Describe your dreams. Well, this morning, I remember distinctly dreaming about butter-but the two main themes thus far for my dreams have been all you can eat buffets and weddings. I recall some distinct dreams about pineapple too-Jenga I talk in my sleep, so Jenga and Pinkfire often get to laugh at me for saying random things throughout the night. My dreams haven't changed much, the same old saving the world from immenent destruction every night. Action packed thrillers!-Loz

July 7
Well, after our lovely tenting experience last night, we got up at 6:30 and flew 15 miles on the "Highway to Damascus" by 1:00. The post office was closed from 1 to 2, so we checked into "Dave's Place". $10.50/night for two. Not bad! Loundry, showers, internet, calzones...this is the life indeed. Glad to be in Virginia at last.