4/15-4/19 Snowbird Mountain to Hot Springs, NC

4/15 Since I stayed underneath a canopy last night, I was awoken by a man named Apple. It was his canopy I slept under. Apple was here from Ohio to give trail magic. I had some doughnuts as I helped him put on the walls of the canopy to keep the rain out. I finally left and only hiked 2 miles to Groundhog Creek Shelter. As I got there it started to snow, so I snuggled up in my sleeping bag. Now this shelter has a max capacity of 6 people. We had 10 in there already and it was really cramped. Then the French couple arrived..... Now this couple didn't speak a lick of English and they wanted to get in the shelter. I kept telling them there was no room. Their response was to put their sleeping pads right on top of me. I had enough space to curl up in the fetal position and that's it I couldn't move. I got absolutely no sleep at all having 12 people in a 6 person shelter in no bueno.

4/16 Today I hiked with Longstride and Green Lantern all day. The highlight of the day was Max Patch. Max Patch is a giant grassy bald and there were 360* views. It was phenomenal. When we left there we went down to lemon gap to camp.

Longstride and El Borrego on Max patch

             Blue and Green Lantern

                       Max patch

4/17 Today I hiked 15 miles into Hot Springs, North Carolina. It was a nice hike. I got to the Hostel of the Laughing Heart. Here I realized I lost my debit card. The hostel owner Chuck Norris let me stay the night and helped me out a lot.

                  Inside the hostel

4/18 Chuck took me to Weaverville to get cash from the credit union. When I got back I paid him and tried to go enjoy the town.

4/19 I stayed at the hostel again last night. When I woke up I found out I had $60 stolen from me. I was in a bad mood all day. I had lunch at the Smokey Mountain Dinner. I ended up staying up all night watching the surfing contest on my phone until my phone charger broke..

Well after a good time in the Smoky's, my hike turned into shit. It was probably my worst couple of days on the trail but I know it will get better. 

So I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time to update. I'm a little behind in my posts and I'll catch up soon.

Happy trails!!!!

Lucas "Smokie" Varnadore  

4/8-4/14 The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

4/5-4/7 I stayed in Fontana Village these days to heal up my injury on my heel. Pretty much nothing happened these days

4/8  After 5 days of not hiking I finally got back on the trail. As I walked accross the dam, looking at the great mountain range in front of me, I knew the next several days were going to be great. I hiked 13 today and my heel felt great. I met up with Jahmonji, Blazing Sandals, Hamster, and Redwood.

Fontana Dam

The Smoky's

Shuckstack Firetower

4/9 Today was such a gorgeous day. I walked along the ridgeline all day. There was so many views. Also, on a side note my hiker appetite had hit me... I am eating 3x the food I was eating when I started and I am hungry nearly 24/7.

Shelter Life

4/10 When I woke up this morning someone already had a fire going. I quickly moved In front of it when I noticed something moving in the ashes. It was a baby mouse. Redwood scooped it up in his mug and tried to help it. Several minutes later it started squeaking. Mama mouse came out and Redwood set the baby on the rock. Mama picked the baby up and left. It was a pretty good start to the morning. I finally got on the trail about noon. I walked only 7.2 miles to Double Spring Gap Shelter.

Clingmans Dome if you look closely you can see the tower

4/11 For some odd reason I found myself waking up at 3:30am. I decided to get ready and got on the trail at 4am. After only 3 miles I ended up at this place called Clingmans Dome. This is only the highest point on the entire Appalachian Trail. When I walked up the tower it was still pitch black out. I crawled into my sleeping bag since it was 30 degrees out with a 30mph wind. I sat there and waited for the sun to come out and when it did, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. After the sun rose I decided to get back on trail because I was so cold and hiking would warm me up. After only a mile I hit the 200 mile marker! I walked 6 more miles to Newfound Gap. When I arrived, I was treated  with some wonderful trail magic from Godspeed and Mountain Momma. They also gave a bunch of us a ride into Gatlinburg. Now when I got to Gatlinburg I was not impressed. After being outside of society for a month I absolutely despised everything about this town.

Sunrise on the tower

Sunrise

Spruce Forrest

Newfound Gap

4/12 I stayed at the Econolodge with The Baron, Shorts, El Borrego, and Tortoise. We ended up having to hitch out. Since Gatlinburg is a tourist town we didn't find a hitch. We were actually picked up from the trail angel Godspeed. Once I got back to the trail I continued on hiking. I got to Charlie's Bunion with Blue, The Stowaways( Galen and Liam), and Green Lantern. It was Green Lanterns 19th birthday so we celebrated and then went to bed.

Tortoise trying to hitch

Charlie's Bunion

4/13 Today was pretty uneventful. I hiked 13 miles to Cosby Knob Shelter.

4/14 I left the shelter in the morning and headed toward the Mount Cammerer Firetower. I left my pack at the head of the side trail and literally jogged .6 miles to the tower. After I enjoyed the tower I headed back out on the trail and a couple of miles later I was out of the Smoky's!!! I made it to Standing Bear Farm and had a pizza. When I left I headed up Snowbird Mountain. When I got there, there was a canopy set up. I was exhausted so I set up my hammock underneath and went to bed. It rained all night.

View from Mount Cammerer

Mount Cammerer Firetower

Kitchen In Standing Bear Farm

Hammock Setup

3/28-4/4 Franklin, North Carolina to Fontana Dam

3/28 Today has probably been the most boring on the trail yet. My buddy Tom and I had breakfast at the hotel we stayed at and then called someone up to give us a ride to the outfitter. Once we got there we decided to just get back of the trail today. A hiker named Swashbuckler called up someone and we all got a ride back to Winding Stair Gap. We hiked to the next shelter in the rain and stayed there.

       A tree at the shelter we stayed at 

3/29 I woke up late today and got on the trail around noon. The plan was to go 12 miles to the 2nd shelter, but uf had been pouring all day. I stoped at the first shelter to try and dry out.

3/30 I woke up to snow.... No forecast said we would have snow. I stayed at the shelter until noon. Tom and I took our time hiking and we came accross Rocky Bald and Weser Bald Firetower. The both had breathtaking views. We arrived at the shelter at about 5pm. I was planning on camping, but as I got there the shelter was empty. This was quite unusual, the shelters are always full. I stayed in the shelter tonight.

              Wesser Bald Firetower 

      Tom walking down from the tower

3/31 Today I headed for the Nantahala Outdoor Center. The hike was downhi 3000ft over 6 miles. I thought it was gonna be a piece of cake.... I was wrong. First of all my other knee was hurting me like crazy and my pinky toe was super infected. To say it lightly I barely made it to the NOC in one piece. I finally arrived and checked in at the hostel. That night I went to the Rivers End Resteraunt with Tom and Morning Wood. We each had a heavenly 16in pizza.

        Jump off view on the way down

4/1 After a lot of thinking last night I seceded to take my first day off. I had a come to Jesus moment and realized if I don't start taking better care of myself, there is no way I am going to make in to Katahdin. First thing I did was book another stay at the hostel. I decided to just relax today. I did tons of stretching and took a dip in the Nantahala river. I had a burger at Rivers End with Blazig Sandles, Jahmonji, Hampster, and Redwood. Later that night I went back to Rivers End and had another pizza. They turned on the Yankee game for me even though it started right when they closed. I stayed until I got kicked out, but they left the tv on so I could watch outside.

                             NOC 

                           Pizza!!

           Watching the game outside

4/2 After almost 2 days at the NOC I finally got back on the trail. It was a tough climb out. My goal for the day was Cheoah Bald. As I got there, I realized there was no water source so I walked to miles down to the next gap.

                     Cheoah Bald

4/3 I got a late start around 10am. Last night I decided to just push all the way to Fontana Dam,18 miles away. It was a grueling 18 miles and by the time I reached the Fontana Hilton Shelter I was ready to pass out.. But I didn't. This shelter is one of the biggest party shelters on the trail. I didn't go to bed until about 1am. Hiker midnight is like 830pm...

                      Hiker trash 

4/4 I took another zero day. I had to much chores to do, suck as get my smokies permit, resupply, and do laundry. I had breakfast at the Fontana Resort and it was by far the best on the trail yet. Later on 2 fellow hikers Ramone and Turtle asked if I wanted to crash at their room at the resort. I did not pass that up.

So... The Great Smokie Mountains. I haven't been to this national park in a long time. I'm so excited to take it on. It is one of the most scenic parts of the trail And I'm ready for it!!!

Happy Trails!!!

Lucas "Smokie" Varnadore