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

3/23-3/27 Dicks Creek Gap to Franklin, North Carolina

3/23 I planned on taking a zero day here in Hiwassee, but my friend Sarah had school stuff to do. I had her drop me off back at Dicks Creek Gap at like 6:30 pm. My plan was to hike only 1 mile in and camp. That didn't happen it was way to windy on the ridge and my hammock almost blew away when I tried I set it up. I decided to just hike 4 more miles to the next shelter. That's when it started.... My knee that I injured last May started hurting. This wasn't a small pain, on a scale of 1-10 it was a good 12. I couldn't stop because it was dark and I had to make it to the shelter. I hobbled in around 9 pm and went straight to bed.

3/24 I woke up and my knee felt fantastic. I started hiking and had a little pain but that went away quickly. After about 4 miles I came accross this tree. On this tree had a small wooden sign. On this sign it said Ga/Nc border!!!!!! I have finally gone through my first state!! It was the best feeling on the trail so far. Since I was excited I dumbly decided to hike 9 more miles, which was a complete mistake. My knee started hurting worse than before. I basically hopped on one foot for the last mile to the shelter.

                   At the state line!!

              Famous tree at Bly Gap

3/25 After a good nights sleep, I woke up to this strange white substance on the ground.. In the night it snowed a couple of inches. Seeing as this is the first time I have seen real snow, you can tell I was pretty ecstatic. I decided to take an easy day to let my knee get better. I arrived at the next shelter 7 miles later around 12 pm. It started snowing again and started to get cold so I went and my sleeping bag.

3/26 Last night got down in the teens. I didn't budge from my sleeping bag until about 12pm. I pretty much didn't leave the sleeping bag for 24 hours, which in turn helped my knee a lot. The plan for the day was to make it 8 miles to the next shelter. Instead I went 4 more to the shelter after that. When I arrived a church group was up there and the bought us all Burger King. We arranged times with him to pick us up at the gap the next morning  to go into Franklin. Oh and by the way I passed the 100 mile marker today!!!!

            Albert Mountain fire tower

3/27 When I woke up there was more Burger King at the shelter from Manny and the church. I hiked 3.5 miles to the gap where Manny picked me and all the other hikers up to go into Franklin. He dropped all 8 of us off at the outfitter. When I got there I went straight to the shoes. I needed a new pair of shoes since mine were all torn up and were way to small. I sat down with the owner who knows a lot about feet,shoe sizing and fitting. After about 3 hours I finally found a show that fit!! After wearing the shoe around town, I realized I have never felt a shoe fit me so well. As I was getting my shoes my buddy Tom got us a hotel room. We were 2 rooms down from the other group of hikers. That's when the hiker party started. It was I great night!

                       Bojangles!!!

Well I am feeling great now. My knee isn't hurting at all anymore. Everyday is a good day no matter what. It is so beautiful out here. I feel like everyone needs to experience this. If you can't at least go outside and enjoy this earth God has given us it is amazing!!!

On another note snow is fun to hike in for a day. After that it's just a pain in the ass...

Happy Trails!!!

Lucas "Smokie" Varnadore 

3/19-3/22 Neels Gap to Dicks Creek Gap

3/19 After a good nights rest at the hostel at Mountain Crossings, I woke up rain.. As you can tell I'm tired of the rain at this point. I just want it to be sunny. Well anyway, I got resupplied and headed on to my destination for the day which was Low Gap Shelter. To put it lightly today's hike sucked. It was a hike I have done before and my feet were killing me all day. I was not in the best of moods...

3/20 Well after the shitty day yesterday, I woke uo feeling great! The sun was out and there was blue skies, something I had not seen since the 1st day. I only hiked about 7.5 miles to the next shelter on Blue Mountain. Later on that night I finally got my trail name!!! I am now known on the trail as Smokie. This name came to me as I was sitting by the campfire trying to smoke my cigar and the smoke from the campfire kept on following me around so everyone around the campfire started calling me Smokie.

3/21 Today was a great day, I hiked 13 miles in about 6 hours. I hiked over Rocky Mountain and Tray Mountain and both had gorgeous views. I ran into trail magic 3 times today which was crazy. All in all it was probably the best day on the trail.

View from Rocky Mountain

Heading up Tray Mountain

View from one side of Tray Mountain

Other side of Tray Mountain

My hiking buddies taking a break on Tray Mountain

3/22 Today was a really easy day for me. I woke up around 2pm and started hiking around 230. I woke up so late because I am going into town today!! One of my good friends Sarah goes to school up here so she is going to pick me up at the gap. As I killed a shit ton of time and hiking as slow as I can I arrived at the gap. There was a great surprise of trail magic at the gap!!! I had a bunch of food from the trail angels and I was given so much food that I didn't have to resupply. Around 6pm Sarah picked me up and I stayed at her place which was pretty awesome because it was free.

Deep Gap Shelter (I did not stay here)

Trail Angels

After hiking in the rain for several days the sunshine has been such a blessing and it has been amazing. The people on the trail are some of the coolest people I've met. I am having the time of my life out here and I can't wait experience the rest..

Also on another note my group of hiking buddies I have been hiking with are named Jahmonji, Blazing Sandles, Hampster, and Redwood.

Happy Trails!!!

Lucas "Smokie" Varnadore

3/14-3/18 Springer Mtn to Neel Gap

3/15 I woke up around 9:30am and ate way too much food. I walked up springer mtn the southern terminus and finally started on the trail officially!! Next I met my mom at the parking lot so I could get my stove fuel that I left in the car. I walked all the way to Hawk Mtn Shelter and stayed the night there.

3/16 It rained all night last night... I ended up leaving the shelter at 10am. It rained all day and sucked. My final destination was Gooch Mtn Shelter. There were about 50 people camping that night.

 

       View from the Gooch Mtn Shelter

3/17 Today I woke up late and it was still raining. Like the day before it rained all day. When I got to Woody Gap I ran into trail magic!! Trail magic is when people hand out food to hikers. Later on I heard there was more trail magic at Henry Gap. When I arrived I found out it was just a house so me and a couple buddies just set up our hammocks in the front yard. 

3/18 I woke up this morning and it was still raining... I packed up my stuff and moved on to Blood Mtn(where I hurt my knee bad last May). As I climbed down Blood Mtn I arrived at an oasis that was much needed. Mountain Crossings at Neel Gap. First thing I did was get a room for the hostel there. Then I got a pizza that was heavenly after eating nothing it ramen noodles and oatmeal for my major meals. I took a shower and washed my clothes and I'm ready to hit the trail tomorrow!!

                   Blood Mtn shelter

                View from Blood Mtn

                          My pizza

On that not let me tell you how much it sucks to hike up and down mountains in the rain. First of all you are wet and cold no matter how much waterproof clothes you have. Second everything is muddy and you get so filthy and nasty. The worst is how slippery everything is. When you are walking down the mountain you slip and slide down like 5 feet of trail and try not to fall off the steep drop to the side. This just doesn't happen once a day either, it happens about every other step..

Well even with all the rain I am having a great time. I'm meeting some awesome people and life is just good. I couldn't be more excited to move on and see the rest!!!

Happy Trails!!!!

Lucas Varnadore 

Today is the Day!!!

The day is finally here! Today is the day I set out on my journey of thru-hiking the Appalachian trail. After just over a year of planning and countless nights of lost sleep, because I was debating whether to wear boots or wear trail runners, and it is finally here. I'm so shocked and surprised time flew by. I'm more excited then ever. 

Well I just hiked up the dreadful 604 stairs up the approach trail at amicolola falls state park. I'm officially on my way!!!

I'll update when I can!!

Happy trails!!

Lucas Varnadore 

Sorry this is really late. Didn't have any damn wifi at the state park

6 Days till Departure

Hey everybody, I just wanted to give y'all a quick update on how preparations are going.

As you can tell there are only 6 days until I leave the civilized world for a good half year. I couldn't be anymore excited. I haven't slept good in days due to anxiety of just wanting to be out on the trail. I usually spend my nights reading the forums on whiteblaze trying to remember every last piece of gear I need down to the bristles of my toothbrush...(not really) However I did go shopping for my first 4 days of food and it was quite successful. I had a budget of $25 and spent $24.67, so that's good news.

Okay after I read what I wrote above, I relized it was really boring so I'll just tell you a little about how I'm feeling.

 So last night I was looking at  a very detailed map of the trail and that's when it hit me... I thought to myself I'm going to be walking over 2000 miles, over 5 million steps, from Georgia to FREAKING MAINE. Call me crazy, which I probably am, but that is a long ass way. Then the nervousness set in. I started freaking out feeling as if my entire years worth of preparation went down the drain. I kept asking myself what if this happens and what if that happens? What if I slip a and fall down the side of a mountain and plummet to my death? These are just some of the things I was thinking about. Trust me there was gazillion more questions I was asking myself. On another note, yesterday was also a sad day for me. Yesterday I surfed for the last time for half a year... If you know me I love surfing its my passion. Anytime there are waves here on the gulf coast of Florida you can count on me to be out in the water. Lets just hope hiking for half a year keeps me sane like surfing does..

Well as you can tell, or if you can't my emotions are at an all time high. I am exited, anxious, nervous, scared, and so much more that I can't even describe. I am glad I feel this way because it is healthy and who wouldn't feel that way if you were going to live tin the mountains for half a year. All I can really say is I mostly feel READY.



Happy Trails!!!

Lucas Varnadore

Why Hike the Appalachian Trail???

Every year around the months of March and April about 2,000 hikers head toward Springer Mountain, Georgia in hopes of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. Every person who steps foot on the trail, whether as a thru-hiker or not, has their own individual reasons to be out there. So what happens when it has been storming 3 days straight and lightning is flashing all around? You can't stop due to having no food and it is 12 miles into town to get your next resupply. Most people would eventually make it into town, but their morale will be at an all time low. When hikers hit this low they ask this very simple question. 

Why am I hiking the Appalachian Trail?

Thru-hiking the trail has been said to be 20% physical and about 80% mental. The mental aspect is a huge factor why most thru-hiker hopefuls end up folding and going home before making it to the end. In my preparation I came across a book named Appalachian Trails by Zach Davis (former thru-hiker). This book focuses heavily on the mental aspect of the trail. It gives you guidance on how to not only successfully hike the entire trail but enjoy every minute of it. In chapter 2 of the book, Zach suggests to make 3 lists. I was hesitant to make these at first, but since making them all my doubts of not going on the trail have gone away. I will share these personal lists with you.

Appalachian Trails By Zach Davis

 The first list is titled:

I am Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail Because....

• I need to believe in myself more
• I need some adventure in my life
• Where else will you have the freedom to poop pretty much wherever you want
• I want to prove to myself and my parents that I am not a quitter (something I've been labeled all my life)
• I want/need to get closer to God and what better way to do that by experiencing the beauty he has given to us

The 2nd if the 3 lists is titled:

When I successfully thru-hike the Appalachian Trail I will...

• Have the story of a lifetime
• Have more confidence in myself than ever before
• Have a renewed sense of faith in God and myself
• Know how to manage myself better
• Scream and shout and praise the lord

The 3rd and final is titled:

If I give up on the Appalachian Trail, I will...

• Settle for less and not live up to my true potential
• Have a huge loss in my confidence
• Have to explain to everyone why I failed
• Feel like a quitter as I always have when things get tough
• Feel as if I'm mediocre 

Hey look my copy is signed by the one and only Zach Davis

 These 3 lists have been a huge factor in helping myself mentally prepare for this journey of a lifetime. I feel more motivated than ever, and in just 14 DAYS I WILL BE ON THE TRAIL!!! I couldn't be anymore excited.One last thing for any thru-hiker in planning, I highly recommend Zach Davis' book. Reading this book has put my in a postion where I am extremely confident in myself and I know I have a higher chance of completing the trail with the knowledge this book has.


On that note, I thank you all for taking the time to read this!


Happy Trail!!!

Lucas Varnadore