Random thoughts, musings and things I think are interesting…
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Day 21 – Groundhog creek shelter to a stealth camp site about 7 miles from Hot Springs
Today was another big day. Thanks to some easy terrain and some perfect weather, I covered nearly 19 miles in 10 and a half hours. I’m setup to be able to roll into Hot Springs tomorrow early afternoon and get a shower, do some laundry, eat and resupply (always do it in that order lest…
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Day 20 – Cosby knob shelter to Groundhog creek shelter
Today was a fun, but long day. I left last night’s camp a little after 8 and rolled in to tonight’s camp around 8:30. 12+ hours on trail and nearly 18 miles (more if you count the side trips I’ll get into below). My initial plan was only 16 miles, but the creek near that…
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Day 19 – Pecks corner shelter to Cosby knob shelter.
I woke up around 6:30 (for the second time – the first was around 3:30 when someone decided to get a really early start on the day and was getting their bear bag down from the cables). I wanted to laze a bit, but I had the forecast from the night before in mind, so…
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Day 18 – South of Indian Grave Gap to Peck’s corner shelter
What a difference a month makes! Everything is in bloom and the weather was amazing. I started the morning at the Laughing Heart hostel in Hot Springs. I was leaving too early to get breakfast there so I moved my car to trail parking behind the hostel, grabbed my bag and walked down to the…
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28 days later
Writing this from The Smoky Mountain Diner in Hot Springs NC. Waiting on my breakfast and my shuttle (hopefully in that order) back to where I got off trail 28 days ago, just a little south of Newfound gap in the smokies. I’m coming back with a slightly lighter kit and an entirely revamped approach.…
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Adjustment
While I still have 3 more weeks of rest and rehab, I think I’ve come to some decisions about what’s next. There’s more I’ll share here in the next few weeks on what went into these decisions / what I learned about myself / the trail from the start of my TH attempt (and some…
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Getting back on the trail
Just got back from my local doc and had both an ultrasound and an MRI. They saw the same thing the urgent care doc in Tennessee saw – swelling and some light tearing in the left with the bonus of some swelling in the right as well. The prescription is the same as well: three…
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Day 16 – Derrick Knob Shelter to Gatlinburg
This is a “catch-up” post being made from home while I await my doctor’s appointment this afternoon to get a second opinion on my achilles injury and rehab. The events described in this post took place on March 31 2024. I didn’t want to roll into camp at 8:00 again, so I had set my…
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Day 15 – Birch Spring Campsite to Derrick Knob Shelter
This is a “catch-up” post being made from home while I await my doctor’s appointment this afternoon to get a second opinion on my achilles injury and rehab. The events described in this post took place on March 30 2024. So I didn’t get a chance to even capture notes or draft something at the…