Trail Family and a Much Needed Zero Day

Today is Day 13 on the Appalachian Trail, and my first "Zero Day." A zero is when a hiker chooses to not make any forward progress on the trail. I started getting shinsplints in my right leg on about Day 9, and the last two days were pretty brutal. When I suggested a zero to my travel partners, it was a pretty easy sell, since the temps are forecast to be in the teens overnight with strong winds. We got checked into the Holiday Inn around noon, and beat the rush of hikers who will try to get off the trail as the temperature plummets this afternoon. We've had a few nice days, but overall, the weather has not been so great.

Day 3 was one of the few nice days

People thought I was crazy for hiking the Appalachian Trail solo, but I assured them that I would meet cool people along the way. I had no idea that my trail family would consist of the very first groups I met on the approach trail up to Springer Mountain on Day 1. I stumbled upon Josh and his sister Alex, along with their friend Joe just long enough to say "hello." Joe would only be joining them the first few days and then heading home to Athens, Georgia. At Springer, I asked Morgan and Adam, from Charleston, SC, to snap my picture at the official start of the A.T. 

A couple days later, we all ended up camping near Gooch Mountain Shelter. Someone delivered word of a St. Patty's party at Gooch Gap, a mile and a half away. Both groups I had met came and asked if I wanted to go. The prospect of hiking down the mountain in the dark for free beer and then back up again did not excite me near as much as it did these twenty-somethings. I asked Adam and Morgan to bring me back one beer.  Half hour later, I had pretty much the same conversation with Josh, Alex, and Joe. I went to sleep around 9pm, wondering what shenanigans would be in store for later that night.

Sometime after 11pm, the whole bunch of them, plus a few other folks, made a very noisy arrival at my tent, after mistakenly going to the wrong tent. I came out with my head lamp, and gazed at six beers lined up. Then I listened to everyone's account of what they went through to find this party and then smuggle beers out on my account... they were "on a mission." It was a great feeling. These folks have been my trail family ever since, and it's been a long time since I laughed this hard for this long.

Late-night beer party in front of my tent

On most days, we've literally been hiking in the clouds

Hanging with Alex

My boys, Josh, Morgan, and Adam

As we came down Blue Mountain into Unicoy Gap last week, we noticed a box near the highway. It was full of food provisions left by a hiker who obviously packed way to much food weight, or possibly whose dream of hiking the A.T. came to a crushing end after underestimating the toll it would take. We helped ourselves to pretty much all of the food. One item was a bag of a dehydrated shrimp and rice concoction. We tried to prepare it and eat it, but it was too disgusting. A guy who camped with us that evening named Tony labeled us the "Highway Shrimp Gang," and the name has stuck. We've been leaving our mark on the shelter log books along the trail, and we've been taking on shrimp related names; I'm "Fitty Shrimp," Morgan is "Shrimp Biscuit," and so on.

Our group is known on the trail as the "Highway Shrimp"

Morgan is quite the sketch artist and leaves our mark on the shelter logs.

"Get Shrimp or Die Tryin'"

The "Rooster Gang" and Barefoot Jake enjoying dinner at Big Gap Shelter

Thanks to John and Mary Leigh for the delicious meals!

I'm hoping the pain in my shin is okay for tomorrow. We want to make it to Franklin, NC by Friday for the Kentucky hoops game in the Sweet 16, but it's about 40 miles away. The pace has been slow, by design, and nobody in my group is in any kind of hurry. We have seen a lot of the quick starters who thought this was a race already hobbled by injuries and having to take several days off the trail. 

Thanks to Gary and Mary, Amy and Dennis, and everyone else who has contributed to the Rich Jeanette kidney fund. When my pain gets really bad, I think of Rich and what he's going through, and I find some extra drive. The link to the donation page is in my previous post, "All About Family," and we're close to 40% to our goal already!

Overall, I'm having a truly great experience out here! Thanks for all of your cheers and well wishes, it really helps a lot!

Mud, Snot Rockets, and Such

The first week on the trail has been about adjusting. Not just to the rigors of walking up and down mountains for many hours a day, but also to becoming comfortable living in one's own filth. There have been 2 nice but cold days, 1 perfect day, and the last 3 days have been mostly cold, rainy, and miserable. Everything is wet, muddy, and stinky. I've managed to grab 2 showers so far on nights when the weather was so bad that my posse decided to pay for a bunk in a hiker hostel, and even did laundry once (wore the exact same clothes for 4 days). Putting on the same muddy shoes and pants every day is becoming routine.

I used to be completely disgusted when someone would blow a snot rocket. Lately, I find myself doing it at least a couple dozen times a day, the chilly mountain air working it's magic. But it takes time to perfect this skill, and there have been some epic fails. I have a very fun group of hiking mates, and we were commiserating about this earlier today while summiting Blood Mountain.

With each passing day, the mountains become a little less difficult to conquer, as lungs, joints, and muscles gradually adapt. But already, word spreads along the trail about hikers dropping out, Tyler back to Massachusetts, Sonya home to Indiana. It's sad, kind of like reading the obituaries. But my mindset is good, I'm meeting some amazing people, and laughing harder than I can remember. Physically, it' harder than I had imagined, like the hardest workouts I've ever tried, several times a day, every day. But I have no blisters, no injuries or chronic aches, and finally catching my breath. By this weekend, we should be crossing into North Carolina.

I need to write about our St. Patty's festivities, our bear canister experience, the kindness and generosity of total strangers, and the fellowship between all of us hiking the trail. But that will have to wait for later, because it's 9pm - hiker bed time.

One last thing, thanks to all who have made a contribution to the Rich Jeanette kidney fund, Carol, Ben, Ken & Megan, Greg, Amy, Sally, Mark, Bridget, and Dongguk. I think we're a quarter of the way to our goal, although I'm not even 2% through with the trail. The contribution link is in my previous post, "All About Family."

Until next time, happy trails!

All About Family

After leaving Baltimore on Friday, I drove to Kentucky to spend a few days visiting with my folks and my family before beginning my hike. We had a nice get together on Sunday, a "send-off" as my mother called it, a "wake" as my brother Steve called it. Whatever, it was great to have this group together for the first time in WAY TOO LONG.

My AWESOME family in Kentucky

The adventure begins on Thursday of this week.  Steve, being the great brother he is, has volunteered to drive me five hours to Amicalola Falls State Park, Georgia. From there, I will hike eight miles up the approach trail to Springer Mountain, which is where the Appalachian Trail actually begins.  Why they cannot just move the official starting point to the spot where the approach trail begins, I'll never know.

Mom's panic level has been downgraded to Code Orange after reading at least three books written by former Appalachian Trail hikers who for some very odd reason did not die during their hikes. Also, I got her this huge map to hang on the door so she can follow my progress via post cards and snail mail. Dare we tell her about the internet?... hmmm.

I cannot overstate my level of appreciation for how fortunate I am to have the good health required to be able to attempt this feat. I have a cousin in Ohio who would love to do something like this, but due to a multitude of health issues, it's not possible.

Richard Jeanette is awaiting a kidney and pancreas transplant. He has continued to work and has remained positive and upbeat, an inspiration to all who know him. Rich's wide network of friends have been busy organizing fund raising events to assist him financially with his mounting out-of-pocket medical expenses and anticipated lost wages. So I have decided to join in their efforts and hike on behalf of Rich.

For all of you who have said, "Kurt, how can I help you on your adventure?", well, here's how... 

Rich Jeanette

Please take a quick moment to click on my sponsorship page. Just a penny per mile will jack up my level of motivation on those really bad days, and if 100 people help out, we'll have raised over $2,000 to help Rich.

A Kidney for my Cousin

Rich's Dad, Bob Jeanette (right) and my Grandpa Joe Jeanette (left) were brothers from Bettsville, Ohio

The weather on the trail will be pretty chilly for the first few days. I don't expect to have access to wifi for updates until sometime next week. Until then, Happy Trails!