Hello from Woods Hole Hostel

FIRST OFF...600 miles down!!!

While Duchess is driving back to be with me and the rest of the crew on the trail, I'd figure I would update everyone while she has been away. When we went home to Indiana to get Duchess on her flight, we picked up another hiker; Lucy Diamond. Pictures are to come soon, but she is doing great and loving it out on the trail.

Trail Days happened last weekend, which is a three day festival for all past and present thru-hikers. We were greeted with water balloons and guns while walking down the streets of Damascus, VA during the parade, traded and got new gear from all the vendors and danced out hearts out around the drum circle every night...also, more pictures to come!!

Since Trail Days it has just been Boss, Lucy and I hiking to meet everyone up in Pearisburg, VA. We will be picking up Duchess along with Grace and Kristine....this will all be easier when they receive trail names as well. Although we have had some bad weather, the last few days have been beautiful and Virginia has been great to us thus far! Lucy is yet to ruin anything of mine with her wet paws, but only time will allow that to happen.

More updates to come when everyone is back on the trail!!

With love,
Not Bad & Lucy Diamond.

Greetings from Chicago!

Duchess here. Just got back from a little blue blaze adventure to Mexico; gonna swing by Bloomington, Indiana to pick up a rental car containing Grace and Christine and then we're gonna head back to trail where Not Bad and the gang have reached the 25% mark!!

Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder and although I had an absolutely wonderful time relaxing at the pool bar with Brian for a week, I'm very ready to "get back trail." Can't wait to get caught up on what I missed---including the notorious "Trail Days" (NotBad's recap of the weekend is coming soon...) Mostly i can't wait to see everyone: Not Bad, I Slack, Boss, Ice, Licious, Lucy, Jamie and everyone else. And get back to the day to day (anything-but)-routine of a thru-hiker.

But its been almost a month since we posted ANYTHING, so allow me to fill in some of the blanks.

Erwin, Tennessee was the 300 mile mark and the location of our last post. We headed up into the Roan Highlands---one of the most beautiful sections that we've hiked so far, even though it rained and sleeted for most of it. Can only imagine the views on a clear day.

The morning we woke up at the Overmountain shelter (an old barn that had been turned into a shelter for hikers) our wet clothes that we hung up to dry the night before were now cold and wet. So we put them back on and hiked the 10 miles to the Mountain Harbour Bed & Breakfast, in Roan Mountain, TN----- who's bunkhouse was booked up! But because the weather was so bad, the wonderful couple who owned the place let us squeeze 8 people into the 'honeymoon suite' at a reduced rate---and cooked us a baller breakfast the next morning. We're talking like thanksgiving dinner style breakfast...

We left the B&B at a leisurely pace that afternoon to sunshine. NotBad had a short bout with a case of "the Nolichucky's" or "Uncle Johnny's Revenge" as it's affectionately called --a 24 hour bug that had been affecting several hikers up the trail and may or may not have originated at the hiker hostel in Erwin...

She soldiered through though and we made it to Kincora---a true hiker oasis--- a day later.

Kincora hiker hostel, run by trail-legend Bob Peoples, features tree house bunks and an authentic wood burning stove steam room (we took advantage of both). He also gave us shuttles to town for resupply and an opportunity to slack pack. All for a suggested donation of $4.00.

Have we talked about slack packing?

Slack Packing involves getting a ride up the trail (or sending your pack ahead) and then hiking back (or up to) your pack with just enough snacks and water for the day. Without 40 extra pounds it allows you to move a lot faster, or more comfortably. It allows you to cover a lot more mileage than you might otherwise be able to do. Some thru-hiking purists consider it "cheating"...

I don't think making your hike more enjoyable for yourself is cheating so I never pass up an opportunity to slack pack : )

After leaving Kincora, we hiked a couple more days (including a 26 mile slack pack day!) to Damascus, VA where we zero-ed at another wonderful bed and breakfast. Had a really good spinich/artichoke pizza and a few beers at Quincey's, and caught up with quite a few hikers in the 2 days that we spent there. Damascus is a real milestone for thru hikers, its right across the Virginia border and almost 500 miles in. It feels really good to have a good chunk of the trail under our belts and makes me even more excited about the next 1500 miles.

More to come.

Is there anything you guys want to know about specifically?

Much Love

Duchess

Shin Splints, Rainy Days & Erwin, TN

So we have made it 300 miles and are feeling good. Both Duchess & I (Not Bad) have been having some shin splint problems but nothing too major. We have also been facing some more rainy days. We have had 2 days of rain now, and headed back into the mountains today where tonight we are expecting thunder storms. We knew it was going to come sooner or later so we might as well face the challenge!!

We are a little over 300 miles and less than 200 from finishing 3 of our 14 states!! The next town/area we are shooting for is Roan Mountain. Last night we spent the evening at Uncle Johnnys' hostel in Erwin, TN where we resupplied, got some good Mexican food, and met up with some friends who had a been a day or so behind us. (And sorry Bman, no Erwin Burrito...couldn't find it.)

In just a few weeks Duchess will be jumping off the trail to head to Mexico with Bryan for a week and after that Spencer is going to be coming out & hopefully with Lucy! I am going to miss Duchess but will hike on without her and she will meet me at the right place! In other news, we recently found out that we can aqua blaze the Shenandoah Mountains (aqua blaze means we would canoe the 7 days out of the mountains)...and that is something we are now considering to do because it sounds like an amazing experience.

Anywho, we are heading out today and will be at Roan Mountain hopefully in 4 days (48ish miles)...if we don't update then, there will be a new post in Damascus, VA. Hope everyone at home is doing well and we look forward to reading more comments!!

with love,
not bad & duchess

NOC, Gatlingburg, and the Great Smokey Mountains.

Islack, Boss, Duchess and Not Bad enjoying the old firetower with a beautiful sunset.
Sunset from the firetower in the Smokey Mountains.

Boss, Duchess, Tree and Not Bad enjoying the river and the sun at the NOC.

Picture of Duchess, Not Bad and Islack eating the BIGGEST burger in Gatlinburg.

Hello All!!

Today we are getting ready to take off from Hot Springs, NC and headed to Erwin, TN. This post is going to be short because we need to get hiking, but when we stop in Erwin we will give you a full update.

The pictures are taken with some friends that we have met along the way...lately, we have been hiking with the 2 guys in the top picture. The younger guy, Boss and the older guy Islack. As you guys may have known, real names are not to be used on the trail. Everyone goes by trail names out here and it's just part of the AT community. Malorie has received the name 'Not Bad' because while discussing what her name should be, we all realized that in all languages mal means bad...but I argued the fact that I wasn't bad and so it came to be; Not Bad. Jess, received the name Duchess because Angie ("Giggles") kept singing that song that goes:

"the Noble Duke of York

he had 10,000 men

he marched them up to the top of the hill

and he marched them down again"

because we would hike in a line and march up and down the moutains, with 'Duchess' at the front.

Trail names are just a little part of the AT that makes everyday special and meeting new people a little more exciting. We are having a great time out here and meeting great people. In just a few weeks our friend Spencer is going to come out and hike with us for a little bit. Along with him, he is going to bring out Malorie's dog Lucy Diamond to see what kind of trail legs she has. We will update more in detail in a week or so.

Lots of love

Not Bad & Duchess

Take your shirt off, Twist it round your head, Spin it like a Helicopter

We are in North Carolina!

Franklin, North Carolina to be exact. Yesterday we passed the 100 mile mark on the trail! Only 2079 to go...

Today also marks 2 weeks since we started and we are feeling very accliamated to life on the trail. After we left the hostel at Neels Gap, we hiked three days to Hiawassee, Georgia, slept in a real bed at a wonderful hostel called the Blueberry Patch and woke up to a hot breakfast: cheese biscuits, sawmill gravy, sausage, pancakes with blueberry syrup, orange juice and fresh brewed coffee. (I realize that i spend a lot of time going into detail about the meals at these hostels, but they are worth going into detail about after 3-4 days of dehydrated meals!)

We hit the trail that afternoon and made it to a shelter just after dark. Set up our hammocks in the dark, cooked and ate dinner in the dark (in the privy as a matter of fact so as not to wake up the folks sleeping in the shelter) and hung our bear bag in the dark. Woke up to rain and soaking wet gear a few hours later... (top of the to-do list: get better tarps, with more coverage, for our hammocks.) The forcast for the day was thunderstorms, so we ended up just hanging out at the shelter all day and letting our stuff dry. There were quite a few others with the same idea.
So we kept warm by creating a make shift tetherball court and tetherball tournament and we made a big potluck dinner that night out of stovetop, mashed potatoes and zuccini! AND there were a couple guys from Michigan who had a deck of cards, so of course there was Euchre.

Then the weather cleared up and we had a couple big mile days and here we are in Franklin, North Carolina.

Before I wrap up, I need to explain a phenomena out here on the AT called "Trail Magic." Trail Magic is any stroke of good luck or unexpected act of kindness experienced while hiking. It appears most often in the form of hot food at a trail head or fresh apples where the trail crosses a road, but can be anything. Here for example, the morning we hiked up and over 'Kelly Knob' it was very windy and spitting rain with 40 degree temps and when we came to the road at the bottom of the mountain, Nancy and Cheryl (and their husbands) had a big pot of chili and a cooler full of pepsi and were dishing it out for us before we even crossed the road. They also gave us a ride into town (10 miles up the road). Trail Magic.

There are so many people on or around the trail that will give the shirt off their back to a complete stranger, and ask nothing in return. There are a lot of good people in this world. Its a cool thing to remember after spending the last 5 years in a line of work that tells you the opposite.

Anyway, we're going to hang out here in Franklin today and eat a giant hamburger and maybe buy a tarp. We're only about a week and a half away from Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains! (where it apparently snows into April...)

Thanks for all of the comments! Love Jess & Mal

ps Go Butler!

Today is our first zero day. Well, "Nero" day----i think we're going to hike out a mile or so and pitch our hammocks after a long day of rest today. Last night, we hiked into the Mountain Crossings Hiker Hostel in Neels Gap. What an oasis! We heard that they fill the bunks on a first come first serve basis, so when we finally descended Blood Mountain (the highest elevation on the AT in Georgia) around 6:30, we were'nt sure there would be a spot for us.

There were 3 beds left and dinner was to be served in a few minutes. For dinner? Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, rice, rolls, pasta salad, pineapple upside down cake, brownies and sweet tea. It'd only been four days that we'd been eating freeze dried food, but we stuffed ourselves like it'd been months. We got a shower, washed our clothing and slept on a real mattress and stayed up late around a campfire.

Anyway, the first 4 days were great. We've been hiking in the best weather (60 and sunny) and have some pretty good mileage under our belts already (38 miles!) and have already met dozens of really awesome people.

Here's the wrap:

On the first day we hiked the access trail at Amicalola Falls state park. The first mile was an 800 step staircase....

Our second night we camped at the Hawk Mountain shelter with over 30 thru & section hikers.

Day three we hiked 12 miles & climbed Ramrock mountain and because the shelter was too far for us to reach that day, we picthed our hammocks on the ridge overlooking the row of mountains that we had climbed up and down that day

Yesterday, we ran into a guy celebrating his 81st birthday by summiting Big Cedar Mountain, we hiked up Blood Mountain and then back down to the Hiker Hostel for a little R&R.

It's kind of like when we take a picture of an incredible mountian vista and what shows up on the camera screen really has no resemblence; its hard to really describe a day-in-the-life here. It's good though, life is good. And we'll post the pictures anyway : )

Thanks for your messages!

Thinking about you always

Jess & Mal (and Angie)

T Minus 7 Days

We're one week from departure. Our packs are pretty near complete and carefully displayed on our living room floor for your viewing pleasure. Our non-refundable bus tickets are purchased and our 2 weeks of notice have been given to our managers at work...so there's no turning back now!