Craig and Suzy's 2006 Appalachian Trail Journal

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Day	Date	Start	Finish	Miles	Journal	Photo
29	4/15	Mount Collins Shelter	Newfound Gap, US 441	4.5	Day: 29 Date:4/15/06 Start: Mount Collins Shelter Weather: hot, sunny Finish: Newfound Gap, US 441 Miles:4.5 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 203.6 Branch: Today we hiked the 4.5 miles to Newfound Gap where we spent a full 1 hour and 10 minutes trying to hitch into Gatlinburg! It seemed that God was waiting for just the right person to take us in. Well, we were happy to wait that time, because after waiting for quite a long time, up came Angela, a wonderfully Godly school teacher, and two students that she had taken camping the night before. We were so glad that God led her to pick us up. We had so much fun hanging out with her and the two young ladies on the way to Gatlinburg! Angela, a chorus teacher, knew a lot about hard core Christian music. I thought that Craig was going to cry with joy when she said that she knew about Cornerstone, a music festival that features only the hardest of Christian music groups. Thank you so much, Angela, for the ride, the encouragement, and for being such a wonderful Christian witness to the teenagers that you impact daily! It was such awesome gift from God to meet you. After Angela dropped us off in Gatlinburg, the first thing on our agenda was food. Not just any food, though. For the past two days we have literally been dreaming about and discussing our great desire for IHOP food: pancakes, bacon, eggs, and, most importantly, endless coffee. While we found no IHOP, there is a pancake house on almost every corner of this town! As we discussed which pancake house to choose, it was as if we had entered into a different world. As we walked by Ripley's, a gigantic mechanical dinosaur growled at us and lunged toward us. Then, a "live" skeleton taunted us as we past by. Every where we went, tons of people hurried by. This was definitely different from walking through the woods! However, we soon found an inviting pancake place and parked ourselves to gorge on pancakes, eggs, bacon, and coffee. It was so nice to sit still, eat a meal, and just talk. Next on our to-do list was procuring a hotel room for the night. After shopping around for a while, We found the Family Inn to be cheapest. We were surprised by how nice the room is. There is a microwave, refrigerater, and best of all--a Jacuzzi tub! My muscles will thank me tonight! Its always amazing to me how God provides for us. I feel a bit guilty for living this comfortably, but I know that rest is just what my sick body needs.
30	4/16	Gatlinburg, TN	Gatlinburg, TN		Day: 30 Date:4/16/06 Start: Gatlinburg, TN Weather: Hot, sunny Finish: Gatlinburg, TN Miles: 0 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 203.6 Subject: Easter Sunday We are in Gatlinburg, TN today celebrating Resurrection Sunday. I Corinthians 15:17 says, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." We had the great privilege of seeing Richard John Nehaus speak this morning. He is an unapologetic apologist that speaks clearly and logically about issues of faith. The resurrection of Christ is the single most significant aspect of the Christian faith. As cited above, Paul states that if Christ was not raised from the dead, his sacrifice was not valid. In honor of this Easter Sunday, below I will cite *some* of the arguments against the resurrection and *some* very brief responses to wet your whistle. (1) Christ either died during his crucifixion or he did not. One theory that purports that he did not die is the swoon theory. It says that Jesus merely passed out and he was later revived. In their _Handbook of Christian Apologetics_, Peter Kreeft and Ron Tacelli cite 9 reasons why the swoon theory is false. I will merely cite a few of their reasons (after all I am typing with my thumbs in the woods). (1.1) The Roman guard did not break Jesus' legs because he was already dead, (1.2) blood and water came from Christ's pericardial sack when the guard pierced his heart, (1.3) Jesus was put into burial winding sheets and entombed. (2) If he did die, then he either was raised from the dead or not. If he did not rise from the dead, (2.1) either the apostles were deceived (e.g. hallucination; twin Jesus theory), (2.2) the apostles were myth-makers, (2.3) or the apostles were deceivers (i.e. conspiracy). (2.4) If Christ did rise, then Christianity is true. In brief response to 2.1, it is unlikely that all 500 or so witnesses mass hallucinated. It is also very unlikely that Jesus had a twin brother. Instead, Luke 24 says that Christ ate fish and in John, doubting Thomas touched Jesus' side. Christ prophesied about his own resurrection in John 2.19-21. In brief response to 2.2, the apostles were myth-makers, I will posit two (amongst many other) arguments. One, myths take time to develop. The apostles wrote their accounts soon after the event. Second, the apostles accounts are not written in the genre of myth. For example, they do not say, "A long time ago in a land far far away."   2.3 is interesting to me. "Where the apostles intended to deceive?" is the question. They all ran off when Jesus was being persecuted. It was only after they saw Jesus alive that they began to be bold in their faith. Lies are typically intended to gain advantage for oneself. The apostles died for their belief. It is unlikely that they would die for a lie. Second, the Jews and the Romans did not produce a corpse. Third, their accounts are not written persuasively--like a lawyer or debater. They even have women seeing Jesus first. Whereas, in their time period and culture, women's testimonies were not accepted. If they were attempting to deceive, they did it maladroitly. They were persecuted, put in jail, and lost their lives for a lie. Kreeft and Tacelli provide more reasons against 2.3. Bill Craig (www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig) says that there are three confirmed facts about Christ's resurrection from the dead: (1) Christ death, (2) His postmortem appearances and, (3) the origin of the Christian faith. I hope that this brief discussion about Christ's resurrection will cause you to study the subject. It is the foundation of the Christian faith. Happy Easter!
31	4/17	Newfound Gap	Icewater Spring Shelter	3.0	Day: 31 Date: 4/17/06 Start: Newfound Gap Weather: cloudy, sunny, threats of rain, windy Finish: Icewater Spring Shelter, TN Miles: 3.0 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 206.6 Branch: Our original plan for today included an early start (about 7:30) and about 15 miles of hiking. That did not even come close to happening. When we received our wake up call at 5:30 this morning, it was all I could do to pick up the receiver, drop it back down, turn over and fall back asleep. At 7:30 Clay woke up and fell asleep as well. By 8:30, we rolled out of bed with little to no energy and even less motivation to hike. We slowly packed up our packs, ate some breakfast, and tried to get motivated. By 9:30 we were back in bed, our early start ruined and considering another nights stay in comfort. At 10:45, we peeled ourselves out of bed again and by 11:00 we were headed down the road to hitch to the trail. As we passed by a KFC, we followed our noses inside for an early lunch. After the early lunch, we were finally ready for our 'early' start. By 12:00 a super nice couple named Chris and Sylve picked up and took us to the trail. It only took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to do the easy 3-mile climb to the first shelter. When we got here, there was such an inviting fire in the fireplace and ominous clouds in the sky that we needed little prodding to stake claim for the night. Hopefully, we'll do better tomorrow. Tonight, once again, we are in a shelter full of friendly faces. There are several section hikers, Model T, Ranger Dog, Frisbee, No Fall, and two brothers whose names I didn't catch. This is certainly a nice crew full of great stories and pleasant conversation. Clay: Many people were smoking dope when we got to the shelter. As you can surmise, this hindered a lot of conversation for me. I was both sad and a little grouchy. So, I went to bed early.
32	4/18	Icewater Spring Shelter, TN	Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, TN	12.6	Day: 32 Date: 4/19/06 Start: Icewater Spring Shelter, TN Weather: foggy morning, sunny afternoon Finish: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, TN Miles: 12.6 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 219.2 Branch: Today was both an easy day physically and a tough day mentally. I'm not sure why really, but I was completely depressed for much of the morning. Clay was really missing spiritual conversation and I began questioning our purpose out here. So, I spent many hours in prayer as we hiked the easy miles. I prayed for encouragement and for a renewed sense of God's purpose for our lives out here. By the afternoon, my spirits were higher. We got to the shelter by 2:15 and decided not to push 8 more miles to the next one. Soon, Model T, Ranger Dog, Frisbee, Hey There, and several others were milling about the shelter as well. The conversations tonight have been much more entertaining and substantial. It's been fun talking with Model T and Ranger Dog about Bill Irwin (www.billirwin.com), and hearing stories from their military days. It has been the encouragement that we've needed. Tomorrow we plan to do about 18 miles, a pretty big day for the two of us.   Clay: It is true. At this stage of the hike, conversation is somewhat shallow but at least it is nice getting to know these nice people. Model T (AT '90, '94, '98, '06), who hiked with Bill Irwin in '90, said that in the first part of the A.T. people don't really want to get to know each other on a deep level. Instead, people are mere acquaintances. He then went on to say that in the northern states life-long, meaningful friendships are made. What a long time to wait but well worth it. Although I truly believe we could have easily pulled our first 20-mile day today, in hindsight, I'm glad we did not. Talking with Model T was inspirational. He told Bill Irwin's story beautifully. It was also amazing to talk with Reststep here at the shelter. He is a Holland-born, retired physician that has hiked up to 27,000 feet of Everest, and he has summited McKinley (USA, AK), Ranier (USA, WA), Kilamanjaro (Africa), and some 23,000 foot mountain in South America. It was also fun discussing, as a group, possible employment opportunities for the 27-year-old, former marine. Today I listened to church historian and theologian, N.T. Wright. He is an excellent scholar. He spoke about the historical Jesus. He said that there were about 15 people that claimed to be the Messiah within a few hundred years range from Jesus' life. He also talked about how the Jews believed in the general, bodily resurrection of believers (2 Maccabees 7). However, he said that the concept of an individual's bodily resurrection was a foreign concept to the Jews and the apostles. He said that the apostles (and Jews) expected a political Messiah--one that would take over Rome. Instead, he appeared to be a failed Messiah because the Romans killed Jesus. So, it was a surprise to the apostles when they had to adjust their paradigm after Christ's resurrection. Everything, Wright said, centers around Christ's resurrection for the apostles.
33	4/19	Tricorner Knob Shelter	Green Corner Road/Standing Bear Farm	18.1	Day: 33 Date: 4/19/06 Start: Tricorner Knob Shelter Weather: Morning--thunderstorms, major wind, hail, rain. Afternoon--hot, sunny. Finish: Green Corner Road/Standing Bear Farm Miles: 18.1 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 237.3 Clay: Last night a hail storm rolled in while we were sleeping in the shelter. With our faces just a few feet from the exposed tin roof, it was like being on an amusement park ride. This morning lightening was still in the air but there was no rain. We were the first persons out of the shelter at 7:30. Within 15 minutes of our start we heard the storms rolling in. The next shelter was 8 miles away and it sounded like the storms were about 15 miles away. It did not sound like they were moving very fast. However, within an hour the storms were on top of us. We had to climb in order to get to the next shelter. Climbing into the clouds was the last place I wanted to be during thunderstorms. I shouted to Branch, "I believe we might be in trouble! If the weather gets worse, we'll get in the brush and under our tyvek". I felt as faithless as the disciples during the storm in the boat. The storm did not get worse and the thunder was much higher So, we quickened our pace. As a bit of irony, we made it to the shelter just as the storm subsided--in 3 hours. Branch: So much has happened today that I don't even know where to start journaling. After the torrential rain and the near sprint to the shelter this morning, the rain subsided and the sun came shining through the clouds. As we hiked on top of a ridge, we had the most beautiful views thus far. We were looking down on clouds in the distance and could see spring beginning to crawl up the mountain in patches of bright green. It was incredible and the song "This is the Day that the Lord has made" played in a continuous loop in my mind. When we got to Davenport Gap (the end of the Smokies), we were super excited about getting at Cheeseburger at Mountain Mamas. Not wanting to get too behind schedule, we prayed that if God wanted us to go then, he would give us a ride within 10 minutes. Otherwise, we'd hike the remaining 3.5 miles cheeseburgerless. God has the coolest sense of humor. At exactly 10 minutes, I started to cross the road and head up the trail, as I crossed a car pulled up and stopped at Craig's stuck out thumb! Needless to say, we thoroughly our enjoyed our cheeseburgers. Even better though, was the company we found ourselves in. Harley Hogpit, whom we thought we'd never see again, and Gus were there finishing their dinner. So we joined them. Harley says that we are only about half a day behind Kutsa, a friend of ours from last year. I hope that we can catch her soon! We are now at Standing Bear Hostel. Several people here have guitars and harmonicas, so we are surrounded by harmonious music. Its nice to hear. I feel like I'm in the set of one of the A.T. movies we've watched so many times. Its about 10:30--super late for me and they are still going strong, so I'll have good tunes sleep by.
34	4/20	Green Corner Road/Standing Bear Farm, NC	Groundhog Creek Shelter, NC	7.2	Day: 34 Date: 4/20/06 Start: Green Corner Road/Standing Bear Farm, NC Weather: Overcast, sporadic rain and thunder Finish: Groundhog Creek Shelter, NC Miles: 7.2 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 244.5 Clay: Not wanting to do 36 miles in 2 days to get to the Hot Springs Post Office and Trail Fest by Saturday morning (We just did 30 miles in 2 days), we waited at the hippie hiker hostel until 9 AM to call the USPS and have them forward our packages to Erwin, TN. Harley Hogpit, Weeks/Kit, Speghettio, Gus, and Half-step are taking a $60 shuttle to Hot Springs. They are staying there for three days! Not us. Despite the threat of thunderstorms each day and night, we are pressing on. We truly desire to put in some miles despite the bad weather. We were the first people to set up camp today at this first shelter in the Cherokee National Forest. As we crossed a semi-bald today, we could hear the thunder in the distance. So, we scurried for two miles to get to the shelter due to the threat. There will be no going over Max Patch (a very tall, exposed bald) today. We were soon joined by Lincoln (At '86) and Genie. They are amazing camp cooks! They cooked for 3 hours. Whole wheat noodles with tomato paste, onion, and some kind of green season and red spice. They even baked fresh, sour dough bread on a rock over the fire! After the food show, Model T, Ranger Dawg and their friends, and few other hikers showed up. Rip, Holly, and Jenn dropped in and they want to do 20+ miles today and tomorrow in order to get a free spaghetti dinner in Hot Springs. More power to them as they brave thunder and rain for pasta. Last night they walked an extra 5 non-A.T. miles for a burger! They are a hungry crew. Nearly everyone here at the shelter is tenting tonight despite the rain. It is nice to have the freedom to do so. In the Smoky Mountains, we were forced to stay in the shelters.
35	4/21	Groundhog Creek Shelter, NC	Roaring Fork Shelter, NC	8.2	Day: 35 Date:4/21/06 Start: Groundhog Creek Shelter, NC Weather: Thunderstorms until mid-day, then overcast Finish: Roaring Fork Shelter, NC Miles: 8.2 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 252.7 Clay: Last night it rained cats and dogs. Nearly everyone wanted to tent regardless. This is because we were not allowed to tent in the Smokies and we all wanted privacy. This morning we were awakened by thunderstorms. Since we were to be crossing the 4629' Max Patch (392 acres of bald mountain), we wanted to let the majority of the storms pass before we started out. At the first near-ceasing of rain, Branch, Blazer (from GA), and I took off. About 1.5 miles in, the rain started pouring and the thunder began again. We trudged on in the sludge. Branch: As we continued walking amongst the thunder claps, Clay and I decided that we would reevaluate when to go up Max Patch based on the weather. As I hiked, I prayed that God would make it clear whether we should start climbing. I told God that if we got to the gap and there were people there, we would would hold off on climbing. As I prayed, I also daydreamed about how wonderful it would be if there were nice people at the gap with tarps for us to stand under to get out of the beating rain. Clay also prayed for a sign, he asked for an obvious change in the weather to let us know not to go up. As we descended into Brown Gap, I could not believe my eyes as I began to make out an orange-topped easy-up and saw people putting up other easy-ups as well! As soon as we came under the tarps, there was the biggest flash of lightening and strongest thunder clap that we'd heard all morning. Immediately the rain and wind started to pick up as well. Talk about answered prayer! Not only did God provide a clear sign, he also provided Ox, Lisa, and another very nice lady who brought *tons* of food for us to devour. While we were there, I inhaled 2 servings of delicious eggs, a cup of coffee, a cup of juice, several grapes, some cookies, lots of candy, an incredible cheeseburger, chips, a Coke, and probably more. We even left with two oranges and some candy! That was enough to keep me full all the way up Max Patch and to the shelter. Another highlight of the "Trail Magic" was meeting Baltimore Jack, who has hiked the entire trail several times. It was a pleasure hanging out with him! As soon as Clay finished his second cheeseburger, the rain calmed down, the lightening and thunder subsided, and Clay, Blazer, and I were left to safely climb up the bald. Even though we did not get beautiful views from Max Patch, it was still an amazing bald to me. As we climbed, we could watch fog hurry over the peak and into the valley below. I can see how one could easily loose their way on top of this grassy mountain. In fact as we neared the top, I thought I heard the sound of teenagers yelling. In the fog, I couldn't see anyone but Clay and Blazer, so I thought I was going crazy. Suddenly, however, we found ourselves in the middle of a game of touch football that a group of teenagers were playing. How odd was that! We thought we were in the middle of nowhere, but out of the blue there was a group of people with no packs playing football in the fog! After talking with them, we found out that we were less than 1/3 mile from a road. So we explained that we were on a trail, answered the usual thru-hiker questions, and were on our way. Tonight we are in the shelter with Blazer, Reststep, Archeopterx (from New Zealand), Davie Do, and Skeetch. My tummy's full, the sun's going down, and I can hear the beginnings of thunder in the distance. I think that its time for bed. Goodnight.

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