Craig and Suzy's 2006 Appalachian Trail Journal

As you can imagine, long-distance hiking takes a lot of time and money. This particular hike is estimated to cost about $17,000. Hikers cannot be reached on the trail without your support. If you like reading the journals or if you would like to see more chaplains on the trail, please prayerfully donate your funds to A.T. Servants by clicking here.

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Day	Date	Start	Finish	Miles	Journal	Photo
36	4/22	Roaring Fork Shelter, NC	Deer Park Mountain Shelter, NC	14.8	Day: 36 Date: 4/22/06 Start: Roaring Fork Shelter, NC Weather: rainy in the morning, nice, sunny afternoon Finish: Deer Park Mountain Shelter, NC Miles: 14.8 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 267.5 Branch: Today was a nice, eventless hiking day. We started off this morning in the rain and saw no one until about 10:30 or so when we passed a huge group of boyscouts heading North. At about 11:30 we passed an even bigger group of boyscouts from the same troup. So needless to say, tonight we are surrounded on all sides by energetic, excited boyscouts very happy to be in the woods where they can use their outside voices, throw things, and jump around like the 11-year-olds that they are. There is a small contingent of thru-hikers hunkered down here tonight as well. Cabernet, Chardonet, Skeetch, and Blazer have joined us behind the shelter as the boyscouts have filled it to the brim. We were super excited today, though, to see the return of our dear friend, the sunshine. This afternoon, it made its appearance through the clouds and we have finally been able to dry out our gear! Tomorrow, we are going to attempt something that we have yet to do on this trip thus far. We are going to go through Hot Springs, NC, resupply, wash our clothes, and eat a hot meal, without staying overnight. So far, whenever we've gotten into town, I've had some ailment--either my hip was injured or I was sick. Now, God has healed all of those ailments, and, barring any injury in the first 3 miles, we both feel great and are ready to push through to Erwin, TN next week.
37	4/23	Deer Park Mountain Shelter	Hot Springs, NC	3.2	Day: 37 Date: 4/23/06 Start:Deer Park Mountain Shelter Weather: Sunny morning, cloudy afternoon Finish: Hot Springs, NC Miles: 3.2 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 270.7 Branch: Okay, last night I wrote that we were going to charge right through Hot Springs--people would only see a flash as we resupplied and ran back out of town. As you can see from our stats, that did not exactly happen. We woke up and quickly walked the 3.2 easy miles in (we sang praise songs, Wizard of Oz, and 'Time to Change' by the Brady Bunch) having heard that there was an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast for only $3. After gorging on some delicious pancakes and hanging out for a while, we decided that since it is Sunday and there is a church nearby, it might be nice if we went to church this morning. I was anxious to be able to sing God's praises alongside other believers. After church, we attempted to make quick work of the town chores. We went to the outfitter, then went to do our laundry. This is when the plan began to change. As we prepared to do the laundry, huge, black, ominous clouds began to roll over the town of Hot Springs. Clay: Two guys said that the rain was scheduled to pour on us in the afternoon. Being tired of rain, thunder, wet gear and clothes, we opted to stay in town. We split up our town chores so that we could finish them faster. Branch shopped at the outfitter and Dollar Store for food while I washed clothes. While doing laundry, I was able to hang out with Marley and No Falls. I had a great time talking with Marley about his children and it was fun kidding around with No Falls. As I was doing laundry I saw Davey Do walk into the Alpine Hotel. I am amazed. Four nights ago he was hacking with a cough similar to the one Branch had. Two nights ago, he walked 15 miles to the shelter and announced his hernia had popped out. Later that night he loudly vomited the burger he ate at Mountain Moma's. He said that he was leaving the trail. He slept in the shelter until around noon and walked for five miles. Now he is in Hot Springs. What a strong guy! Staying in the hotel set us another half-day behind but we will get a better nights rest here. Church did not feed me enough to fill my hearty spiritual appetite. So, we watched D. James Kennedy speak about "The Da Vinci Code". He argued that Brown's book utilized the writings of the Second-century Gnostics. So, the research about Jesus in Brown's book is not sound. Tomorrow we will eat breakfast in town and do a difficult 11 mile day. So long...farewell...	>
38	4/24	Hot Springs, NC	Spring Mountain Shelter (TN side)	11	Day: 38 Date: 4/24/06 Start: Hot Springs, NC Weather: Sunny, hot (85 degrees) Finish: Spring Mountain Shelter (TN side) Miles: 11 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 281.7 Branch: We woke up slowly in the comfortable, phoneless hotel room this morning, savoring the luxuries of the indoors. By 8:30, our packs were packed and we were headed to the diner for one, final hot meal in town--it was great! After that we had to stop in the outfitters to replace my Platypus water bladder (which we got for free because of the life-time warranty). So after moseying around town, it ended up being around 10:20 or so before we finally made the great exit. The sun and the heavy pack made the hiking really tough today. It is on days like today that I absolutely love having my MP3 player. When its hot and I'm cranky and the hill seems never ending, listening to a scholar talk about things related to the Bible takes my mind away from the hiking and places my thoughts where they need to be--on Jesus. Today I listened to Hugh Ross talk about how the cosmos points not only to a Creator, but the God of the Bible. It was incredible to hear about how improbable it is for a universe to support life with out it being divinely designed by God. In fact, I liked this talk so much I listened to it twice so that I could better grasp all of the small details given. Clay: My $5 Wal-Mart foam mat has been making my hip and hind quarters go to sleep better than the remainder of my body. So, in order that I may sleep better and that my hips won't be in pain, we bought a Thermarest (Prolite 4, short) for me. We have not received a cell phone signal since Franklin, NC--none. We have not seen a computer since them either.   We saw Davey Do today at breakfast. He is staying on the trail! His popularity is up now since he was sick. So, he may run for Trail Governor (ha ha). We also saw Livin' again. He has been yellow blazing so much that Miss Janet put a yellow blaze on the back of his jacket. He and Nokia have been having a great time except for one event. Livin's pack was stolen a few days ago, he found it in the dumpster and only two items were missing--his boots and socks! Livin' was puzzled why anyone would want his size 12 shoes. As Branch said, hiking out of Hot Springs was tough today. For a while, we hiked with Pro, Granite, and Double Zip. At one juncture after a small dam, we became lost briefly due to some bad blazing. This escapade took about 10 minutes to resolve. Pro and Granite planned to push on past camp on the possible promise of trail magic 4 miles ahead. We saw two grave sites today along the trail. One site was occupied by the former owner of the Walassi Yi (i.e. Mountain Crossings) Tonight we are camping with Model T and Ranger Dawg, Double Zip and others. We also met Donkey today. We are going to try to do 70 miles in 5 days in order to get to Erwin, TN. We have 16 miles to do tomorrow--probably in the rain. Branch is so tired she fell asleep with her headlamp on. I had better turn it off and go to sleep as well. Clay & Branch
39	4/25	Spring Mountain Shelter, TN	Jerry Cabin Shelter, NC	15.4	Day: 39 Date: 4/25/06 Start: Spring Mountain Shelter, TN Weather: Day--hot, Night--storms Finish: Jerry Cabin Shelter, NC Miles: 15.4 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 297.1 Clay: Today started out with us waking up at 6:15 AM, eating a few Pop Tarts (there was not much food selection in Hot Springs), and heading out for a big day of hiking. When we are doing a big-mile day, I get amped up. It is sort of like a football team does during half-time. I am not only ready to carpe diem (i.e. seize the day), I am ready to *attack* the day. Conversely, I have found that women are not typically made this way. I am learning about actually stopping and smelling the flowers while hiking from Branch. We even looked at Lady Slippers, Poison Ivy, pretty purple and yellow flowers, and Mint today. By the time we got to Allen Gap (4 miles in), there was a sign stating that there was free food 300 yards away at a person's home. The skeptic in me said, "What are we getting in to?". However, Willow, Branch, and Blazer wanted to go. So, we did. Just past the "Welcome to North Carolina" sign was the beautiful log cabin home of Hercules and Falls (AT '99). They may have been the most hospitable, most gracious, most purpose-oriented, and Godly hosts I have ever met. The have fed nearly 400 hikers a huge meal this year. What did we have? We had breakfast, lunch, and dessert! When we first got to their home, we were greeted by their smiling faces and they set us down at a very nice, large, pastoral, dining table with woodsy table cloth. Soon they brought us large, fresh Belgian Pecan Waffles with various jams and maple syrup, and plenty of good coffee. As soon as we finished devouring the savory breakfast, they anounced that it was time for lunch! I looked at my watch and it was only 9:30 AM! They offered either bar-b-que or a Mexican dish. We went with the Mexican dish. The plate Falls brought out was full of different Mexican treats. The burrito had fresh chicken in it. I looked over at another fellow's plate and his bar-b-que had fresh chicken in it too. Wow! Everything was homemade and was seasoned with love. Just as I thought, "I am about 99% full now", Fall brought out a beautiful, homemade three-layered ice cream cake with a cherry on top. It looked like something you'd see in a magazine. She told us that a chef relayed that a piece of cake like that would run about $12. Branch and I decided to split one. We must have eaten 2000 calories during this meal. We were past full but very content. Why do they treat nasty, selfish, hikers this way? They explained that they had two hiker friends who had died since their thru-hike in 1999--one committed suicide and one died from breast cancer. So, they wanted hikers to investigate the claims of Christ. They even provided free books by Ravi Zacherias, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, and others. They have given out over 50 books to hikers this season alone! We were able to give out our booklets to hikers at the table today too! Hercules and Falls were not pushy, you could tell they cared, and they treated us like true guests instead of dirty hikers. We spent over two hours there. They served over 20 hikers just today and I am certain that it cost hundreds of dollars. By far, they were some of the best servants we have ever met. As the day progressed we hiked 6 uphill miles to Camp Creek Bald. Branch was so full she felt sick as she sweated out the miles. If this was not enough, we encountered the toughest but most fun mile thus far on the southern A.T. Blackstaff Cliffs was a very technical, hands-on, mile-long ridgeline. It took about an hour to complete. The miles came slow today because of our bloated stomachs and the uphill and technical terrain. As soon as we finished eating in camp, the rain poured on us relentlessly. No socializing tonight, unfortunately. Everyone has scurried to their tents. Branch is fast asleep and it is time for me to sleep as well.
40	4/26	Jerry Cabin Shelter, NC	Hogback Ridge Shelter, NC	14.7	Day: 40 Date: 4/26/06 Start: Jerry Cabin Shelter, NC Weather: rain, rain, clouds, rain Finish: Hogback Ridge Shelter, NC Miles: 14.7 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 311.8 Branch: Today was one of the few days that we actually spent most of the day hiking with people. Usually, we hike alone for the most part and then hang out when we get to camp. We spent the first 6 miles hiking with the Mudbogger Brothers, and then spent the rest of the day flip flopping with them, Ranger Dog, Misfit 1, and Blazer. It was a great time being able to talk with people during the day as well. I guess the main thing on everyone's mind today was the weather. For most of the day, it either rained, sprinkled, or threatened to do either one of those. While wet gear and filthy hikers are an unfortunate side effect of such weather, I found myself praising God for it for much of the day. The rain has brought cooler temperatures, we haven't needed to drink as much, and I did not spend my day sighing and wiping tons of sweat from my face at all. After yesterday's time of squeeking out the miles and straining for every step, today's rain helped me to conquer the hills and the miles. Clay: Today was one of my favorite hiking days. We started out hiking for a few hours with the Mudbogger brothers. For the most part we did a big downhill on an old logging road until we reached a shelter for lunch. The rain was pouring. For every big downhill, it seems that there is a big uphill. Todays uphill was a 6-mile climb up Frozen Knob. Branch was hoofing out some miles today! I was proud of her. As we ascended, we passed through some of the prettiest Spring flowers and greenery that we have seen thus far on the trip. The rain only magnified the beauty of the green plants and the smells that permeated the dewy sweet fresh air. The mountains look like a quilt of lush green plant life accented with purple, yellow, white, and red flowers. The crystal-clear waterfalls slaked our visual thirst as they gushed from the soft rain today. There was little socializing in camp. The rain put a damper on that. Our tent was already soaked from the rain from the previous night. The sil-nylon tent had reached a critical saturation point. So, when the rain hit the top of our tent with any force, our face, our sleeping bag, or our backpack. We knew we'd be soaked by the morning.
41	4/27	Hogback Mountain Shelter, NC	Whistling Gap Campsite, TN	13.4	Day: 41 Date: 4/27/06 Start: Hogback Mountain Shelter, NC Weather: Foggy morning, sunshine and very cool for most of the day Finish: Whistling Gap Campsite, TN Miles: 13.4 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 325.2 Branch: Yesterday Ranger Dog said, "Pack light, cold all night". Last night we changed the saying to "pack light, wet all night". Our two-person tent only weighs 2.5 pounds, but last night after setting up the wet tent, we needed to use our rain gear on top of our sleeping bags to try to combat the spray from the rain that poured all night long. When we woke up this morning, it was chilly and foggy, so we took our time getting going. Within 2 miles, the wind had blown away most of the fog and the long awaited sunshine was coming through the clouds. Clay: We have a number of gear items that have died or are dying after 300 miles of hiking: (1) 2 Platypus bladders (hole in each), (2) 1 Camelback bladder (unrepairable leak), (3) my 6 oz. blow-up pillow (tried to patch leak), (4) my shoes have over 500 trail miles on them and the tread is literally falling off, (5) the tent is not keeping out water like it used to, (6) the shoulder strap on my ULA backpack is coming apart at the seams. That's a lot of repair and replacement! Passing over I-26 today, we walked through our friend's property that he previously owned on the A.T. It was beautiful. Today's hiking highlight was crossing over Big Bald--about 5500' high . With the 360 degree views it offered, the payoff for this difficult mountain was astounding. After hiking over Big Bald, we hiked to the shelter by 3 PM. Model T, Ranger Dawg, and Misfit were there drying their gear. So, we thought that we should dry our gear too and hang out with these fellows. We spent two hours here and we ate our dinner. Blazer, Jaguar the Wildcat, Branch and I decided to move up the trail 3 more miles. This would give us a mere 13 mile day to get into Erwin, TN tomorrow. Camping with these guys was great. We built a fire, sat around it and talked for a while. All of us are from GA and all of us are reading Christian books. Blazer is reading a short, dense booklet by philosopher and theologian Bill Craig that he got from us. Jaguar is reading _The Lotus and the Cross_ by Ravi Zacharias. He is wanting to compare Buddhism with Christianity. We talked about this for a short while before we all went to bed. Although, maybe, one could compare parts of Matthew 6 to Buddhist thought, the two religions are fundamentally different. The nature of "self" is very different between the religions. In Buddhist thought, the "self" is not real and we are to be absorbed into the collective consciousness. In Christian thought, the self is real, conscious, distinct from God, and to be denied in a way in which we completely devote ourselves from God. Buddhism also differs from Christianity when it come to the problem of evil. Buddhism denies that evil is real. Whereas, Christianity does not. It was a great night hanging out with these amicable fellows. The fire was warm and so were the kind and fun words around the fire. Big day tomorrow. Branch is fast asleep. I will join her in the Alpha state soon. Goodnight.
42	4/28	Whistling Gap Campsite, TN	Erwin, TN	13.5	Day: 42 Date: 4/28/06 Start: Whistling Gap Campsite, TN Weather: Blue skies, cool winds in the morning, hot afternoon Finish: Erwin, TN Miles: 13.5 Cumulative A.T. Miles: 338.7 Branch: After last night's campfire, we had the best time sleeping in our *dry* tent and sleeping bags. It felt so luxurious to finally be dry! Today's hiking was so nice. The terrain was easy, the views pretty, the weather was great, and Erwin, TN was in our sights. We spent the morning leap frogging with Blazer as he was also town-minded. You see, on the days that we plan to go into town, we seem to wake up with the mantra "Town, town, town" playing through our head with each step. During one fairly flat stretch of trail today, the town mantra was playing in my head particularly loudly and quickening my steps such that I could hardly see where I was stepping. In the middle of one step, I saw something that at first looked like a rope, but I immediately realized that it was a snake! At the same instant of that realization, the leg that remained on the ground propelled me upward in a fashion that it has never previously done before and I landed no less than 4 feet away from the offending snake that happened to be sunning himself in the middle of the trail. I screamed as I leapt, Clay screamed because I was screaming. Clay and I then had a new problem. Clay was on the southern side of the snake and I was on the northern side. The snake was between us. Upon a far off closer examination, Clay believed that the snake had a triangular head which would indicate that it was probably poisonous. He threw some leaves on the snake, hoping to encourage it to leave, but it did not move. So, when the snake was distracted by the falling leaves, Clay used his hiking pole to gently move the snake off the trail. The snake then got the message and headed for another spot to sun itself. Afterwards, however, every branch, leaf, or odd-shaped rock on the trail somehow seemed to look and move like a snake to me. After only one or two false snake alarms we finally made it safely down to the road. Clay: The terrain today was perfect. Tough, short uphills (30 minutes or less) to get your heart pumping, easy terrain in between, and a big downhill towards town. When town is within a 30-mile range, some hikers tend to run like the Oklahoma Sooners. The young, flat stomach hikers will attempt to hike 20-30 miles in a day just to get to town (e.g. Pro from Dover did 27 miles to get to town). The lure of town causes the clumps of hikers to break up within the 30-mile range and causes hikers to cluster and reform new groups while in town. When we got to town, we headed from Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel to the Super 8 Motel. We figured that the $15 difference was worth it for two big and clean beds with fresh towels, the Weather Channel, Continental breakfast, being in town, and most of all, privacy and quiet. After taking showers, Branch and I headed across the bridge over to the Huddle House (the closest restaurant was 1/2 mile away). We were ready to "Huddle Up" on some fat food to celebrate doing 70 miles in 5 days. We drank about 3 soft drinks each and ate a boat load of hot food. This satisfied our weary bodies. We headed back to the hotel, called our loved ones, and went to bed for some needed rest. Our "zero" day tomorrow is going to be a full day of work in town.

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