Legs and Borders

First but unfortunately rainy day in Pennsylvania, I've opted to stay indoors for the night to dry everything up. I've started early to quickly reach the road leading to Walmart and resupply, I've also crossed the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania along the way! The plan worked out well, but the weather turned from bad to worse and by the time I arrived at the road I was soaked. Luckily a friendly truck driver picked me up five minutes later and delivered right outside the supermarket three miles down the road. I bought the stuff I needed, mainly ramen packets, tortillas, various snacks and my new favourite: boiled eggs! I've ate at Subway, repackaged everything and got back on the road with my thumb up ready to go back. Very quickly a lady visiting her grandchildren in a house nearby spotted me and offered me a ride. Ten minutes later I was back on the AT! I went past twin shelters for "snoring" and "non-snoring...

"I know it's a bit hard to believe, but I almost got peed on by the bear in the Smokey's" Paint Stick Day of the firsts, very exciting (as far as hiking goes of course.) First priority of today was to get to Brushy Mountain Outpost which served burgers and fries until 2 PM Monday to Friday (today was Friday 3rd of May, 2025) Considering it was 11 miles away it was very doable but I decided to be there as soon as possible not only to beat the crowds and/or satisfy my ever growing "hiker hunger" but primarily: "just in case", and boy oh boy, have my spider senses did not fail me this time! I've started walking at 6 AM and reached the Outpost at 10:30 AM after a fairly easy section of the trail. I've ordered a gigantic Brushy Mountain Burger (containing a pavement slab of belloni), fries and a black coffee. I have not managed to finish the burger and so I've packed it for dinner. Right about that time th...

"This guy's trail name is "Truffle Pig", he dug out a cat hole to relive himself and found someone else's business inside" Burger Man Another gloomy morning. It was raining really hard over night and I was happy that I stayed in the shelter. A nearby tree must have fallen at night as there was a loud crashing noise for about 10 seconds then it got quiet again. I made a move as quickly as there was enough light to pack everything up, the plan was to get as close to Damascus as possible, get to town early the following morning and have (almost) day off, or what hikers like to call a "nero" ("zero" as per "zero miles" is an actual day off). It finally stopped raining at midday, the fog slowly lifted and the sun made an appearance. To make things even better there was a trail magic at one of the parking lots.Three people from New York led by "Lunch" who thru hiked AT in 2014, were serving grilled sa...

I've said goodbye to people at the Sunnybank Inn, had a breakfast at the Diner, consisting of hash brown, eggs, bacon and biscuits in white gravy and drunk a white coffee (waitress was running around constantly topping it up, which was great). I've paid 22$ including a tip and hiked out back on trail. Here's a picture of people I've had a breakfast with (from left): White Wolf, Cold Case, Board Walk and Joker. Day was cloudy but still quite warm, perfect weather for a big climb ahead. My leg wasn't giving me any problems first time in a week (it's amazing how a comfortable bed and good food can heal your body) but I was taking it slowly today just to be on a safe side. Sun poked out from the clouds around midday and it was sunny and humid from then on. I must have drunk over six litres of water throughout the day to keep hydrated. At about 2 pm I stumbled upon a trail magic run by Calamity, she hiked the trail in 2021 and was doing trail magic ever s...

"I have a back cracker but it's cut half way hot dog wise and half way hamburger wise. It's basically a chode." Cold Case Today I've descended to the town of Hot Springs and the vibe of it took me by surprise. Hot Springs got hit really bad by the hurricane Helene six months ago. The town got almost completely destroyed but recovered extraordinarily well in such a short period of time. The diner, outfitters, pub and Dollar General are up and running there's a pizza place that re-opened literally today and got swarmed by local people and of course hikers alike. Hot Springs gives me vibes of Christ Church in New Zealand I've visited last year which got destroyed by an earthquake in 2011 and people are still rebuilding it. There's an unique energy here, it brings people together and makes them creative because supplies are limited. There's for example a food truck called "Hunt and Gather" here, which serves food that it's owners are able...

Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...

Today the trail was going over it's highest point, measuring 6612 feet above ground Kuwohi mountain. Morning was cloudy and it started to rain at about 5 am, it wasn't strong but enough to make everyone's tents wet. It carried on raining for most of the morning, then the wind chased away the clouds but kept blowing making temperature cold even with the shining sun. I've reached Kuwohi at about midday, it was quite an easy climb, especially compared to the other highest points on the previous thru hikes I've done. On top of the mountain was an observation tower, built in 1950s, very "brutalist" looking building. Wind was strong up here so I've taken few pictures and carried on. A lot of hikers were leaving the trail at this point to resupply and spend the night at the tourist trap town called Gatlinburg. My initial plan when resupplying at the NOC few days ago was to skip it and it worked fine, so I hiked pass the car...

"There's no feeling in the world like washing your face in cold water on a mountain morning." Jack Kerouac Regular day of hiking, trail was quite demanding building up to the highest point on the entire Appalachian Trail which I should reach tomorrow. My leg muscles although initially painful did warm up throughout the day and I could hike at pretty much my regular speed, but at around 3 pm the pain came back so I decided to finish for the day at this point, difference being that I actually managed to do my daily miles required to finish the hike in time so it wasn't as bad as yesterday. I walked in the morning accompanied by a truck driver, trail name "Long Haul", who was splitting his time between work and hiking short and medium distance trails around US. He joined Appalachian Trail from other trail that connected to it and was planning to go to the end of Great Smoky Mountains NP,  and then catch a bus to where he left his truck. We talked ab...

Muscles behind my right knee did not get better over night and I was really struggling to get going in the morning. I was even considering putting my tent back up and getting a day off to let it heal up. After another hour I worked out that it only hurts when I go uphill and in this slightly limping fashion I made it to Fontana Village Marina. I got a pit stop here in a Marina shop, I've microwaved a pizza pocket, had pepsi and sat on the pier in the sun. I've decided at this point that I will enter Great Smoky Mountains National Park but I will stay at the first campsite available. The park had a special permit which costed $40 and you had to drop half of the printed out version into a box on entry, so entering the park kind of sealed the deal for the next 70 miles of it. My idea was to have a short day, arrive at the campsite relatively early, relax and try to heal up the hurting muscle. First part of the trail was relatively easy as it went along the Montana lake...

"I don't even know who Rod Stewart is" Rod Stewart I woke up just before seven and started to pack up, everyone else in the room made a move as well. I've grabbed my stuff and went to the kitchen area to sort out the resupply. I've got six plus days worth of food in Dollar General for 35$ yesterday but I didn't have time to repackage it. Fifteen minutes later it was all done and I was ready to go. Next step was an eight miles long and four thousand feet high climb up from the valley NOC was located in. It took several hours of steady climb to reach Cheoah Bald mountain. The night must have been really cold and windy as all the trees were covered in ice, it looked like a winter wonderland up here. Sun was hitting the frozen branches, melting them enough to cause a small icicles fall to the ground when the wind blew on them. It looked really cool and I wondered if there's special name for this phenomenon. My other knee started to hurt now after t...