FAQ #1: What is your favorite section?

Grayson Highland Wild Ponies.

There are a few questions that we tend to get from most of the people that we talk to... so I decided to answer those questions here.  One of the most often asked is, "What is your favorite section?"  My favorite section in the south was from the Roan Highlands in northern TN to the Grayson Highlands in southern Virginia, around 100 miles.  (I'll do another post for my favorite northern section - once I finally get around to looking at those photos.)

It seems that a lot of people's favorite places tend to be places where they had a great experience due to trail magic, good weather or a wonderful friend memory.  When we started into the Roan Highlands, Yogi was just getting over being sick and we were finally able to move with a bit more speed.  The weather made me feel like I was walking through Ireland - with low rolling clouds that moved in between the open balds.  I loved it!

Yogi & BooBoo

The day we actually passed over Roan Mountain was rainy, cold, foggy and super windy.  We stayed at Overmountain Shelter, which is an old converted barn that hold 20ish hikers and looks out into a meadow.  When we rolled into the shelter around 5 p.m., there were a few sick hikers that had already ducked out of the rain.  One fellow was huddled in the corner coughing; another was hammocked up claiming stomach flu.  We made dinner, took a NyQuil and were in the process of falling asleep when what would eventually be our group of friends loudly entered with song, dance and merry spirits.

Roan Highlands.

The next day, clouds continued to swirl around us but the rain was no longer falling.  The ground was thoroughly soaked - leaving slippery puddles in the mud.  At one point, I slid two feet and fell with my toes curled up under my body.  I wrote that night, "My toes are a little sore, but when is something on my foot not." We had wonderful trail magic of sodas and snacks, which was much appreciated on a rainy day when we didn't take time for an actual lunch break.  We camped by the Elk River, which was down a steep and slippery .2mi trail.  I slid down and into the creek - and Yogi didn't even make a comment because he could tell how utterly exhausted I was.

Hump Mountain.

We passed Mountaineer Falls, where I got to try my first attempt at waterfall-slow-shutter-speed-photography.  And that was an adventure in and of itself:  I had to skip across mossy rocks in front of the waterfall at least 5 times because I kept forgetting stuff on the other side!  During that, I stepped on a Salamander's tail.  You could see how the tail was still slightly connected and was flailing around at a much quicker pace than his body.  I felt really guilty about this!

Mountaineer Falls.

Toad.

We had to do a quick town run into Hampton, TN.  Towns were probably the hardest part of the trail for us.  We would feel really stressed out about having to hitchhike in, get to the post office, grocery store, food to gorge on right then and hitchhike back out in a relatively efficient manner.  The day we went into Hampton, TN was no exception - but we needed more food (and wanted Subway).  We had 6mi to hike before we would hit town and only had one bagel and one cup of cocoa to share, which isn't near enough food.  After we passed Laurel Falls, we turned right when we should have turned left and ended up at the shelter.  We were both so crabby (ie hungry) that Yogi was grunting at me while we were trying to figure our way back to the trail!  Once we got into town, we each ravenously devoured foot-long sandwiches, chips and drinks, which is the part that makes town worth it.  We stopped immediately once we got back to the trail and just set up camp by the river to rest our tired feet.

Goslings at Watauga Lake, TN.

We started the next day refreshed!  Lunched at Watauga Lake, which we later learned is a popular place to drop dead bodies from a Verizon worker.  Yogi had his first spill of the trail - he had decided to take a short cut between switch backs and he just rolled down the hill.  We had a beautiful sunset and a deserted shelter to ourselves.

Sunset at Vendeventer Shelter.

Tennessee/Virginia Border.

We had about two more days before we were going to cross into Virginia (our 3rd state!) - and Trail Days Festival.  On/off rain, a black bear, night hiking and beautiful scenery.  Trail Days was interesting to say the least.  We stayed in Tent City - a big sports field that they open up to camping for the festival.  It was like a music festival with drinking, dancing, camping - but only a drum circle instead of any other music.  And most of the participants were stinky hikers.  It was neat to go to as being a thru-hiker.  We got to see people that we ahead that hitched back to the festival and people behind.  I don't think I'd be too keen on returning for a future Trail Days though.

We headed out of town after another Subway run, which gave me mild food poisoning.  After a day, I felt good to go and we headed out to the Grayson Highlands.  We camped at Thomas Knob Shelter, about a half mile from the summit of Mt. Rogers (5,729 ft and the highest point in VA). 

Rhododendron Flowers.

The next day was clear and beautiful.  We started in Fur/Spruce trees that gave way to blooming Rhodadendron bushes that gave way to open, rocky balds.  We saw some wild ponies from a distance and a few moments later we walked right into a group of about 10 or so.  They only came up to about our waist and were so friendly!  They wouldn't stop licking Yogi and me due to the salt that was on my skin from sweat. 

2184.2 Miles.

And we walked the whole thing...

Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers, BooBoo & Yogi.

I'll post something worth reading soon.  Right now, I'm exhausted, trying to get re-adjusted back to the real world and I have well over 12,000 photos to sort through! 

1017 Miles.

We've made it to Harpers Ferry - the unofficial (because it's still another 75 miles to the actual) halfway point!  At a very quick glance, these are a couple photos I like.  Enjoy!

An owl!  Yogi saw it fly by, then he sat and posed forever!

Red Spotted Newt.

We get a lot of fog.  I miss the fog now that it's so hot!

Today!  (99 degrees and a heat index of 115! Dang!)

200 Miles.

We've made it past the 200 mile mark and are loving every step.  We are in Gaitlinberg for the night.  We stopped to refuel with the best of intentions to head back out to the trail but we've been hearing threats of 10 inches of snow and we may get a new water pump tomorrow (ours is having issues).  So far we have seen a couple of snakes, deer, black bears, a lizard, turtle and wild turkey.  The Black Bears scared us (mostly because we still have the grizzly mentality) so we stood on the trail for 30 minutes before Spark (2011 thru-hiker) came up and helped us pass with ease.  We've met some great folks (hikers and wonderful trail magic angels!) and seen some great stuff.  For the most part we are feeling really good.  My boots were making my toes sting so in a moment of anger through them over the mountain side (this means I am hiking in sandels... and 10 inces of snow!).  G has been having some issues with his ankle after getting boot inserts but nothing that is too bad. I wish I could share details - but I am keeping a journal and will share all when I have time.  I wish I could write a bit more but I'm on a time limit. 
Best wishes and happy trails!  Lots of love, Yogi and BooBoo!

Finishing.

When we've talked about hiking the Appalachian Trail, we really hadn't talked too much about whether or not we were going to finish.  It had never really been a question - until others started asking it.

My mom read Appalachian Trials, which suggested that we create a list of why we are hiking the trail.  I'm not going to create a list because I don't really have one.  I feel like I'm doing it because that's the next that we are doing.  There is no question in my mind that we are going to finish it, unless we fall extremely ill or break a leg or something outrageous.

I'm looking forward to long days of walking with everything I need on my back.  I can't wait to slosh through some mud and be dirty.  Oh! and stinky.  Really stinky.  We are going to be wet, frustrated and exhausted.  Some days we are going to hate the trail, ourselves and probably each other.  Those are going to be the days I'm thankful for walking with Graham (maybe not at the time, but later) - we'll motivate each other and keep ourselves as excited to keep hiking as we are to start.

Only 13 more days until we start hiking - and I can't wait!!!

Appalachian Trail Itinerary.

Appalachian Trail by Unknown.

 This is our basic itinerary for the next 6 months - so keep in mind that is will change at points.  I'm going to try to keep this as up to date as I can so it should be fairly accurate - if you want to send anything (or specifically some light weight food), then we would be very appreciative.

To address a package it will be:
       Name of business (or General Delivery, if it is a Post Office)
       Attn: Leslie Timmons & Graham Kennedy
       Thru-Hikers Approx. Date
       Street or PO Box #
       City, State  Zip Code


March 31 - Start hiking at Amicola Falls State Park!!!
April 5 - Blueberry Patch Hostel, 5038 Hwy 76 East, Hiawassee, GA  30546
April 16 - Nantahala Outdoor Center, 13077 Hwy 19W, Bryson City, NC  28713
April 25 - Standing Bear Farm, 4255 Green Corner Rd., Hartford, TN  37753
May 2-5 - Lindsay's Wedding
May 15 - Adventure Damascus, PO Box 1113, Damascus, VA  24236
May 21 - Exxon Convenience Store, Exit 54 Exxon, 7327 Lee Highway, Rural Retreat, VA  24396 (UPS only)
May 27 - Post Office, Catawba, VA  24070
June 10 - Crabtree Campground, 11039 Crabtree Falls Highway, Tyro, VA  22976
June 17 - Post Office, Luray, VA  22835
June 23-25 - Visit Cheryl
July 1 - Doyle Hotel, 7 North Market Street, Duncannon, PA  17020
July 9 - Edge of the Woods Outfitters, 110 Main St, Delaware Water Gap, PA  18327         (FedEx/UPS only)
July 17-19 - Visit Jill
July 28 - Williamstown Motel, 295 Main St, Williamstown, MA  01267
August 9 - Hikers Welcome Hostel, PO Box 25, Glencliff, NH  03238
August 19 - White Mtn. Lodge & Hostel, 592 State Route 2, Shelbourne, NH  03581
August 27 - Post Office, Rangeley, ME  04970
September 11 - Shaw's Lodging, PO Box 72, Monson, ME  04464
September 19 - Mt. Katahdin!!!

I'm excited for getting out onto the trail and start walking - 15 more days!!!

Dehrydrating Lessons.

My poorly written and rambling post inspired me to write a better one! 

I did A LOT of dehydrating of foods when I was at me mum's home.  I dehydrated Ropa Vieja, Corn and Squash Relish, Jerky, Fruit Leather, Pork and Black Beans, Great White Northern Beans and anything else I had to throw in the pot and lots more (so much I can't even remember everything I made!).  There are a few conclusions I've come to:

#1.  I wouldn't dehydrate food (with the exception of jerky and fruits) if I didn't backpack.  It's not that don't re-hydrate well because a majority of them do (especially the Ropa Vieja, which is like Mexican shredded beef).  It's just that it's really not very practical to cook a meal, dehydrate it and then re-hydrate it for a boxed lunch in the office.  Just bring in some Tupperware with leftovers.  If you are worried about the world ending or a backpacker, the by all means dehydrate 'til your hearts content! 

Cooking at my mum's.  I loved having a window right there where you could watch the feathered friends!

#2.  Dehydrated fruit can be more delicious than fresh fruit.  Don't get me wrong - I love biting into a wonderfully ripened peach and have the juices drip down my face and hands.  Dehydrating fruit intensifies the flavors making it a great snack for road trips or at the office.  If you have some pears that are starting to get too soft, then slice up those bad boys; sprinkle on some sugar and cinnamon, if you wish; and dehydrate away.  It saves your fruit and you aren't losing any of the wonderful sugars that make fruit a better option than a candy bar.

#3.  Spread your food thinner than you think you need to while it is dehydrating.  We were doing a pretty good job of this at first but then I started to get antsy and wanted to dehydrate more at once so I'd make it thicker.  Not a lot thicker but a little bit.  A little bit though equals over 15 hours of dehydrating action as opposed to 8 hours of dehydrating action. If you make it thinner, then the air can circulate around each kernel of corn or each bean easier and dry it out quicker.

Ropa Vieja ready to be dried.

#4.  If you are going to be doing things such as fruit leathers or soups (we did a lot of soups), then you should by the fruit leather sheets.   We did not do this.  Instead we traced the tray on to parchment paper and cut out the parchment paper.  The big difference though is that we had to do this probably 50 times, we threw a lot of paper away and it's more expensive (the sheets are less than $10!).  However, they are impossible to find in small town Oklahoma and I didn't think about ordering them from the fancy interwebs until right before I left.

#5.  Beef dehydrates well.  I added chicken to lots of things because we had lots of chicken (left overs from Thanksgiving and left overs from making chicken stock).  However, beef dehydrated better.  Well no it's not even that, but it re-hydrates better.  It maintains it's flavor better.

#6.  Spray each tray with Pam before adding the food.  If you do not, then it will stick and be a bitch to scrape off.  It'll look less appetizing and you will be more apt to curse at the food as you are trying to pry it away from the parchment paper that just wont let go. 

PAM!

#7.  Have a way to store your booty.  At first, we stored things in just Ziplock baggies and stuck them in the freezer.  (I read somewhere that dehydrated meat is good for two weeks at room temp or pretty much unlimited in a freezer.  Dehydrated vegetarian food is good for two years at room temp.)  However, I started having nightmares of giant freezer burned dried corn chasing me (not really but I did start to worry).  So we went to the store and decided to try to Ziplock vacuum hand pump suck-the-air-out-bags since they were $10 for all the supplies (about 24 bags and the pump) as opposed to $150+ for a food saver and the special bags.  Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.  My mum is supposed to be borrowing a food saver from a friend at work to prevent the freezer burn.

#8.  Make sure everything is completely dry.  Wetness is what makes things rot.  If it isn't completely dry, then let it keep going longer.  By the end of the two week cooking/dehydrating marathon, I felt very comfortable as to when it was dry, but earlier on I was afraid of it getting too dry and turning to dust.  I feared this because I read about it on other sites.  Don't be afraid of that - it takes a long time before it is too dry.  Be more afraid of it being damp.

#9.  Make everything about the size of a bean.  Not a giant bean like a lima bean or a tiny bean like a lentil but a normal bean - like a black bean.  If it's not all the same size then some stuff will turn to dust while other stuff is still damp.  (Like in the picture above, I ended up taking out the slices of carrots because they took way too long to get anywhere near dry.)  If everything is uniformly sized but rather large, it will take forever to dry out or may not dry out in the center at all.  I read to keep everything about a quarter of an inch by a quarter of an inch but it's easier for me to think about the size of a black bean.

Corn Squash Mexican Relish.  All the same size; although, it could have been a bit smaller.

#10.  I don't like taking pictures of food with my new camera.  (I know this isn't a dehydrating lesson but it's a lesson I learned while cooking.)  I have to wash my hands too often, pause my cooking groove and then I couldn't get the picture of inside the pot without often moving it to the floor and trying to angle it so it didn't look like it was on the floor.  Back in the day, I photographed every step of the way, but I also had a different camera that made it a bit easier. 

That's the big stuff.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment - I'm feeling like an expert currently.  My mum is taking over my duties as queen dehyrdrator while we are in the park so she'll probably have some stuff to add as well.  (We do have a mini-kitchen this season - but no cooking utensils!  We didn't know we were getting it so we didn't prepare!)

Appalachian Trail.

I realize that I often just tell stories of what we have done but not what we will be doing.  It’s mostly because I think of our future as being so variable that I don’t want to say we are going to do this and then do that.  However, we do have a few future plans that are set in wet cement – this winter will be our last season in the park and then next summer we will hike the Appalachian Trail.

[NOTE:  I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and hadn’t posted it yet – because that’s how I roll sometimes.  I have also realized that I don’t share a lot of the details of our daily lives – the tourons (like tourist combined with moron), the awful food and run ins with local power-hungry security (which is like a rent-a-cop but not rented).  I’m going to work on this as well… (And you can't fault me too much - I have improved on posting frequency!)]

Winter is a magical time in the park and I would like to experience it one more time.  I’m ready to get some skis on my feet and go out in the quiet, calm after a fresh snowfall.  The geysers and other thermal features have a more poetic draw to them with the freezing air causes the steam to multiply and the hush of nature allows you to hear the rumble beneath your feet.  The animals that spend their time trying to survive a Yellowstone winter, with -40 degree days and 200+ inches of snow, is a very humbling thing to behold. 

There are a multitude of reasons that we’ll be ready to leave the park after that – the main one being that we have little to no freedom here (see above comment about local power-hungry security).  It’s not because we have a million rules (although, we are on federal land so any trouble with the rangers and not security means a felony…) but because we don’t have any facilities.  If we want to make dinner, we don’t have a kitchen and even worse, we don’t have a place to get groceries.  We have a little camping stove and a grill but we have to drive at least an hour to pick up fresh veggies and some chicken.  (And I miss Rupert!)

We have decided that we want the things that come with the “real” world – Rupert, a dog, a garden – but we want one more grand adventure (and probably many others in the grand scheme of things).  We debated the three major trails – the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails – but decided the Appalachian would be the easiest for us since we are both fairly new to backpacking and working on getting our gear up to par.  We recently got a new tent after our zipper broke on our last one!  I’m looking forward to the adventure from Georgia to Maine – approx. 2, 218 miles that we’ll travel with everything we could need on our backs. 

After the Appalachian Trail, we’re not sure where we will end up but we do know we want to be close enough to places that are rich enough to allow backpacking in the somewhat near vicinity.  We have found a peace out in the woods that will be hard to leave so we don’t plan on leaving it completely – “The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go.”  -John Muir.

Food.

One of the biggest things that Graham and I struggle with in terms of our backpacking trips is what to eat.  It must be lightweight, won't spoil, packed full of calories, quick to prepare and tasty.  (We have to carry everything on our backs, outside in the heat to replenish lots of used calories while using a gas (and we carry that too) stove with one 2 quart pot - and nobody wants to eat gross food.)

I always try to eat fresh/local/organic (which lets be honest hasn't happened much in the last year and a half because that is not what is served in the Employee Dining Room - hell, we're lucky if it's cooked all the way!) but we've found that the prepackage, full of salt and preservatives meal usually fits the bill over other foods (mostly the can't spoil and lightweight thing - potatoes are just not very light).

With the prospect of spending 6 months out in the woods (I don't think I've mentioned yet that we are planning a trip on the Appalachian Trail for next summer - more details to come with the next post) with the usual go-to's: Kraft Mac and Cheese with a can of chili (which is too heavy realistically anyway) or (newly discovered to us) Indian food in a bag with Minute Rice (which I then have to take Pepto and/or sit on a tree over a hole for 30 minutes - dang! Indian food is tasty but it does NOT agree with my belly) and then no matter what it is you have to wrap it up in a tortilla because it just makes it taste better (seriously, on the Mr. Bubble trip, Graham literally ate a chunky peanut butter, snickers and gummy bear "sandwich" wrap) - I have been on a mission for better health choices.  (This paragraph should probably be more than one sentence - but I think it has character so I'm going to leave it.) 

(I'm writing rather rambly - but it's currently 4:27 a.m. and I just can't sleep.)  I started this blog as a food blog and I'm going to start back down that path in detailing what we make; how we package, store and transport the food; and then the actual preparation on the trail. The pictures probably won't be pretty in anyway but hopefully they will be helpful to other campers/backpackers/hikers (or as I've learned in my recent research - people who think the world is going to blow up or something so they need massive amounts of emergency food supplies - not kidding, click here).  I have found a few pretty good sites but most of them seem started and then forgotten (the best one that I've found is from the Backpacking Chef) so hopefully this isn't some late night, sleep deprived dream that I soon forget about as well.

We are getting ready to head home (Memphis, Texas and Oklahoma) to visit the respective families.  During this time, we are going to cook some foods that could then be dehydrated - or if it would be possible to dehydrate the ingredients and then quickly make the meal after rehydrating.  It's not the same as fresh/local but hopefully we'll pick some of that up along the way too.  I have learned that you can dehydrate almost any food (like rice and then it'll have more nutrients than the Minute Rice but not noodles - but we can just bring those raw, which is basically dehydrated anyway, and add them into the cooking process).  I'm currently working on a list of recipes I think might work - and since this all currently hypothetical since I've never dehydrated anything in my life up to this point - I'll just let you know how they go so we discover together.

The other idea that we had is to make super muffins or biscuits but the concern is that they'd get too crumbly.  We might still make some, freeze them and have them shipped to us periodically.  By super muffin I mean one that has protein powder, flax seed, nutritional yeast and anything else we can throw in to it to add more calories (I did say we wanted lots of calories right?  specifically protein. The average AT hiker burns between 3000 to 4000 calories a day! and we have to carry the food to replenish that on our backs.)   I believe we could make tasty ones (and I love to make muffins!) and they would be good for breakfast or a snack - it's just the crumbly part.

Any other food preparation ideas?

I played golf for my birthday.  Graham said I looked like Hunter S. Thompson in my golfing attire.

P.S.  I'm glad to be talking about food again.  I don't think this is an idea that will leave me once I'm finally able to get some sleep.  Definitely more details (about the Appalachian Trail and food) to come!