The Ranger Codex

The life of the lonely hiker continued. Other than passing a few hikers going SOBO, probably section or day hikers, I didn't see anyone else until I got to the shelter.

Today was a milestone day. I hit the 1/4 waypoint of the trail. It was also a quiet day as I was mostly hiking alone.

This morning consisted of a quick 4 mile hike to get to VA 16. About 0.2 miles before the road is the Partnership Shelter. The shelter has showers with hot water and a really nice privy. After seeing this, I wish I had pushed harder yesterday and gotten to it to stay.

Today was a humid day, but not rainy. I left the shelter before Fire Squirrel, but he ended up passing me shortly after. I would catch up with him a couple times when he stopped for a break, but he is definitely a faster hiker than me.

I entered the Grayson Highlands today. The Grayson Highlands are the home of the famous wild ponies. I had mentioned them prior to leaving for my hike and was friendly threatened that I had to get photos of the ponies.

The forecast called for rain again today. I still had about half the detour to finish. After getting dressed in my cold wet clothes for the day, I made breakfast and headed back out on the trail.

Today was a bit of a late start. A group of us hikers went into town for breakfast and then a quick trip to the outfitters. The forecast called for rain and packs get heavier when soaking up the rain, so a rain cover was purchased.

Today I decided to take a zero day. As the term implies, it's a day where I hike zero miles along the AT. Usually this still includes some walking, like walking about a mile to get to the grocery store for a resupply. But as the day included limited physical exertion, I'm going to take the opportunity to talk about something I've briefly mentioned on here, but haven't put much focus on. The mental and emotional aspects of the hike.

Today was another rainy day. My original goal for the day was to camp right over the TN/VA border. A distance of about 15 miles. The rain and the terrain changed that.

The rain continued off and on today. With the tree cover, it was mostly light. The terrain was a lot of little ups and downs as well. I also passed the 20% of the trail done point today.

Today started with packing up and getting as ready as I could before the 8 AM shuttle to town for resupply. The same shuttle as a bunch of hikers who were slackpacking over Pond Flats which included Bard and Glimmer.

Today was another hot day. The elevation wasn't too bad for most of the day. Lots of little ups and downs. Because of that, I leapfrogged with Bard and Glimmer for a while.

Today was another hot day. The terrain was a lot of little ups and downs, but the heat was the real killer.

Today was a hot day. So hot in fact, that I had to stop and dig out my sunscreen and lather up since I decided to take the legs off my pants to make them into shorts and hiked in my sports bra.

Today was a lazy day for the most part. I was up and moving around 8, but the outfitters didn't open till 9, so I walked down to the diner and had a good breakfast.

For the second day of Trail Days, it was much warmer. I did manage to sleep in a little bit. I think I was up around 7 or 7:30.

Today was the first day of Trail Days. It was a freezing morning. I woke up around 6:30 as usual, debated about staying in bed because of the cold, and was finally forced out of my warm bag due to the call of nature.

This morning was cold but a good hike. I knocked out the 4 miles to Hughes Gap in about an hour and a half. It was really nice.

Today was a very difficult day. Due to the damage caused by hurricane Helene, part of the trail was closed and there was a detour. I don't know who put that detour together, but my hatred for them burns with the heat of a thousand firey suns.

Today started with getting up early after a late night and packing up in preparation for an early shuttle to the other side of the river. Surprisingly, the late night didn't really cause issues with waking up early. Guess my body is getting use to waking up with the sunrise.

I woke up to rain today. Fortunately, it's a short day. Only 6.4 miles to get into the town of Erwin, TN. I wanted to get here yesterday, but wouldn't have made it until around 9 PM.

I started the day thinking about TTRPG mechanics as this nerd girl tends to do. I named my site based upon the fantasy ranger archetype that I like to identify with after all. Of course I am going to think about RPG mechanics. The mechanic in question for today was the long rest.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret about journalling on the trail. While I have an entry for every day, I may not actually write that entry the evening of that day as planned. This happens for various reasons. This happens to be one of those times and it's due to how late I got into the shelter.

Today was a good day. The sun was shining and the terrain was easy. I was able to make some good miles today.

The rain continued today. I didn't even want to get out of my bag. But I have limited food and limited time to get to the next town.

My day started with packing my food resupply in my bag and then having issues getting it into my pack. While I struggled with this, the rain started. The next town is Erwin, TN which is about 70 miles from Hot Springs, so that necessitates about 6 days of food at my current pace.

Today was my third zero day. Like the others, just because I didn't hike any official trail miles doesn't mean I didn't do a decent amount of walking.

Today was less windy than yesterday, but still cold. My watch helpfully told me it was 41 degrees when I got up at around 7 AM. Can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but it definitely felt cold enough to be 41 degrees.

I woke up to wind and cold. I had several layers on to keep warm until I started hiking. Shortly after I started hiking, I did warm up because I had a bunch of climbs.

Today started with a climb of almost 2500 ft over the distance of about 5 miles. I felt slow and tired. This climb lead to the summit of Snowbird Mountain.

Thanks to the long day yesterday, today got to be a bit shorter and made it farther along. It was only a 10.4 mile day.

I can prove we are living in a simulation. How you ask? The world rendering engine glitched today. What was supposed to be a great view was just a wall of grey.

Today was a short day. I had to wait for the outfitters to open at 10 since they closed at 6 yesterday. The last bit of resupply I needed was some fuel.

Short day today. Due to resources, I had to go into Gatlinburg. I was hoping to skip it, but being low on fuel and battery power made heading into town necessary.

Today was a LONG day. My first 13 mile day. And most of it was uphill. The climb up from Derricks Knob was difficult. And it took forever to even get to the first shelter at 5.7 miles.

Today was a better day than yesterday. I saw a deer this morning. It came walking around the shelter. Ended up hiking with Steve and Farrah for a while today. That definitely helped. Of course, when we got to the steep climb up to Rocky Top, they left me behind as I struggled up the mountain. And when I got there, the clouds had rolled in, so it was a wall of grey.

I tried to think of different ways to sugar coat this, but I think being blunt is the best approach. Today was a bad day.

Had a decent morning with Rock Dancer and left him behind to hike on. Met Breezey on the way, but he soon left me behind. Step Lightly caught up with me while I was taking a rest at Cable Gap Shelter. We leapfrogged a bit and we we got closer to Fontana Dam, Kevin with Mr Perfect and the Brits caught up. We all ended up hiking into Fontana Dam together. I also crossed paths with the couple from the bald going the opposite direction.

While I woke up in time for the sunrise, I had some time and made coffee while waiting for it. The problem was by the time the coffee was ready, the sun had already risen to just over the mountain tops, so didn't get the video I wanted, but still got an amazing photo.

Remember a couple days ago when I was talking about 6 miles being a quick day? Yeah. That was before the brutal climb today. Only 8 miles but almost 4000 feet of elevation gain during that distance. The climb out of NOC was painful.

Taking my second zero of the trip. I started developing a shín splint while hiking up to Wayah Bald a couple days ago. I was able to hiker through the pain with the help of some pain killers, but rest is what I really need. Got a private unit at Gorgeous Stays. It's a really cute place with a bunch of different themed places. I ended up with the superhero themed shipping container.

I'm not sure which brand of backpacker meals Shaka has, but the directions are interesting. Like most freeze-dried meals, it's got the usual boil water, pour in bag, and wait some amount of time instructions, but on this particular brand during the wait step, it adds something to think about. Yesterday's was to contemplate the vastness of the universe or something like that. Today's asked if you hiked to lose yourself or find yourself.

Camp last night sucked. By the time I got to the shelter, all the decent spots where taken and there were no good spots left. I ended up sleeping on a bit of an incline and my pad and I kept sliding down all night. Then with the rain and the wind, it was cold and wet. I had put my pack below my pad at the bottom to try to stop the sliding, but that means it was pressed against the tent fabric and was damp in the morning.

Today was a hard day. Probably should have taken a zero in Franklin, but I didn't. I got the early shuttle from the hostel back to Winding Stair Gap and then proceeded to have my butt kicked by Siler and Wayah Balds. The views were great and definitely earned, but the ascents sucked.

Despite being a shorter day today, it was a HARD day. The climb up to Albert fire tower was brutal. Back in the days of Prodigy, there was a game called Mad Maze. In the maze, there was this mountain you could attempt to climb. The higher you climbed the further it looked liked you climb, but looking up it looked like you hadn't climbed at all. I don't think it was possible to actually reach the top of that mountain. That is how the climb up to Albert felt. It was steep and would just not end.

I mentioned yesterday about keeping a positive attitude and how I use the white blazes as a chance to remind myself why I'm out here. The reasons I remind myself with actually come from lists I made prior to the trip. There is a great book by Zach "Badger" Davis called Appalachian Trials. It talks about the mental challenge of hiking the trail. One of the things it has you do is make 3 lists. The first is simply your reasons for wanting to hike the trail. The second is the positive outcomes that will happen when you complete the trail. The third is the negative outcomes that will happen is you don't complete the trail. I actually read this book twice and did the lists twice. The first time was before I started my transition and the second was after. The lists basically broke down to the same thing both times, but what was interesting was the wording used. Before I started my transition the wording was very negative towards myself. The wording after I started my transition was much kinder to myself while still being realistic.

Do people still do the "typical day of a whatever"? I don't know, but I feel like doing it, so it's happening. Here is the typical day of a thru-hiker.

Left from Deep Gap Shelter this morning. They water source was conveniently on the way back to the shelter, so I was able to filter on the way out of camp. Bubbles and Machete were just ahead of me and had finished filtering as I got there.

Started off early with the expectations that Bubbles, Slow Burn, and Machete would catch up on the uphills, but they didn't catch up until Deep Gap Shelter.

Took the shuttle from Hiawassee back to Unicoi Gap. Met a fellow hikers named Bubbles on the shuttle. When we got back to Unicoi, some Trail Magic was happening. A couple ministries were out there doing a hiker feed. Met some other nice hikers including Slow Burn and Machete.

My first zero day on the trail. I spent the day in Hiawassee, GA mostly just relaxing and recovering. I did do some resupplying to get me to the next town, bought a new charger block since my original one died and the cheap replacement I bought in Neels Gap is cheap. I also bought a second backup battery just in case since I had issues with the original.

It was a really cold night with high winds. I had to layer up with both my fleece and my puffy and still had to zip up the sleeping bag. I think it was mainly the wind chill factor that made it so cold.

Started the day with a climb out of Neels Gap. My calves were complaining again. I think they may have formed a union and were threatening to strike. I quieted them down with some pain relief and a promise that I will take a zero at Hiawassee. Between the pain relief and getting my legs warmed up, they actually weren't that bad most of the day. I hiked mostly alone all day. Got to Whitley Gap and looked at the comments on Farout about the steep descent into the shelter which was over a mile off trail, and not wanting to have to do that climb in the morning, I decided to push it and go the extra 5 miles to make it to Low Gap Shelter.

Hiked over Blood Mountain. The climb was tough, but the view was worth it. Sadly, no photos due to phone still being dead. On the way down, I somehow lost the trail. I talked with a few of the other hikers and some of them about lost it too. It's not well marked and it being a wilderness area, there is a limited amount they can do. I also saw my first snake of the trail. Sadly no picture and can't find what kind it was. I just waited for it to move out of the way.

Sorry again about the lack of pictures. Phone was still dead.

Left from Gooch Mountain and hiked past Woody Gap. I'm familiar with this gap since it's where I started my attempt at the Georgia Loop Trail a couple years ago. The climb up to Preacher Rock was just as difficult as I remember, but the view was worth it.

Sorry, no photos for today since my phone was dead. A long day of hiking up and down mountains. Calves are still hurting from the inclines, but otherwise nothing special during the hike.

I woke up to some sprinkling rain and fog this morning. Weather forecast calls for thunderstorms this afternoon. It has made for a pleasant hike so far this morning. So far the trail hasn't been to bad.

Started at the Amicalola Visitor Center today. Coming from the archway there is a steep paved path that hurt my calves from the incline. The 604 steps were actually easier than the incline. I leapfrogged with a Kevin who was up here with his dog Mr. Perfect. Otherwise I mostly hiked alone. The ascents were hard and the other hikers left me behind. I did eventually get to Springer Mountain, saw the sign and the first white blaze. I then continued down the trail for the additional 0.2 miles to get to the shelter for the night.

We started the drive at 10 pm yesterday to avoid most of the traffic. Even still, we got Atlanta around 6 AM and had to deal with traffic. The problem with this plan is the check in time at the Amicalola Lodge was 4 pm and we were looking at getting there at 7 AM. So, we stopped in Alpharetta to kill some time. We napped in the car a couple times since we didn't get much sleep the night before, spent a couple hours walking around the mall, and then finally made the drive to the Amicalola Falls State Park.

I'm packing my gear and leaving for the trail tomorrow. When it comes to backpacking gear, everyone has their own opinions. And there are a lot of things to consider when choosing gear. Mainly price, weight, and comfort are big consideration. When it comes to weight, base weight, which is gear without consumables like food, water, and fuel, is the main metric used.

Preparation

In my ongoing attempt at getting into shape for my upcoming thru-hike, I have been working on getting my pack weight down. With my bear can, my base weight is around 19 lbs. For those unfamiliar, base weight refers to the pack weight with just the gear and not consumables like food, water, and fuel. I am thinking of switching to a bear bag instead because it would save me about 2 lbs of weight, but the bag hasn't arrived yet. So, for today's hike, I loaded up my pack with all my gear including the bear can. I even loaded about 3 days worth of food into the can and filled both 1L water bottles full of water. I then weighed my pack using a luggage scale and got a pack weight with consumables at 29 lbs.

Preparation

I woke up with the thought to push myself and prepare for my upcoming
thru-hike. As I live in a very flat area, I can't properly train for the
mountains that I will experience along the Appalachian Trail, so I had to
opt for more mileage instead.

To this goal, I decided to hit up one of my favorite local trails, the
Tenoroc Public Use Area trails. The area use to be a phosphorus mine, so
it actually has a decent elevation gain for this very flat state. The trails
are also only a short drive away and cost $3 for entry, although it does have
an annoying setup for the check-in/check-out.