Day 18 – NOC to Locust Cove Gap Campground: mile 136.7 to mile 147.4 The climb out of the NOC was brutal. For the first 5 miles we gained 500 feet per mile. The amount of descent during the first half of the day was almost zero. Approximately 2 miles out of the NOC is…
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Franklin to the NOC
Before we get into the details of each day since the last blog, you’re probably wondering what NOC is. First time I heard it I was wondering as well. NOC stands for Nantahala Outdoors Center. The trail passes right through their complex. It turns out this is one of the largest white water rafting and…
Welcome to North Carolina
Day 6 – Unicoi Gap to Addis Gap: mile 52.5 to mile 64.7 We had a relatively long hike of over 11 miles today that started with a steep climb up Tray Mountain. Along the way we experienced our first true trail magic! The owner of Boots Off Hostel in Tennessee was set up at…
And so it Begins
Our journey started in Maine where my brother-in-law, Joe, took us to the airport in Portland to catch our flight to Charlotte, NC. We were picked up at the airport by our good friends, Gary and Cheryl. They brought us to their house for the night and drove us to Amicalola Falls State Park the…
Hike Starts March 1
Up until now, our answer to when we are starting our thru hike was a vague “sometime in early March”. Well, we have now firmed up our plans and we will arrive at Amicalola Falls State Park on March 1st. We will spend the night in the lodge and attack the approach trail on March…
Shakedown in Mistletoe
This blog is about practicing for our AT thru hike and part of that is practicing posting a blog from the trail. This post is done entirely with my phone so don’t expect anything too fancy. As we work our way slowly north and prepare ourselves for the big hike, we booked a week in…
Lessons Learned
While researching places to hike, we came across a challenging loop hike not too far from Dan’s sister’s place that would be perfect for more practice hiking. The Grafton Notch Loop Trail is a rugged 38 mile loop broken in half by state route 26 in Newry, ME. The eastern portion of the trail is…
Shakedown Hike
As some of you may know, we are planning to hike the Appalachian Trail next year. We hope to be able to blog our experience as it occurs and those postings will occur on this site, a child site of our main blog. Given that our main blog is titled “On the Road with Dan…