AT - 344 - Erwin, TN

Leaving Franklin I had nice weather hiking for a couple days into the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center). It was a tough downhill and climb out of a valley with a river. The NOC is a rafting facility with a gear shop and general store. I needed a permit to enter the Smokies, which the NOC printed for me.

Before entering the Smokies I resupplied at the Fontana marina on the Fontana dam. Then I stayed a night camping at the Fontana Springs Shelter nicknamed the Hilton because they have a shower, bathroom, and it’s big and nice.

I crossed Fontana dam and went into the Smokies on April 7. In the Smokies you need to stay at shelters the entire time so that limited my choices for where to sleep. Because it was crowded at shelters and I’d finished my book I pushed through the Smokies in a few days, leaving just before dawn on the 10th. Also a bear attacked a tent, so I couldn’t stay in that shelter, meaning it was a long day having to skip the shelter. I don’t think the guy got hurt but I heard it took several backpackers to scare the bear away. On my second day in the Smokies I took the wrong trail for an hour and a half before realizing and turning around. It was near the end of the day and I wasn’t paying close attention.

Coming out of the Smokies I didn’t have enough food to make it to Hot Springs, the next resupply town about 33 miles away. But I got lucky with some trail magic at 2 places. One group cooked me a chicken quesadilla and a bunch of food to go. Then 3 miles later another group gave me a couple chili cheese hotdogs, fruit and salad. After eating two lunches it was raining but I kept going in order to make it to Hot Springs at a reasonable time the next day.The trail goes right through the town. I resupplied at Dollar General and had a burger, wings and a salad at the tavern and kept going. 

Yesterday, 2 nights north of Hot Springs, I met up with a guy I’d hiked with the day I entered The Smokies. I’d lost him when I took the wrong turn. I met another one of his buddies at the camp site last night and today we got Mexican in Erwin Tennessee.

Most people have trail names at this point. I still do not. One guy suggested Steady, but I haven’t gone by that. I think I’ll see in a bit. I met a couple ladies in their 70s that went by Golden Girls. They’d done 14 miles the day I met them on a mountain top. It’s impressive some of the people on the trail. All sorts, young, old, large or small. Just a bunch of people who like to hike.

The weather has been much warmer. At night it gets chilly but not too bad. It’s been raining quite a bit but that’s normal for the area. 

Today a woman gave me a ride for free into town. She picked up my friends and brought us to the Mexican place. I’ve been avoiding crowded shelters but there are plenty of nice people. Feels like I’m beginning to get my trail legs and adapting to life on the AT. 

AT - 109 - Franklin, NC

 Today I got picked up by a “trail angel” at winding stair gap outside Franklin North Carolina. He brought me to my hostel, to a post office, to Walmart, bought me beers and a tshirt at a local brewery. All that just because he’d hiked a big section of the trail and wanted to help out. I’ve gotten “trail magic” a few times where people wait at roadsides to hand out fruit, donuts, or cokes. People love the trail and are super nice.

It was a tough first week. One day I woke up to pouring rain and my tent under a couple inches of water. The next day my boots were frozen solid. It’s been low twenties for a few nights. But tonight I’m in a bed and clean and comfortable. After a week in the woods it was needed.

I hiked through Georgia and I’m 109 miles into the trail. I have blisters and my legs hurt. But it’s great. 

I had no idea what the AT means to so many people. They just want to talk and help and connect with hikers. In the middle of no where there will be some guy in a truck on a back road that gives me a coke.

I’ll try to do a better job in my next post because this hike is difficult to explain. I’m pumped that I made it through Georgia and ready to get back on the trail.

Appalachian Trail Prelaunch

     In two days I fly to Georgia to attempt thru hiking the Appalachian Trail. The last few days have been nerve-racking because I took a hard fall snowboarding. Last Sunday I was at Silverton, hit some rocks, and rag dolled down the mountain. I came to in my car pretty foggy. I don't remember the fall or getting to my car but the people I was with told me what happened. I'm happy to say this morning I woke up feeling great. 

    I'm nervous about the AT. It's over 2,100 miles going from Georgia to Maine. But I've realized something over the past few days. This experience isn't about how quickly I move or how far I go. It's about enjoying every day doing something that I love. I need to pull myself back into the present moment and not think about what comes after or what I'm giving up. This is the trip of a lifetime.

    My first thru hiking attempt was the Long Trail in 2012. I started in the north and made it 3 days before giving up. In 2018 I completed the trail starting from the south. The Long Trail is 272 miles going through Vermont. I'm proud that I went back and faced the challenge that had beaten me.

    Now approaching this trip I took a hard hit. I got my confidence shaken and went through a tough time. The people I was with at Silverton didn't handle the situation in a way I'm comfortable with so unfortunately I may have lost some friends over the ordeal. 

    Yesterday I moved nearly everything I own into a 5x5 storage unit. Part of me thinks 'wow that's really all I have', but I guess that's my style, I don't want a lot. I think about the adventures I've had and how much I've sacrificed in life to do them and every single time I came out a better person. Quitting my job wasn't easy. Moving out wasn't easy. You'd think it gets easier over time, but it's still hard.

      There is another part of this trip that gets me excited, I have a business idea. I want to start a company to supply backpackers with food for multi-day trips making planning and resupplying as easy as possible. The name I went with is Para Llevar. It means "to carry out" in Spanish. Working with Spanish speakers in restaurant kitchens they always used the phrase if food was to go. I had the idea for the business when when I was hiking the Long Trail and an AT hiker was saying how much he disliked resupplying in town. I don't know if the business will work, but the the best way I can find out is to go and try. I have a partner who has been a great help along the way. She's done all the things that I'm terrible at, like building a website, and she's preparing to help make it happen.

    At this point I have not planned anything past my shuttle to Springer Mountain from Atlanta. I downloaded an app called Guthook that tells how far it is to towns, water sources, and other amenities. I also bought a PDF copy of AWOL, which is another guide. I invested in a new ultra-light backpack and got my base weight down to around 20 lbs. I'm sure on my first attempt at the LT my pack was twice the weight.

    When I reserved my shuttle to Springer Mountain the driver, who thru hiked the AT, asked if I knew what I was getting into. I told him I had hiked the Long Trail and his tone immediately changed. He was like "Oh ok, well I heard the northern part of that trail is no joke, so you know what you're getting into." His remarks were a huge confidence boost. I know this will be hard. There will be cold nights, wet feet, and days I feel like giving up. But I'm excited. There is no telling who I'll meet or what I'll learn. Now I'm ready. I wasn't ready yesterday. I second guessed my decision to quit and leave, but that's all fading away. Now it feels like there are limitless possibilities on the horizon.

Back in the US

London was a good time. I hung out with Rob and checked out where he grew up in Windsor. He also showed me around London and introduced me to some of his friends. It was interesting to see where a good friend that I met traveling grew up. Most of the time I meet people abroad and we get along well, but never get to see where each other came from. Seeing Rob again was immediately a comfortable feeling where neither of us had to work to make conversation happen. It’s a strange experience going from not knowing a person to spending everyday with them for three months.

I’ve been back in the US for a little over a month. Usually I don’t do blog posts while at home but I feel it’s a good idea to describe the feeling of being home from this trip in particular. I just got back into Denver and I find myself slipping into my old routines and habits. This scares me because there was a reason I left. I was in a rut and needed change. I’m really going to try hard to be better than I was and to remember the things I learned traveling. Sometimes I get distracted by little issues in life and forget how lucky I am to have the life I do. As Americans, I think we sometimes take what we have for granted. I’ve been very fortunate to have a great family, an education, and to live in a country that provides opportunities. So many people I’ve seen don’t know where their next meal will come from, don’t have transportation, and don’t have access to medical care. I’m not saying its perfect here and there is certainly a great deal of inequality, but most of us aren’t living in rural huts praying for enough rain that we’ll have corn to eat.

I find myself daydreaming and spacey lately. I’ll be having a good time then its like I get slapped in the face and remember how unfair the world is. There are so many people starving, yet I just play dumb and go buy another $8 beer at the bar. Most of us just ignore what’s going on in different parts of the world because for unknown reasons we feel entitled to what we have. Recently two Africans I met have contacted me asking for help with money. I’m not sure what I’ll do. Giving people money isn’t a long-term solution. Yet I do feel guilty because I’m still spending money on things I don’t need.

Another big issue I’ve been dealing with is getting used to having a cell phone. During my trip I never had a phone. I had an iPad, but it didn’t have a data plan, so I needed wifi to connect. Now I’m connected nearly everywhere I go.  Sometimes I’ll sit at a table with friends and many of them just stare at their phone.  I can’t say I’m immune though. If I’m waiting or bored I catch myself staring at my phone. Smart phones have the potential to make people detached from reality. Whenever we feel socially awkward we just stare at the screen. Sometimes its nice to feel out of place and awkward. That way we learn how to deal with that type of situation and aren’t forced to pretend we’re so important that we need to check our phones constantly.

Traveling has shown me some things I dislike about the American culture. For one it’s not whether what we have works, but often we want our things to be nicer than the person next door. There is a competition to outdo each other materialistically. This leads to a great deal of waste and an ugly consumerist culture. Another thing that is apparent while traveling is how opinionated and ignorant many Americans can be. It’s usually easy to pick out the Americans in a room full of international travelers. Typically they’re the loudest people in the room, who seem to just be talking to hear their own voice. While traveling I put an effort into keeping up with both American and international news. I also try to keep my tone down and be open to changing my opinion in discussions. The majority of Americans I met abroad aren’t very well informed, yet they will argue their point and use volume to compensate for their lack of knowledge. I try my best to be the atypical American while traveling.

Some of my points about Americans may be considered offensive, but this is what I’ve seen from experience. My views are constantly changing and every time I’m proven wrong I learn something new. I’d be more than happy to discuss these things with people that disagree. It’s not a bad thing to be proven wrong.

It’s difficult to describe what my point is… Basically it’s been harder to readjust this time. On the surface everything seems normal, but my mind wanders. Soon I’ll be back into the typical life that I used to have. Traveling will be a memory and it won’t come into my thinking all the time. I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing.

Leaving Africa, Berlin, Amsterdam

On this trip I didn't plan to get a motorcycle or plan where to go based on the seasons. Everything worked out well but next time I do a motorcycle trip I'll plan more. I'd like to mention a few things I learned and things I'd do different.

I traveled through the rainy season, which turned out to be quite annoying. Getting up everyday in the rain then packing up wet gear gets old quick. It is worth it to look into the weather before a trip like this.

I would have liked to travel further north while there. I didn't because I had made a promise to give my bike to a friend in Durban. This changed my entire trip. I don't regret doing it because I saw some amazing sites on the way back down from Malawi, but next time I'll figure out a better plan. I could have easily sold it in South Africa, but then again I wouldn't have gone back to South Africa if I hadn't promised to bring it back. Chances are I would have abandoned the bike somewhere in Northern Africa. I guess it's better to give the bike to a friend than let some random stranger have it. My point is that I would have liked to see Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and more.

Another issue was my level of preparedness. I should have kept more spare parts, better spanners, more chain lube, better rain gear, a quality tent, a closed face helmet and had the bike set up in a more efficient way. The dirt roads caused everything to rattle loose. Also, everything was on the back of the bike, so the weight distribution was not ideal.

Surprisingly everything that I lost or was stolen was from hostels/backpackers. Early in the trip my camera disappeared from my tent. More recently someone took my jerry can from outside my tent. This was the only thing that I know for sure was taken and not misplaced. It was full of petrol and my tent was the only one left at the site. Someone took it knowing that I hadn't left yet. These are all minor things but I want to emphasize that the most dishonest people aren't always the ones you're nervous about, but the ones you don't even think of.

There was a big difference between riding through Africa alone vs with a friend. I enjoyed being alone but it's a bit unnerving at times. Riding down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere alone isn't the same as riding with a friend. I liked riding with Rob even though we are two very different people. I will admit that when we split I missed seeing him and having  a friend to talk to.

Overall the trip went really smooth. There were some close calls but nothing too bad happen. The sketchiest things were a minibus driver driving drunk in mountains of Lesotho, almost getting mugged in Durban, getting a glass bottle thrown at me while riding, people pretending to throw things at me, my regulator filled with water while 30 meters underwater scuba diving, the mob in Malawi, and a few times cars drove on my side of the road and forced me off. Looking back I could have gotten hurt easily, but it was worth it. Before starting the bike trip a guy in SA told me if I took the wrong road in Mozambique locals would "kill me, take my wallet, and torch the bike." Warnings like that stayed in the back of my mind throughout the journey. I found that most of the time people were telling me what to do even when they had no personal experience in the matter. People tend to give advice and instill doubt but most of them are just telling you things they've heard. I listen to their advice then make my own decisions. Sure, traveling can be dangerous but people die everyday doing things they think are safe. If you have a good head on your shoulders and make educated decisions most places aren't as dangerous as people make them sound.

On a different note, I flew to Europe a few days ago. I started in Berlin then went to Amsterdam. A friend from work is traveling out here so I hung out with him and his buddies. I also met up with my German friend that I rented a car with in Namibia. So far it's been pretty cool but I already miss Africa and the bike. It's tough to explain why I miss it. I think that Africa has the ability to change a person. Seems like you'll either love it or not care for it much. I love it. A Canadian guy told me while I was in Botswana that "you can never go home." Meaning that travel can change a person and they'll never be the same. They don't see their home the same because their perception changes. Sometimes I wish I'd never started traveling because I wouldn't have this longing to see and do more. It's also difficult to relate to people sometimes. Friends talk about things that happened back home but I can't use my stories to relate. My life is different than most and I find it increasingly difficult to go back to the states and be the person that people knew and expect me to be.

Berlin was a good time. We did a city tour that was helpful understanding the history. After a few days we caught the train to Amsterdam. I bought the train ticket at the station for 120 Euros. I should have booked ahead because it could have been much cheaper. We stayed with a friend of a friend in The Hague outside Amsterdam for a few days. We went to the Escher Museum. It was really cool. We also went to Kings Day in Amsterdam. It was basically a big party because everyone had off. I split from my friends because they went to Paris. I stayed in the city for another night and went to the Bansky/Warhol museum. It was nice to see but not as interesting as Escher. I just got into London today. I took a night bus for 35 Euros. I thought it was a good idea and would save me a night's accommodation. It turned out being pretty tiring. I had to get off the bus a few times to deal with customs, which we didn't deal with from Germany to the Netherlands. Also on the ferry I had to get off the bus and wait in a different area. All this means I didn't get much sleep.

Today I plan on meeting up with Rob in the afternoon. I'm staying in Paddington, which I know nothing about. It's sunny and the weather is nice so I look forward to exploring the city.

Wild Coast South Africa

After Oudtshoorn I stayed in Wilderness for a night. It was a pretty beach town with some hiking and a big tree.

Then I went to Knysna for a night. I got to play golf and checked out Mitchell's Brewery. On the way out I drove through Natures Valley, which was a nice ride through the mountains. I did a bungy jump while heading towards the next stop as well. It was 216 meters off a bridge. I've done one before but this one was quite a bit higher. It was definitely worth 890 Rand (about 61 USD).

I headed to Jefferys Bay next. It is a surfer town famous for a shark attach at a big surfing event last year. I tried sand boarding again, but it wasn't nearly as big or good as the time I did it in Namibia. I bummed around J Bay for a few days before heading off.

Next stop was Hogsback. It's a little mountain town inland from the coast. I spent a few days hiking and checking out the area. When I left it was raining, but I still decided to take the back dirt road out. Probably not a great idea. The ride went smooth but it was slippery and some of the road was washed out. The route I took while leaving was about 370 km, but it took me most of the day to get to Coffee Bay because it rained nearly the entire time.

I spent 6 nights hanging out in Coffee Bay. There's a beautiful hike along the coast line to Hole in the Wall. I spent a lot of time on the beach and doing day motorcycle trips along the back roads. At some point I bent my rear rim pretty significantly. I deflated the tire and used a hammer and wood to try and get it back to the correct shape. I got it fixed pretty well but took it to a local guy to check it out. He said there was nothing more to do because we could crack the rim if we kept working on it. The chain also came off while I was in the middle of nowhere. I tightened it but it came off again yesterday. Coffee Bay was a great stop and I met some cool people. Six nights flew by.

After Coffee Bay I spent a night in Port St Johns. I stayed at a strange Backpackers. The guy camping next to me was talking to his two cats for most of the night. I didn't get much sleep and left early the next morning.

Now I'm in Umzumbe. It's about 100 km south of Durban. I plan to stay here a few nights. It's a nice Backpackers that seems like a jungle by the beach.

Over the last couple months I've done a lot more dirt roads than I had early in the trip. Now I'm taking it easy because of the bent rim. Next time I will use a bigger motorcycle and be more prepared.  This trip has gone by quick and with a week left in Africa I know that I didn't get enough. Using a motorcycle changed the whole dynamic of the trip. It gave me freedom and a hobby. I'm a little bummed that I have to give the bike away soon, but it wouldn't be worth it to ship it home anyway. It'd probably cost more than the bike is worth plus I gave my word. Yesterday I passed 15,000 km so I feel that I've gotten pretty good use out of it. Still, the bike has become like my home. It's strange to say but I've depended on it so much that I've become attached to it. I've unpacked and repacked it so many times that its become a habit. It's been an amazing trip so far. 

Garden Route South Africa

My bike got fixed and it was $50 less than I was quoted, which was a nice surprise. I went south after that to Fish River Canyon. I wasn't able to hike there because it's the wrong time of year. It was beautiful none the less. After that I continued into South Africa. People told me I'd have trouble getting back in, but they were wrong. I was given another 3 months in the country. Best I can figure it's because it's a different calendar year.

I drove from Windhoek to Cape Town in 4 days, about 1,800 km with the detour to the canyon. There wasn't much to see on the west coast of SA so I figured it was better to just cruise. I stayed in Cape Town for a little less than a week. It's a very modern city. I met up with a couple South African friends that I'd met in Mozambique. One of them worked for a boating company and invited me out to go crawfishing. I was pretty surprised when I saw the boat. It was a yacht. One of the nicest boats I've been on. It's was great seeing the city from the ocean.

I left Cape Town a couple days ago. Last night I stayed in Mossel Bay. It was packed with people because of Easter. Luckily I have a tent and was able to find an open spot.

Today I'm in Oudtshoorn. This town is also full because there's some sort of fair/festival going on. Again I am grateful to have a tent because everything is sold out. I went into a cave today and did an adventure walking tour. I lucked out because there was one spot left and the last tour started less than five minutes after I got there. It was pretty neat and I'm glad I did the adventure one because the other tours didn't look that interesting. Tomorrow I will head back towards the coast and continue along the garden route.

I booked my flight out from Durban in a little over three weeks. Then I will head to Berlin for a week and London for a few days. It was cheaper to book a ticket to Europe then go to the states, compared to getting a flight from SA directly home. Not sure why.

There's still a lot of beautiful things to see en route to Durban, but this trip is starting to wrap up.