What is this blog about?

My name is Lori. In August, 2014, I plan to hike the Camino de Santiago trail. Feel free to join me on my adventure by following me on this blog.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Day 21 on the trail. 3 weeks has actually gone by pretty quickly. A few days ago, we made it to Fontana, NC. We stayed at the Fontana lodge, which was a pretty nice place and had a great hiker rate. I shared a room with Renata (snail), and sparky shared with Clous (turtle). Longstride and Silvergirl also stayed at the lodge. It made for a great "trail family" Easter dinner. Here's the gang. 

Dennis (Incline), was also at the lodge that night. We had met him previously at the Aquone hostel. He hikes pretty fast, so we were glad to get to see him again. 
After Fontana, we put in our biggest miles so far. 13.8 miles on Monday, and 14.7 miles on Tuesday. We wanted to get some miles done quick so we could have a shorter hike today with more time to relax in town. 
Last night was our coldest night so far, and I hope we don't ever get colder. Forecast was for 21°, and I'm pretty sure it was correct. I had lots of layers on, and was in my zero degree sleeping bag by 7pm. I stayed warm enough. My water bottle besides me froze overnight. It was so cold this morning that I had to wait til about 8 o'clock before I would crawl out of my sleeping bag. We hiked on frozen ground to Clingmans Dome. This is the highest point on the AT with an elevation of 6643 ft. It also marks about 200 miles for us on the AT! What better way to celebrate than to come into town and sleep in a warm hotel for a night? This was made a quick possibility because Sparky's brothers met us at the dome for Sparky's birthday. Happy birthday sparky!!! 
When I arrived at my hotel, I ran into Wobbles and Voltron. I hadn't seen them since before Franklin, so it has been nice to catch up. We also ran into incline again and talked him into staying the night out of the cold. 
Of course, we need to get back to the trail tomorrow, and the cold will still be there. Brrr. Not looking forward to that cold again, but looking forward to getting to hot springs in 6 days. 
Send all your warm vibes my way, friends. Goodnight for now. 

8 comments:

  1. great progress, Lori. Well done. Enjoy your break. Did Little Bruce freeze? Will he thaw by the time you get to hot springs? Does he need a warmer sleeping bag? hahaha. I love following you on your trip. Stay safe and have fun.

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  2. Looking Good .. I see you're getting your trail legs .. pretty soon 18-20's will be a breeze .. heat up the water in your water bottle before ya crash .. then sleep with it ...it helps keep ya warm..and from having to thaw it out ..Remember after Clingmans Dome, it's all downhill from there ...LOL ..

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  3. Great job, Lori. I hope it warms up for you. Glad you have a great group of AT friends. I know Chris is looking forward to seeing you soon.

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  4. Seems you and Nitrous Oxide (Travis) who's blog I also follow are at just about the same point. Have you guys seen much of each other?

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  5. Hi Lori, It's great to see how much progress you've made! We're reading every blog and thinking of your trip while down here hiking on the flatlands of Florida. (Kayaking the Hillsborough River this weekend).Stay warm...ditto on heating the water bottle. Wrap it in a sock and keep it by the femoral artery and stay warm ALL night. Terry (Romany)

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  6. ooh Lori you are so brave to face the cold weather after being in Florida!!! Glad you have good equipment tho that makes all the difference. Your friends have a good idea with the water bottle thing! When will you see Chris?? Or have you already seen him? Ha Ha Im old....

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  7. Sounds like you are doing well, awesome! :)

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  8. @ heather- I'm in hot springs with Chris now!! Sorry for the dalayed response.
    @ shane- I haven't seen nitrous oxide for a couple weeks. I think he is ahead of me. Tell him hello for me :)

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