Hot Springs to Elk Park :)

Sorry it took so long for us to post! We weren't around a computer for about 2 weeks and we have been very busy since we returned home!

So we left Hot Springs, and we were right on track for Damascus. :)  We started getting tons of great views, for a while we were on an exposed ridgeline and you could see all over.  That ridgeline was a lot of rock climbing, throwing out poles down so we could use our hands to get up, over and down some of the rocks!  That was actually a lot of fun! Another good view was Big Bald.  It was a pretty big climb but so worth it once you got up there.  It was 360 degree views, you could see the smokies behind us, and what we were going to walk ahead of us! Beautiful!
Finally, we saw a bear!!!!!!!!! :) We were walking along, neither of us had said a word for a while, so we were being pretty quiet :) All of a sudden I can hear something running through the leaves (which I hear all the time, usually it's nothing). I look over and I see a little bear cub running up the side of the mountain! :) He was so cute, but fast. No picture.  We also couldn't find his momma so we thought it would be best not to stick around too long!
We stayed at a shelter one night called Curley Maple Gap Shelter.  The shelter is about 4 miles outside of Erwin, TN.  At that shelter there is a thing called the pizza and beer challenge! Basically, it is a group of 2 people, 1 pack, they have to hike back to town, hitch a ride to the pizza place and liquor store, ride back, hike back up the trail to the shelter, pizza and beer undamaged! :)  4 of the hikers staying there that night (Eva, Short Term, Slash and Bumblebee) completed the challenge! 4 large pizzas and 48 beers! That was a great night! :)
The beauty spot was a campsite a few miles away from that shelter, about a week before we were there, a local came up and held some hikers at gunpoint. The hikers ended up knocking the guy out and hog tied him with 100 feet of paracord! We thought that was awesome and I guess the sheriff thought it was pretty funny too! They were in the newspaper in Erwin, I guess the guy was drunk and high on oxycodone! They were pretty lucky nothing tragic happened! Maybe the locals will start to leave the hikers alone now!
We eventually started hiking with a new group of hikers! We loved them! It was Eva, Short Term, Gonzalez, Tank and Skirt! We all hiked together in a long line everyday..a huge hiker convoy :)  We stuck with them throughout the rest of our hike and will be delivering Trail Magic to them sometime this summer :)  On our last day we saw a little snake, he was small but angry! We ended up making it to Roan Mountain, TN...about 70 miles away from Damascus! But it was great! We decided friendships and fun were more important than pushing ourselves 20+ miles a day!  Those 70 miles will still be there next year when we do our next section! Roan Mountain, TN to Harpers Ferry, WV, we can't wait!
We did make it to Trail Days though! Thanks to Miss Janet for giving us all a ride there! The boys decided to "suit up" for Trail Days, so we all went to the thrift store and bought suits and dresses! It was such a great time! We got to meet back up with our other group of friends and also got to see a lot of the hikers we met along the way! :) There was a hiker parade, where all the current hikers and previous thru hikers got to walk through town. The townies and other hikers had squirt guns and water balloons to throw at us! It was so much fun! Short Term and I entered a talent show at Trail Days, he was doing devil sticks and I was hoopdancing! We got 4th out of 16 :) Top 4 win prizes! We got a new air mattress (Short Term took that) and a new pair of shoes (I took that) and we both got a new pair of socks too! 220$ Value!  We had so much fun doing it...Tricks is now famous in Damascus :) Short Term and I also performed at Quinceys Pizza on stage :) everyone loved it! We can't wait to see everyone at Trail Days next year....Don't forget to meet by our brick! ;)
We hope everyone had a great time following us and we hope you will follow us next year as well! We leave in May! :)   Tricks and Aquaman

The trail on the exposed ridgeline

View from big bald

Beer and Pizza Challenge

Rainy Day!  Skirt-Gonzalez-Short Term-Eva-Tank-Tricks

Eva

Suit up! Short Term-Gonzalez-Aquaman-Tank-Skirt

View from Jane Bald

Aquaman in a meadow

Short Term and Tricks at Quincey's Pizza

Hiker Parade at Trail Days

Short Term and Tricks at talent show

Our Brick in Damascus, VA

Everyone at Quincey's Pizza

 Hump Mountain

Finally hitting our stride!

Well, we made it through the smokies with no rain, almost :) The last mile of the smokies it started to rain on us! That seems pretty good, I have never heard of that good of weather there before! It was a really big climb coming out of the smokies, but it was well worth the climb at the top of Snowbird Mountain. The 360 degree view was amazing!! While coming off of Snowbird Mountain, I (Tricks) kept hearing something behind me but every time i looked, there was nothing there. I was getting a little nervous and about to say something to Aquaman, when he turned around and said, "There is a dog behind you".  Haha what is it with these dogs finding me?? He followed us for about 6 miles, he was a good little hiking dog.  We named him Rambles.  We were going to tie a rope to him and keep him but he ran off with another hiker. I hope he found his way home! The next days weather was a totally different story.  We woke up and it was just sprinkling, we started hiking and got to the top of the ridge and we got pounded by the storm! That is one place you do not want to be in a storm, so we ran :). We were still having sideline rain with heavy winds while going over Max Patch (which is a bald with beautiful views that we have been really looking forward to..) Needless to say, we didn't see a thing.  In the last couple of days, we have caught up to a few of the people that we were hiking with before, but no one from our "group". If we don't catch up with them, we will see them again at Trail Days, which is coming up really soon!  Still no bears... :( We still have about a week and a half to see one though! We took a couple days off in Hot Springs, NC to relax.  We deserved it, we did a 23 mile day to get here :).  There are a lot of cool people in this town, it is a good place to stay.  We will be heading back out on the trail in the morning (Tuesday). Our next stop will be Erwin, TN, in about 4 to 5 days. So if anyone was planning on sending any packages, hurry :). We love and miss you all, Thank you for all your support in our journey!  See you all soon!

                                                  Beautiful forest in the Smokies

                                               Aquaman and Tricks on Charlies Bunion

                                                       Suds frying bacon for dinner :)

                                                    This was the end of the Smokies

                                                       Rambles, our four legged friend

                                                    View from Snowbird Mountain

Smokies!

Well we are back on the trail and loving it! We are very happy that we changed our minds, the weather has never been better in the GSMNP so we have seen a lot of views with many more to come! Our first night we had to stay at the Fontana Hilton...it is not really a hilton just a nicer shelter :) with showers and trash cans and can fit more people.  We had to stay there because the campsite we were heading for was closed due to aggressive bear activity! So we got out the next morning for our real first day! A man brought the hikers at the hilton some fruit and brownies, that was so nice!  We stayed at the Double Spring Shelter the other night and the shelter was full!! We were all sitting around eating dinner and 3 deer came around like we weren't even there.  They walked around and ate the grass around the shelter and came and checked out the people..that was a pretty neat experience!  That night we stayed with a Ridgerunner named Billy..trail name Baloo. He was so cool! I actually hula hooped with him, he was pretty good :). We are slowly starting to catch up to our old friends and making new friends along the way, this is such a great journey!  We have hiked up Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the AT. There wasn't too much to see but we had a view off of one side which is more than either of us has ever seen! We have a friend, Suds, who the night before woke up at 4 to catch the sunrise there, his pictures and video were beautiful!  Now we are going to find a good spot to catch a sunrise :). We hiked to Newfound Gap and caught a ride with a very nice couple, whose name I didn't get :/.  They brought us down into Gatlinburg, where we are now!  We originally planned on skipping out on Gatlinburg, but we were so hungry and BBQ was calling our names :).  Well, still no bears, maybe soon though!  We will be back on here in a few days when we get to Hot Springs, NC! 

Fontana Dam

View of Fontana Lake from Shuckstack Tower

Pretty Butterfly on Silers Bald

Deer in front of Double Spring Shelter

Ridgerunner Billy at Double Spring Shelter

View from Rocky Top