The Akers AT Section Hike: 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