AT Day 13

Miles: 10.12

Total Miles: 265.29

(Standing Bear, TN)

Today didn’t go the way that I wanted for it to go. Things could have gone worse, but they could have gone a lot better.

My shin is experiencing a medical condition called “fucked.”

In all honesty, things could be worse, but today was a pretty rough day.

I slept well last night–the best that I’ve slept at any of the common area hostels I’ve visited so far on trail. I wanted to be to trail early, but there were a few others who were messing around and starting coffee in the shared area. So I waited for them.

Several of us had a little bit of mushrooms, and we started into the morning. Weather was looking a lot better than I was worried it might be, but it still ended up sprinkling a bit through the day. The other two started out ahead of me, as I was limping from the very beginning. But my shin felt like I might be able to make it work until I was maybe 5 miles in today. It was hurting at the beginning of the day, but it was almost tolerable. But by the time I was 5 miles in it was really really bad. By the time it was at 10 miles, I could barely walk.

At first it was looking like I was going to have to hike another 20 miles still to get to Hot Springs and from there it was going to cost a lot of money to get a shuttle from there to Urgent Care, which is nowhere near here.

But to make a long story short, I was able to get connected with my doctor back home who had already written me a prescription for Doxycycline in the event that I ended up with Lyme Disease from ticks. But unbenounced to me, she indicated that I could use that scare script for what we believe to be cellulitis.

It took a couple hours for me to go through all the discomfort and pain in my shin, then arrange a shuttle to Urgent Care, then to get in contact with my doctor back home, then to get the shuttle changed to just bring me back to Standing Bear Hostel, where I stayed last night.

So I’m back here, with a lot of hikers. I’m not in pain as long as I’m not hiking, but on descents I’m in absolute agony, and my left leg is basically useless.

Doctor indicates that I should start feeling better in 24-48 hours.

If things get worse, then that’d be really bad, but it sounds like this is something that could be taken care of within a week. And fortunately I’m at a place where it’s not too expensive to stay here in the bunk house. Not much to do here, but also not much to spend money on, except for pizza and NA beer.

Wormwood.

AT Day 12

Miles: 10.78

Total Miles: 255.17

(Standing Bear Hostel)

Last night it rained hard. It was the hardest that it’s rained since I’ve started the trail, which isn’t saying that much since it hasn’t rained except for that first day and last night… but still… holy hell it rained!

It rained so hard that I had to empty the last bit of gear out of my top-loading pack, and stuck the foot of my sleeping bag into my pack to keep it dry from the slashes of rain that were coming up from outside the rain fly.

It was wet.

There was some heavy lightning for a bit, but nothing threatening. At one point it was raining so heavily that it was literally flowing water under my tent, and I had to add air to my sleeping pad to keep it from touching down in the water. I also took the trash bag out from my gear that I have on backup as a pack liner and covered the rest of my sleeping bag, another attempt to keep it dry.

I also had that pain in my shin from yesterday; it hurt me bad through the night. More to say on that in a bit. But for now I just bring it up to mention that it was rough last night.

My food had to be hung because it was my last night in the national park, and all food has to be hung in the park. It rained so heavy that water got into the hanged bag and some of my food got wet. Nothing bad. But damn. It was wet.

I waited until late this morning to get out of the tent and wander up to the shelter where I had breakfast and tea. Oh–I quit drinking coffee too. I’m back to black coffee and honey in the morning. Same thing that I did on the Colorado Trail, and I loved it then. So far I’m loving it out here now too. It’s only a couple days, but it feels better than the jolt from coffee.

I lingered around at camp until pretty late compared to normal because it was so wet. Waited around, talked to a couple hikers who had slept in the shelter and complained about the rain too, and then got to trail.

Now let’s talk about the shin issue.

It hurt me yesterday, and I was mostly scared that it was a shin splint. But then this morning there was some swelling in the area. It was red and puffy. The sharp pain had spread more. In all honesty, it looked more like a bite this morning.

I have a family member who is a retired physical therapist, and I texted her photos. Her first response: “did something BITE you?”

So I’m relieved to think that this isn’t from shin splints (pretty sure). But it is concerning that I’m in a lot of pain from it still. It feels very different from yesterday, and doesn’t hurt as much, but I’m getting a lot of numbness in my left shin and foot. The part that isn’t numb is in a lot of pain.

Not sure what could have bit me, when or where, or if that’s even what happened. No–it wasn’t the snake from the photo. That’s just the snake that made me nearly piss myself as I walked by.

Another doctor is saying that it looks like Celulitus. Either way, I need to take care of this. I’m in pain.

Around the time that I talked to the doctor this morning, it started to DUMP rain again. It was a good time for it though, because I was .2 miles away from Standing Bear Hostel, which I had been recommended before arriving.

This place is definitely minimal, but it has a shared common area, they have pizza and (non alcoholic) beer (and real beer for those who want it). Their showers are scalding hot or ice cold. The bunk house looks a bit rugged and more like a prison meets a cabin. But it’s only $25 a night, and it got me out of the rain. It also is going to allow a day for me to let this shit work through my ankle/shin. If it’s poison or a bite or something, then I hope it’ll be out more tomorrow. Already today feels better than yesterday–more numb and spread today than the sharp pain of yesterday.

Specs mailed my jacket about 45 miles up trail for me from Gatlenburg. I would like to have it before then, but I’d rather he mail it too far north than too early, or I could miss it in the next trail town.

My gear was quite wet when I rolled into Standing Bear today so I’ve had it drying since I arrived. I will likely head back to trail early tomorrow morning, and it’ll be a big day if I can. But we’ll see how things go with this shin. If need be I’ll take a day and a half with my shin to get there. We’ll also see about the rain. Today was supposed to be the worst of it, but there will still be rain for the next five or six days (maybe more). So one day at a time. For the time being I’m really enjoying the time here with the hikers and vagrants. This hostel is a hoot. Thank god I’m not drinking though. Now that’s it’s growing a bit later, the ones who have been sipping on PBR are starting to become obvious.

Someone literally just asked me to go Naked Bingo with them… sponsored by Adam and Eve… and the other hiker beside me won’t share her pizza. This place is wild. I need to get my laundry dry and get set for trail tomorrow.

Wormwood.

AT Day 11

Miles: 23.14

Total Miles: 244.39

(Cosby Knob Shelter, TN)

I can hear the rain on the outside of my tent. It’s the first night that it’s rained at night so far on trail. It rained and hailed much of that first day on trail–11 days ago–but since then it’s been significantly warmer than normal for this time of year. Not that I would have known that were it not for all the comments from the other hikers who are more familiar with the area.

It’s been so warm in fact that there have been multiple wildfires burning not far from where I’ve been on trail. Not close enough for me to be in any danger, but it did close down part of the trail behind me last week, and people tell me that’s unprecedented for this time of year. It’s just really dry and hot. So the rain isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I thought that we were going to walk to rain this morning in Gatlenburg, but when I opened the blinds I was surprised to find that it was mostly blue sky.

I had breakfast with Specs at the hotel lobby, and I swear that kid ate at least five pounds of food just from the breakfast buffet alone. I give him credit for it. He’s a true pro, and has turned out to be a good dude.

I realized tonight, after getting to camp that I left my down jacket in the hotel with him, as he’s staying an extra night and i didn’t see it there with his gear when I left. But somehow we were able to connect via text today and he’s going to ship it to me up trail. He’s a really good dude.

It took a bit longer to get to trail this morning from Gatlenburg than I had wanted. I tried hitching back, but the local police very quickly let me know that’s against the law in TN, so I had to wait an hour for a local shuttle that brings hikers up. I knew maybe 3 of the 8 of us who were all gathered there, waiting for a ride, avoiding getting another warning from Gatlenburg PD.

The trail today mostly ran ridge lines through the high elevations of Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It’ll be my last full day in the park. Tomorrow I’ll likely exit and head north, where the trail will dance between North Carolina and Tennessee for around 150 miles before entering Virginia.

Some of the best views of the trail have been today, though they really don’t even compare to anything out west. It’s really just an opportunity sometimes where the brush will open and I can get an overview of the forest below. Being up in the mountains also gave me a perspective looking down on what I assume was Gatlenburg.

There was a lot of sign from the hurricane up here today. Last year Hurricane Helene came through here and did a number on this part of the country. It actually closed the AT for a little bit, and I’ve met a few thru hikers from last year who are finishing up the trail by hiking the parts that were closed last year.

I hiked for a little bit with a guy named Shaggy. He was super chill, and although we hike at very different paces, we matched one another for a mile or so, and I really enjoyed the conversation. I also met with a group of hikers at one of the shelters before this one for dinner. I keep trying to stay on top of my pushups (10x per mile per day), and I’ve been adding pull-up on as well, since the shelter frames almost all have some beams I can use as a pull-up bar. I’m stoked that both my maximum pull-up and pushup counts have increased since starting the trail. I really believe that the extra focus on nutrition and upper body strength on trail has been paying off this time.

My body is feeling better in all the places that were hurting me before. My left calf is now 100%. My right calf bothered me a few days ago, but is better now. My foot was hurting for a bit, but no problem today. But the one thing that hurts like absolute hell right now is my left shin. It’s in a very specific spot too, almost like I kicked something really hard, or like a shin splint in just one specific spot. If it’s shin splints that concerns me. Strange though, as I hadn’t felt it before today or ever that I can remember, but by the end of today I was in serious discomfort from it. Call it a 7/10 for me tonight.

I got to shelter before sun set, had my second non alcoholic beer, chatted up with a cute hiker from Florida (none of them are doing enough miles that I’m likely to see them again), had dinner, and set my tent just as the rain was starting.

The forecast is calling for rain for the next week or two, but we’ll see. It keeps getting pushed off, so I’ll wait and see what happens. Thank god it was my down jacket that I left behind and not my rain gear though.

Wormwood.