The Punishment of Prometheus

The Titan Prometheus, who molded humans from clay and stole the heavenly fire for mankinds progress toward civilization; is punished by being chained to a mountain to be tortured.

Boy is "Prometheus" a fitting trail name for me..

The trail is getting progressively harder and harder and every day is a new challenge.

Here is my last week.

Let the pain begin

4/6 Day 17

Had a good morning today, I actually got up at a reasonable time and everybody was in fairly good spirits. I think the group is starting to separate however, Ziggy left and as usual hot sauce and I kind of rolled out of camp a little later than everybody else but it was still about 9. I I'm taking some oatmeal out of a hiker box and didn't realize that it was zero sugar, so I had to choke down some dry cardboard this morning for breakfast, luckily I had my crushed Pop-Tarts from the other day so those came in handy. We're going to shoot for a few miles before the noc mainly because the next three days are supposed to be thunder and rain, and everybody is probably going to zero at Town. hopefully we can skip ahead of the crowd and shelter hop short mile days until the rain clears. We stopped at a pretty old shelter along the trail for lunch as we come up to Rocky bald. It's a pretty steep climb to the top with another rewarding tower view. My feet are starting to bother me a little bit definitely strong some tendon inflammation but I'm keeping an eye on it and hopefully it'll dissipate on its own. I'm a little worried about trying to push high miles right now, I don't want to wind up like everybody else with problems in the first couple weeks. We finally hiked to wesser bald where are we got a little bit of Trail magic and spend some time up in the tower admiring the views. Our plans to hike further where is short and we decided to stop at wesser Bald shelter. It's definitely not where I want to be but I feel like I need to listen to my body and my intuition and take it slow over the next day or so. Are there rain in the forecast for the next several days it's about to get a lot worse so I need to really mentally prepare myself for what's about to come. It's bad enough that I'm currently walking backup Hill almost a quarter of a mile just to get water. I'm going to take it pretty easy tonight and just go with the flow I guess. Simple night tonight with mac and cheese, hot cocoa and a fire. Going to bed with a little stress from the upcoming rain

4/7 Day 18

Woke up, rain, coffee and poptarts, easy quick morning, out by 8, crazy hiking on ridge above clouds, no rain, saw lots of animals and flowers, long 5 miles, taking a break. Almost to NOC. Made it to NOC to find some AMAZING trail magic. Tons of food, drinks, beer, ressuply and all kinds of people. I was the first one to open the vodka and make a drink. We went down to the shop and i got some amazing new shoes! Got a few other things and staying in a 4 bunk lodge for the night.

4/8 Day 19

Oh boy, I got to sleep in a very uncomfortable bunkhouse! We woke up and got our gear together. Ziggy decided to party last night and bailed on us and actually up sleeping in his tent. Finally getting out of the room we walked down and got breakfast over at the general store and also grabbed a few more supplies. I had an English muffin and a coffee for breakfast and it was actually pretty good, even though it was straight out of the microwave. I sent out one last package of some more pins and medallions for my grandma. After going back into the outfitter to reprint our actual Smoky mountains permits and not the receipts for them, we got most of our gear ready just in time. We started climbing up out of the NOC and about 10 minutes then it started to rain. I thought it would be a good idea to try and climb this cool Rocky outcropping to an overhang but ended up getting caught in the rain instead. I had to scramble my way back down and throw on my rain cover for my bag. at this point I was already wet so putting on my rain gear wasn't even a thing. We kept hiking until the rain got even worse at which point there was actually some distant thunder coming by. It was a rocky scramble on a pretty steep cliffside with some serious elevation gain and fighting the rain. It was about a mile and when I realized that I never actually refilled my water. I basically licked the pine needles as I walked down the trail trying to get any water i could. After a grueling uphill climb in the pouring rain, struggling to move forward in the slippery mud.. we finally made it to the shelter. My mind was dead set on plopping down my pack, laying out on the shelter floor and just enjoying life. Except that wasn't the case. Rows of sleeping bags lined both floors of the double decker shelter. "are you fucking kidding me". Where did all these people even come from?? My mood went from tired to pissed. My first shitty day just got shittier. Packs and wet clothes hung from every rafter like a butchers freezer hangs frozen meat. I sat down for a second and reevaluated my choices. "Fuck this" im going to set up my tent. Down the hill I went, about 15 yards or so to one of the only flat spots to pitch my tent. I quickly got to work, finding a good level spot, threw down my footprint and got to work. The rain started to sprinkle down again, so I worked faster than ive even done. Tent, spikes and lines up in minutes, I tossed in my gear and took off my shirt. Everyone was looking down hill like i was some crazy person. But I didnt care, all these "tough hikers" hiding from the rain and here i am embracing it. Keep in mind it wasnt cold at all. I kind of chuckled to myself as I continued to get things sorted out. My gear hung under my rain fly, my stuff set up and i was good to go. Out came the stove and fuel. Im making me some hot chocolate and noodles. FUCK YEAH.

Hah, fuck nope. I went to hang my bear bag after the rain had stopped; just changed into my sleep clothes for the night. Just like that the night sky opened up and I was soaked. I honestly mesh well with most people.. but the vibe i got in that shelter was like a bunch of college grads in a dorm room. No one gave a fuck that we were there, everyone kind of just doing their own thing.. it was nothing like all the previous shelters. My tent will do.

4/9 Day 20

After an absolutely miserable night I decided today was a day to just get up and go. The obnoxious hikers that were in the shelter last night were absolutely ridiculous and had no consideration for anybody else that was there. My tent was absolutely soaked and covered in mud and I have one pair of dry clothes left. I'm literally hiking in my underwear in my rain gear because I don't have any more clothes to spare. I also went to put on my shoes and thought my sock was bunched up but it was actually a salamander that I had crushed into my brand new shoes, isn't that lovely. I didnt even eat breakfast and just hiked to the top of the first bald, the terrain is pretty Rocky and muddy but my new shoes did amazing. Definitely not something anyone can just get up and do. The rain also doesn't help, which has been intermittent all morning. I hope it holds off. I'm really hoping that I can get to the shelter in good time, it's only about 7 miles but I really need to hang up my stuff and let it dry because I still have another full day at least until Fontana dam. I'm just going to keep moving today in hopes that it lightens my sour mood. But I can say with certainty that after last night you really see who's capable of surviving the trail. Hot Sauce ended up catching up with me right before stecoah gap. We hiked for a few solid miles until the gap where they was Trail magic!! I got to hang all my wet gear on a fence and then got oreos, yoohoos, coffee, and even McDonald's!! It was just what i needed after last night. We hung around for nearly 2 hours talking and eating food. The rain held off as we ascended the remainder of our days hike, which was a very steep section called Jacobs ladder. We rolled into shelter and only Heather was there, which was a HUGE relief. We set up a huge laundry line, emptied our packs, and made some food. Slowly others started showing up, so i started a fire as usual, and everyone started talking. A camp fire brings out the best in people. We all sorta goofed off for a while, slowly getting our chores done. Me, Heather, ian, and that 17 year old kid from Vermont were trying to get down failed bear lines from the trees. It was sorta my idea. Lol we got one and i got a new black diamond carabiner. Which i gave to Ian because he deserved it after pulling on a rope, snapping it snd falling on his back. Everyone settled in for the night as we cleaned up camp.. i hope tomorrow is good like this.

(Hotsauce for scale)

4/10 Day 21

Didnt sleep until 1am. Rough night sleeping. Water bottle at night, woke up first, breakfast with hotsauce, ali and ian. Packed bag and hit the privy. 12 mile day today to Fontana. Decided to carry my camera to get some good pics finally. Pretty easy hike for the morning. Sun is shining and the temp is upwards of 70 with a nice gently breeze. Made it to Cable gap shelter for lunch, soaked my feet in the stream. Water is freeeezing. Hiked another couple of Miles uphill both ways through the heat and snow, finally catching of you of Fontana dam and smokies in the background. we stopped at another small stream on the last descent to grab some water before finally heading into Fontana dam.at this point my ankles and legs are pretty beat up after pretty much doing 6 to 8 Mile days and then deciding to do at 12, I'm feeling it. I'm really excited though because I love Mac and he came over and literally fell asleep on my lap. He is my sole reason for hiking the Appalachian Trail and I never even realized it. Made it to fontana dam dock, got a real bathroom to wash my hands in and snacks at the docks shop. They were closed but opened up for us! We're staying with Ali and Ian at the fontana lodge tonight for a much needed zero tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll resupply and stay at the "hilton" tomorrow. I called and we got a room at the Fontana village resort. Holy crap, this place is SO nice, almost too nice for our smelly hiker bodies. We had room 116, and its been the nicest room for $80 ive ever stayed in. Going down to the wildwood grille to grab some food. Been sitting here for about an hour waiting for our food.. no thanks to the 5000 Volkswagen club people who are driving the tail of the dragon; a crazy windey mountain road. Im literally dying of hunger.. the food came and I ate ALL of it. Ive never been so hungry before in my life. It was so worth it. The waitress was so stressed out from the sheer number of people, so I tipped her $20, and her eyes lit up and I got a "oh my god, thank you so much". She earned it. I went back to the room, took a shower, and watched some TV before finally getting to bed.

4/11 Day 22

Day 22

Its always a good morning to wake up in a warm hotel bed, with the AC on, brew some fresh coffee and open the curtains. But right outside my patio sliding door is where I breally want to be.. The Great Smoky Mountains. My feet ache, my back is sunburned, but yet I want to keep moving. Laundry and breakfast are on the list of things to do this morning. We got breakfast at the hotel and it was sooo good. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, pancakes, orange juice and coffee. After that we packed up our room and went off to do some laundry. General store Ali and ian $80 resupply Ziggy Shuttle back to marina Hiked the 1.1 miles to Fontana Hilton shelter. Set up, went swimming Took a quick shower Made a fire, tried to socialize. Too sarcastic, seems like i just push people away. Ankle stretches Bed

Sorry for the last bit of shity text, didn't really feel like writing, bc and that's what you get. Somewhere along the way today I hit a wall of depression. It kind of came after I made the fire. I was talking with some new faces and I just realized how overly sarcastic I can be and how it can come across sometimes. I just had a wall of depression wash over me. I instantly didn't want to talk to anyone or even be in the same shelter. I pulled out my CBD pen and just tried to chill out a little.. I'm currently in my sleeping bag where I'll wait for the sun to start hiking into the smokies. The pain is only getting worse, mentally and physically.