MST

"Fear and Bravery" This week has been full of heebie jeebies. For all who've been following me, it's obvious to see that I have been hiking and now biking alone this entire trek. Of course, all with the exception of having Zack come down and visit a few times. This is something I did not try to advertise, however, could become obvious in the fact, it's just me in all of my pictures.  This was part of my reason for hiking though. I wanted to know that I could handle being alone and complete an adventure all by myself. When I hiked the AT, I hiked with Ibex. People would always ask me, weren't you afraid? Didn't you get scared out there? I always answered no. I felt super safe, all the time. Of course I felt safe. Ibex and I always went to town together, always hitched together, and I always slept in the same area. I was never really alone except while walking through the woods during the day. This trip, although I would have loved for Zack to thru-hike

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Zack and I had a tremendous time together this weekend. I am so glad he came up and kept me company for a full four day weekend. For those that don't know, Zack and I are long distance most of the time so anytime we are together is truly cherished. The fact that we were able to see each other two weekends in a row hasnt happened before (except when I was home for a month last December). So this was pretty cool and to see each other four days in a row on top of that was even cooler.  Saturday, as stated in the previous blog, we hiked 13 miles to a campsite. I slept in the tent, he stayed out in the hammock where it was cooler. This is the place I must have squatted in the wrong spot because the next morning I woke up with over 50 bites on my back side.  The next morning, Sunday, we hiked 10 miles out to falls lake dam. At this time, the goal was to shower, go get food, then take care of business (shuttle my bike, resupply, go shopping, etc) so that on Monday we could just relax! 

This week has brought on a whole new slew of issues. Here I am, out of the mountains, thinking everything is going to be so easy. Wrong!  Just outside of hanging rock state park, I began my bicycling journey on the MST. This is something that wasnt originally planned, but happened to workout with the timing of Zack coming down. The thing is, I've never bicycled with weight and my bike is not set up as a touring bike. So, I hopped on the bike with my pack and was ready to go. Again, wrong! Where I started cycling was a tad bit hilly. Just a few pedals in, I was huffing and puffing and my legs felt like they couldn't push me or my bike any further. I had been less than 100 yards before I was feet on the tar, hands on the bars, walking my bike up this hill I'd never seen before.  I had walked over 500 miles, I am strong! I thought. I have lost 17 lbs, I am lighter I assumed. Biking was suppose to be easy! Instead, it made me feel weak and out of shape! At that moment, I co

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Week 3 Phew! So much has happened in the last week! I have finished Segment 5, taking me out of the mountains and into the Piedmont, and I have also finished Segments 6 and 7.  Let me give you a glimpse of what these segments entail then I will go into detail of my week, a week, that is starting to blur together with the previous weeks! I am so glad that for this journey I have kept up with a nightly journal to recap what each day has brought out here and look forward to sharing it with you all.  So, Segment 5, according to the guidebook: it is 90.3 miles (8.3 of those are on the road) with easy to moderate terrain with only a few strenuous sections. Cool things to look forward to include: the Linn Cove viaduct, a 1243 foot concrete engineering marvel that carries the BRP around the base of Grandfather mountain; views of Grandfather mountain, Table Rock, Hawksbill, and Pisgah National Forest; Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, where the MST uses the park's former carriage trails a