Ryan (Spork) called this evening from the top of Siler’s Bald in North Carolina. He is currently hiking well above 4,000 feet and said everyone got good telephone reception tonight. So they are ordering food and supplies off the internet to be sent to their next resupply mail drop. He’s ordering a new pair of boots. He’s happy with all of his equipment choices but says his boots are too heavy and too small. He needs to go up another size. Feet can swell up to two sizes larger with hard hiking. They say an AT hiker will usually go through 5 or 6 pairs of hiking shoes.
Today was “100 mile” day. He completed his first 100 miles. They covered that distance in 8 days of actual hiking. He said they did 19 miles yesterday and 14 today. Both are beyond what they should be hiking at this point. He agreed they need to cut back a bit. Tennessee will do that automatically.
He’s lost 10 lbs. So, he gave a list of protein bars, carb gel packets, and Protein Powder I’m ordering to try to get to him by Gatlinburg. He’s discussing food every other sentence. He was fantasizing over easy-mac with packets of tuna mixed in like it was a Big Mac and fries.
He said last night they hiked about a mile out of camp to a ridge on Big Spring Mountain to watch the sunset. He described it vividly and said the best part was once the sun dipped over the mountain in front of them, the moon came up over the mountain behind them. He said it was very gratifying to spend the day hiking straight up when you could reap the benefit of a sunset and moonrise over the mountains.
He sounds really good.
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