Injury Update

I am safely home as of 11:00am May 31 2007. The injury that I have acquired is called overuse syndrome, which is in my case is an inflammation of the muscles and connective tissue in my ankle. My body has not taken the adjustment to the terrain and mileage for one major reason. The shoes that I started the trail with lacked cushion and did not provide my feet and legs enough protection from the rock filled terrain that we have encountered so far, this factor combined with the 27 mile segment that we accomplished Monday led to severe pain in my right leg from the shin to the foot. I decided that with the doctor recommending at least 2-4 days off of my feet followed by tapering my mileage back to our planned pace that I would come off of the trail. I decided that it is more important for me to not accomplish a thru hike at this moment, but rather to not be injured or jeopardize the entire trip. I will be rejoining Spencer and Ben as soon as possible, and in the meantime will be resting my feet for another couple of days. Then I will taper in a training regimen in the time between now and getting back on trail. I would like to thank all of the people that sacrificed their time and effort to get me from such a remote part of North Carolina back home. I will be in touch with Spencer and Ben and will attempt to keep you updated during this time. We will blog more about some of the proverbial good Samaritans that we have met along the way in the near future.

-Garrett

Fontana Dam

Spencer reported in around 4:30PM today he and Ben arrived at Fontana Dam this afternoon after 22 miles. Garrett unfortunately has had to take a break to recover from a type of shin splints, I know this must be tough on him, hopefully he can fill us in with some details in the next couple of days.

Nantahala

Spencer reported tonight that they covered 27 miles today, their longest leg so far which ended at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, where they would camp by the river. So far this puts them right on schedule with the latest itinerary.

Complete Admiration

Ben, Garrett, & Spencer-
Fellas, just wanted to say that I really admire all of you for what you are doing.
This will truly will be a memorable experience in so many ways and while it may not be life-changing, you are doing it for the right reasons. We honestly do not know what tomorrow will bring so we must embrace the present, and I do not think anyone will argue that this is exactly what you guys are going.

Warm regards,
Lucas
(Spencer's older brother)

Troop 301 Gulfport

When preparing to leave the parking lot at Springer Mountain in Georgia, we ran into the scout leaders of Troop 301 out of Gulfport, MS. We continued on down the trail and passed the troop out on the trail. One of the leaders of this troop, Mr. John Kelly, an 86 year old assistant scoutmaster was extremely touched by our story. He told his troop about why we are hiking the trail and told us that we are the definition of "what friendship is all about." He was very emotional and we definitely felt that we made a great example to our fellow scouts in his troop.

Photos

We have added photos from our trip and a permanent link to all future pictures that we will upload in the personal trip info section at the upper right hand of the page.

Zero Day #1

Today we have decided to take a zero day. In hiker terminology this means that we are not hiking today. On Thursday while on top of Kelly Knob in Georgia I decided to check my voice mails. I heard the news that my great aunt Evelyn became ill from an opening in her intestinal tract. She passed away later on Thursday, and this event has hit me rather hard. I never really knew my grandmother, but my great aunts have always fit that role for me on my dad's side of my family. We decided as a crew that not only did we need to rest after our first week, but that they wanted to get me to my aunt's funeral just as much as I wanted to be there myself. We are not hiking today and will be attending the funeral in Belmont, NC. We are also using this day off to recuperate after a tough week of transitioning to the trail. We have experienced a few flat tires (blisters and foot pain) but we are changing shoes and carving moleskin and should be able to continue our "blistering" pace after a much needed day off. We will blog again later on today with pictures, video, and stories from the trail. Even though we have only been on trail for a week, we have hiked over 100 miles and met a whole cast of interesting characters. More to come later...