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outdoorguyuk · 5 years

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Granada! It’s so Moorish (boom boom...Kill me Now)

Long before I got back into climbing, I booked a holiday with the fam along with Andy & Elaine (from the Brecon Beacons fastpacking trip) and their children Esmé (9) & James (5 months). We booked an Airbnb to Otura at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains near Granada in Spain. It turned out to be an absolute gold mine of amazing climbing routes and hiking. Kerching!

I bought a couple of local climbing guides (I’d particularly recommend the Andalusia - Guia de Escalada Deportiva (if you want it please click on the link and buy it so I get a bit of cash from Amazon too!) and spoke to a local guide called Nino from the amazing Club Cabraloca (the appropriately named crazy goat when translated - Seriously, if you want to climb in Granada hit him up, he’s an absolute legend and they do everything through canyoning, via ferrata to diving or caving). We chatted by email in the run up to the holiday - Nino doesn’t speak English so it was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish (I’m terrible at languages but I’ve been trying to relearn since before our last trip to Barcelona with Andy and Elaine - I’m rubbish but getting there).

Lads Lads Lads - From left to Right; Antonio (interpreter & dog owner extraordinaire), Andy, Yours Truly and Nino (Club Cabraloca and all round legend)

I explained to Nino that there would be 4 adults (who apart from Sammy, climb regularly indoors, along with me having done a bit of rock climbing as a kid), Lenora (age 7 - an absolute beast), Esmé (9 - who has done a bit of bouldering indoors), Autumn (3 - who has done a bit of bouldering indoors but mainly will be climbing for our entertainment *please don’t call social services) and James (4 months, who most likely won’t be up for climbing but we would see how he feels on the day).

We wanted to climbs somewhere (in order of importance) 1 - That was in the shade (It’s brutally hot in Granada in August), 2 - (that had grades between 4-7 in the same spot so that everyone could have a challenge) and 3 - My Spanish isn’t particularly good so would he have someone that spoke English (I’m happy ordering a few beers or chatting conversationally, but don’t want to die because of getting a verb mixed up). Nino was all over it and reassured me all would be taken care of.

For anyone that hasn’t been, I can’t recommend Granada enough. It’s a small city that isn’t very busy (coming from London that’s a massive plus), there’s very little traffic, you’re right on the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (which has Mulhacen, the highest mountain in Western Europe outside the alps as well as the most Southern ski resort) and some ace beaches (the lesser known Costa Tropical) which don’t suffer the hordes of people and Brits that other coasts nearby do. Plus the Alhambra, Nasrid Palace & Generalife Gardens are truly spectacular.

The Nasrid Palace, presented to you by Big L

We spent a few days checking out the area, visiting the tourist spots, going to the beach, lounging around our pool and BBQing (with some drinking thrown in too), but also scoped out some climbing routes on a hike too. For those not in the know, Los Cahorros is a fantastic trail of rope bridges, rivers and stunning views through a gorge and mountainsides. It’s also famous for having some incredible climbing routes, so we had a good old hike around to check it out.

A hill at the start of Los Cahorros

It’s always a good idea to set off early when the days get so hot so we did most of our hiking in the morning to head home at around 2. The hike is really fun and family friendly with plenty of access to mountain run off water (I always bring my Sawyer Filter with me wherever I go where I might run out of water, despite the several litres of frozen water we had with us, as it’s ace just to fill up whenever you need. Super handy, very light, connects to a regular bottle and lasts forever. link on image below).

Los Cahorros only has about 300m of elevation across the hike so is family friendly whilst being hard enough work when Elaine was carrying James and I was mainly carrying Autumn.

Lunch in a nice little cave

Anyway...it’s really cool with a load of rope bridges, stunning scenery, great access to water, lots of shade & amazing climbing routes. Do it.

Next up on the list was hooking up with Nino. Unfortunately Antonio, Nino’s buddy and translator couldn’t make the Thursday so we rescheduled for Friday. No biggie, as we had a lazy day by the pool but come Friday we were all super hyped to get on some rock.

We met Nino in the Lidl car park near the main Decathlon (I love Decathlon) and had a good laugh about my obscene amount of emails I had sent Nino. He had been very patient and was just as nice in person as he was on email. His mate Antonio would be our translator as Nino’s English was similar to my Spanish, and Antonio came with the added bonus of his dog who was epic. She was a jet black Belgian shepherd and the kids were super hyped as they were missing Ripley (our Sproodle).

After a quick drive to Alfacar (there are loads of routes within a very short drive of Granada) we found our wall. After a pretty steep hike up the hill through some trees (I was a little worried about Elaine as she had James strapped to her chest, but she’s an absolute machine and didn’t seem phased at all) we got to a really nice and shady ledge below our climbing spot.

Autumn kicking back at basecamp (poser)

All the gear, all the ideas (Nino & Antonio, at least)

Sammy, checking out the photos, being stalked by the dog

After setting up, Nino asked who wanted to go first - before he’d even had the chance to finish the sentence, Lenora was up and putting on a harness whilst simultaneously saying ‘I will’ in a manner that suggested this wasn’t up for discussion. Within minutes, she had blasted her way up the first route (route 8 of el Sector del Esconchón in the Guia de Escalada en Alfacar Granada, if you’re interested) and cockily confirmed that it was easy.

Lenora (just turned 7) before ‘warming up on an easy route’ - her words not mine

Esmé and Autumn found it a bit trickier and only made it half way up, but Esmé doesn’t climb as much and Autumn is only 3. To give her credit, she got a good 8 metres up and it’s her first time climbing outdoors. We all had a good laugh when Autumn rolled over onto her back, hanging from the rope and started shouting “I can’t roll over! I can’t roll over!”. Please don’t call social services.

Like a beetle on it’s back (Autumn, 3 years old)

I normally belay with a Black Diamond ATC Guide (linked to Amazon) but Antonio got me on a Grigri+ for the first time and it felt a bit odd to use. Paying out the rope was a little more tricky but I appreciated the extra safety feature knowing that it auto locks if someone is belaying me and not paying attention (having 4 kids with us, that’s quite possible too). I’m still in two minds about which I prefer to use, but then redundancy is key in climbing and the GriGri definitely offers a greater level of safety.

Esmé getting involved

Sammy had a good old crack at the route and managed to top out, but freaked a bit when she saw the view. It’s a bit different to an indoor wall, when you’re already 1350m up, the 30m feels a lot higher.

Nino and Antonio started planning out the more challenging routes once they’d gauged our abilities on the warm up route. They put up a harder route (route 5) which Elaine and Andy promptly powered through, followed by me. It was a challenging route (a V+ in the local grades, which according to the guidebook and the UKC website which have a conversion chart shows the local grades being two lower than normal French grades, so this would have been a 6a+ apparently).

Andy!

Esmé having a crack at the second route with Andy on belay

Not one to be outdone, Lenora got tied in and had a shot at the harder route. I wasn’t sure how far up she’d get as it wasn’t particularly easy and she’s still only small. Of course, she flipped the beast mode switch and absolutely crushed it.

She never fails to amaze me. Big L went up the wall like a rat up a drain pipe & both our guides were super impressed by how brave she was. Putting in all those hours at YonderE17 and the Arch obviously paid off. Things were going really well until Lenora reached up into hold (in the side of the big rock in the picture above and got a nasty surprise.

Lenora topping out but getting a nasty surprise

There was a really spiky bush in the rock which Lenora put her hand right in to, so the pain combined with a sudden realisation that she was super high up freaked her out. She wanted to come down right away, but was pretty gripped so lost her concentration. Usually at the Reach and Castle climbing centres (which I think are about 15 metres) she loves abseiling down, with whoops of joy and wild/possibly real claims that she’s a ninja/special forces etc. Things were a bit different here, with the wall not being as flat as in a climbing centre what with overhangs and the risk of other spiky plants. It all got a bit much for her but we finally got her down. Nino was great and climbed over to her, got her to relax a bit and then things were fine.

Nino helping Lenora find her Zen

Meanwhile, Antonio had set up a much harder route (route 2 in the guide) along with changing the first easy route over a few metres into a similarly hard route (route 7). Elaine had a crack at the hardest route and despite having the background noise of a crying 5 month old baby James being held by Andy, a mildly hysteric Lenora, along with Autumn and Esmé arguing over who was more of a unicorn, managed to focus and get on with it.

Elaine, getting stuck in

After Elaine got down, the kids were getting a bit grumpy so I helped Elaine and Sammy get them all back to the comfort of the air con in the cars (and iPads) so that Andy and I could have a crack at the last routes before helping Nino and Antonio Pack up.

Where’s Wally? I’m on there somewhere (shots from the cars)

Me, topping out on route 2 - loads of fun & a bit of a challenge. Great shot by Andy

The view over Granada from Alfacar

All in all it was a great day. I thoroughly enjoyed the routes - the final two routes were the most challenging and in very different ways, but I think we could have pushed it up a grade looking back even. The view over Granada was spectacular and the size of the mountains is really humbling. To give context, Alfacar (a low to medium size mountain) from where we parked the car, was starting at around 1300m, which is roughly the height of Ben Nevis (the highest peak in the UK at 1345m) with the peak topping out at around 1400m.

I’d love to get back to the area again for more exploration - apparently Autumn is ideal as it’s still nice and warm, but not so punishingly hot. This opens up a number of walls that don’t have shade at the bottom, so that would be nice.

All in all, I can thoroughly recommend Granada and if you get the chance to go, make sure you hit up Nino at Club Cabraloca to save you lugging a ton of kit over whilst getting the benefit of a super experienced local guide.

#granada #spain #alhambra #climbing #girlswhoclimb #sierranevada #sportclimbing #womenwhoclimb #alfacar

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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DualShockers’ Favorite Games of 2019 — Ben’s Top 10

December 29, 2019 4:00 PM EST

From games like Apex Legends to The Outer Worlds, 2019 proved to me that there were a huge variety of games to enjoy across all genres.

As 2019 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2019 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2019 releases — can be considered.

I’m not really sure where to begin with 2019. It’s a year I’ve certainly grown a hated for, and the gaming landscape has been incredibly volatile at times. We’ve seen the Sekiro discourse send a barrage of abuse towards both disabled gamers and journalists. We’ve seen a well-known publisher hold an AMA on 4Chan. We’ve seen E3 doxx nearly every journalist that has attended the event.

However, amongst the dark days we’ve had some great games come out in 2019, and I’ve been enjoying a handful of games I never would have experienced if it wasn’t for Xbox Game Pass. I’ve also been front and center in helping to direct change to how video games are made more accessible for players, but more on that at a later date.

So, here’s my top 10 list of games that I’ve been enjoying in 2019.

10. The Outer Worlds

Originally this title from Obsidian Interactive was going to be higher up on my list, but after pondering on it I realized that it doesn’t entirely deserve to go too high. I enjoyed it, I completed it, I gushed about it for numerous weeks, and I found Parvati, a video game character I adored. But while I really enjoyed the game, it started to become a chore even thinking about picking it back up and trying to go through it all again. The combat felt groggy, the side-quests were a bit naff, and it wasn’t much of a broad open-world as I initially expected.

Saying that though, I did find the writing between the companions and the main storyline characters incredibly engaging and enjoyable to sit through. I liked how the acting reflected wonderfully on dialogue options I chose, and as a result, I found myself heavily engrossed in the story right up until the end where it told me the fate of those on my team that I may have neglected somewhat. The brilliant writing was enough for The Outer Worlds to have left an incredibly positive impression on me.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for The Outer Worlds.

9. The Orange Box

I’m going to cheat a bit here. Earlier in 2019, I went through Portal for the hell of it; another journey through Valve’s puzzler with portals and an evil robot that sings about cake. I’ve played it God knows how many times and it still never gets old. I also jumped on Team Fortress 2 when news sparked up about the game no longer being supported by Valve for the time being. Hearing the news sent me down a nostalgic trip from my many hours spent with it. Returning to it was somewhat heart-warming to be back in the world, but at the same time heart-breaking that it seems riddled with hackers now. Despite that, it was still brilliant to go back.

With Half-Life: Alyx being revealed, I wanted to spark up my memories of the Half-Life world again. So I booted up Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and then managed to get through Half-Life 2: Episode Two before becoming busy with this journalism lark. Safe to say, The Orange Box is by far my favorite collection of games that will always remain fun to play no matter how many years have passed, even now in 2019.

8. Ape Out

Devolver Digital’s crazy ooh-ah-ah game was one I enjoyed for hours, and still find myself picking it up every now and again. The gameplay was challenging at best, and had a soundtrack that reacted to the combat which kept me wanting to keep the fight going at all costs, even if it meant bleeding out everywhere. The sounds of the punches, gunfire, and limbs splattering were all of high-quality and kept Ape Out feeling more like a large-scale action flick rather than a small indie title.

The art style was also something I found to be the most memorable; it had a clash of gritty textures that seemed to blend in well with the vibrant orange ape. The harder modes for a bigger challenge were also incredibly frustrating but were always tempting for that “one more go” mentality. The one that stood out the most to me was the mode in which you have to break back into the place from which you escaped, but you’ve only got one life. The Metroidvania twist here left me with hours of extra fun trying to beat it.

Check out DualShockers review for Ape Out.

7. Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is a game that I’ve always wanted to play, but one I never got round to until I got the Switch. Stardew Valley is one of those games that seems perfect for portability; I’ve always enjoyed relaxing games in which you can do simple things such as farming, but the pixel art style adds to the aesthetic that I found myself being drawn towards. I particularly enjoy the music combined with the gentle sounds of nature flittering through the world. Eventually, I found myself putting it down for a good few months, and it’s always sat there beckoning me to play it again.

It wasn’t until recently when I heard there was a new update for it that I picked it back up and jumped into an entirely new game, deleting my old farm. Upon doing so, I’ve rejuvenated my love for it and I’m glad I’m back on the scene for it. My only question is, will I continue enjoying it when Animal Crossing: New Horizons comes out, or will I abandon it for a town of overly happy animals? Time will tell.

6. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Thank you Xbox Game Pass; if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have finally tried Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Originally, I never picked the game up because I didn’t think I’d enjoy it. There was no reason, in particular, it just didn’t draw me in. However, all the talk of how it represents mental health and how the graphics are stunning was enough for me to download it and try it out. I was blown away. The binaural sound design is really quite something to behold, especially with a good set of headphones. The character animations are lovely and the combat felt heavy and impactful.

I wasn’t a fan of the Metroidvania-theme that lingers throughout the game, but it certainly adds to the tension of trying to stay alive just so you don’t have to go through it all again. It’s certainly a game I’ve had a great time with, and am still enjoying playing it now as we wait for the sequel to arrive with the Xbox Series X.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

5. Tetris 99

I’ve always been a fan of Tetris, the old version and any modern-at-the-time iterations. When Tetris 99 was announced, I won’t lie, I groaned: “Ugh, another Battle Royale attempt.” Little did I know that I grew to love it almost instantly. The matches can be quick, some can be lengthy and challenging. Some can be frustrating and some can leave me cocky and proud. I had started to grow fed up of it being constantly online though, and while I don’t agree that the single-player mode is locked behind a paywall, I paid for it.

The Big Blocks DLC is actually great, allowing me to play it with friends on the same system without needing to worry about 97 other players battling against us. The marathon mode is also addictive, with me racking up over 500 lines in one match. The fact that the game is still sporting a good deal of players online is also fantastic because whenever I want to jump online and play it, there’s always players there to fill 99 slots.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Tetris 99.

4. Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves is still my all-time pirate game, even in 2019. I still get a lot of satisfaction from it, especially when it comes to just hanging out and having fun with friends or family. There’s always something to find, quests to do, and enemy ships to battle, but not only that, the game is continually being supported with more and more updates. These updates bring small changes and some big changes, such as the addition of fire which I find devastatingly good fun. I can’t get enough of the game, and while sailing alone can be boring, it’s still somewhat relaxing and a lovely escape from life.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Sea of Thieves.

3. Rocket League

Okay, the new Blueprints update has kind of angered the community, and I myself am annoyed that all the items I was planning to trade are now suddenly not tradable. But it goes without saying, Rocket League is still one of my favourite titles, specifically on the Switch. I used to play it on PC, then I switched to Xbox, but I’ve found myself more comfortable with it on the Switch due to the portability and being able to lounge around while knocking my balls around (you know what I mean).

What I most enjoy about the game though is the full cross-platform play that allows me to enjoy it with friends and family on different platforms. It’s an absolute godsend and keeps the game thriving with players.

2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I just can’t not have a year where I don’t pick this game up. Now it’s getting even harder to ignore despite being several years old because it’s being re-released on everything. It landed on the Nintendo Switch and sparked up the whole hype surrounding it again, then just as the chatter dies down, it heads over to Xbox Game Pass too. In addition to that, the Netflix series went live this month, making 2019 a pretty big year for The Witcher fans.

I still love jumping into the game, whether it’s to carry on with my quests I still haven’t completed, or to wander the expansive world for no reason but exploration, or to just take photos with Nividia Ansel. I’ve also found myself starting the game from scratch earlier this year because I forgot where I was, but this meant I got to experience the brilliant missions towards the start of the game, especially those with the Bloody Baron. It’s a game I don’t think I’ll ever tire of.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

1. Apex Legends

A surprise favorite of mine. I tried getting into other Battle Royale games such as PUBG, Fortnite, Battlefield V‘s Firestorm mode, etc, but none have stuck with me. It wasn’t until Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends hooked me. I love nearly everything about it; the art is lovely, the way it feels to play is fluid, and the Ping system is revolutionary with me not even needing to use a headset to communicate.

The game has done well for itself since launch. While lately it has been slow on updating the game with new content, eventually the developers caught up and started introducing quality content over quantity. It’s a game I keep wanting to play, a game I continually enjoy despite dying so many times I fear my team despises me, and a game that I hope continues to be supported and inspires more multiplayer games to incorporate a Ping system.

Check out the rest of the DualShockers staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 23: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2019 December 25: Lou Contaldi, Editor-in-Chief // Logan Moore, Managing Editor December 26: Tomas Franzese, News Editor // Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor December 27: Mike Long, Community Manager // Scott White, Staff Writer December 28: Chris Compendio, Contributor // Mario Rivera, Video Manager // Kris Cornelisse, Staff Writer December 29: Scott Meaney, Community Director // Allisa James, Senior Staff Writer // Ben Bayliss, Senior Staff Writer December 30: Cameron Hawkins, Staff Writer // David Gill, Senior Staff Writer // Portia Lightfoot, Contributor December 31: Iyane Agossah, Senior Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Senior Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Contributor January 1: Ricky Frech, Senior Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer

December 29, 2019 4:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-bens-top-10/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-bens-top-10

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longwalk-blog1 · 7 years

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Week 6, Days 36-39

The wind woke us up the next morning just in time to see the sun rise. I didn't take a picture for some reason and I regret that decision. We packed up and then made our way uphill. It was 10 miles to the roadway to get to Roan Mountain, TN (the town) and I wanted to get there fast because the wind was picking up and the rain looked like it would come at any moment. As we were packing up Pig Pen called one of the hostels and booked room for the four of us without really asking anyone. Anything that happens quickly to early in the morning just goes right over my head. I immediately left the crew in the dust and made my way upLittle Hump Mountain, the first of the two mountains in the way. When I neared the top the tree line disappeared and I found myself starring across a a grassy meadow covered in fog with winds blowing at least 40mph. This was bad and I did not have the gear to properly handle this situation if it started raining to I chose to fully engage beast mode and hustle. I tightened my pack to my back as hard as I could, put both my poles in my right hand, held my Snowbird hat in my left hand, and began to jog/run across the bald. I made it across Little Hump Mountain and back into the tree line in no time and it hadn't started raining yet. Now I just had to make it up and across Big Hump Mountain and I would be in the clear. As I approached Big Hump Mountain and came back out of the tree line I began jogging again. The wind on Big Hump Mountain was insane. As I made my way up and reached the top the wind was now blowing from 50 to 60 mph and the fog was so thick I couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of me. I was basically praying that it wouldn't start raining because if it did it would be instant hypothermia. The wind was blowing straight into me and even running full speed I was barely making any distance. Every couple of seconds the wind would shift what direction it was blowing and I would be knocked over because I wasn't able to hold my ground and brace myself quick enough. It was so cold my face and hands were totally numb. Eventually I could make out some trees in front of me and I scampered back under tree line. I was very thankful that it hadn't rained yet and I hustled my way downhill to get to a lower elevation. That entire situation had been downright dangerous. Once down at the road I waited for the crew to catch up. A pickup pulls of and it's the owner of one of the hostels. He tries selling me a room and I tell him I think I already have one at a different hostel. He asks me what my name is and then informs me that It was his hostel that Pig Pen had called. He drives me into town and drops me off at a burger joint to get food, taking my bag back to the hostel with him so I don't have to carry it around town. I grab a burger and then find out a little while later that the others are at a pizza place and I get a ride there. I decide I want a pizza too and end up eating the whole thing. At the pizza place I can tell that Turbo does not really want to be in town and he convinces me to bail out of the hostel situation and just camp back at the trail instead. When our hostel guy pulls back up we tell him our plan and hes immediately disappointed as we've just backed out of giving him business. We feel bad but it's $60 bucks for the two of us to split a room and we need to save the money. I can't afford to stay in every town along the way. He gives us a ride to the hostel so I can grab my bag and then the two of us start walking back to the road to hitch hike to the trail. As we are walking down the dirt road a different pickup pulls up and the kid inside tells us to hop in. This kid is doing work for stay for the hostel owner as a shuttle driver while an ankle injury heals. I guess he's seen us walking down the driveway and didn't want us to have to walk all the way back to the trail. This only makes us feel even more bad about bailing out on the hostel. Back at the trailhead we decide we want to look for crayfish in the broom and we end up catching ten of them and also a green frog. We set up camp a half mile up trail and make ourselves a lovely dinner. Even though it rained for most of the eve being we still had a good time by the fire listening to music and talking about all sorts of nonsense. We fell asleep to the sound of the rain. The next morning I packed up and went back into town to go to the post office to pick up Maddies package and to get some more food. Turbo decides he's going to push onward and I say goodbye. At the roadway I start walking towards town with my thumb out and a guy in a shiny Mustang picks me up and drops me off at the post office. I go inside and find out that the package hasn't arrived yet. They guy behind the counter informs me that the mail can be quite slow in the mountains and that it may not even arrive until Monday... today's Friday. I decide it would be best not to wait around for another day and ask them to bump it to Damascus so I can get it there. I head out of the post office and down the road less than a quarter mile to the burger place I'd eaten at the day before. I grab another burger, a chili dog, a large tot, and coffee and I relax there for an hour or two charging all my devices and talking to some of the other customers inside. Before I leave I decide I want a vanilla soft serve ice cream and the guy behind the counter hands me the literal biggest ice cream I've ever had in my entire life. I couldn't even finish the whole thing and I tried as hard as I could. I left the burger place and crossed the street to grab a few resupply items at the mini mart. An older couple gave me a ride back to the trailhead and I begin the 9 miles to the next shelter. I didn't see a single person the entire way to the next shelter, which was honestly a little creepy, but I did find 3 Miller High Life's sitting in a cold stream which was gold mine of a find. At the shelter I decided to push on another mile and a half to a campsite. At the campsite I was all alone and I set up my tent and got inside, stripping all my wet clothes off and climbing into my dry sleeping bag. Dinner was cooked out of the tents vestibule and I went to bed early. I spent the entire next morning in my tent thinning out my photo collection and writing out the past few days blog posts. It was cold and wet and I finally started hiking at noon. Even though I got on the trail late, once I got moving I decided I wanted to do a high mile day. I hiked fast, crossing lots of streams and passing many waterfalls/cascades throughout this section of trail and accomplishing 7.5 miles in 2 hours. I came upon a Big Agnes single tent and there was Turbo popping his head out. He said he could here me humming and singing to myself from a bit away. Dynamo, one of my favorite groups, just released their 3rd album, "Celina," the day before so I was listening to it on infinite repeat. I plopped down on the ground next to Turbo's tent to chill for about 25 minutes have lunch. Lunch was a Spam and mustard roll up. I guess he was taking a zero day in his tent, doing riddles, listening to podcasts and eating lots of snacks. Apparently there was a road, Dennis Cove Road, 8 miles ahead and I decided I wanted to try to get there by 4:30. I said bye to Turbo and pushed on at 2:30 going the same as before lunch. It turned into quite the foggy day 4 miles in. I managed to make it to the roadway at 4:50. Little slower than I wanted but everything happens for a reason. I didn't even know what I wanted to do when I got to the roadway but I took maybe 5 steps and a big Suburban pulls up next to me and the guy asks me if I want a ride, no hitch hiking needed. I hop in and he asks me where I'm going. I tell him I don't really know, all I really wanted to do was charge my electronics and get treats. Onion and I have started using treats as a generic word for anything. Treats could be a cold soda, candy, coffee, a cheeseburger, pizza, beer, fruit, iced tea, whatever. When I get to a roadway I want to get a treat. He tells me he'll take me a gas station at the bottom of the road and that he'll drive me back after too. Awesome. We chat it up the whole way there and after I come out of the gas station he tells me he was going to duck hunt the next morning on that same road and if I'd like I could just stay at his place and he'll bring me back in the morning. Even more awesome. We drive to Bryson City and finally exchange names on the way, something that hadn't come up yet, his was Tommy. Tommy's roommates are out of town so there's a spare bed for me to stay in. I get a chance to shower with real soaps/shampoo, do all my laundry, hang up my tent to dry in the garage, dry out my shoes, and reorganize my pack. He gave me Cotten clothes to wear, something I didn't realize I kind of missed, and took me out for a BBQ dinner. Some people in this world are just too nice. That evening we watched some hockey and hung out, heading to bed around 10:30. I stayed up till midnight utilizing the lightning fast service in Bryson City. Such a good day. I woke up at 6:50 the next morning and went downstairs. Tommy had decided he was going to fly fish instead of duck hunting and was doing a few things to prepare. I had a bowl of Cocoa Rice Krispies and a cup of coffee. Tommy ends up gathering a few things for me to take like a good luck buckeye seed pod, a few safety pins, rubber bands, twist ties, a keychain ring to better secure my thru-hiker tag, some paracord, and a banana and apple to pack out. On the way back to the trailhead he stops at a supermarket so I can resupply what I need. I grabbed a few things I didn't need too. Treats. Once at the trail head Tommy drops me off, I give him my contact info, and we hug it out. Some people are just too nice. Thanks again Tommy if you are reading this, you're the man! He pulls away and maybe 30 seconds later a different car pulls up and out hops RedEye being shuttled back from a hostel. Everything happens for a reason on the AT. If I hadn't hustled the day before I wouldn't have met Tommy and if he hadn't dropped me off exactly then I wouldn't have run into RedEye. We head off down the trail and my pack is a bazillion pounds but it's okay because treats. It's also a beautiful day out and Laurel Falls is up ahead. Laurel Falls is the largest waterfall in Tennessee and it's pretty intense. We stopped there for a bit to appreciate it. The trail then winds down along the river before heading up 2,000 feet over 2.5 miles and then back down 2,000 feet over 2.5 miles. A PUD, a pointless up and down. Me and RedEye trekked over the viewless PUD and then had lunch with this kid (who's Trail name I can't remember) at a picnic table alongside Watauga Lake. It is an earth dammed lake and the blast marks in the sides of the mountains are insane. I could only imagine what it would have been like to have witnessed the blasting. After lunch we hiked around the lake, over the dam, and then up onto the mountain ridge line, listening to "Celina" on the Bluetooth speaker to power us uphill. We reached Vandeventer shelter around 6:30 making it a 17.6 mile day. Made dinner, which was oriental ramen noodles, coleslaw mix (red/green cabbage and carrots), and bagged chicken, and ate while enjoying the amazing views of the sun setting over the lake. Onion showed up late after doing a 24 mile day and somehow squeezed his tent in next to me and RedEye and the shelter. It was quite comical. Slept well despite the wind.

#appalachiantrail #appalachiantrail2017

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