Notes From The Road

On Cheating

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:44:40 -0400

We got it: Hinton James was an ironman who walked 54 miles a day in bare feet and we’re a bunch of sissies who couldn’t go 10 minutes without a shower and air conditioning. Here’s what happened:

Rides
We did take a couple rides. We had a simple rule: no asking for charity, but no refusing it either. That is, we never asked for a ride or flagged down a truck, but when someone pulled over and offered to take us to the next town, we didn’t turn them down. This happened exactly three times on the trip, and all in the first three days. The total distance for our trip was 167 miles. Of that, we walked roughly 145.

We highly doubt that Hinton James would have passed up the opportunity to hop on a passing buggy. And if he were alive today and you told him that it was possible to get from Wilmington to Chapel Hill in two hours and that four guys were walking in spite of that, he’d call us morons. And finally, as it turns out, HJ most likely left from his homestead in Burgaw, North Carolina -- 40 miles north of Wilmington. We probably walked farther than he did, rides and all.

Motels
Bottom line: sleeping in a tent in 95 degree weather is miserable. You don’t get much rest, you drag your feet the next day, and it’s rough. That’s not the main reason we opted for motels, however. In truth, we stayed in the first one in Clinton to recover from exposure and heat-related issues. After that, we wanted to catch the Olympics (like everyone else) and we started hitting areas where it was just not a good idea to camp outside in the dead of night without a gun. That’s an issue we didn’t anticipate, so we’ll make changes for next year.

The Bottom Line
No, Hinton James didn’t have motels or cars. But he didn’t face 99 degree heat either (that’s the hottest it got while we were walking). He also had easier access to water since he crossed plenty of streams that, today, are inaccessible or polluted. And no, he didn’t have modern camping gear, but he also probably carried far less weight. He also most likely walked along trails instead of long, six-mile straightaways on top of black pavement that radiates heat like an oven -- in short, he had shade.

In the end, HJ faced one set of challenges and we faced another. He undoubtedly took every advantage he could in 1795 and we took a few that 2008 offered. It would be impossible to duplicate the exact conditions that HJ faced. But that’s not important. What matters is that all of us got from Wilmington to UNC and we did it with the same spirit of adventure.

And, as someone told us at the end, it’s not the walk that really matters. It’s that we all ended up at exactly the right place: Carolina.

Lessons Learned

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:28:46 -0400

Hiking Shoes = Bad
We wouldn’t wear them. Originally we planned to walk on the grass beside the road. We thought it would save our feet from pounding on the pavement. Wrong. The grass beside the road sloped slightly, which made walking on it for hours at a time really difficult. (Imagine walking sideways across a hill all day. It just hurts after a while.) Also, the grass was often three feet high and it would slap at your legs. Not good. After day three we switched to tennis shoes and walked on the pavement. Much faster pace, much easier on the feet. Good deal.

Leave Early
Breaking camp at dawn just isn’t good enough. You get caught in the mid-afternoon heat. We learned the hard way that rolling out at 3:30 am is a must!

Long Straightaways
On 421 North right outside Wilmington, we’d arrange to have someone drive out and meet us with water and gatorade. There’s just nowhere to refill. All the creeks have a oily sheen on top of them and there are no stores or restaurants along the way. It’s virtually a desert!

Not a Backpacking Trip
We’ve all done long hikes in the mountains. We based our preparations for this trip on those experiences. Wrong. This is an entirely different beast. We would make some changes. For one, carry the stove and cooking gear just until Clinton, North Carolina. After that, ditch it to save weight and eat at restaurants from then on. (South of Clinton that’s not an option because there are none.) We’d also leave out the rain gear. It’s too hot to wear it even when it does rain! Instead of carrying food for multiple days, we’d have a support team resupply us every other day.

Sock Liners
We’ve always used hiking socks with liners in them. When you’re wearing boots and hiking in the mountains, this system works great. Never a blister to be seen. In tennis shoes on pavement, however, it’s horrible. You’re better off wearing just a regular pair of running socks and leaving plenty of room in your shoes for your feet to breathe. Much better approach.

Big Group Issues
If this tradition takes off and we have a sizable group next year, we’ll need to make some changes. For example, we couldn’t camp with 20 people in most of the spots where we set up shop this time. We’d need reflective gear for hiking in the early morning. We’d also need to work out how to stay in towns like Dunn, where it’s not safe to camp. (Perhaps reserve motel rooms in advance.)

Scheduling
We’ve got a much better idea of exactly how long the trip takes. We could do it in less than 14 days. In fact, we could probably get it down to 10. However, the layover days really, really help. They bring up morale, let your body recover and generally make the trip easier. We’d definitely leave them in for next year. (Though it would be nice to spend three days somewhere other than Dunn!)

I’m sure we’ve left some things off this list, so we’ll update it when we think of them.

The Trip — In Detail

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:13:52 -0400

Day 1
Nick and Bryan started the trip together. (Whitney and Eric would join later.) We got up around 8 am, met two news crews and spent 45 minutes doing interviews. After that, we started walking... fast. It was really more of a slow jog than a walk and we’d pay for it. On the way out of town, we did a couple more interviews and grabbed a water purifier that we would use exactly zero times. Our goal was to get out of Wilmington and put some miles behind us on US 421 North. By 3pm we reached a Burger King on the outskirts of town, took a break to wait out the sun, and made a couple mistakes:

Never put Benadryl on chafing. Never mind that it says, “For minor skin irritations.” You’ll spend exactly 2 seconds putting it on and 20 minutes trying to get it back off.

When your feet hurt and Joney says, “Stop and fix it.” you should do it. Otherwise you end up with blisters.

So we made it out of town across the Cape Fear bridge and started on 421 North. We found a nice shady tree, set up camp, cooked a couple meals and slept for a good, solid 30 minutes. The remaining 10 hours of the night we listened to 18-wheelers zooming by. Horrible campsite selection.

Day 2
Rolled out of bed around dawn. Powerbars for breakfast. Broke camp and filled up with water at a fruit stand. Started down the road very, very awkwardly due to blisters, lack of sleep and general soreness. This day sucked; there is no other way to put it. 421 North right outside Wilmington has long, 10-mile straightaways that make you feel like you’re going nowhere. It’s very demoralizing to walk for an hour, look back, and see a point you remember passing. It’s even worse to see something six miles ahead and feel like it’s never getting any closer.

The only good part about day two was Wayne. Wayne is a guy from Wilmington who saw us on the news and dropped by with some gatorade and water. He also let us sit in his air conditioned truck for ten minutes to cool off. Hours later, around 4pm, he came back and gave us a ride to Malpass Corner, about four miles up the road. There were exactly three things at Malpass Corner: a stop sign, a small convenience store sans gas pump, and a raccoon. The owner of the store wouldn’t let us camp there, so one of his employees ran us 3 miles up the road to Ward’s Corner, where we set up the tent.

Day 3
Nick left at this point to get his feet looked at (he’d later learn they were slightly infected). Bryan continued on. Left Ward’s Corner at dawn and hiked for hours in fog and mist. It was very refreshing compared to the 98 degree heat the previous afternoon. The goal was to make it to Harrels, 16 miles up the road. Unfortunately the mist didn’t last past ten, so it got hot fast. Fortunately there are 8,932 things between Ward’s Corner and Harrels. Unfortunately, 8,930 of them are trees. I ran out of water twice (while carrying 3.5 Liters). Fortunately, I came across some spigots at local houses.

By 3 pm, I was trapped out in 99 degree weather with the sun blazing down. Even in the shade, I couldn’t get cool and I was facing the beginning symptoms of heatstroke. I had heat rash around my ankles, where my socks rubbed against the skin. I stopped in the awning of a church and laid down for half an hour. My pace had fallen dramatically after noon, so Harrels was still 3.5 miles away.

I got up and kept walking. And about ten minutes later, a farmer pulled over and asked me what the hell I was doing in this heat. I told him and he drove me a few miles up the road to Delway (a small corner past Harrels). Here I crashed in the back corner of a convenience store for hours, chugging gatorade.

Turns out, Delway isn’t the safest place in the world. Said one local, “I don’t know if you know this kind of life, but folks around here will kill you and leave your body up in the woods. Be careful.” I called my family to let them know where I was and made the mistake of telling my mother that I was hiking alone. Bad move. She immediately got in the car and drove out to see me.

After some discussion, I decided to hitch a ride into Clinton, the next proper town up the road. There were a couple reasons:

I needed to replace my hiking shoes with regular tennis shoes. Doing this GREATLY improved my speed on pavement and GREATLY decreased the soreness in my feet. (Hiking shoes have harder soles that aren’t designed for walking on pavement all day.)

I needed to get my feet out of the heat for a while because the heat rash was getting worse.

I needed to unload some gear that I didn’t want to carry, now that I was hiking solo for a few days.

So, around 6 pm on day three, I found a Comfort Inn in Clinton and crashed.

Day 4
Since I was ahead of schedule, I simply spent the day resting in Clinton. Also bought a pair of regular shoes. Slept for a good 14 hours.

Day 5
Having learned the hard way that leaving at dawn just wasn’t good enough, I rolled out of bed at the unholy hour of 3:20 am. Started walking by 3:40. I had a small flashlight to warn oncoming traffic, but I made it a point to get out of their way rather than ask them to get out of mine.

Later in the trip the guys asked me how I didn’t get freaked out walking through the boondocks of North Carolina by myself in the dead of the night. In truth, I don’t know. It wasn’t an issue. I did carry my knife in my hand, but that was mainly in case a dog attacked me (I’ve had that happen before). The only time I got a little weirded-out was when I thought of the tune “Jeepers Creepers” from the horror movie of the same name. Couldn’t get that song out of my head for a while.

Anyway, with the tennis shoes on my feet I made spectacular time. I hiked 18.5 miles to Spivey’s Corner and I was there by 11 am -- just as it started to get hot! It was perfect. Leaving early in the morning was DEFINITELY the way to go.

Spent all day sitting around an Exxon station. I met an EMS technician that offered to let me camp behind a volunteer fire station. Took him up on it and managed to get about 4 or 5 hours of sleep in the heat.

Day 6
Left at 3:45am. Frustrating day. My goal was to reach Dunn, which was only 10.5 miles up the road. I made it there by 9:30 am, but it felt like the road would never end -- especially in the last 2 miles. By the time I got to Dunn, I was frustrated and exhausted.

Looking around, it was quite clear that camping here would not be an option. (Let’s just say that where 421 and interstate 95 cross is not the best area of North Carolina.) So I found a Motel 8, convinced the innkeeper to let me check in early, and slept most of the day.

My mother (whose job takes her all over North and South Carolina, was in Fayetteville that night, so she drove 20 minutes to have dinner with me. I hung out with her and one of her co-workers and ate dinner at Sagebrush.

Day 7
Nick and Whitney joined up. Originally, I was going to continue down the road to Lillington, but after seeing how far ahead of schedule we were, I decided to simply lay over in Dunn. (We had set a firm arrival date with UNC’s staff, so we had to get to Chapel Hill on 15 August -- not before.) Nick and Whit arrived late in the afternoon and we ate at Taco Bell and had some laughs. Good times.

Day 8
Again, we were supposed to hike to Lillington today, but we decided to eliminate a layover later in the trip and instead stay in Dunn one more night. It was cheaper to do it this way. The tradeoff was that we’d have to cover more miles per day from here on out.

Day 9
Finally left Dunn at 3:30 am. Interesting walk through town in the early hours. Best to keep your head on a swivel. We arrived in Lillington about seven hours later (it was a 16 mile hike). While looking for a good spot to set up the tents, we happened across a Microtel Inn. They had a room and we took them up on it. Spent most of the day watching Phelps decimate people. Good times.

Day 10
Rolled out of Lillington at 4:07 am. The goal was Fuquay-Varina, 13.5 miles up the road. We got there around 11:30 and it turned out to be a pretty nice little town. Right as we reached the city limits, a woman pulled over and gave us a bag of home-baked oatmeal raisin cookies! Definite highlight.

Day 11
From Fuquay-Varina to Apex. Just 11 miles or so, and it was really a pretty pleasant walk. Not much to report here. When we got to Apex, a friend of ours from Carolina (Carolyn Hack) brought us some Armadillo Grill and hung out for a while. Watched more Olympics. Around 8 pm Eric joined us. He had finished his final exam earlier that day and got a ride out to Apex to meet us.

Day 12
Walked from Apex through Cary. Very nice. Had some Chick-fil-A for lunch. It rained softly all day and we walked through it sans rain gear. Originally we were going to camp at a Texaco station, but decided to continue on about 3 miles to get off of highway 55. Our reasoning was that there would be far less noise if we got onto a side road. Good call.

We hiked about 14 miles total and came across an apartment complex on OKelly Chapel Road that was still under construction. It was REALLY muddy, but we found an empty garage that was still being finished and crashed. No tents, just sleeping pads on a concrete floor.

Played cards for a while and hid from the workers who were still building at 10 pm. Went to bed around 11 pm. It got really, really cold. No one slept for more than 20 or 30 minutes. It was also really noisy anytime anyone shifted slightly. Not a good night.

Day 13
To avoid being yelled at by the morning shift, we made sure to leave before they arrived. That put us out at 4:30 am. It was 11 miles to the Friday Center on the outskirts of UNC’s campus and we arrived there by 11 am. Walked into the Courtyard Marriott looking and smelling horrible. Got a room to clean up for the media and spent the day resting, watching the Olympics and so on. Met up with a few friends for lunch and planned out the last day.

Day 14
We were due at the Old Well at noon. We showered, put on some fresh clothes, had a good breakfast and rolled out of the hotel at 10:30. Strolled up to the Old Well at 12:06 and spent the next 45 minutes doing interviews and taking photos. The President of the General Alumni Association (Doug Dibbert) met us there and had a very nice welcome planned out. We all got care packages (with blister cream, bandaides, lotion, and such), “We Got Here First” T-shirts, and free GAA memberships! They also had water and sandwiches waiting, which were much appreciated.

There were a lot more media there than we expected. I didn’t get an exact count but I’d guess probably 4 TV news crews, a slew of photographers and reporters, our friends and families, plus a few other folks. It was a great turnout and we appreciate everyone’s support!

The End
Later that day we had lunch with family and friends, stopped by the training center to see Steve Gisselman and then went our separate ways. No tear-filled goodbyes. (Kind of anti-climactic, huh?)

Relaxing after 170 miles

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:11:56 -0400

First, sorry we didn’t get any posts up here during the walk. Turns out, we were tired at the end of the day and didn’t much feel like writing.

Anyway, the four of us strolled up to the Old Well on August 15th. There were lots of media and we’d like to thank all of them as well as Doug Dibbert of the GAA and LJ Toler of UNC News Services. They arranged a very nice welcome with shirts, care packages, food and water. It was really, really cool.

We’re working to get photos from the trip on the site. We’re also writing about the adventure and we’ll have all sorts of stories on the blog in the next few days. Thanks for your patience and we hope you’ll come back to read about the trip!

It’s Hot!

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 11:09:24 -0400

Five days into our hike we are alive and….well, we are alive. Actually we are both alive and well. Nick had to leave for a few days to tend to a blister that may be infected, but Joney (Bryan) has plowed on making great time. Nick will rejoin the hike with Whitney in two days, hopefully with fresh feet and a bounce in his step. The trip has presented challenges, but overcoming the daily challenges keeps us moving closer to the Old Well.

Thank You

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 12:32:24 -0400

To find more Tar Heels to go with us on future hikes, we needed to spread the word about this event as far as we could. The people below (in no particular order) helped us do that and we’d like to give them a shout out. If you’re the boss of one of these folks, please give them a raise:

Leigh Adam
Kenan-Flagler Business School

Doug Dibbert (’70)
President, UNC General Alumni Association

Robin Hilmantel
Blue & White Magazine

Kat Butler (’07)
UNC General Alumni Association

Keith King
Carolina Alumni Review

Laura Toler
UNC News Services

Ben Steelman (’76)
Star-News

JJ Raynor
UNC Student Body President

Lynn Setzer
Kenan-Flagler Business School

Ashley Talley
WWAY Channel 3

Elizabeth Templin
Carolina Alumni Review

Natasha Robinson
The Associated Press

Holden Thorp
UNC Chancellor

Sarah Frier
The Daily Tar Heel

Sam Walker
East Carolina Radio Group

Gervais Hagerty
WCHL 1360 AM

Breanna Walden
News 14 Carolina

Rough News

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:08:20 -0400

We did our best to schedule this event at a time that was convenient for the four of us going this year as well as students that participate in future years.

Unfortunately, for two of our guys, things have changed slightly. We all have jobs, naturally, and Whitney’s boss has decided he can’t give him as much time off as he said he could. As a result, Whitney will be joining us a few days into the walk. (Keep in mind, he’s driving down from New Jersey to do this with us, so that’s two days spent right there -- one driving down, and one driving up.)

That leaves Eric. He’s taking a summer class at UNCC and the professor moved the date of his final exam to August 9th. Then there’s a state exam a week later. In organic chemistry. Eric’s going to try to join us for the first four or five days of the hike, but he’ll have to head back to Charlotte after that.

It’s not the situation we hoped for, but unfortunately that’s life. We’re doing our best to work around commitments to the modern world. We wanted to be upfront with everyone and explain the problems.

So: Nick, Bryan and possibly Eric will leave Wrightsville Beach on August 2nd. Whitney will join a few days later and Eric will head home to take two organic chemistry exams.

Gearing Up

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:25:27 -0400

Each of us going on this first hike (or second, depending on how you look at it) has a niche. Bryan’s is gear.

He grew up camping, hiking and spending time in the outdoors. And, since we’ve invited all of Carolina’s major outdoor-oriented clubs to view this site, we thought they (and you) might be interested in the gear we’re taking with us. (We also wanted to give a spot of free publicity to some of the brands we like because they really deserve it — they make great stuff.)

The key to enjoying a really long trek is keeping your pack as light as possible. With that in mind, here’s Bryan’s complete gear list. It’s everything he’s carrying, along with how much it weighs. (You can even click on some gear to get the manufacturer’s website):

Basic Camping Gear
Lowe Alpine Airzone Centro 45+10 Pack 62 oz.
SOG Seal Pup Elite Knife 10.5
First Aid Kit 13
Big Agnes Aircore Mummy Sleeping Pad 21
Tiny Maglite flashlight + spare AAA battery 1.25
50ft. nylon cord 3
1 box strike-anywhere matches .5
Pack hydration system drinking tube 2.5

Clothing
2 pair SmartWool hiking socks 4
1 pair shorts 10
1 pair Underarmor boxers 7.5
1 shirt 3.5
1 Sea-to-Summit 8 Liter dry-sack 1
*Only clothing in pack listed; not clothes I’m actually wearing
*All clothing is moisture-wicking fabric. No cotton; no jeans.

Gadgets
iPhone + charging cord 6.5
Digital Camera + charger 7.5
iPod nano + earbuds 3
Dry-sack for gadgets .5

Raingear
Marmot Precip Jacket (Large) 13
Marmot Precip Pants (Large) 9
Sea-to-Summit 2 liter dry-sack .3

Cooking Gear
MSR SimmerLite Stove 11.25
MSR 1.5 Liter Pot + fork/spoon 15.25
White gas + fuel bottle 20.5

Toiletries
Small Dawn dish soap + 1/2 sponge 3
Mini sunscreen 1
Mini shampoo 1
Mini toothpaste 1
Mini deodorant 2
Toothbrush + case 1
Disposable razor 1
Large Ziploc bag .25

Tent
The four of us will split a Eureka Backcountry 4 tent. All together it weighs about seven pounds, so each of us will end up carrying about 2 or 2.5.

Water
My pack has a 2.5L hydration system built in. I’ll carry one more Liter just in case. That’s a total of 3.5L and since water weighs about 2.2 pounds per liter, that’s 123.2 ounces of H2O.

Food
We’re taking Mountain House freeze-dried meals along with various snacks, protein bars, and so on. We’re packing for 12 days, so it’s a lot of food. It’s around 5-7 pounds per person. It would be a lot more, but we plan to eat some lunches and a dinner or two at restaurants. (To update the site and charge our gadgets.)

Total Pack Weight: 29.5 - 32 lbs.

A Few Thoughts
First, you’ll notice there’s no sleeping bag on the list. It’s August in North Carolina. Secondly, even though we’re walking along a road, we’re still packing like it’s a wilderness hike. Be prepared. And lastly, for those of you that spend time in the outdoors and are looking to buy or replace gear, you should really check out Lowe Alpine packs and Big Agnes Aircore pads. Lowe Alpine makes the best packs around (yes, better than Gregory) and they take a beating. And that pad by Big Agnes is almost more comfortable than my bed back home. It’s 2.5 inches thick!

And just for the really hardcore backpackers: Yes, we have to take phones and electronics. We’re using them to update the website as we go. If you’ve got any questions or advice on gear, please send us an email with “Gear” in the subject: hjwalk@me.com

HJWALK.COM is Live

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:52:00 -0400

Our website’s finally up and running (and not a moment too soon, since we leave for Wilmington in just two weeks.) We hope you like it. We also hope that it doesn’t crash under a ton of traffic. If it does: sorry, we suck. Finally, the site looks best when viewed on a Mac, so if you don’t have one of those you should get one.

And please don’t think we’re trying to get famous. The only reason we made a site at all is to get more people to go with us next year. We really, really want to make this an annual tradition at Carolina. We know there’s lots of Tar Heels that love UNC enough to walk 170 miles.

If you’re one of them, please sign up for the 2009 HJ Walk!