1 state down

Hey ya'll!  Well we've made it out of Georgia and into North Carolina!  There is a lot less poison ivy here, the rocks have changed a bit and it got cold.  Really, really cold!  We managed to dodge some rain this past week, spent a little time hanging out in shelters while some others trudged on in the rain.  It sorta makes you feel guilty when you wait for the sun to come out, hike on and catch up with those who are now trying to dry out their stuff and you have managed to stay dry. 
It is like a moving community out here on the trail.  There are probably 20 or more folks that we have been leap-frogging with.  It is nice to hike down the trail and run into people you know!  Everyone is out here to have a good time and though we come from different places, are different ages, and have different backgrounds, we all get along and have stories to tell.  

There have been a few casualties along the trail.  Many millipedes die in order for us humans to make this journey, and in the past two days we have seen 2 dead moles along the trail.  The moles were rather large with big front claws for digging through the underbrush.  It looked as though they may have made a desperate scramble and met their end underfoot. 


The trail has been a joy to hike!  Sometimes it meanders through open forest with little undergrowth, and other times it goes on and on through almost tunnels in the Rhododendrons.  There are shelters every 7 miles or so I would guess on average.  In between we pass nice spots to camp almost every mile.  When there is a nice view, overlook, quiet spring, or comfortable log, there is usually evidence that others have stopped to soak it up, and maybe soak up a granola bar or two.  The area we have been passing through has had a lot of elevation change.  As we get into Virginia it will flatten out a little and stay that way until we work our way back up into Vermont and New Hampshire.  That is a ways up the trail however.  In not too long we will be passing through the Smoky Mountain National park! 

So yesterday we woke up to some snow on the tent!  It was just getting colder and colder the day before.  We spent the evening sitting around a nice fire with some friends in a somewhat sheltered gap.  It didn't seem to warm up at all yesterday as we hiked, and found out that the forecast called for another night below freezing.  One kid that we have been seeing on the trail said his little thermometer registered 15 degrees the night before last.  Butch and I put on all our thin wool layers and wore our jackets inside our sleeping bags and managed to stay fairly comfortable.  Need some supplies, however, gave us a nice excuse to come into town and get a hotel for the night.  We managed to hop on a shuttle at Rock Gap yesterday at around 1:30, after hiking 9 miles or so.  The shuttle is driven by a local guy named Ron who owns a couple motels in Franklin, NC.  He has done some hiking and likes hikers, so he drives the shuttle, picks hikers up for free even if they don't stay at his place, offers discount rates for hikers and takes you back up to the trail in the morning.  He feels it really helps the local economy to bring people in, and I'll bet he is right.  He was a professional wrestler down in Mexico and traveled around for the better part of 30 years before coming back to where he was from and running hotels catering to hikers.

We have to get going, need a few more things from the store before we catch the shuttle back to the woods. See ya up the trail!