Meet thunder and lightning...

We stayed in our first AT shelter last night after braving a mighty storm that kept us up and uneasy the night before. (Some light teasing has followed because I made us sit in the lightning position off and on all night... A.k.a the kiss your ass goodbye position. But really it was that close!)  We tend to camp near but not in the shelters so we can enjoy the social benefit of them without dealing with the mice and with the snores of 10 other hikers. I'll try to remember to take a picture of one next time. As luck would have it the shelter we hiked to last night was 1) brand spankin' new, 2) next to a stellar water supply, and 3) only inhabited by some friends of ours that happen to love our dogs. It was nice to watch last night's storm with more than a thin sheet of nylon separating us from it. In other news, yesterday we hit 100 AT miles! Unfortunately the AT doesn't include the wicked 8.8 mile 'approach trail' to the trailhead on top of springer, but it still felt like a huge accomplishment to have hiked 100 official miles. Especially because the 100 mile marker was essentially on top of a 500 foot finger sticking out of the ground. Several parts of the trail were literal rock climbs straight up. Zooey attempted to sit on my head while I pushed her butt up several of the faces. Seamus was a mountain goat in a past life so he had no problem. Somewhere is a picture of me being terrified of heights on top of the lookout tower that was on top of the giant finger/mountain/100 mile marker. Unfortunately a lot of our pictures are on a camera that is holding them hostage to the Internet. Today we caught a shuttle to the town of Franklin on a whim because we were craving pizza and beer and decided that maybe we should finally shower. Cassidy mailed me some dog food via Amazon Prime (probably invented by Jesus. Free 2 day shipping!) So this morning I woke up at 6 and ran 6 miles with Seamus down a mountain and a forest road to a forest service campsite to pick up my parcel, and then back with 15lbs of kibbles in time to catch the shuttle to Franklin with Steph and some other hikers. My dog better love me. 

We will be in the Smoky Mountains in less than a week! 

At some point in recent history we also crossed the North Carolina/Georgia border! 

You can't spell crippled without ripped!

I think by the time we are through with hiking I will have an Oakland booty. If the view in front of us ever begs the question "which of the mountains in front of us are we about to go up?" The answer is just "yes." 

 

All of the views are beautiful, the hikes are incredibly tough and rewarding, and the people we've met have been interesting and helpful and nice. (Excluding exactly one individual, who everyone on the trail has been calling 'Bear Grylls' but not before they make a point to hike faster than him.) Last night we stopped at a hiker hostel to chat and resupply  a few things, with the intent of doing our business and hiking on. Before we could leave, we were urged to stay and hang out for a few beers from a previous thru-hiker and a delicious home cooked buffet free-for-all-hiking-dream dinner of Mac n cheez, green beans, salad, bread and tea from a local church. It was a good night. The experience of the kindness of absolute strangers is enough to make this trip fulfilling in and of itself. On the AT, hikers call it Trail Magic. We've already come across quite a bit of it. Add the physical challenge, the comraderie among the hikers, the beauty of the east coast, and free food and beer and I don't see what isn't to love. We've only been out for a week now, though. Maybe by next week the smell of my armpits will get the best of me. Or maybe we will make it all the way to Maine. We'll see what the dogs say. We will be in North Carolina in 4-ish days. I'm going to post an address on Facebook of a hostel we will be at about a week from now if anyone wants to mail us any goodies :) if I don't have your address already, send it to me and I will send post cards!

Does anyone know what kind of flower this is?