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?