110 miles down

It's been a while since the day 1 post, and a lot has happened in the last 14 days! I've made it through Georgia and into North Carolina, walked past the 100 mile mark, survived my first cold snowy trail night, rescued a stray dog, and all with the same awesome bunch of hiker friends. 

The guys hiking up ahead.

Our merry band of solo hikers. Doc, Me (Patches), Yosamitie, Stichez, and Scavenger. Doc is from MD and when he finishes the trail he's going to grad school to get a PhD in immunology. Yosamitie is from RI and does theater tech. Stichez is ex-military and now is behind us because of knee problems, but hopefully we'll see him soon. Scavenger is from KY, 19, and a free spirit. We're also hiking with The Count, a fellow Illinoisan.

Trail magic in Woody Gap, GA. This is Barb and Jim. They drove all the way up from Atlanta to feed us hungry hikers with homemade brownies, sodas, fruit, and donuts!

My home for the next 6 months. This Big Agnes Fly Creek Ultralight tent weighs only 2 pounds!!

We hiked up and over Blood Mountain, the tallest peak in Gerogia. Here's the Count, and the amazing view.

On our 4th day we made it to Neel Gap, the 31 mile mark and the first stop for resupplying and showering. We all crammed into this cabin for a good nights sleep in a real bed. The cabins were all named after woodland creatures, and we were in the Beaver cabin. Each cabin also comes with a horrifically bad taxidermied creature corresponding with the name. This is Beatrice, the 54 lb roadkill beaver from Iowa:

Week 2:

When we got to Unicoi Gap in GA, we were greeted with our second dose of trail magic. Hot dogs, burgers, pizza, salad, coffee, donuts, phone charging, and great company from past thruhikers who wanted to help out this year's class of hikers.

Climbing out of Unicoi Gap, the weather started to get progressively chillier. By the time we made it to camp, it was snowing and the temperature dropped down into the 10s. Needless to say, we had a rough night. 

After our cold cold night, we hiked 10 miles to get to Dicks Creek Gap, where we got a ride into Hiawassee, GA. We crammed the 5 of us (me, Yosamitie, Doc, Scavenger, and the Count) into a huge Holiday Inn Express hotel room. Laundry, showers, free breakfast! All for $24 per person. Once we were settled in we went over to Daniel's Diner. All you can eat souther cooking goodness.

After our rest in Hiawassee, we were feeling great. We got dropped off back at Dicks Creek Gap at 2:30, hiked 6 miles, stopped for rest and food, then hiked 4 more miles by moonlight over the GA/NC border. It was gorgeous. No headlamp necessary!

With one state down, 13 to go, we were in high spirits. We hiked to Standing Indian Shelter the next day, and got to sleep early because we had a great plan for the next day. We awoke at 5:30, and hiked up Standing Indian Mountain in the dark, reaching the summit just in time for the sunrise to the east and the moonset to the west.

It was a big day of hiking, our biggest yet. 16 miles! And on the way we met Katahdin (we named him), a stray dog who'd been abandoned by his owner. He was really skinny and really hungry. We fed him all our extra food, and we became his best friends! Katahdin followed us for 5 miles that day, stayed the night with us at Long Branch Shelter, then hiked 7.3 miles with us the next day. We wanted to help him out, so we made a makeshift leash for him and brought him into Franklin, NC, our next resupply spot. He's now in the care of the Macon County Humane Society. It sure was hard to say goodbye.

Yosamitie and Katahdin

On top of Albert Mountain fire tower, the 100 mile mark!

Franklin, NC:

 After we dropped Katahdin off, we stuffed ourselves at the Motor Co. Diner, then bummed around the town for the rest of the day. 

Yosamitie and Scavenger cuddling in our cozy motel room.

Franklin is a designated AT Community, which means the town is incredibly hiker friendly. We got discounts at most places, but the best treat was the free breakfast at the First Baptist Church. Every day for three weeks during peak hiker season, the amazing volunteers at the church cook pancakes and bacon for thruhikers. The kindness people show to the trail never ceases to amaze me!

We got into Franklin on Friday, and took the entire day off Saturday. Our first "zero day" to really rest the legs and get some fresh food in our stomachs. We saw the whole town, visited the coffee shop, the book store, the outfitter, and the Lazy Hiker brewery. It was a bunch of fun, and now we're ready to get going north!

Me and Katahdin :)