Miles 10
I knew exactly what the sound was when I heard it but I was holding out hope. I nudged jamie and asked him if it was him. Praying that he had moved and hit the tent. When he mumbled 'No' I took a deep breath, reached my hand up and poked the roof of the tent. 2 inches of snow came tumbling down. Last night we went to be with clear skies and this morning-snow. I'll re-post the picture of the tent last night so you can fully understand how shocked we were. Anyway, we instantly changed our plans. Instead of the intended 20, we cut it down and 10 and made a plan with Starfish and Sherpa to split a hotel room in Franklin.
That decided we, chatted about how the hunting dogs came into the shelter and woke everyone up at 4am. Infact, they were still wandering around when we left in the morning. The poor things were freezing and starving. One ate a bag of instant potatoes it dug up from somewhere. One followed us up to a fire tower and then sat down on the one snow free patch if could find and curled up shivering. Starfish was smarter than we were and she checked it's multiple collars (2 GPS and 1 normal) for a phone number. She called the owner and about 15 minutes later we saw a truck riding up the road.
A road that, let me tell you, followed the AT for about 3 miles. If we had known that we would have walked on it as it was snow free. Unlike that snow-laden trail we were walking on. Never have we regretted not having a map until today. We wanted to know the shortest route to town and a map would have helped us with that.
Alac and Alas, we made it to the road and after a half-hour of trying to get a ride a couple turned around and drove us into Franklin. They turned around! Turns out, they are 2002 thru-hikers. Homeless and Unemployed. That's their names-not adjectives describing them. Although in 2002, that's what they were. Intentionally. They sold their house and quit their jobs and hiked the trail. The intended to go back to work and buy a new house but it just never happened. When we met them, they were on their way to visit their daughter and grandchildren who live in the next town over. It was really sweet of them to backtrack 10 miles to get us to town.
And now, here we are. Warm and toasty. Full up with Mexican food, margaritas and beer and waiting to see who our president will be. We're hoping for Obama.
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| A Walker perhaps? |
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| Hitching into town |
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| Homeless and Unemployed |
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| Snowy walkway |
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| Early morning snow |
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| Clear and beautiful night |
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