Miles ~ 20
Total 2063
Days left on the trail: 3
Miles to Springer: 50.5
So crazy that we are almost done. We walked 2000 miles already. Insane. Absolutely insane.
Today was one of our best weather days in a long time. A mere half-hour into walking we took off our rain gear and it stayed off for the rest of the day. Beautiful hiking with a few mountain views but lots of ups and downs.
As we got to the end of our day, we crossed a road and stopped to chat with these three people sitting at the back of a pick-up truck. (We've been talking to everyone out today-it's very fun. They all congratulate us.) These people at the truck are the support team for a group of people trying to do all of Georgia in three days. Crazy! We chatted with them for awhile and before we parted ways they gave us 7 hard-boiled eggs and some bread! Also, they might leave us some food at the road crossing tomorrow. They were all really friendly and we enjoyed our break to chat with them. It fired us up as we were walking the last 2.4 miles. We didn't get to see the group of runners but we think they'll pass us sometime tomorrow. Can't wait!
As for us, we are getting anxious about finishing-simultaneously wanting this to be over and not at all. Thankfully, we'll have to come back out to finish the Smokies but even though that allows us to prolong our Appalachian experience, our thru-hike is coming to end. We had our last prepared trail dinner. We crossed our last state line. We changed the batteries on our headlamps for the last time. However, a hiker we met on the trail cautioned me "you can't count your hike until it's done.". And I agree with that. We still have 50 miles to go. And what a wonderful 50 miles it will be.
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| Campfire |
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| Great Sign |
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| Walking |
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| The support team for the runners and our trail magic team! |
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| Tenting at Blue Mountain Shelter |
It was so great to meet y'all yesterday and see you again today. I hope the soup, chili and clementines were tasty! The crew at the store set it aside for y'all, but joked there may not be any left for when y'all arrived. I hope you have a safe trip back home to MA and your trip ends successfully on Monday (as planned).
ReplyDeleteI know it sounds silly, but I've always wanted to help thru-hikers in some form or fashion - after reading a few books written by AT thru hikers. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to fulfill a goal/dream of mine :) It inspired me to try to make it an annual event - even if I can't make it out there for the spring thru-hiker rush season!
Safe travels,
Desi
I am so glad we were able to afford you the opportunity to fulfill you dream! We were so thankful for it. The chili and soup were absolutely delicious and lasted us two days. The chili was our last dinner on the trail.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can get out there to help some hikers again in the future. I can guarantee the would love it.
Did the final three finish up at Springer? We only saw Andy's signature in the logbook.