Franklin, North Carolina

Hey all, I am in Franklin, NC for the weekend and then off tomorrow to cross into GA to TN through the trail. Sorry to say that I don't have any pics to share this time around as I don't have my usb port. Will add pics when I can.

I am having the best time ever - have met the best people ever. On Springer Mt. I met K-Bar who believe it or not is from Holyoke as well. She is a wonderful young woman and we have decided to do the trail together to represent our hometown. We are hiking well together, she passes me uphill, I pass her on the downhill as my legs are a bit longer then hers. So we play leapfrog down the trail for miles, taking pictures, and her eating. Never been much of an eater during the day and that has not changed while on the trail. Oh guess what, I am also learning Hebrew, so cool. There is a great man that is hiking with us from Israel and I asked him to teach me Hebrew. What better way to learn, no need for a classroom.

So far we have covered a little more than a hundred miles. There is no doubt that I am going to make it to Maine despite the weather. It rained, no, make that poured, for the first four days and is supposed to rain tomorrow and snow on Tuesday. Gotta love it. I have decided that to make it easier for myself, I am going to strap bark to my boots and mudboard down hill rather than hike. It would be much faster than trying to not fall, slip and slide down. You can tell who is through hiking in town by the level of mud up their pants. If it is not up to your knees you are not a thru hiker.

I have found that shelter life is not all that bad, kind of like summer camp. We have been squeezing many more bodies in the shelters than I thought possible as everyone is trying to get out of the rain and setting up a tent and taking it back down in the rain is not fun. So we pack as many as we can, no one has the option of moving around at night. And all get up at the same time as one moves all move, kind of like a pack. We then filter out and onto the trail and our individual goals of the day likely the next shelter or two away depending on how much rain and mud there is on the trail. There was rime ice on Blood Mountain when I was there and 24 degrees. We were going to stay in the shelter at the top but it was a stone building with open windows, wet and cold - NOT. Went on for two more miles to Neels Gap.

One group of hikers has lost their food bag to a bear in the area! We do have to be careful out here as they are all around. And for my mom - MICE - running around all the shelters, have to leave our packs open so that they can get in and then back out without chewing the pack to heck. The other night someone trapped them in the ceiling and they diligently chewed all night trying to escape to find the errant ramen noodle that someone may have dropped. We always sleep with our heads toward the outside so that they do not run over our faces while we sleep. I do think of you Mom as I drop off to sleep knowing that you would likely be on the picnic table, praying for the bear rather than the mouse.

The other night was the first night I slept well, why you might ask? Well the shelter was full but the stream was running past the front of the shelter and the wind was blowing through, my kind of wild crazy weather. I was laying there listening to the sounds of nature, at peace, and fell sound asleep. First night that has happened. Most nights, I am up til midnight as everyone on the trail goes to sleep at sundown. I have never done that. The other night I was up til midnight and then woke up at 4 am. Sat around talking to the Mad Hatter til 7 am when everyone else woke up. That is right are you hearing this, I, the loner, was talking and do talk to all kinds of people everyday! Can you believe it?

Well everyone, I could go on for pages. I hope to reach Fontana Dam to meet my aunt and go to her house next weekend. If I make that goal (that means a lot of uphill climbing for sure including Standing Indian Mt (5000 ft. I think)) I will send another post hopefully more organized than this rambling and pictures to go along with it. And K Bar's website, I forgot my journal which has her web address and my Hebrew lessons in it as well as my thoughts of the day. Love the Journal Nikki - absolutely love it. I write every day. And by the end will have the snake count for each day so that I can average the number of serpents that I have seen per day. So far - zero - too raining too cold.

Mother Nature's Daughter is out of here. Or should I say Nature as someone wanted to shorten my name and asked if he could call me Mother - to which I said I am no one's mother out here, call me nature. I do hear a rumor that someone wants me to change my name to Hiking Gypsy! as they are worried that I am having too much of a good time and will not to return. Not to worry I will be back some day. I am out for now.