Hot Springs, NC

Greetings from Hot Springs,
Wow it has been a while since we last wrote...and life is good as we just returned from soaking in the hot springs this town in named after. The wonderful warm weather returned after our previous cold nights, and we've had only 1 day of rain. We recently finished hiking through Great Smokey Mountain National Park which was nice particularly the last two days. There was a lot of walking on ridges with nice views and we've experienced several "balds" (mountains that are like a huge lawn on top). In the Smokey's, we slept in shelters instead of the tent because it is required. This provided a different experience with too much snoring and me wishing I had ear plugs ( I plan to pick them up in town today).
We are both feeling strong and good and I feel thankful to be making this walk. We had an interesting "hitch" back to the trail one day. Mom's and Dad's you may not want to read this. Ben, I and a friend Patrick rode in a open wood slat trailer laying down for ~25 min., it was cold and crazy, but fun none the less. It's difficult for me to sum up the past 10+ days so I'll try to post pictures.
We have now hiked ~270 miles since the day we began and have been hiking each day 14-17 miles. We're getting closer to Maine with each step. We've been enjoying the homemade goodies sent--thanks mom! We love the comments and it's great to know all of you are at home supporting us!
Love you guys!!

O.k. the computer is fighting with me and the pictures, maybe I'll try later.

From the Carribean to the North Pole

Hello All,

We are in Franklin, North Carolina and have now hiked ~106 miles of the trail. We crossed into North Carolina the day before yesterday!! We've had a tough past 2 days as temperatures dropped from the 70's into the low 20's and teens with high winds. We have had two really long mileage days as well, with yesterday being a 19 mile day and the day before 17 miles, both hiked on only 1-2 hours of sleep due to the cold. We are going to get a little r&r here in Franklin and then head back on the trail tomorrow. During our past two days we have had some great "Trail Magic" which really helped lift our spirits. Yesterday, after having already hiked 14 or so miles in the cold we came across a man "fishin' fred" who was at a road crossing cooking chili and hot dogs and had cold drinks and desserts, the whole bit. We got to share that with several other hikers including "iron chefs" 3 guys we've spent several nights with who are awesome! More "Trail Magic" was found mid morning today as we crossed a stream after a climb and sitting in the cold stream were a bunch of Capri Sun juices, those never tasted so good. The people we have met have been absolutely amazing both on and off the trail, it helps to see the kindness in people that sometimes we forget in our busy everyday lives. We are eating well and eating plenty. Have had some sore feet and sore muscles, but all in all continue to do well. Oh also we forgot to mention that the first night we arrived in Georgia before heading onto the trail we encountered a cool opportunity. We met a professor from Alma College, John Davis who is doing a study on AT hikers regarding their fitness and nutritional changes, is that up my alley or what?! So we had to do numerous tests regarding out percent body fat, urine samples, lung capacity and more. He will be finding us on the trail in Virginia and then again in Maine upon completion to see changes. He was a great guy and we are happy to be a part of his study!

Well our next stop with the possibility of computer access with be right when we get ready to enter Great Smoky Mountains National Park! It's an adventure everyday and both Ben and I are happy to be sharing it together. O.k. lastly today we took a little detour per Ben to see the 2nd largest poplar tree in America, it was 27 feet in circumference. Ben kind of had to drag me to walk that extra distance for a tree, but he's been so good to me and a little nature school never hurt anyone :)

We miss and love everyone back home!

Hiawassee GA

Hi all,

We are in Hiawassee GA, it is around 65 miles into the trail. We have pictures to show but the library computer that we are using will not let us post them. We'll get them up as soon as possible. Other wise things are good, we're sore but having a good time. The weather has been really nice, in the 70's during the day and 50's at night. A little rain is expected tonight and into tomorrow.

We are ahead of schedule by about three days and have missed our last two mail drops, but hope to have that figured out by the our next drop. We're averaging 13 or so miles a day.

Talk to you all soon, we are off to the all you can eat steakhouse up the road having now finished our laundry and Dairy Queen Blizzards.

We love the comments, so keep them coming!

<24 hours

We'll be taking off for Georgia tomorrow morning and will be staying at a hiker hostel near the beginning of the trail. http://www.hikerhostel.com/. The couple who runs the hostel will then bring us to the trailhead the next morning where our adventure will begin. It feels good to be done with the packing and planning which has seemed to last for an eternity. Both Ben and I would like to thank my Dad and Myra for giving us a place to live, food to eat and good times like "Steve's Valentine's Day Romp". Also, we would like to thank my Mom and Eric for dealing with our mounds (i.e. 500lbs of dehydrated food) and for taking on the responsibility of mailing that food along the trail. In addition we thank Ben's folks for housing and supporting his workshop full of wild projects and good times in the garage. Having everyone's support to do this adventure is always appreciated and has certainly helped to make this dream come true. Our next posts will be along the trail. Please feel free to comment as it is a great way to know how all of you are doing.
See you on Katahdin!

AT Mug Shots

So today Ben and I loaded our packs and took a walk with them. They will range from 36-42lbs each! We intend to do this routinely until we leave to identify any problem areas. Thankfully my dad was with us to capture these mug shots.

Our winter is soon to come to an end as the average daytime temperature in Georgia is 60-65 and 40 at night. 3 days until our departure, but who's counting??