One State down...

hello again. first off, the last blog was not set up on purpose, the computer liked to change the layout after we posted it! this one will make more sense! Since Hiawassee we have travelled 40 miles north east into N. Carolina, and are blogging from the small and weird town of Franklin. We have also broke the 100 mile mark, officially 106.6 miles (only 2,070 left to go)?! It has also been raining again for the last few days - out of the 11 days on the trail, 7 of them have been rainy. but its sunny today and we are about to set off again, so our spirits are high. Here's some highlights:

Looking back west to Hiawassee, near Muskrat Creek shelter, where we stayed

Crossing over the N. Carolina/Georgia line

Looking up to the firetower atop Albert mtn., it was one hell of a climb...

...looking straight up...

..and back down to chris and kat.

halfway up the firetower, too windy to go all the way!

at Big Spring shelter (97.5 mi) it was raining ridiculously hard, so we filled up our bottles with water off the tin roof.

a wild shot of Buck & Fleur (trail-names), who we've seen at quite a few shelters. they're an older couple from canada and are great to have around to cheer us up when its cold and wet. we were all making dinner here as another thunderstorm came through.

little waterfall amongst the rhododendrons, which are abundant anywhere near a water source.

taking a breather and a snack break - nearly to highway 64 and Franklin

follow the white blazes, they lead you Maine!

So, as the community on the trail heads north, people have to get to know each other. and the best way to do this is to find yourself a trail-name. a lot of hikers already had one (such as Buck & Fleur, cookie monster and Hollywood to name a few), but many like us needed to find one, or have one find us. my favorite is a guy named surefoot cos he keeps falling on his butt! its definately a good way to remember people and not get mixed up.

Introducing...sundance

and scruffy goat gruff

a lot of past AT hikers come back to greet hikers coming out from the woods with food and drinks. they are called "trail angels" (doing trail magic). here John (Hatteras '03) met us with cookies, croissants, fruit and some cold beer! Cheers John, couldn't have asked for anything better.

got a ride into Franklin from the Budget Inn shuttle bus...for free! (kind of, we gave a donation)

Ron dropped us off at the gas station, and used the donation to buy some "big fat hot-dogs"
we got picked up by the Ulmer family friends, Charlie and Bonnie who took us up to their nearby cabin, where we stayed the night.

Charlie & Bonnie were awesome hosts, very much appreciated!

And so we head north and up to the smokies soon, but first comes Nantahala and Fontana Dam.
Looking forward to better weather!