Updates cont.

Trail magic before a steep climb to Tray Mountain Shelter, they even had veggie burgers. Yumm!

Jason finally has a bed to sleep in but still chooses to sleep on the ground. With the beautiful blossom tree I can't say that I blame him.

Hanging with new friends from left; Valerie, Troy, Easy Does It, Slim (Challenger); at Plum Orchard Shelter with copperheads and coyotes.

Excited because we had just made it to our first state border with Jobs and Easy Does It.

Updates

So life off of the trail seems to be a lot busier than I remember. Jason and I are signed up for classes and ready to start in September. I have a couple of job offers that I am deciding on right now. I am excited to get back to work but at the same time not ...... weird right?
Enough about that here are some of the pics I promised, which seems like so long ago. Of course I have too many to post and I don't want to bore you but I think you will appreciate these.
Hope you all enjoy them.

This is Kerry "Scribbles" and her husband Gary who were so very nice to give us a ride from the train station to our starting point. Thank you again that was great, as was breakfast.

So this is the start to our journey with bags almost the same size as us. Jason's bag weighed in at 43lbs and mine at 40lbs.

This is Amicalola Falls it is the tallest falls in the Southeast. This was not the only sign along the way. There are a total of 602 stairs to climb to the top. Another 8 miles to get to the top of Springer Mountain then we will start on the Appalachian Trail.

Finally made it to the top of Springer Mountain in Georgia and celebrated with some fine cigars from Rebel Smoke in Fitchburg. The nicest people and very informative. Thank you so much it was a nice way to start our trip.

Jason's pack seems to be shrinking but not mine. Why is that?

 

Blue Mountain shelter where we first met Smiley. The cheeriest of us all and he could barely walk at the time. He is well and was still hiking, at least as far as VA.

 

 

 

So after one of the greatest experiences I've ever had, we are now home. After over 1000 AT miles, not including all the side trips, Jason and I decided to come home. We have met so many nice people along the way, not to mention very interesting ones as well. My knees are not the best and we are ready to move on to a new chapter. College here we come! Thank you for checking in on us and for the comments. I will get all my pictures together and post them later on this week.

A couple of updates...... 800 miles!

So pictures of The Guillotine, a swimming hole that had crawfish, the longest footbridge on the AT, and the train tracks that pass over the James River.

McAfee's Knob

So here is a picture of Brooke on top of McAfee's Knob. The hike up was not so bad.

Trail days

Shiann - enjoying some time off. Meeting up with some friends we have not seen in a while.

Grayson Highlands

Shiann - there were wild ponies here.

Virginia

Shiann - Celebrating walking over the VA line. Very exciting, now only about 550 miles to the next border.

Jones Falls, TN

Jason - Taking a natural shower... We were gross. We're usually gross though...

Leaving Elk Park Vortex!

Jason - Requires blogging - a georgeous hike.

Elk Park, TN -Double Zero / Cinco de Mayo

Jason - Raining on the fourth.. Didn't hike. Cinco de Mayo, obviously no hiking, it's against Mexican law. Thanks to Phil for kindle and Patron!

Roan Mntn Highlands - 2 weeks ago?

Jason - Probably the most beautiful place on the AT so far. Made some phone calls and read some of our books.

p.s. - love having limited sense of time / dates

Gnarly weather

So this was taken after a hail storm. Thunder sounding like freight trains. No worries we made it to a shelter before the big show.

Smokies

Here are a few pics from Clingmans Dome. What a great view! :)

It's been a while.

This is Shiann. So sorry we haven't posted in some time. It is hard to find wi-fi and unfortunately I have lost my I-pod. So I will be posting on Jay's login.
So I have had some feet problems, nothing serious even though it may look like it in the picture. Some blisters and a lot of calluses. Jason is just fine.

Smokies

Getting ready to go to the Smokies tomorrow!

Statistics

So as we have been hiking, people have been telling us the drop out rate for this trip. Apparently 1 in 3 drop out by Neels Gap, which for us was over a week ago. 1 in 2 drop out before they reach North Carolina, we reached the border about 4 days ago. We are still loving it, so it is looking good for us thus far. Today we are resupplying in Franklin. The next stop should be Fontana Dam, right before the Smokies. This will be the longest trip before the next resupply. So that means carrying more food, AKA heavy ass bag. I've attached some pictures from Franklin, and yes they do have separate parking for trucks (there are a lot of trucks out here.)

Plumorchard shelter

So lastnight we were awakened by some comotion. The commotion was the sound of coyotes howling at midnight. They were very close but unfortunetly, and fortunetly, we did not see them. I also think that I now have a trail name. It is Divining Rod. Instead of water I can find gold. Let me explain... I picked a nice big tree to lean against about 30 yards from the trail. I had my trowel and was digging a cat hole. When don't you know, I struck gold. Out of thousands of acres of land and 14 states that the AT goes through, I picked the place that someone else thought was a good place to take a dump. So while telling this story to Charlie a 75 year old man. He and Jason think up the name Divining Rod. Not for H2O, oh no, but for my amazing power to find poo. It is a very unique name I just may take it.

Chilling at Plumorchard Gap Shelter

So another nero day. Left Hiawassee today hiked 4 1/2 miles to Plumorchard Gap Shelter. (So if I haven't explained what a shelter is let me do that now. It is what we call in Mass a lean-to. It has 3 walls and a roof. The rest is open to see out of.) This particular shelter has some mascots. They happen to be Copperhead snakes. They live in leafy stump. The nice thing about this shelter... no mice.
We have met some other thru-hikers that seem to have the same pace as us. The one in the loft is Challenger(Jason) Washington and the other is Easy does it(Micheal) Texas. We have been hanging out with them for the last couple of days.