We're off trail for a night in Franklin, NC. It's a very hiker friendly town, with a great outfitter and hiker discounts, but we've learned that if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is...our budget motel would pass neither of our mothers' seal of approval. It's possible that our tent might be cleaner! We'll definitely be more cautious in future.
GA to NC crossing in the rain
This has been a week of first milestones in our hike: our first state crossing, from GA into NC; our first 100 miles; our first mountains over 5,000 ft; and our first Everest. Supposedly, hiking the full Appalachian Trail is the equivalent elevation gain of climbing Everest 16 times. Shiz has been tracking our daily elevation gain and we passed one full Everest (29,029 ft) yesterday. The highlight of the climbing this week was Albert Mountain, which provided a gorgeous 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains (header photo).
Beautiful trail in NC
We've met some really nice folks along the trail - a couple from Luxembourg, a reasearcher hiking home to Maine - and we're getting used to being termed an "older couple" (check out Shiz's impressive salt & pepper whiskers below!). The vast majority of hikers are in their 20s and enjoying the social aspects of the hike. In contrast, we're finding that we prefer small campsites to large shelters and going to bed early (like, 8 pm!) to hanging around a campfire. We wondered before leaving if we'd each need to find others to socialize with to get a little space, but so far we're really enjoying each other's company. It will be interesting to see how our need for social interaction evolves as time goes by.
We're staying in Franklin today and returning to the trail in the evening. My left achilles muscle started hurting on Sunday and I'm hopeful that new shoes will help, so we're off to the outfitter first thing this morning. After breakfast of course.
Much love to everyone at home.
Sweet Pea
Mountain man Shiz