I caught the shuttle from Hiawassee back to the trail at 9 this morning. The motel I stayed in last night was a little rundown, but it was clean and cheap. Some of the young hikers that stayed there partied for awhile and finally went to bed about ten. Hiawassee is a good place to get off the trail. Groceries and restaurants are all within walking distance and the people that live there are hiker friendly. They know that we drop a lot of money while we are here.
The hiking today was hard but perhaps not as bad as the last few days. I seem to be getting into a rhythm and develop a pace that gets me over the mountains. The bad thing about coming out of town is that you are loaded down with food from your resupply, and it’s always uphill.
I keep running into the same people each day. There is a group of hikers, all with about my same pace, I run into at the camps. We made it to the North Carolina state line at 77 miles -a real feeling of accomplishment – and are camped just beyond at Blythe Gap. Tonight will be very cold, forecast is for below freezing temps and wind. I had better get bundled in.
Thanks so much for your updates, even though this was a chilly one. It helps to see the pictures; you look fit as a fiddle. It looks like snow on the ground, but I’m sure that isn’t so.
Keep posting.