Made it to Mount Mitchell yesterday! It's all downhill from here! Got rained on all last night. It cleared up today, though. Camping out by a creek tonight. Town in the morning. (Marion, NC)

Rough day. Great weather. Left Black Mountain, feet sore all day. Got stung by a yellow jacket too. But making progress. Mount Mitchell tomorrow!

Slack-packing

The rain just does not want to stop. After breakfast, resupplying at the grocery store and laundry, Limbo took Sideshow and me back to the trail, near where we had left off yesterday evening. We hiked around the south-east side of Asheville, criss-crossing with the Blue Ridge Parkway all afternoon. It was 10 miles from where we started to Highway 70, which runs right into the town of Black Mountain.

The trail around Asheville is on pretty level terrain. We didn't have to climb even 100 feet all day. We didn't even carry backpacks, instead we brought enough water and snacks for the hike. And Limbo picked us up at the end of the hike. This is what thru-hikers call "slack-packing," in that we didn't carry our full packs, and we got to stay another night in a town, out of the elements (which I was very happy to do!). Luckily, we timed our hike just right, so that we didn't even hike in the rain, and then the rain started again when we got back to town this evening!

Sideshow is going to hike on with me until the weekend, so we should be able to reach Linville Gorge by that time. I'm excited for Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, and the rest of the mountains section of this hike!

Rain, rain, rain

Sorry about the last few posts that didn't come through. Apparently when I go over a certain number of characters in a text message it doesn't post properly, so I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

I'm 8 days in, and I've traveled 124 miles on the trail. Today I woke up and got soaked on my way up to the Pisgah Inn, but when I sat down to my western omelette, I spotted an old friend from the Appalachian Trail, Sideshow. He was out for a weekend of camping with some friends. He had most of his gear with him, so he decided to join me to hike for a few days.

It rained nearly all day, and I got soaked. I didn't want to stop because I knew I would get cold as soon as I stopped moving. So I called up some more A.T. friends, Bird and Limbo, who live in Black Mountain. They agreed to come pick Sideshow and me up from south Asheville. I hiked about 24 miles today, and it was 21 for Sideshow. It was a long, long day, but we made good progress, and got to see some good friends.

After we got a ride up to Black Mountain, we went to Pisgah Brewing Company for some tasty brews, then on to My Father's Pizza, where I ate a delicious stromboli, and laughed hysterically about memories from the Appalachian Trail.

I've had a good trip, so far, and today was my longest day. I haven't seen a deer or bear yet. I have not seen many other hikers until this past weekend. And I'll keep my text message posts short and sweet from now on!

Soaking wet at the Pisgah Inn. Good breakfast! And I randomly ran into Sideshow, my buddy from the AT! Crazy coincidence!

27 miles down!

Left camp at six, in the dark, made it down to Oconaluftee visitor center at the edge of the park. I have a long road walk ahead of me on the BRP. But I am lucky so far today. I paid 75 cents for a coke and got two cans from the vending machine!

19 miles in two days, got to Newton Bald Camp real early. Hanging out above 5000 feet.