110.0 mi

Some really exciting things have happened! On April 6th,  I crossed the North Carolina border. I had the company of a new friend, Sarah “Guru”, from Canada who was doing the Georgia section of the AT. I was sad to see her go, but happy our paths had crossed.

I sat and ate my lunch with one foot in each state, smiling at the very anticlimactic border sign. I packed out hummus, tuna, and sprouts on wheat tortillas. Soon my friends “Lucky” and “Bunion” caught up and we all continued into the new state together. Not 5 minutes into it, we were greeted with a brutal never-ending straight up incline, no switch-backs, over 40 mph cold winds, then for the last 2 miles of a 16 mile day…pouring sleet. It took every ounce of energy to make dinner that night and not crawl directly into my sleeping bag.

I woke up the next morning with the ground white with snow. Again, it was hard to force myself to eat because it was so cold I wanted to start moving and heating up!

That was yesterday. I can honestly say that was my favorite day of the trail so far! I reached the 100 mile marker, hiked in snow with the sun shimmering down, I strolled through the infamous “green tunnels” of rhododendron trees that are forming the more and more north I go. I stopped for an hour long lunch break at what I thought was a “secret spot” overlooking miles of rolling blue North Carolina! A guy named “Purple Bear” found me and said he had been chasing me up the mountain all day. I was “the tall girl with the green down jacket and dirty blonde hair”… And he supposably had my thermarest sleeping pad that I left at a hostel last night. I do have a thermarest sleeping pad and I pulled it out of my pack to show him he had the wrong girl. We both started dying laughing. And as he walked away he said, “You really are fast.”

This morning I did a short 8 mile hike to Winding Stair Gap and was greeted by the BEST trail magic!!! This group of 6 people swarmed me with a blanket, a chair to put my feet on, and sat me by a fire while I waited for a shuttle to take me into Franklin. They placed a bowl of chili and a can of Coke in my hands and asked me all about my adventure. People are amazing. This part of the trail really does move me. They all come together to physically feed and fuel the hikers, but what it does to moral surpasses any nutritional value 🙂

It’s only 5 o’clock, but I think I am going to go to bed. I am so happy and I am so thankful for my body! Keep the good vibes coming!