Mountain Feast

Well, we made it into Franklin, NC at about 4:45 pm, without Captain Jack. We are unsure where he is. He shouldn't of been too far behind us, but he never showed up. Popeye is getting nervous about him, and will probably have to take a zero day tomorrow because of this.

Today was a day of firsts. Funny thing was this morning I didn't think that there would be anything exciting to talk about, but that wasn't the case.

First of all, I passed the 100 mile mark today! We did 15.9 miles (the most in one day!) We are officially 107.6 miles from Springer and 1068.6 miles to Katahdin. Wooo hooo! Popeye said after the first 100 miles the miles really start adding up...I sure hope so!

The other first was that I went the wrong way for the first time! It happened about 3 miles after I left the shelter this morning. I apparently took a blue blaze trail, and about 5 mins later I realized I was going the wrong way! Thankfully it wasn't like 1 hour until I noticed my goof. Popeye told me on his thruhike in 2001, he went 5 miles before realizing he was going on the wrong trail! So he went 21 miles for the day and only 11 of them counted for the AT!

Well after Mooney gap, the rain clouds started to form. So I pretty much ran up Albert Mnt, and once we got to Big Spring Shelter it started to rain! Then of course it continued to rain the rest of the day! I am so thankful I am in town tonight! Although tomorrow's forecast calls for even more rain and possibly hail in the higher elevations! So any prayers would be greatly appreciated for the storm to hit tonight or wait till tomorrow night! I do plan to stay in a shelter tomorrow!

Well Popeye and I are staying at the Sapphire Inn and right across the street is a restraunt called Mountain Feast...and feast we did! They had an AYCE buffet with fried chicken, beef sirloin & fried catfish! Oh, the fried catfish was sooo good! I did better this time on the AYCE...able to eat 2 plates full! That was because all I had today was poptarts, snickers, milky way, PB and cheese crackers and a handful of GORP.

Tomorrow I will get some denatured alcohol and head back to the trail around 9-9:30 in the morning. I plan on doing 15.8 miles tomorrow to Cold Spring Shelter.

Note: Captain Jack finally arrived at the motel at 6 pm. Popeye will be greatly relieved! Hopefully he won't have to take a zero day tomorrow and will continue to hike with me! Love their company!

Also, thanks Russel for checking out my blog and following me as I head to Maine! Appreciate the encouragement!

Lee: I never smell! I always smell like a fresh mountain spring! lol. Yeh, if I could only bottle it up and send it to you! ;O)

Scott: Thanks for spreading the word about my blog. You can tell anyone you want about it. I hope to get the people who do Trail Journals to check it out...that way they can allow people to update their journals right on the trail like me. Instead of having to do it later when they find a computer. I don't know anyone else who has tried this type of journal for the AT...hopefully it will catch on!

Shepherd