Mule

Good morning & happy St. Patricks day. Well about to start off the day after eating a hearty breakfast at Rivers End. Scott mentioned that this morning will be tough...going up about 3500 ft in about 6-8 miles! Yeah baby. But I keep telling myself it is all down hill after that!
Well you maybe wondering what the picture is about. Any guesses to what type of fungus it is. I picked it because there is an interesting story to go with it, plus it is green for st. patty's day. I will give the answer tomorrow. Ok now the rest of the story.

Well I met this guy back on day 5. He started the trail caarrying a 65 lb pack! That is twice the weight of mine! Way to heavy for a thruhiker, hence he was quickly named Mule! When I met him, he had it down to 57 lb. Well the other interesting and odd thing about him was that he was on a 500 dollar budget for his thruhike! So in order to save money, he had beeen collecting the fungi in the picture & eating them with his food!

Happy Bday Eric! Hike on!