It's the Little Things

Day 5 will be known as "Stupid Day". Everything we learned so far went out the window. Before I begin, we started the morning with a hostel breakfast. I had a spotted green bagel, not the same green as the St. Patty's day rice like before if you know what I mean. As we checked our map we saw two choices. One, hike 6.9 miles or two, hike 11.5 to a shelter. Today we had no option to stay wherever we wanted because of the lack of a water. We acquired our first cling-on, a retired school principal. He was full of stories that were interesting, but as the day worn on he became less appealing. We pressured ourselves into skipping lunch and bypassing a water stop. What were we thinking?! Ran into a trail support guy giving out Gatorade and sodas for donations on a cross road. With all that said, we made the 11.5 by the skin of our feet. Just hung our food a little higher tonight due to a bear eating another hiker's (Click and Glad Gal) food last night.   Now is time to study the map for tomorrow's water locations.

Day 6- Its amazing how a few minor changes can impact so much. We hiked just shy of 11 miles today. Stopped every hour for a snack, had a 40 min. lunch break, and the world is a better place. There was a bumper sticker in Neels Gap that said, "hike your own hike". Those simple words mean so much. We are making relationships with the people we meet and look forward to seeing them at the next stop, but we have to hike our own hike. We ended up camping with the lady from Idaho that passed us a few day back.  Her name is Flute Walker. She plays Native American music on her flute as the sun goes down. The sound rings through the mountains like it probably did before the white man. I keep forgetting to tell everyone our trail names, Country Mouse and Shadow (named after BJ's Dad). We are 16 miles from Hiawasess, Ga and plan to take a day off there. I'm sure your are all wondering how BJ is surviving without a coffee maker strapped to his pack.  Except for some minor withdrawals (sleeplessness), he is doing great with one cup a day. We found our second trail magic so far. Two brothers thru hiked last year and put sodas and snacks in a big bucket at the bottom of Blue Mtn. for everyone this year. I had no idea that one day seeing a hot Dr. Pepper and Peanut M&Ms would bring tears to my eyes. aaaahhhh..... It's just the little things.

Location:Sunnyside Rd,Hiawassee,United States