Date: 2008-04-19
From: Gatlinburg

To: Hot Springs, N.C.
Miles today: 67.1
Weather: broken clouds

The path to Maine is not an easy one. We have hiked over 67 miles since Gatlinburg. I believe God is looking out for this hiking apostle. The day we decided to go to Gatlinburg we were unsure about getting a ride for the 15 mile trip to Gatlinburg. I remembered my parents telling me about picking up a thru-hiker there one day and taking him into town. I told the quys I was hiking with that we were owed a ride and lets try for a ride. One of the first vehicles was a pickup truck that invited us to ride in the back. They were staying on the same street as our hotel, almost across from them.Thank you Alice and Howard. The next morning after a really big breakfast at the flapjack house restaurant we were at the Happy Hiker Outfitter inquiring about a ride to the trail. A young girl drove up and asked if we were thru-hikers. She was Courtney Lix the grandaughter of Henry Lix, one of the first naturalists in the Smoky Mountain park.She is employeed by the park service and was doing video interviews with thru-hikers. She drove us up to Newfound Gap to video and interview us on the trail. Oh! did I mention she was quite cute. When we arrived at the trail some of the younger guys hiking in our pack looked on in amazement when us 3 older men emerged from the car with her. While they drooled and looked ga-ga eyed she proceeded to video us. I am sure they wondered what charms we possessed. It should have been obvious. She was the talk of the day for those guys. Did I mention she was very cute? Sometime next week if you go to Smokiesinformation.org/blog you can view the interview. We hiked over 23 miles in one day to get out of the park. Every step was either ice or snow, then 4 inched of slush then mud and water running down the trail. But just when I was completely tired of the trail we hiked through another wild flower area. Most ladies out there know that flowers just make you happy. They are such a beautifull creation. Now here I was in Gods own flower garden. He plants and waters with no help from man. What an honor to walk through his gardens. The white flower I was talking about the other day is the White Fringed Phacelia. As in Phacelia, your breaking my heart, sort of a Simon and Garfunkel song. That was a weak pun. After leaving the Smokies we still had several really big climbs to go. Yesterday we climbed over Max Patch Bald, a large hill without any trees. Science cannot explain why that is so. Last night we stopped at a shelter for the night and already had our sleeping gear out when we saw a warning about a bear that was stealing food the day before. It actually stuck its head into the shelter absolutly scaring the occupents. A note left there said that if any one finds bear poop with a blue toothbrush in it they would like it back. Anyway we left and hiked another 3 miles further. This morning we were up at 4 o'clock to hike into Hot Springs N.C. we arrived at noon and plan to take our first zero day tomorrow. A chance to give our tired legs some rest. I hope cell service is better next week since I have so much more to report. Thanks again for all the prayers and words of support. I will try to find an actual computer tomorrow to do a more thorough update. I believe there may be only 1 or 2 computers in this entire town. The library is even closed on Satarday. It's the town time forget. Did see one of the most nasty mullet haircuts in the history of coiffage. Whoever came up with that style should do some hard time somewhere.