Date: 2023-07-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 11.8

Day 10 - Border CrossingToday we hiked 11.8 miles of AT.  Our packs are laden with food for 4 days and we were all feeling the extra weight. Today¢s trail had lots of ups and downs but mostly ups, including our 2 steepest climbs yet.  We climbed 4,355 ft up today and descended 2,500 ft.  That¢s a lot of ups and downs!  Somewhere in there we also had about 100ft of level ground :)When we got dropped off at the trailhead this morning another man parked his car near us and started getting hiking gear out. I also noticed he had crutches, not the kind for a broken leg but the ones used by people with braces on their legs.  We struck up a conversation with him and found out he was hiking a 5 mile section today to finish up the Georgia leg of the AT. It¢s his 4th state!  He told us his trail name is ¢4 feet¢ and that he used to weigh 572 lbs!  He has severe back issues now and was hunched over. That¢s why he walks with the crutches. Right about this time Erin realized she left her headlamp at the hotel. Without hesitation, 4 feet opened his bag and said ¢take mine, I won¢t need it for a day hike¢ and handed it to Erin.  That interaction sums up our experience with people on the trail so far.  We¢ve been blown away by the eagerness to help others we¢ve encountered. We said goodbye to our new friend, feeling convicted that we had no cause for complaining about the hike today, said a prayer for our 4 day hike and set off. The kids hiked incredibly strong as we started the morning hiking through some low level clouds. The kids got a kick out of the idea they were in a cloud. Our youngest was disappointed to learn you can¢t stand on clouds.  The forest was very cool and wet, with leaves dripping on us as we passed underneath. We went ahead and put on our pack covers thinking it would rain soon. The rain never came so we had yet another day of hiking the AT dry. We must be setting a record at this point. After hiking a couple of hours (and finding a couple more ticks!) we met a sweet couple named ¢Red Stick¢ and ¢Dancing Wind¢. They met on their AT thru hike in 2010 and are now married with 2 kids.  They were getting three days back on the trail together to hike and relive old memories. We stopped for lunch in a nice shelter with three levels. There was a plaque inside showing an army helicopter delivering it to the mountaintop years ago.  We broke out the tortillas and had tacos for lunch which was a treat for all. Each shelter has a register, or notebook, that people write in. I always write something, even if we stop for lunch. When I opened this register, Red Stick had just written that morning. As I flipped through the past week of entries I recognized the names of many people we¢ve met.  I imagine many of them also see our entries as they travel south. Just one of the many ways you get to know people on the trail. Early afternoon we crossed into North Carolina. That was a sweet moment knowing the entire Georgia section of the AT is behind us. Mostly, I won¢t miss it. They were tough miles for us as we all gained our trail legs. We hiked a full day and arrived at our intended campsite but decided to go 2.5 miles more and get out steepest climbs yet behind us.  Weary, we rolled into a shelter area at dusk. We saw mice in the shelter so decided to tent camp. We had a hurried time getting everything setup before dark and were exhausted. Erin fed us a great dinner as usual and I had to fix up two bear hangs as our 4 days of food were too heavy to hoist all together. The boys in my tent played ¢battle¢ with cards for about 5 min. They then put their heads in the pillows and were out in less than 60 seconds.  I won¢t be far behind them.