Date: 2005-04-19
From: Tent, Hot Springs Campground

To: Tent, Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: few clouds

I want to say a huge thank you to my trail angel back home. Terri, you are the greatest. We wouldn't be able to do this hike without all of your efforts back home. We got our mail drop with food and goodies. Thank you. And thank you for all the hard work that you do updating our trail journal. Sweetie, we couldn't do it without you. I would also like to thank all of the folks who visit our trail journal and leave messages. It is really exciting to get all those wonderful words of encouragement. I am slowly working through the guest book and sending email responses. Obviously, if you didn't leave an email address (or left the wrong one), I can't respond. But I am trying so please be patient. Any of you are welcome to join the troll family on the trail for a few hours or days. We had a great time in the Smokies hiking with our trail angel Lynn Ladyhawk. Leaving Hot Springs took some doing. It was straight up. Ok, not really. There were switchbacks. And I must grudgingly admit that they were the good switchbacks that did not traverse the entire length of the mountain. My pack was fully loaded with my share of our food for the next 5 or 6 days. That means it is heavy. There are 3 of us to be fed. My body was really not happy to be lugging that heavy pack up the hill. I sweated and panted my way up from the French Broad River to Lover's Leap overlook. Yeah, sweat, panting and toting extra weight was just what I had been missing in Hot Springs. After the 1st killer climb, the day seemed nicer. I kept smelling this fragrant flower scent. It seemed like a crisp Lemon Verbena mixed with a faint sweet Honeysuckle. Occasionally the musty dry oak leaf and the spicy dry pine needle smells mixed in. I actually had to slow down through that area so I could breath thru my nose ad enjoy the smell. I was never able to identify the source of the scent. Troll thought it might be a small purplish flower. I got lost again today. Fortunately, I discovered my error pretty quickly. Before I discovered my error, I found a family burial plot. None of the stones seemed to have any writing. This was the 2nd burial site I have seen along the trail. We took our long lunch break at a pond/concrete dam. There were benches alongside the pond. It was a really peaceful spot. Oblivious found big tadpoles to play with. He tried to catch frogs. The darn salamanders were just out of his reach. He was also very excited that he had seen a lizard earlier in the day. The 1st lizard seen on the trail by the troll family. The boys stopped by a fire tower. I missed the turn-off for it. They said that the tower was pretty cool, but someone had smashed the windows and there was glass everywhere. It could have been a good camping spot. The rest of the hiking day seemed less exciting. It was HOT. There was no breeze and we were lucky enough to hike along a controlled burn area. On one side of the trail - green. On the other - black with scattered determined wild flowers. Luckily that was the point at which the trail designers decided to forgo switchbacks in favor of straight ups. And why limit the enjoyment to only one straight up when you could string 6 straight ups together. So here we are tenting in the burn zone. Take care and we will see you on the trail.