...
And now it's been 4 weeks. We've hiked through rain and sleet and sun. Over mountains and balds and gaps and knobs. 275 miles so far and picking up the pace. Everyday is waking and walking in the woods. I love it. In the last month I have slept inside a hotel once and showered as much in the last month. I learned how bad I can actually stink. We've raced storms and sunrises over moutains. We've walked to 3 different states with the dogs leading the way. We've all gotten trail names. Zooey is Snaggletooth or Bumper, Seamus is Little Spoon or Humper, Amanda is Pickles and I'm Skipper. The best part of the trip so far is Trail Magic. It comes in many different forms. Sometimes you're dreaming about BBQ potato chips and another hiker shows up with some. Or there is jugs of water left at a road crossing by a "trail angel". Cold beer in unexpected places. A church bringing a homemade potluck to a hiker hostel. A awesome view at the top of a really hard climb. The perfectly timed can of coke. Sunshine as you set up your tent after it's been raining all day. The section hikers that brought 'smores. Any kind of mail. If you would like to send a little magic my way just ask me for my mom's address and she'll get it to me. I would really really love to get any sort of note or letter. Food is really good too. See the bottom of the post for an abbreviated list of things I've been dreaming of eating.
Some highlights have been reaching the top of Springer mountain after the approach trail and seeing the first of the white blazes that mark the entire trail. 
Albert Mountain was one of our steepest climbs. It was sort of like bouldering. With backpacks. And dogs. Amanda was pushing Zooey over her head up the boulder when Zooey decided she couldn't make it and just sat down. I did what I could to help but that was just keeping Amanda from falling off the rock and poking Zooey in the butt with my trekking pole. But we made it. At the top was the 100mile mark and a fire tower we climbed that was scary high, especially surrounded by storm clouds. 
The heat makes everything harder. (But so does the cold rain.) One hot day we missed the water source at Hogpen Gap, but being used to seeing frequent springs we weren't too concerned. Except there weren't anymore springs and our walk was on a sunny ridge. There is a trick on the mind out here, that when you think you're at the top of the mountain- you're not. There is an even bigger up hill just ahead. Running low on water we kept mistakingly thinking "just one more up and we're there. This one MUST be sheep rock top." Well fifth times the charm. We eventually made it after some nice hikers gave us some extra water. Important lesson learned.
Fontana Dam was a very interesting place. We had the dogs picked up to stay at a hostel while we went through the Smokies since dogs aren't allowed in the park. We got an awesome resupply we all sorts of treats that we made ourselves blissfully sick gorging on homemade pickles and cookies and candy and potato chips and more candy and ... Well you get the point. (Hiker Hunger is a real thing. It's rare to have an entire conversation without the topic turning to dreaming about food). We hitched a ride back to the campsite from a gas station with a very kind older couple who made room for 4 smelly hikers and packs in their tiny car and had no idea what trail we were talking about.
That night we slept under the stars and planets and moon. Some point we heard shouting and hooves. Turns out to be a golf-club-wielding-hillbilly on a horse looking to beat teach some hikers a lesson for coming on his property and scaring his wife. Some other hikers we know calmly talked him down. We were well out of the way. Later there were shots fired from the road and the cops came to investigate. We only heard the commotion but it made for an entertaining evening. The next day we hiked back to the marina since we had missed a section hitching and spent the afternoon paddle boarding and talking to one of the "dam kids" whose father helped build the dam. Our friend "Whizkid" showed up at camp so we stayed longer than we intended.
In the Smokies we reached the highest point on the trail, Clingmans Dome at sunrise after a predawn night hike. Breathtaking sunrise over the moutains. Especially after the days of rain. We had breakfast at the top of the observation tower before all the tourists showed up.
Smoked salmon
Dried fruit
All of the cookies
Candied ginger
Hard cheese
Synders honey mustard and onion pretzel pieces
Pickles
BBQ anything
Salt and vinegar chips
Packaged pastries
Jetboil pot rest
Anything buttery
Fresh fruit or veg
Cookie Butter
Cheez-its
All of the food
A fellow hiker "Motown" introduced me to the hiker happiness formula-
Level of happiness= calories/weight
We burn at least 4000 calories a day and there is no way to carry that much food without burning more. Calorie dense foods are our friends.
I am learning so much. Sometimes I wonder what it will be like to return to "reality" but this is a different kind of reality. Everyday is an adventure with struggles and achievements and incredible rewards. I hope to hear from you all. Thank you so much for all of the support.
