April 28th

Hey everyone, hows it going? Its been a while, there's a lot to cover, lol. A couple days after Hiawassee we met a kid named Dave at one of the shelters. After talking with him for a little he invited us to his Dad's house the next day to sleep in a warm bed and get some real food. We couldn't say no lol. He had his car parked at one of the gaps a little bit down trail. It shortened our day a bit a little but it was well worth it. When they talk about "some good ol' southern hospitality" they're not kidding. He made us foot baths for us to soak our feet in. I dont know if ive been treated to well as a guest. On a whim, Dave decided he was gonna try to go to Maine with us lol. He wasnt very organized but we we're glad to have him along. He was with us for few days but he had to stop in Fontana and we haven't seen him since. We're hopin he catches up.

The Smokies were really cool. We saw a bear our first day in. It came out on the trail about 50 feet in front of us. When I saw it, I just stopped. Dan said, "whats up?" I just whispered, "bear." It turned and saw us, then slapped the ground as if to bluff charge. We just slowly turned around and started walking away. We were with an older couple at the time, who were on their second thru-hike, and the guy just kept walking towards it and it ran away. I saw another one yesterday morning on our way to Hot Springs. I put my hiking poles up in the air and gave a little shout and it ran away. They really are much more afraid of us than we are of them.

We stayed at a cool hostel right outside of the Smokies a couple days ago, called Standing Bear Farm. The guy who runs it built a bunkhouse, cabin, outdoor kitchen, laundry room and a booth for interenet/phone use. The people were great. We tried to post there but the computer was a piece.

So now we're in Hot Springs. Got here yesterday. We took a nice to soak in their natural hot spring water, got some good food and stayed the night at Elmer's house. Its been nice to relax and let our legs recover. They're getting stronger and our pace has gotten a little better but our bodies definitely still have some more adjusting to do.

All in all, things are well. Well, we gotta hit the trail so we can get to the shelter before dark. I know it was a little long but thanks for reading! Take care.
-Nick

Gettin some rest in Hiawassee

So we hitched into Hiawassee today. We didn't pan on stopping here but after a few days on the trail we've learned a lot and we're making a big change in strategy. If we're gonna do this we need to lighten our packs by resupplying more. I shipped some stuff home today and I know Dan threw out a lot of stuff too. Some people would prolly call me crazy for not carrying some of the stuff but I'm wanna do everything I can to get to Maine. We're lookin forward to gettin back to the trail with lighter packs! No hostels here in Hiawassee but we're splittin a hotel with a really cool thru-hiker from Texas we met. His trail name is Two Lions (He looks like one and he carries a stuffed animal lion with him lol). Lots of other cool people out here on the trail. Its crazy how an overwhelming majority of the people out in the woods are really cool. We're takin our first zero day tomorrow to give our bodies some rest. This hotel is pretty nice and everything but honestly, I'd personally rather be in the woods I think. It's a little too intense for me lol. All in all we're livin the dream out her on the AT (my dream anyway as Dan would tell me lol)Well there are other hikers waiting for the computer and we have an "all you can eat" buffet watin for us but we'll try to fill you in again as soon as possible. Take care everyone, we miss you.
-Nick

Hey everyone, I just put up a link on the right side of the page for anyone who wants to see our location on a map. My parents bought us a GPS tracker and I'll be sending a signal out once a day that'll show where we are. Its pretty sweet. I've been following another AT hiker I met who has it and his seems to be working pretty well so hopefully you guys can have some fun with it. There's no dots on the map yet but in a few days you should be able to just click on the link and see where we are. Take care and enjoy.
-Nick