Monday, April 8, 2013

Franklin, NC...Buh-bye, Georgia!

So I killed my phone's battery trying to send a picture of myself crossing the GA/NC border. Here's the first good look at North Carolina from the top of Mt. Albert, directly below the (locked!) fire tower.

The first week is down, and it was pretty good, all in all. I'm still in reasonably good health: no blisters, pulled muscles or tweaked tendons; I made it out of Georgia, and I'm right on my 100 mile/week pace that I want to keep. (Last night, I hit 100 miles even Monday to Sunday.)

I also now have a trail name! AT callsign: Draggin' Fly. It was self-selected, but approved by a council of fellow hikers around the campfire on Blue Mountain, right before all hell broke loose with the wind and rain. It's not the same as "Drag'n Fly", the Dale Watson trucker song, because I don't "drag up one side and fly down the other", I'm pretty much draggin' the whole way: up, down and sideways.

It shouldn't be confused with Dragon Ass, either, which is a generalized hiker affliction caused by eating under-cooked pasta night after night and pooping in the woods.

Here come the Smokies!

Update:  I forgot to mention the outstanding cookout that former AT Thru-Hiker "Red Truck/Green Truck" put on for the hikers at Deep Gap, NC on Saturday.  He and his friends and family fed about 60 hikers (by their estimate) breakfast/lunch/dinner all day long. I got there late, but in time for a beer, hotdogs and homemade Brunswick Stew. They call that kind of thing "Trail Magic" and it's awesome when it happens! We also got fed by a church group from Hiawassee back in Neel's Gap, and that was wonderful, too.


2 comments:

  1. Hey Bud,
    didn't you hike the approach trail from the falls to Springer? If so then you actually logged a little more, not that it counts any toward the overall, but it gives you a better guage of pace than 100m/wk. Keep Draggin!

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  2. When heading into the blue ridge be a little careful, there are some crazy people out there!

    http://blueridgecountry.com/articles/mary-the-elephant/

    Stay safe and dry

    Mike Mazzone

    ReplyDelete