Thanks for all the comments from yesterday’s post. Unfortunately, I think some of my comments were taken out of context as some readers thought I may be ready to throw in the towel. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a blog about hiking the AT – not about rainbows and butterflies. There will be positive blogs, negative blogs, aspirational blogs and everything in between. We have had many “difficult” days physically and we will have many more. What was different about yesterday’s challenges was they were self-induced, the result of bad and careless decisions. That’s it! so, while I appreciate the concerns and uplifting comments – I’m good!! 😊

Breaking camp this morning i had the pleasure of using the smallest and most disgusting privy so far on the AT (see pic below). There was vomit in front of the toilet and no door – no expenses spared on privy’s in the great state of North Carolina!! Today we hiked 17 miles into the town of Erwin, TN. The terrain was more forgiving than yesterday. Instead of 6,000 feet of uphill climb (yesterday, today it was just over 2,000 feet. The descent into Erwin was very pretty with a River view below and a train crossing the river as I was coming down (Bruce – I immediately thought of you and your love of trains when I saw that! 😊). I am writing this blog while sitting on a log at a local hostel while we await our shuttle to take us to the Super 8 where we look forward to showers, washing our clothes and getting some hot food for dinner. Tomorrow we will pick up food supplies for the next 3 or 4 days, pick up a few things at the local outfitter shop and then head back out on the trail tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, the bottom 3 inches of one of my trekking poles broke off before lunch today and I will have to buy a new set tomorrow.

Was finally able to upload a few pics from the past 3 days. I think they are mostly self-explanatory.