323.0 miles
Until yesterday we had barely seen the sun for 12 straight days. Friday was cold and the wind was blowing around 40 mph, but when we woke up Saturday the sun had finally come out. Today, too, was beautiful -up around 70 and nothing but sunshine. Two trail angels found us today -one bearing sodas and apples, a thru-hiker from '05, and then a really nice young couple offering drinks and snacks and a ride to anywhere we wanted to go. Despite their tempting offer, we stayed on the trail -an 18 miles day today, but now my feet are telling me we should've taken them up on the lift.
I like the long days of hiking, but the joints on the lower half of me are starting to fuss, and my feet ache pretty well at the end of the day. Maybe we'll cut back to something less ambitious, take our time a little more. Tomorrow we should make it to Erwin, TN (16 miles from here), and we're looking forward to another day off there. Everyone's saying snow is on the way. Good thing we didn't mail home our warm clothes at the last town. Our packs are heavier than when we started (mostly on account of me going to the grocery store hungry) and we're trying to ditch some weight so we can hike easier. When we left Hot Springs my pack was 33 lbs. with food and water -more than I ever want to carry again! Around 20-25 is good with me. In an effort to lighten our load, we've been eating as much as humanly possible on the trail -and I think we still have about three days worth of extra food. Gotta work on that!
We might just have to start planning ahead or something.
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