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The packs, before we added more stuff |
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| 10 minutes till takeoff |
The Packs - Actual Size - About
50-60 pounds each |
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| White Water Ducks |
Outside the Roan Mt. State
Park Welcome Center |
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| 100 Feet from our campsite |
Where's my fly rod? |
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| This is gonna be
GREAT!! |
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| Our pre-Trail bodies |
Mike's gut the night before we
hike |
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| The first
shelter- so plush they call it the Hilton |
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| Inside the shelter |
It had a great view of the
Lake |
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| Fontana Lake |
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| The Lake |
A cloudy early morning |
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| Our hike to check
out the shower facilities- sans packs and still smiling! |
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| Fontana Dam |
The river winding down and away
from the Dam |
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| The Dam river |
The Dam Bridge |
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The road to our 1st shelter |
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| The 1st night in a shelter |
We did a lot of reading! |
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| Fontana Lake at
sunrise - We set out today - 6 miles, straight uphill |
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Trail side First Aid -
Kate's blister and extra
flap of skin (from other blister) |
Our campsite at Birch Springs |
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| Her Indian name is
"BlisterFoot" |
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| Hanging our sweaty, wet clothes
out to dry |
Our only tent site on the hike |
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| Chillin' at the
campsite trying to get some baseball scores |
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| The duct tape is
out - now we're getting serious. |
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| In many places,
the trail is lined with these small plants |
Feel the burn
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This pack is freakin' HEAVY!!!!!
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Hiking is fun?!
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The shelter's just around this bend
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| Mollie's Ridge
Shelter - Day 2 |
11 miles logged so far
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2 blistered feet a sore back and 36 miles to go
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| The shelter was nice the mice
didn't bother us |
neither did the bears |
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| Ready for some dry
clothes. Sandals feel great!!! |
Home Sweet Home-sleeps 20 |
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| Since there wasn't
much sun that day, this was a painfully cold shower (w/ mountain spring
water) |
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| It was freezing at
night. In the 20's most nights |
We had to hang our packs so
the mice wouldn't get in them. |
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| Spence Field
Shelter |
The trail to the water source
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All shelters had a fireplace inside. Some nights it was hard
to get one started with all the rain!
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| Little brown
mushrooms were everywhere. |
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| Bear cables. We hung our
food on the pulleys so the bears couldn't get to it. |
Spence Field |
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| Waxing crescent
moon. |
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| Sunrise at Spence Field |
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| In the clouds -
You can see how thick the clouds are on the ridge line |
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| Spence Field - one of the nicer
spots along this section |
This mountaintop was cleared by
farmers in the early 20th century |
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|
The Trail |
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| Horses were allowed on many of
the trails |
They were beautiful and
helpful for hauling firewood |
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| The Privy |
Way nicer than digging a hole! |
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| Spence Field staying warm |
Stockings hung with care above
the fireplace - but different |
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| Almost up Rocky Top |
You can see Fontana Lake in the
lower middle |
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| The view of
Fontana Lake from 5500ft elevation |
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| At the top, almost |
Rocky Top !!! |
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| The Great Smoky
Mountains |
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| Celebrating a
small victory |
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| Rhododendron thicket |
The trail was cut through some
thick stuff |
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| Derrick's Knob |
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| Chillin' on one of the only
sunny days |
Finally stayin' warm! |
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| The Trail |
The Shelter at Derrick's Knob |
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| A nice hiking family |
The fence is to keep the bears
out. |
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| Aahhhhh - A nice
roaring fire at night didn't hurt |
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| Glad to have
those boots off!!! |
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| Still with the
duct tape?!! They never got better :( |
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| Mt. Collins Shelter |
Hangin' the packs |
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| There was a full
shelter that night. 13 people |
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| It was FREEZING
this night!! -- but, it was cool to spend the evening with Brett
Favre (on the right) |
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| Newfound Gap |
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After a week in the woods, we exited the trail and hitched a ride
into Cherokee, NC to find a hotel and several tons of food.
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| The celebration begins! |
Clean Clothes!!!! Yippee!! |
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| We washed everything! |
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| Unloaded the packs to let them
dry |
Still with the blisters! |
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| Up close and disgusting |
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| Hello, my
pretties! |
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