238.5 miles in

I’m done with the Smokies!  Got some great pictures, but the connection here at Standing Bear Farm isn’t the best so I can’t upload yet – I’ll add the pictures later from Hot Springs.  Had some really good days in the Smokies, and most of it was really good weather.  There was one day that it rained, and one night that it tornado’d a bit.  A tree almost fell on me but missed.  I crushed my toe on a rock, I almost saw a bear, and I met some nice English fellows from London.  On Friday I was at Clingman’s Dome, the highest elevation on all the AT.  The next morning I was at Charlie’s Bunion which has just replaced Raven Rock for the best view on the AT.  I think my favourite part about the Smokies though, were my new British friends.  Their names are Tim, Will, and Felix, and they flew in just to hike the AT through the Smokies.  They did it a day faster than myself because they murdered themselves on day 1, much like myself when I started in Georgia.  After that we hiked at about the same pace, and shared shelters a few times.  At one point they forgot their iodine at the shelter I was sleeping and went on to a shelter 2 miles further, so I sent it on with another hiker.  I also gave them my own iodine, because I was able to get more AquaMira at Fontana, and when they left the trail today they gave me their AquaMira and some leftover food.  They were nice guys, exceptionally witty, and brought a vocabulary to the trail that is otherwise quite difficult to find.

Most of my days in the Smokies were pretty uneventful otherwise.  There were a lot of good views, a couple great views, and the weather was quite chilly.  It was regularly about 40 F in the shelters at night.  Today I woke up at 5911 feet, climbed for a bit, then descended, then climbed, then descended a lot more, all the way down to 1375 feet, and then climbed a bit to the elevation where I sit now, at Standing Bear Farm.  All in all, I descended well over a mile today.  I’ll do the math later.  Right now I need to go because this computer is billed at $1/15min, and there’s a very large bee menacing me.