19 days and counting

Today is day 19 of our adventure and we are doing the exact opposite of what we usually do. We are shopping, eating, cleaning ourselves and our clothes, and trying to be lazy and stay off our feet. We are in TOWN! I want to say town is a highlight of the trip, but that would be unjust to all the beautiful things we have seen and all the joys we have felt on the trail. Town is just differnt, and in that it feels great too!

We are currently hiking through our third state, Tennessee, and are in The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. No we have not had a personal appearance from Smoky the Bear, but we have heard from a few hikers that he is around. Yesterday we hiked to the top of Clingmans Dome, which is 6643 ft above sea level! This is the highest we will be on the entire AT journey! There is a road leading to the top of the mountain so it was filled with many many other tourists. It was odd because they took such an interest in us and the other thru hikers. They examined us, our packs, and quizzed us on our adventure. Some people even took pictures or videos of us! We became one of the attractions. On the other side of things us hikers examined them, their clothes, their ability to walk the final 0.5 miles to the top of the mountain, so in turn they were a different sight for us as well.

We have so far covered just over 200 miles (320ish km's) of the AT. Soon we will be hitting the 10% mark! Our small but meaningful victory for us. We will be celebrating! Here are some pictures of our journey thus far. One day we will find the time for a full and proper update!

low X and metric.

Us at the beginning of the trip! Still in Georgia.

Our 1% complete photo on Blood mountain. (makes me think of the you tube video...blood!)

Tent city at Low Gap!

From Left to Right: Keystone, Mr.Natural, Arrow Maker, me (metric), other me (Low X), and Raisins. This is the cabin we rented on our only zero day.

Low X in an old old fire tower in the Smokies.

Clingmans Dome view