High Atmosphere

Most exciting blog ever to check up on, huh. So my internet access has been very much lacking since I started hiking a week and a half ago. Thanks again to Chad-O for inputting that last one. And if you guessed I'd get too lazy to keep up the K/C switch you were RIGHT.

Anywho the hike remains an amazing experience. Since Hiawassee I've crossed the NC border, done my first 25mi day, eaten my first ramp out of the ground (look'er up on wikipedia), worked up some serious blisters, jumped into Fontana Lake and acquired a trail name. Trail name is 'Blue Sky' - so given after I spotted the first patch after a night of rough weather and realized shortly thereafter that it's my favorite Allman Brothers song so decided to keep it. 'BS' for short.

From Hiawassee a few fellow hikers and I pushed on to Winding Stair Gap to hitch a ride into Franklin, NC to stay with one of the hiker's friends. The friend in question turns out to be Doug Woodward who not only was a pioneering whitewater kayaker in the '70s but also was the stunt double for Ned Beatty in Deliverance. Talk about street cred. He said that Burt Reynolds had a new fem on set everyday, that Jon Voight's wife was there pregnant with Angelina Jolie, and that they had a dummy lying flat in the canoe as Burt Reynolds they called 'no balls', for obvious reasons. I asked him if they drew a mustache on it but apparently not - the prop coordinator was way off base there. Anyway...interesting family. Their kids' names were Autumn, Rivers, Forrest and Canyon and they lived in a beautiful spot on a mountainside in Franklin. Went back to the trail from there and three sunrises and sunsets later I find myself at Fontana Dam in NC about to head into the Smokies. Staying the night at Fontana Lodge built by the CCC and looks it. It's wonderful. Smokies are going to be challenging but with any luck I'll find myself at Dollywood in Pigeon Ford, TN in a few days. Time will tell. Ms. Clare Fieseler will hopefully be meeting up in Cherokee Nat'l Forest near the end of TN so very much looking forward to her presence.

This past week I've been hiking with two guys from Georgia - Greenlight and Brian - and Hustler from Gunniston, CO. They've been teaching me the ways of 'going light'. It's been a trip so far. Probably missing a lot here but wanted to get an update on the books! Missing everyone! Hope the GPS updates have been going through. Laaters.