Please Send Us Cookies!: 2013

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

- John Muir

A couple of weeks ago we had to make one of the most difficult choices either of us has had to make, and that was to leave the trail. It was not an easy decision, because even when we were freezing, hurting, hungry, tired, or drenched; we still loved every minute of being on the trail. We were witness to and recipients of countless acts of selflessness and generosity that one would think didn't happen in this day and age. We met people that we'll never forget, even if we never even found out their names, or only knew them for fifteen minutes. Existing in nature for over four months is an experience that is as indescribable as it is beautiful. This is certainly not the end of our explorations and travels of the trail, merely a hiatus. Even though we didn't "finish", we learned that the moment is all that mattered in the 1,400 miles we traversed. We would never call our journey incomplete because we continue to learn from it every second of the day.

- Mike & Ellie (aka Zappa & Dollywood)

“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”

- Jack Kerouac

The gateway to "The Approach Trail" that leads up to Springer Mountain and the official start of the AT- 8.8 unofficial miles later...

Amicacola Falls is the highest east of the Mississippi

The first/last blaze of the Appalachian Trail

They like plaques on Springer

View from Springer

We met Dogger (kilt) when he was hiking the Long Trail in Vermont. He was at the first shelter we came to in Georgia bc he was finishing up the Benton MacKaye trail that goes through GA, TN, & SC. He is hands-down the favorite hiker we met!

Stream and rhododendron in Georgia

In the south a toilet seat cover is a completely acceptable medium for sign pointing you towards your dead loved ones... and a shed.

Blood Mountain Shelter is one of the oldest on the AT

This view from Blood Mountain reminded us a lot about some of the rocky balds we'd go over in Maine and New Hampshire.

Autumn Injun

Amazing twisted oak near NC/GA border

Thugged out on the North Cackalacky border

Maybe a donut will make me feel better...

Old store in Franklin, NC with an amazing museum in the back.

I bought a cheap ukulele in Franklin, NC. Our nod to Woody Guthrie.

Wayah Bald Firetower

Rhododendron tunnel

Firetower above Nantahala Gorge

The AT crosses over the Fontana Dam

The reservoir makes for some peculiar landscapes

It's the highest dam east of Mississippi.

Shucktack Firetower a few miles inside the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We saw 7 bears on this day!

Autumn colors in GSMNP

A sobo named Globe sporting some swag he got in Gatlinburg- picture a quasi-religious Ocean City plopped down outside the border of the smokies and you know what Gatlinburg is like