Wind, rain , cold

The weather conspired to make further hiking miserable, so Mike took a bus to Hiawassee GA this morning and will be having Steve pick him up there.  He'll hang out in Winston for a few days until a shindig that's put on in Hiawassee the beginning of April, next weekend.  By then, the weather should have mellowed a little and he can get back to hiking. 

Looks like I'll be doing computer maintenance this weekend, PC's gotten slow and I need to run some clean-up and back up.  Not my favorite pastime, but a necessary task.

another change of plans

Mike got to Neels Gap today and will be staying at the hostel there, I got it wrong yesterday, he only got to Woody Gap last night.  He's getting fond of thes hostels after a long day's hike but it also makes the trail experience less authentic for him.  It was cold hiking today 40's to 50's but mostly clear skies. 

Mike got a Sony Reader for the trail before he left.  It's an e-book reader that can store 100's of electronic books that he downloads for free from the library.  In past hikes he carried paperbacks.  The Sony Reader is lighter (even with the integrated light) and gives him a greater variety of reading material. 

He picked up a box of food he'd shipped forward to Neels Gap and now has extra meals to carry forward, since he's been eating order-in food at the hostels.  Now, a meal on the trail consists of a box of mac and cheese or chicken noodle soup so it's not a lot. 

I'm not going to guess at what tomorrow will bring in his hike - we'll just have to wait and see.

Back on the trail

Mike iced and nursed his ankle for a couple days and took off this morning again with new hiking poles (the old ones buckled when he fell) and a taped ankle.  He did the first 5 miles in 4 hours, a couple of MAJOR uphills in cold weather.  The top of the mountains were blanketed in fog.

He culled his pack while recuperating to get rid of some weight.  He's carrying about 35 to 45 lbs.  Every little bit helps when it's just your two feet.

He got as far as Neels Woody Gap today, another 10 miles down the trail.  The Hiker Hostel picks up hikers from there so he'll spend another night with them to rest his ankle more.  Tomorrow he'll be back on the trail and spend the night out there for a few days.

I'm getting ready for Easter dinner with family and guess what...the Easter Bunny left some things here already!