Camped under the stars in my hammock! It's perfect weather, 70 clear and breezy daytime, 50 at night... No rain yet. Cindy at Start Trail Angels (and hosts of Boots Off Hostel, Hampton, TN) who watched my stuff while I slack-packed the first mile. Tonya fm FL who I'm met on the way to this beautiful waterfall... she last me like I was standing still!
Meet the Fickley family... Thomas, Natalie and their 5 boys (ages 2-8) and baby girl! I don't even know how to begin sharing about the AMAZING generosity theses guys showed, but here goes... Several times, Thomas drove an hour on very steep roads to take me to and from Reids Gap. The first day, he literally rescued me after a 21 mile hike from hell. He was incredibly flexible despite my being almost 3 hrs late. Natalie is a SUPERB cook!!! Her brothers had done the trail years ago, so she even knew to order me my own large pizza! Thomas let me drink all his beer and grills a mean steak! The boys lavished me with praise for every magic trick... and you know how shy I am? They were so excited to show me all their Lego Star Wars projects. They have enough models to film the entire series! After a MUCH needed Zero Day, Thomas returned me to Reids Gap so I could slack pack the last 19 miles to Rockfish Gap where he then picked me up. The next morning (after consuming mass quantiti...
Spent the entire day chilling with Yogi, Squirrelly and Forest Lore'ist (see D49 post). She had shoes too small but got new ones today! The 3 call themselves Fellowship of the Oak. Wish I had half their energy! Here we are with Sprocket, caretaker (and Den Mother) for 4 Pines Hostel. It's like a commune and was a great place to spend 3 nights. I even made everyone waffles this morning. ... using eggs from their chickens!
Trillium, my wife's favorite Smoky Mountains flower.
ReplyDelete