Meet some hikers we've met.
Middle-"Gediup"-flip flop thru-hiker; very joyful and loving every minute of his hiking experience
"Christopher Robin"-NoBo thru-hiker; graduated with a environmental politics degree (if I remember correctly); really nice young man, very outgoing and social
"Biker Dave"-met him on the trail as we were all heading to a hostel
A trail angel-our first hitch! Picked us up when we were hitching to the hostel. Said, "Get in. I know where you're going!"
Left side
"Strides"-NoBo thru-hiker; took a semester off to hike the trail; hikes 3-4 miles per hour with no effort
Right side
Eric & Tina-caretakers at the Blackburn Trail Center; thru-hikers last year; cooked dinner for us; they hiked trail SoBo starting separately but met each other about 1/2 and hiked the rest of the trail together
(Left to right)
"South Side"-NoBo thru-hiker; started hiking with his son (who lost 50 lbs) but is now hiking on his own; originally from Chicago
"Snickers and Energizer Turtle"!
"Yeti"-NoBo thru-hiker; we hear he's a big eater and hasn't really lost any weight to speak of
"Bad Hummus"-NoBo from GA to PA-had to get off the trail to get ready for med school; joyful young man; very social
"Toddy Bear"-NoBo thru-hiker
"Stovie"-NoBo thru-hiker
"Shepherd"-NoBo thru-hiker
The last five started hiking alone but had hooked up and have been hiking together!
Trillion FlowersMay Apple flower
Dan filtering our water.
Our trail angel friend, Billy, came to hike with us for the day. He started hiking with us on the "roller coaster" section of the trail, a 13 mile of 10 ups and downs. He also brought us Subway footlongs and sodas! Thanks, Billy!
Dan hanging our food bag on the bear poles to keep from the bears!
Hangers in the shelters to hang our food bags to keep mice and other critters away from our food!
Some of the critters we've seen on the trail.
geese toad
skunk salamander snake
We've seen other snakes-big black ones but I've been too afraid of them to take a picture of them. I usually back away as Dan shoos them off the trail! What I'm really worried about are the copperheads and rattlesnakes! Those you can't shoo away!
We've seen lots of other animals, too: deer, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, bears.
