Day 7: April 4, 2022
AT mile 69.2 to 85.9
Hiked: 17.3 miles / 27.8 km
AT miles hiked to date: 3.9%

Sitting at the kitchen table this morning we noticed that one of our fellow hikers was opening a pkt of 24 cookies for his breakfast! Later we saw him weigh his pack which was 37 lb and included a 2 litre bottle of Mountain Dew soft drink as well as 2 books! Down the trail a bit one of the other hikers told us that the fellow we nicknamed Mtn Dew was doing his 6th thru hike of the AT. So he obviously knows what he is doing. As the saying goes – “hike your own hike”.

It wasn’t far down the trail before we saw another hiker stopped at a sign which marked the state border. We have completed our hike of Georgia and are now into North Carolina.

Every so often the trail drops down to a gap between mountains and where the highway can pass through. Twice today we met a lady with her young child who was waiting to support her hiking husband but also had a trunk full of food and drink that she offered to all passing hikers.

One concern today has been the thought of the storms that have been forecast to hit tomorrow. We plan to get started early and hike as far as we can – hopefully reaching a shelter before the rain. It seems that wet weather is typical of the AT. What was not typical or expected was the sight of a long line of smoke on the mountains just to the west of us. We were relieved to hear that this is just a planned burn off, timely with the expected rain ahead.