Day 25: April 22, 2022
AT mile 327.7 to 344.3
Hiked: 16.6 miles / 26.7 km
AT miles hiked to date: 15.7%

Each day the trail we hike is becoming more beautiful. Clusters of purple, white, yellow and pink blooms appear more frequently beside the track and the leaf buds on trees are starting to open at the lower elevations.

Today we had about 5 mountain tops to peak including one spot – High Rocks – where we had a good view to the distant peaks. Down from this to a road intersection where we met trail angel Marlene who gave us snacks and a page of poems she has written. Her group is called ‘By the Way Ministry’.

From there we moved on up a hill and then the path wound gently around mountainsides until our lunch spot. After that it was a roller coaster steep up then down 4 or 5 times until the descent towards the town of Erwin where we have a booking in a Super 8 motel.

It was easy to get a ride into town from Uncle Johnny’s hiker hostel (next to the trail) and at the motel we enjoyed a warm shower and used the coin operated laundry to clean our clothes. Food resupply was quite easy as we have only about 3 days until our next stop.

A word about the track – mostly so far the path has been well packed earth with occasional rocky sections, often carpeted with winter leaves and wide and easy to follow. Pleasurable to walk on when dry but converting to slippery mud or streams of water after a day of rain. The gradient, however, has often been steeper than we experienced on previous hikes and very exhausting.