AT = Certified F.O.O.S.H

Not sure what is happening to me, but I am starting to feel like my old self again. Just got back from another backpack trip and it was GREAT! We hiked a portion of the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Hot Springs, NC and I felt like a foosh! (fat out of shape hiker) hahaha! But you know what, I was grinning from ear to ear b/c I was HIKING THE AT!! I won't lie, it was tough. We started the hike along the French Broad River and it was pretty much flat for 1/2 mile. Then it started going up, up, and up after that. This picture was taken from Lovers Leap outlook, (river below.) We backpacked with Rock Star and Cubby, who were really good at waiting for us and not making us feel like total losers. We started hiking around 2pm, after a thunderstorm (which we waited out at the local outfitters) and hiked about 6 and 1/2 miles b/f we set up a stealth camp site after Tanyards Gap. We were exhausted. After dinner we went straight to bed and tried to sleep through another thunderstorm. The next morning we made breakfast (oatmeal and left over beef jerky) and Cubby tried to tell us that he thought a black bear came into camp. He maybe on to something, b/c SS7 had thrown an apple into the woods earlier that night. Anyways, we hit the trail at 8am. It was all up hill til Rich Mountain. My goal was to get to the tower atop Rich Mountain, which was an additional 1/2 mile up hill side trail. Totally worth it. We were rewarded with an amazing "smokey mt." view. Took a 30 minute rest break and split a protein bar a liter of water with Double S7 (or SS7, as in Slow and Steady 7 miler). It started to sprinkle and from the look of the clouds, we knew the sky was about to open up on us. We hiked the 1/2 mile back down to the AT, hiked down to the connecting trail (Roundtop) and hiked the last 4 miles back down to Hot Springs. Yeah, it rained on us, but boy did it feel good. We got back to the car, changed into dry clothes and flip flops, then headed to the Paddlers Pub for our reward. " A giant buffalo burger." We topped it off with some bunny track ice cream from Sweet Imaginations cafe and went home some happy campers. Total mileage for this trip was 14 miles.