Greetings!! i really don't know why my title is always in sanskrit...it must be a sign.
i must make this quick will write more later. entered north carolina 3 days ago. hit 100 miles today....107 to be excact.....we are cruisin..but by no means rushing. i was thinking about henry david thorough...he said something like , 'i live where i am, or where ever i am is where i live" it couldn't be more true, it seems to be the most true thing. all is well in the land of Many Names...had great trail magic today. ran into two guys off the trail named Gatorade and Fishin Fred..they were grilling grilled cheese over a fire and had hot coffee...they saw my guitar and said they'd trade a sandwich for a song, i said 'good trade' and i got 2 sandwiches, ha ha, they were great! been mostly hiking with huck finn and too tall....tonight is too tall's last night he was only section hiking so we came into town for the last hurrah, going to resupply and send a maildrop to pick up right before entering the smokies in less than a week..not sure when i can update, hopefully before smokies...i will try to write better...there's so much to say
it sort of snowed the other night up at 4600 ft it was wierd snow that looked like coconut flakes...rhine ice?? all the trees looked as if from a mystical land it was awsome until trying to sleep and soo @#$#$%cold!!!! beautiful sun next day. reached a summit, standing indian moutain...grassy top amazing views, we took lunch and sweet siesta and moseyeed on along....okay, i really have to go.....
love you all!! peace
Many Names (melinda)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
रोक्किन' थे अत इन जार्जिया !!!!
Greetings Ya'll!!...if, for some reason, the title is in Thai...i don't know why..but it just came out that way. if not...don't worry about it.
Anyway....so far, after only a week the trail has been a wicked awsome adventure. i started at amicalola falls state park where dave, tica and i camped out, got my pack all over packed and set out friday march 20. hiked 7.3 miles to the summit of springer mountain where the trail actually begins where i was greeted by a fellow thru hiker, ramble-on, and his friends having a champagne toast send off.
first couple of days were super hard, putting in only about 7.8-7.3 miles. my pack was really heavy and my muscles were super sore.....but so was every ones so i wasn't alone. but beautiful weather first 4 days, i couldn't have asked for a better beginning. i've met a bunch of people, most with trail names, such as.... Huck Finn, Too Tall, Wild Bill(yes, there's a wild bill on the trail too!), Rock, sunchaser, sunshine mc happy pants, magma orphan, tree beard, spring peeper, gov't mule, Z, coyote, ect. My trail name is Many Names, short for "she who has many names" for some reason, my second night out, at a shelter, some folks there deemed it muy important that i get a name and were giving me a time cuz my pack was so wieghted, wanting to call me,"heavy', then at dinner time, i busted out my magickal bag of many condiments..and so..'condiment girl' and so it went on and on(i can't even remember the other names i got) until it was..'she who has many names'...which seems appropriate to me, not just on the trail..
we also have a friend named mary poppins...he has a magical umbrella in his pack. .......but he dissapeared
stopped at neels gap where the trail goes right tru an outfitter shop, they take your pack apart with you and tell you what you need and don't to get your pack weight down...i lost a lot of weight and was able to keep with me, my backpacker guitar which is awsome(thanks dave!)...been playing a little. they also had free burgers, showers and laundry(not free)!!!!
then the rain...the days blend, hiking in the rain, wet clothes, wet tent, wet sleeping bag....freezing the but off...yet, strangly...still having the best time..today, with a lake in my boots singing all the way down,(not up,too hard too sing going up a mountain) and now at a hotel in Hiawassee with some fellow hikers, showered up, our tents set up in our room, sleeping bags hanging from the curtain rod, a makeshift clothes line across the room...just got back from all you can eat buffett where we saw about 20 other hikers with the same idea..... sweet
will be back on the trail sunday maybe around noon, and will soon be in north carolina! hope the boots are dry by then
oh..i almost forgot...been a lot of bears around so we hang 'bear bags'..hanging your food bag from a tree so the bears can't get it. at a campsite shared with several friends, one group hung there bags the proper way, and the rest of us made a real sh*t show about hanging ours..i was worried about it in the night and was up half the night listening for bears. so morning comes and our bags are still hanging, yet our friends' has been apprehended torns to shreds, left only the bag, an apple, and a jar of peanut butter that i guess he couldn't open...well they handled it like champs..just hitched to town to resupply and caught right up to us and we just had dinner with them! Hmmmm
Anyway...life is good, so happy to be on the trail...loving all the people, couldn't really ask for more right about now
Peace and much love to all!!!
melinda 'many names'
Anyway....so far, after only a week the trail has been a wicked awsome adventure. i started at amicalola falls state park where dave, tica and i camped out, got my pack all over packed and set out friday march 20. hiked 7.3 miles to the summit of springer mountain where the trail actually begins where i was greeted by a fellow thru hiker, ramble-on, and his friends having a champagne toast send off.
first couple of days were super hard, putting in only about 7.8-7.3 miles. my pack was really heavy and my muscles were super sore.....but so was every ones so i wasn't alone. but beautiful weather first 4 days, i couldn't have asked for a better beginning. i've met a bunch of people, most with trail names, such as.... Huck Finn, Too Tall, Wild Bill(yes, there's a wild bill on the trail too!), Rock, sunchaser, sunshine mc happy pants, magma orphan, tree beard, spring peeper, gov't mule, Z, coyote, ect. My trail name is Many Names, short for "she who has many names" for some reason, my second night out, at a shelter, some folks there deemed it muy important that i get a name and were giving me a time cuz my pack was so wieghted, wanting to call me,"heavy', then at dinner time, i busted out my magickal bag of many condiments..and so..'condiment girl' and so it went on and on(i can't even remember the other names i got) until it was..'she who has many names'...which seems appropriate to me, not just on the trail..
we also have a friend named mary poppins...he has a magical umbrella in his pack. .......but he dissapeared
stopped at neels gap where the trail goes right tru an outfitter shop, they take your pack apart with you and tell you what you need and don't to get your pack weight down...i lost a lot of weight and was able to keep with me, my backpacker guitar which is awsome(thanks dave!)...been playing a little. they also had free burgers, showers and laundry(not free)!!!!
then the rain...the days blend, hiking in the rain, wet clothes, wet tent, wet sleeping bag....freezing the but off...yet, strangly...still having the best time..today, with a lake in my boots singing all the way down,(not up,too hard too sing going up a mountain) and now at a hotel in Hiawassee with some fellow hikers, showered up, our tents set up in our room, sleeping bags hanging from the curtain rod, a makeshift clothes line across the room...just got back from all you can eat buffett where we saw about 20 other hikers with the same idea..... sweet
will be back on the trail sunday maybe around noon, and will soon be in north carolina! hope the boots are dry by then
oh..i almost forgot...been a lot of bears around so we hang 'bear bags'..hanging your food bag from a tree so the bears can't get it. at a campsite shared with several friends, one group hung there bags the proper way, and the rest of us made a real sh*t show about hanging ours..i was worried about it in the night and was up half the night listening for bears. so morning comes and our bags are still hanging, yet our friends' has been apprehended torns to shreds, left only the bag, an apple, and a jar of peanut butter that i guess he couldn't open...well they handled it like champs..just hitched to town to resupply and caught right up to us and we just had dinner with them! Hmmmm
Anyway...life is good, so happy to be on the trail...loving all the people, couldn't really ask for more right about now
Peace and much love to all!!!
melinda 'many names'
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