Letters

We received letters written on various scraps of paper today. I'll start with June 4 because that is when they started hiking.

June 4

Said goodbye to all the wedding people-met Leslie at the airport. Left Atlanta around 2 after having our last meal at Doc Green's. Loz had a chicken sandwich and I had salad. Found Amilacola State Park by 4 --> official departure time 16:17, by 16:32-sweat dripping down our faces. Light sprinkles. 88 = beautiful hiking weather.

Cont.

Got to the peak of Springer Mt. just as the sun set. Absolutely breathtaking. A "strenuous" 7.5 miles took us roughly 4 hours. We arrived at the shelter/campsite at 9:00 pm - there are 2 tenting groups nearby. Awesome bear bag setup is provided as this is a high-risk bear area. We're the only ones in the shelter and it has a sweet loft only accessible by ladder. Going to bed early to stay warm. It's quite breezy here atop the Mts. Not to much pain. Loz - 10, Jenga-10 (rating trail days on 1-10)

June 5

Monday. Woke up with the sunrise after a rather sleepless night. No real problems- a few mice, real windy and cold and a hard wooden ground. Decided that by 6:30 AM we might as well get a move on. Ate, cleaned up, rolled out by 7:45 en route to Gooch Mtn. By 11:30 we had run across or into 29 people. Stopped at Black Hawk Shelter at 11:30 and met Greg from NY- Laura gave him the trail name "pinky" because of his pink floyd t-shirt and he's hung/hiked with us all day. Nice guy. We made 14.7 miles or so by 5:00 easy. The people count for today is up to 36 and still could increase. Other noteable interaction- met a college gal named Keri and her black dog. She should make it here tonight and plans to be on the trail for 2 and a half months. "Pinky" is headed to NY and has roughly 3 months.

June 6

Got up before sunrise this AM- rekindled a fire some people had had the night before- Laura and I headed out by 7. Met up with Pinky not too far down. Hiked 5 miles to Woody Gap with garbage cans and picnic area. Laura's knee's been bugging her, but she is keeping up a pretty decent pace. Finally saw some beautiful vistas this morning- its still a bit chilly- any time we stop I have to pull on a jacket to stay warm. Shooting for 9+ more miles today if Laura's knee holds up.

Cont.

Well- we did end up making it to Blood Mtn. But when we got there, 20 ROTC highschool guys had already claimed the shelter. So, since it was only 5 pm we decided to trek back down the Mtn to Neels Gap. (FYI-Blood Mtn is 44 el' high.) Quite a trek. Loz's knee is still troubling her-but we're staying in a hostel at Neels Gap and she found a free elbow brace to use around her knee. We all took showers- much needed although our laundry tomorrow will probably not get done and therefore we'll smell as soon as we get dressed. I forgot to mention that we saw a mother turkey and 3 baby turkeys yesterday. Also- Pinky decided he would change his name to "Pink Fire" the name of a beautiful type of wildflower we see daily. Anyways- he kept up with us all day and has proven to be a wonderful traveling companion. Who knows what tomorrow brings though- he's heading into town to restock tomorrow and we're headed slowly up the trail. A few minor blisters, aches and pains but nothing unbearable. We're having a blast. Miss you all! Love, Jenga

Cont.

PS- it's been really hard to introduce myself by another name. I feel really weird and Laura (Loz) sometimes calls me Lauren by accident. I do the same to her. But is was really neat tonight when twice, Pink Fire called me "Jenga". I think it'll grow on me. It's funny how I'm sitting in the hostel right now and the sun just went down (meaning its 9:00) and I am totally ready for bed. By 6:30 AM tomorrow though I'll be up and hopefully moving. I think we're gonna hang around here till 8:30 at least because that's when the store opens and we can buy some bread and hopefully mail home this first batch of pictures and letters. Ah- I must also make a comment about the weather. It has been unbelievably beautiful every single day thus far. Wow. I've never seen more blue skies. Up at the higher elevations its quite breezy and I usually get a chill from just sitting down for a few minutes while hiking. It makes for great temps during the day with all the P.U.D.S (pointless ups and downs) but at night it gets down right chilly. I slept with all my clothes on last night, and my rain coat on top of me and I was still kept awake from the cold. Hopefully as we progress the nights will get warmer and my body will adjust to the cool night air. Well- it is just about time for me to hit the hay too. So far, so good. Lovin' every minute of it. We're lookin' out for each other- no worries mum. Love, Jenga
* the picture memory card fell out of the envelope while it was mailing, thus, no pictures. What a tragedy, however, she might be able to recover some from either Loz or Pink Flame, depending on if either of them have cameras along.