271 miles and 23 days into our AT adventure! As we up the mileage to 15-20 miles a day were more tired, but were getting stronger as the days go by. A couple years ago, we remember hiking in the Whites, NH and complaining that the Appalachian Trail did not go over enough mountains. Hah!! That was a riduculous assumption. We have gone over more mountains than most people climb in a lifetime and were only 1/10th ish of the way to Maine. But the mountains are beautiful and the wildflowers are all in full bloom, pulling us forward!
Happy Easter! On Easter Sunday we were met by two trail angels who gave us fresh fruit! It was our first apple in weeks. We were inspired by their tales of completing the trail and their generosity in giving back to other thru hikers. Later on that day we talked to a fellow thru hiker who overheard a tourist tell the trail angels "Wow we had no idea that there was such a large population of homeless people in this town." LOL, yes, we may look grungy, but were not homeless. The trail is just our home for the next couple of months.
As we hike more miles each day we get to see new people. We're always excited to see other girls on the trail, since the girl to guy ratio is rather biased towards guys. However we're keeping pace. After passing quite a few hikers one day, a thru hiker commented "Wow, you guys hike fast for girls! You guys hike like guys." So we're keeping up and crushing a few egos as we pass some Macho male thru hikers:)
Hot Springs is the first town with a real grocery store, since leaving Springer Mountain, GA. So needless to say Becky and I were very excited about seeing town. Becky nearly fell off the trail in excitement, while Amanda day dreamed about every building full of fresh vegetables and cereal. Most hikers are craving beer and hamburgers as they exit the trail, but we have more unique cravings. Becky's been looking forward to grilled salmon and sweet potato chips, which she may never actually get and Amanda craves Cinnamon chex rice cereal and fresh raw vegetables, yum!! The last two days before a resupply we mostly talk about food; it gets pretty ridiculous:) We made the mistake of going to the grocery store as soon as we got into town and ended up buying two huge bags of groceries and ate all of it in one evening! Wow "the hiker hunger" is a real thing. You can eat 1000 cals in one sitting and an hour later feel hungry again. Haha.
Hope you all are doing well!!
Best,
Amanda and Becky
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