02 – North Carolina
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Two of our trail friends, known as Torch and Backyard Boogie
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At 5 ft. x 8 ft., it’s not much, but we call it home!
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Sunset at our campsite on 3-18-11 – EVERYONE pulled out their cameras!
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Mike’s toes at their worst, he was using lots of moleskin and bandage tape
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Loaded up and ready to go (I’ve since then ditched the blue closed-cell foam mattress and bought a more comfy but slightly heavier Thermarest)
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Looks like a spot where Kirk, Spock and Bones (and the poor fourth guy) are about to beam in
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Melissa with Pickle, Caboose and Upstate
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A blue blaze marks a side trail, usually to a shelter, campsite or water source.
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There are real bathrooms atop Wayah Bald – even handicapped accessible!
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View from the top of John B. Byrne Memorial Tower on Wayah Bald
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The John B. Byrne Memorial Tower, recently refurbished
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2009 thru-hiker “Sniper” (woman left of center) provided passing hikers excellent food and drinks as they hiked past. A great time to stop, rest and enjoy the food, drink and cameraderie. (L to R: 3 unknown section hikers, Sniper, Hazard, Click!, Forget-Me-Not, Filly and Tom)
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Mike & Mel (a.k.a. Long Time and Click!) on the tower at Wesser Bald (near Franklin, NC)
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We were just behind Forget-Me-Not and Filly hiking into the NOC where there is an outfitter shop, canoe and kayak rentals and classes, restaurant, general store, cabins, showers and laundry. We had breakfast here, showered, did our laundry and moved on!
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This shelter with a loft sleeps up to 12. It’s one of only two we’ve slept in so far (we usually tent). (3 Cups of Tea at left, Trash Can on bottom level, Hydro, Filly and Forget-Me-Not on upper level)
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After a laundry mishap wrecked my zip-off’s leg zipper, duct tape did the trick for a few days. (I’ve since replaced the pants.)
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We awoke to a bit of snow on Friday, March 25th.
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We spents two nights here, one was a planned rest, the next was so we’d be staged for Jeff to shuttle us to the Asheville Airport at 6 AM so we could get home to the family.
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The lake behind Fontana Dam, the tallest U.S. dam east of the Rockies (built mainly for hydroelectric power)
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Fontana Lake
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Near the Fontana Dam parking lot, this shelter got its nickname of “Fontana Hilton” since it sleeps 24 and has flush toilets and showers nearby! We’ll be re-starting our hike from here when we return to the trail.
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The “Fontana Hilton” shelter, where we restarted our hike after our trip back to Rochester.
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Signs along the road across Fontana Dam (toward the Great Smoky Mountains National Park)
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The Fontana Dam was built pre-WWII by the TVA, primarily so Alcoa could have more power to produce aluminum for aircraft manufacturing.
(back on-line)
your pix are amazing !!
thanks for taking us w/ you
how close to planned time schedule?
(hope twinkle-toes healing)
wondering: where would be nice place to
party/meet once you get further north?
happy trails…
We were about 2 days behind our original plan when we had to leave the trail. Once we’re back on (Tuesday), we’ll be about 13-14 days behind.
Where to meet when we’re up north? Well, there’s so much time to plan for that! Have a look at the map (you can find it in the right-hand column of our home page) and let us know what’s good for you! Thanks, the toes are good now!
– Mike