Day 3.. 32.6 miles down

Night 1 - we stayed in Cooper Gap where a wonderful Trail Angel left 4 gallons of water on the trail. I'd been having some knee issues and we were glad to have the trail magic so we didn't have to hike another 3 miles over rough terrain.

Day 2 - After a breakfast of ramen because of the 52 degree weather, we were off towards Woody Gap in search of a ride and a stay at a Hostel. While on our way, we met a few colorful characters. We met Papa C, an older guy who hikes all over Tuscon and refers to the trail as "senseless ups and downs". We meet another kid with red dreads in jeans and cowboy boots. Everyone keeps calling him '6 dollars' on account of he started the trail with only 6$ in his pocket and is relying on the kindness of Trail angels and hiker boxes. The last colorful character we met was a guy called 'Bear Grillis' (some guy couldn't pronounce the name on all of his stuff so this is what he called him) on account of that he bought 700$ worth of Bear Grylls stuff from WalMart. Only in books have we read of  people who bring a machete on the trail. This guy had one worthy of zombie hunting from the walking dead. It had to have been 8lbs alone!! We hiked on and called a gentleman to take us to local Suches for a place to stay. Which also happened to be one of those little general stores you always hear about where people still run tabs and everyone knows everyone. We got pizza and someone left a beer in the fridge which we helped ourselves to.

Day 3 - Today was a rough day. My knee was still acting a little wonky and we had the highest point in Georgia to climb, Blood Mountain (ominous right?!?!). Between Woody Gap and the top of Blood Mountain we were gaining over 2200ft of elevation. 1400 of it was over 2 miles. Did I mention it started to rain?? But we made it. My knee was pissed on the 700 ft 2.4 mile walk down. The Blood Mountain shelter was super cool to see. If we would have had a bear canister, we would have camped there. But them damn bears are too smart! Now we are nestled in to the Mountain crossing Hostel where we were treated to a real home cooked meal. Apparently folks from the local church do this for the hikers. It was pretty funny, I came down the path and in a door looking for the Hostel (Rob was watching our packs) and walked into a room of people. 2 of which just yelled 'food' and pointed to the direction. I dropped my stuff and went to get Rob! I never thought the sight of homemade Mac n Cheese and fresh salad could move me to tears.

We've been so fortunate! Trail angels and Trail magic all days we've been out here! Well, tomorrow we press on and have 2 days of camping before we make it to another town. Keep your fingers crossed and send positive thoughts for my knee. Cause I'm damn sure not ready to go home!