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Dear family and friends,
I'm now at Fontana Dam North Carolina, the southern
end of Smoky Mountain National Park. The trail
through North Carolina was beautiful - mountains over
5000', gaps down to 1700'. Views of mountains through
the trees from high ridges, occasional splendid
overlooks and fire towers. A cold front moved in on
4/12 bringing violent thunderstorms. On the night of
4/13 we received 1 1/2" of snow with lows around 25
deg. Water bottles froze but we stayed warm packed
together in a three sided shelter. On 4/14 we walked
through a winter wonderland of snow and hoarfrost,
with sun occasionally illuminating the frosty scene.
On 4/15 the weather began to warm and soon the snow
was gone. The last couple of days have been warm and
sunny with splendid drifts of many species of
wildflowers in the gaps: white yellow and purple
trilliums, white anemones, white yellow and purple
violets, white bloodroot, miniature irises, trout
lilies, and more.
Have continued walking with Andante, the ophthalmologist
from Maine. Enjoying this trail friendship.
Taking a "nero" day (near zero miles) here at Fontana
Village Resort. the place is almost vacant at this
time of year but offers very inexpensive rooms and All
You Can Eat (AYCE) buffets, very important to hikers!
Tomorrow on to the Smokies.
Meeting many wonderful people on the trail, but they
move in and out of my life in a few days due to
different walking speeds. A microcosm of our regular
lives.
My trail name is Raven, due to an interesting
encounter with three ravens on the second day of the
trip. Also had curious meetings with ravens on
several earlier trips. It is sort of my totem animal.
Another wonderful Trail Magic experience yesterday.
Came down out of the mountains to the road by Fontana
Dam to find a father and son with a grill set up. The
son, Burger, thru-hiked the trail last year and wants
to give back for all the trail magic and support he
received. He prepared a cache of all the food he
craved on the trail - hamburgers and hot dogs, chips,
pop, gatorade, cookies. Burger is an Eagle Scout and
his Dad a Scouter, so we had a lot to talk about. He
started his hike 2 days after graduating from college,
and will start a job with the EPA in May.
That's all for now. Thinking of you all from the AT.
Best wishes,
Dave (Raven)