Answering a few questions... well, maybe more than a few....

In the last few days I have spent time with some people that I love and I seem to answer the same questions a lot... not that I mind, its just that people are curious.  It's funny to me because the questions people have aren't things I have even thought about.  SO, this here blog entry is just factual.  No extra deep thoughts... just a few things people have asked so I thought I would clarify.  ALSO, I'll still answer any questions, so if you have more ask them next time you see me.  If there is one thing that I love right now it is talking about hiking... since I can't actually BE hiking, I can talk about it.  =)  And we all know I love to talk!

Here's some answers for you....

# of Days I was gone:  47

# of Days I hiked:  41

Where I started:  Springer Mountain in Amicola State Park, Georgia

Where I finished:  Mt Roger's Ranger Station/Visitor Center near Marion, VA

# of trail miles hiked: 528

Most miles hiked in a day: 21.5

Average pack weight with 4 days of food and some water:  31(ish) pounds I think

Food I ate the most on the trail:  Ramen, ramen, tuna, and more ramen… oh and snickers and poptarts

Food I ate most in town:  PANCAKES, bacon cheeseburgers, ice cream and bbq

Favorite part of the trail to hike:  Grayson Highlands and the Smokies (even though it was cold, it was an awful lot of laughs and fun!), plus a couple amazing rock ridges that I climbed over were BEAUTIFUL (and we all know I like to climb over rocks to start with!)

Favorite surprise:  When the storm clouds broke just before I fell asleep on Cheoah Bald and Pat told me to come watch the sunset over the valley… and it was amazing.

Best Trail Magic:  Diet Dr. Pepper from the Baptist Church, it fueled my very fast and VERY obnoxious final 3 miles of a 21 mile day… and Iowa didn’t try to kill me (although he may have tried to run away from my hyperactive ridiculousness!)

Least favorite moment:  Saying goodbye on my last morning… and going to bed AND waking up shivering multiple nights in the Smokies.

Scariest Moment:  When I fell… and it was really just scary to others, it wasn’t as scary to me until after I realized I had lived!

Biggest laugh:  Listening to Uncle Rey and Iowa insult each other, while in separate tents in the rain… and walking with Iowa while he sang/quoted Napoleon Dynamite/told me “Gingers have souls.”

# of days I hiked all day in the rain:  1

# of times I cried: 0!

# of toenails lost:  one

# of blisters:  LOTS, and lots of duck tape used to cover them!

# of times I made fun of people getting lost: LOTS

# of times I was really lost: 2

Wildlife I saw:  lots of turkeys, 1 little mouse (in town!), chipmunks out the wazoo, deer, snakes, salamanders, lots o' wild ponies, and 2 bears.

# of times I told people I smelled bad:  MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!

# of times they agreed:  Every single one!

# of weird, weird people out hiking the AT:  Way too many

# of normal people out hiking the AT:  do normal people walk hundreds of miles?  I mean, honestly?

# of people I would go find right now and hike with for another 1500 miles: 2, for sure.

Where did I sleep:  In my tent as much as possible and in shelters when tenting wasn't an option or it was going to rain (carrying a wet tent is crummy).

How did I cook:  I have a little stove and fuel canister, but I only cooked dinner and it was usually ramen!

Where did I shower:  In town... every 5 or so days... hence the smell.  =)

Bathrooms?  Privies sometimes and sometimes trees... you can't be picky!

Did I lose weight?  Yep... apparently eating lots of candy and pop tarts is evened out by walking for 8-10 hours a day over mountains... who knew?!

There you have it... probably more than you want to know, but that's what you get.  =)