Picture Post!

A few days after leaving Hot Springs NC, we've gotten hit with the mother of all snowstorms. I managed to cover fewer than 9 miles in 6 hours of hiking today. Elevations above 3500 feet have seen 10-14 inches of snow with heavy drifting. I ended up slogging through knee-high snow all day with drifts up to my waist. The next few sections of trail reach above 5500 feet, where a few southbounders told me that the drifts were above their heads. When somebody who's been on the trail for nearly 2000 miles and hiked through the winter tells you to run for town, you run for town.

What that means for the purposes of this blog is that I have time on my hands for the next few days until the snow melts enough that the trail is slightly passable, which means I can upload pictures!

The view from Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the AT

From Standing Indian Mountain, the first big climb of North Carolina and the first peak over 5000 feet on the trail

Do I look like an adventurer?

North Carolina: not exactly politically correct

Fontana Lake in the early morning taken from the dam; one of just 3 or 4 nice sunny days we've had

Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the AT. Please ignore the unsightly distraction in the green rain jacket

Max Patch bald. It was a perfectly clear day and you could see all the way to the horizon. Then those pretty puffy white clouds decided to turn evil and dump 4 inches of snow on me while I was sleeping in the shelter that night. Temps plummeted below zero by the next morning.