Finally hitting our stride!

Well, we made it through the smokies with no rain, almost :) The last mile of the smokies it started to rain on us! That seems pretty good, I have never heard of that good of weather there before! It was a really big climb coming out of the smokies, but it was well worth the climb at the top of Snowbird Mountain. The 360 degree view was amazing!! While coming off of Snowbird Mountain, I (Tricks) kept hearing something behind me but every time i looked, there was nothing there. I was getting a little nervous and about to say something to Aquaman, when he turned around and said, "There is a dog behind you".  Haha what is it with these dogs finding me?? He followed us for about 6 miles, he was a good little hiking dog.  We named him Rambles.  We were going to tie a rope to him and keep him but he ran off with another hiker. I hope he found his way home! The next days weather was a totally different story.  We woke up and it was just sprinkling, we started hiking and got to the top of the ridge and we got pounded by the storm! That is one place you do not want to be in a storm, so we ran :). We were still having sideline rain with heavy winds while going over Max Patch (which is a bald with beautiful views that we have been really looking forward to..) Needless to say, we didn't see a thing.  In the last couple of days, we have caught up to a few of the people that we were hiking with before, but no one from our "group". If we don't catch up with them, we will see them again at Trail Days, which is coming up really soon!  Still no bears... :( We still have about a week and a half to see one though! We took a couple days off in Hot Springs, NC to relax.  We deserved it, we did a 23 mile day to get here :).  There are a lot of cool people in this town, it is a good place to stay.  We will be heading back out on the trail in the morning (Tuesday). Our next stop will be Erwin, TN, in about 4 to 5 days. So if anyone was planning on sending any packages, hurry :). We love and miss you all, Thank you for all your support in our journey!  See you all soon!

                                                  Beautiful forest in the Smokies

                                               Aquaman and Tricks on Charlies Bunion

                                                       Suds frying bacon for dinner :)

                                                    This was the end of the Smokies

                                                       Rambles, our four legged friend

                                                    View from Snowbird Mountain