137.5!

Hello hello! I'm really awful at updating this. A lot of things have happened since my last post.

-We crossed into North Carolina! Georgia: check.

They say if you can make it out of Georgia, you can make it the whole way so when we crossed into NC, I suppose I was expecting easy, flat meadows and cheeseburgers at every turn. NAH. Carolina is no joke. The hardest climb yet was right after the border but my God, it's a beautiful state.

-We also crossed the 100-mile mark. The first one hundred miles have really been a learning experience. You learn something new every day - like look where you're stepping or you'll walk right through human shit. My life sucks.

-Jenna and I hiked through the rain... 40 degree rain... 40 degree downpour. We learned very quickly not to do this ever again. Had to stop in a shelter and change clothes/hop in the bags for a few hours. I've never been hypothermic so I have no frame of reference but I can say this: it was balls cold.

Aside from the occasional setback, I'm still having a great time. We've met some wonderful people.

Fresh Ground is a guy who dedicates two weeks of his summer running "Leap Frog Cafe"... just a tent he pops up off the trail and offers hikers free food. He'll then pack up and drive a few hundred miles up the trail just so the same people can run into him again. I'm expecting to see him at Fontana Dam.

The "trail magic" concept is something I really love out here. People will go out of their way just to help you, in their own small way, complete your hike. Jenna and I pulled our first long day and half way through, we found a box labeled "magic" and inside were all kinds of snacks. That rice crispie treat got my ass over the mountain.

These other guys just gave Jenna and I their stove. They were weekend hikers and "wouldn't use it again" ...I wish there were a way to thank them again.

Mumbles, Ice Party, Weesaw, Hyperbole, CJ, Wiffle, and Turtle are some of the regulars we've been hiking with and running into at shelters. You bounce around from hiker bubble to bubble but I hope I get to see these guys again!

Anyway, so far so good. Will post again after the Smokies! Should be rolling in on Mondayish.

Last thing - mail drop! A few of you have asked how you can get packages to me. We'll walk through Hot Springs, NC in a little less than two weeks. You can send whatever to:

Kristen Bacon
C/O Hostel at Laughing Heart Lodge
289 NW 25/70, Hot Springs, NC 28743
Please hold for AT hiker
ETA April 1, 2014

I like letters.

Signing off!