Franklin, NC May 19th

Two nights ago we made camp at the Standing Indian shelter. It was a very chilly night, and the fear of bears were certainly on our minds. There were no cables to hang the bear bags so we strung up a line ourselves. I set up my tent for the second time this whole trip at Standing Indian. I haven't had to set up my tent that often because i have had a shelter to sleep in almost every night. It was a windy one so i set up my tent. We made a campfire and played the guitar till our eyes got tired. We woke up, hit the trails and set forward for a good day of hiking. We heard there were reports of rain but we didn't see any precipitation in the morning. The terrain was flat and easy, it was a really good morning with views as far as the eye could see at 5,200 feet. We were walking through a dense pack of rhododendron when we saw a magnificent view of Georgia and North Carolina. It really made all the hard hiking worth it. My ankle is hurting me a little but not enough to stop me from going on. After a big morning of hiking about 12 miles the rain was slowing us down and we were in the need of more food. We wanted to stop at Franklin to get the resupply and laundry. We decided to stay the night in town. Dave, the motel's driver, picked us up and we headed for Haven's Budget Inn. The place is nice, but any place that has a shower and pizza close by is my kinda place these days. We realized on the trail that one can't really understand the true value of a slice of pizza unless they are hiking the Appalachian Trail. We decided to take a zero day today because Doug's hip his hurting him and Dave and I need a rest on our legs. We finally made it to the 100 mile mark and are exited about it. Tomorrow we hope to hike up Wayah Mountain and see some really good views and move on to our next resupply in Fontana Dam, NC right before the Smokie Mountains.
- Rolex