Fontana Dam, NC to Garenflo Gap, NC


AT plaque on Springer Mtn

Prologue to Fall 2000 Trip, September 27, 2000

Summer 2000 has been extremely busy, but I still find myself mentally on the trail, enjoying the friendships and the solitude it affords. I've kept up with "Mule-boy" by e-mail. He finished his hike near the James River in northern Virginia. "Cypress" finished at Damascus, but has spent the summer undergoing treatment for Lyme's disease. He apparently got a tick bite somewhere along the way.

I called Monty and Lydia's home in Kentucky in mid-August to see if I could find out how they were doing. I had received a postcard from them from Katahdin. To my surprise Monty answered the phone! It turns out that they had left the trail in Erwin, TN in late June and traveled to Maine. That's why I missed them at Lake Watauga. They summited Mt Katahdin at the end of the first week of July then hiked south through Maine into New Hampshire until the end of July. They then decided to stop for this summer. They are now back in Kentucky evaluating whether to take a new job at a new church.

My planning has continued for the leg from Fontana to Hot Springs, and tomorrow I'm off again. I'm heading to Damascus, VA to finish the section my brother and I started last year, and then on Saturday I'm driving over to Fontana and do the Smokies. My brother and a friend of mine from Raleigh are going to meet me at Davenport Gap next Thursday night.

The weather has been quite warm the last several days, but as another tropical storm has passed through, a cool front has dipped into the Carolinas. The low this morning in the mountains was in the mid-thirties. The highs have approached the mid-sixties. It is gorgeous weather and I can't wait to get started in the morning.


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