The Approach Trail to Springer Mtn is worth skipping and leaving for a nice day hike later on. Just my opinion. Or if you want to do it, get dropped off at the top of the falls at Amicalola. Skip the stairs. They suck.

Before I start a post, I need everyone to think/pray for my friend Connie. We went to college together and were roomates for a year before she graduated. She was pregnant with triplets. Just about the time that Ashleigh was born I found out she was having triplets and that it had been touch and go and she could deliver early like Asheligh was. I just read her blog post and she has lost all three of the babies, two born alive to later pass and another stillborn. All with names and teeny tiny weights. She has a nearly six year old son who was desperately wanting a brother (all…

Well, we have made the first 30 miles. I’ll be semi-brief. The Approach Trail kinda sucked. The last mile it started sleeting hard up to Springer. We stayed for about 15 minutes on the top where a ridge runner was taking a poll of hikers and he told us we could make it to Stover Creek about 2.5 miles downhill..WOO! The downhill was nice. We stayed there that night with a bunch of other hikers and a group of Scouts who were too prepared and carried too much weight. It snowed a little bit while making dinner. We headed out of Stover Creek the next morning and walked a nice…

So, here we are in Georgia. I didn’t think I’d post again but Chris grabbed the laptop at the last minute this morning so he could download more maps tonight. We’ll send it back with my dad tomorrow. We left Texas at 5am and I slept through East Texas and Louisiana. It was smooth sailing the majority of the way until my dad decided he needed a Starbucks fix in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and when we turned off onto the road we realized the entire Crimson Tide was leaving for Spring Break to Panama City. Then, that same Crimson Tide decided to have about five wrecks on I-20 backing us up…

Today is the last day at home. We’re both feeling better and have decided to keep our start date for Saturday, though it appears it’ll be dreary with some rain. We’re heading out tomorrow to drive to Georgia; my dad and uncle are driving us out. They will drop us off sometime on Saturday morning and we’ll make our way up the 8 mile Approach Trail to the start of the Appalachian Trail on top of Springer Mountain. I started dreaming about the trail the other night. Somehow it involved a sister species to the roseate spoonbill, a darker red bird that only lived in Maine and along a few…

Last Thursday we went to the Ft. Worth Botanic Garden for a walk about the garden. I love this garden because it is free to get into and it has a lot of open space for picnicking and lazing about if that is what you are into. Many of the spring bulbs were up and in bloom and I loved these hellebore’s. See–I am trying to learn other plants! I ended up getting over the sinus infection crap for the most part, but Chris came down with it bad over the weekend. As of now we are still on for the weekend, but we’re taking it day by day to…

Despite being sick and tied to the couch watching movies all day long, I am getting excited. We had hoped to go hiking at least once while we were in Dallas this week, but I wanted to lay low until I got better. Chris ventured out today to the Heard Museum a stomping ground of his youth (I’ve been once, way back when we were dating in high school or college) to take some photos. He ended up spotting some trout lilies, flowers we had planned on trying to find while hiking around the DFW metroplex while we were here. We will try to go back next week so I…

I started coming down with what I thought to be a cold but now think is a sinus infection late last week. It has since knocked me down and I’ve been hibernating in my in-laws movie room watching all sorts of chick flicks and BBC America for Dr. Who. It isn’t pleasant; I’m sick and officially have no insurance. It ended yesterday. The good part was finding out that the Minute Clinic at CVS is only around $60 for a visit for a cold related type things and if all they are prescribing are antibiotics and cough medicine, then you could escape a doctors visit for under $100. Health insurance…