A Wonderful Week 3

Hey everyone, I'm still walking, yeah! This week has gone much better than the last. The weather has been great and the hiking tough, but my body and mind are finally syncing with the lifestyle as a hiker bum. 

Some of the most important things I've learned after 3 weeks is to love your feet, do those stretches, eat as much as you can when you can, stay hydrated, always take advantage of a shower or laundry and most importantly, hike your own hike (hyoh). 

Hike your own hike is something you hear alot and it seems easy enough of an idea. But until you get out here you don't really know what that means. 

The first week or so I was filled with so much nervous energy and hiking at rates that were just too fast or even too long at some points. I was enjoying myself but not as much as I could be. But now I've learned that I like to wake up slow and early in the morning, take a leisure hike for the first hour while I eat breakfast and then pick up the pace as my body warms up and the sun heats the chilly mountains. Then usually in the afternoon I'll run into a group of people and hike with them for the rest of the day.

I'd say the biggest achievement of this week is that I've crushed my usual shyness or anti-social behavior and have been making friends up and down the trail.

Tom and Beckman should be here at Fontana dam in the next hour or so and we'll hit the Smokies tomorrow. Excited to see some familiar faces. 

Sorry for the short post but it's tough to do this all on a phone. 😃  

Happy trails everyone.