All our stuff was soaked - so we hung it out to dry. We each had enough dry clothes to wear and we just climbed into our sleeping bags to rough it through the night. It was a rough rough night - its scary when there is a portion of the night when you can't stop shivering! I felt little mice feet scampering about, I swear one crawled over my head at one point in the night. How they are freezing to death I don't know! We could literally hold a shirt sideways and it would stay formed- everything was frozen. We were so grateful for dry clothes and dry sleeping bags - we could have been in serious trouble. All the green from the trees had turned to ice overnight. Then we step out of the stone shelter onto the mountain top, to realize we were seeing the TOPS of the white puffy clouds and just the tips of other mountains across the way!! We had to hike out 2 miles down to Neels Gap, GA, our first stop in civilization since we started. We were able to get a bunk for $15 in the Walasi-Yi Center hostel. We "regrouped" - showered, did laundry, hung out with and got to know other hikers. The Mountain Crossings Outfitters helps you "Shakedown" your pack to get rid of stuff you really don't need to be carrying. Combined between the two of us we were able to send 20 lbs. worth of stuff home! It felt GREAT! There was a writer from Backpacker Magazine there writing an article on AT hikers who quit within the first week - he did interview us - but sorry, we weren't going to be one of the quitters! :-)

We were able to set up our tarp over our tent this morning in the rain. It gave us shelter to eat breakfast under, and a much easier way of taking down the tent - allowing it to stay pretty much dry. It started raining so hard - we just kept pushing on in the rain -"Keep on Swimming!" We would tease, hiking uphill, you feel your calves burn, and then your wet sock squishes in your shoe -- "Burn, squish, burn squish!!". All we had were windbreakers - so we were pretty much soaked through within two hours. We made it to Woodshole Shelter by 4 and decided to move on- the shelter was built in a poor position - all the wind and rain went directly into the shelter. We continued on through a brief thunderstorm and sideways rain - craziness. And then the sun comes out, and all the green rhododendrens glow in the sunshine as we trudged up Blood Mountain. That sun changes the whole day - a sense of relief is always in order. Weather Report for that night: snow flurries, 35 mile an hour winds, and COLD. Problem: Everything we owned was SOAKED, including Megan's pack!

We set up the tent just past the Stover Creek Shelter lastnite in a very cool little cove off the trail. We fell asleep to owls and coyote howls lastnite, and woke up this morning to woodpeckers and crows! Megan's knee is really bothering her, so Jordan is carrying a bit of extra weight to help the knee get better. Walking sticks are wonderful on an aching knee. We stopped at Three Forks for breakfast - right next to a river!! Beautiful area - very relaxing! We made it to Hawk Mountain Shelter - lots of hikers already set up - we joined them with our little tent. Today is the first day we seem to stink noticably!! At least we aren't the only ones! We're learning quickly that trail foods make you gasy (Note to self: don't fart when you are sitting on your own camp pillow! :-P) Jordan's new motto is "Let's keep on going, so that we can stop going!!" Jordan's trail name is now McGuyver - it totally fits. (People use "trail-names", usually a nickname they go by, I guess that way you don't have to use your real name out here, its another way for people to get to know you, and its fun!)

Our trek is in play!! We drove down with Jordan's friends Lars and Josie all thru the night and got dropped off at Amicalola Falls State Park. We registered at the park as thru-hikers and weighed in our packs. Megan had 50 lbs. and Jordan had 56 lbs. ... a ridiculous amount of weight to be carrying into the backcountry. To get up the approach trail to Springer Mountain (the offical start of the trail) we had to climb 750 stairs- argh! But in the process - you get to see a cool waterfall :-)

We made it up Springer Mountain to have a late lunch at 4pm. Yeay-its official - now we've actually started our journey! We've already met a few other thru-hikers, (some of which only have 25 lbs!) took a few pictures, saw our first white blaze! :-) The view was beautiful, we are wishing to get rid of some weight, but we are excited to really be on the trail doing this after all our planning!! We're finally here and going!!