Time to update!

Life is a beautiful chaos out here. One day it will be sunny blue sky's and 70 degrees and the next it will be rainy windy or snowing. It's just crazy and hard to keep up with. I haven't had the energy nor the time really to update this blog we told you all to follow. So now I am uploading mass amounts of photos and stories for y'all in an attempt to make up for not keeping you up to date with our adventures along the trail. Enjoy and share! 

Walk with us... Sunshine & Young Beard

This was our shortest day of walking yet. We took a zero day (a day walking zero miles on the trail aka a rest day) with Vegimite and Wiki at Fontana Dam Resort. After our super relaxing zero day we packed our packs and were getting psyched to hike into the Smokey Mountains. We got 1.1 miles north and got to the shelter we had intended to pass when we ran into our entire hiking family! 'Cupids Hikers' suckered us into staying at the shelter with them so we could all hike into the Smokeys together. And I'm so glad we did! It was a great night around an awesome campfire with the family! 

The first few days of the Smokeys were a chain of beautiful days, breath taking views and hard work! Hiking on ice sucks. 

Here Little D and I are at the road crossing (a popular tourist spot for pictures of the Smokeys) trying to get a hitch into Gatlinburg. It was rainy, windy and cold so we were hiding out I the women's restroom while 3 Mile and Young Beard tried to get a ride into town. Then came along Mrs.Turtle and Old Beard with some trail magic that lured us out of the restroom. Krispy Kream doughnuts and their kindness lifted out spirits to a new high! Thank you! 

Halfway through the Smokeys we got to Gatlinburg just in time to celebrate our one month on the trail. Although we were stuck there for longer than we liked we did have some touristy fun. The king bed one night was heaven on earth! We enjoyed playing mini golf and the aquarium along with icecream and some great food and cold drinks. 

Here is our buddy Owl enjoying his various local brews the brewery. 

And here is Wiki and his attempt at eating a 5 pound burrito.... Unfortunately unsuccessfully. 

After 2 zero days we were very eager to get back on the mountain to the beauty and solitude it provides. We immediately felt relieved when we were back hiking! 

Here's a picture of the last shelter in the Smokey Mountains. It still had the chain link fence on to keep the bears out and sleeping hikers safe. Recently all the fences have been taken down because hikers started feeding the bears through the fence... This was the last one and wasn't taken off. We stayed here with our friends Noodle, Wiki, Tog and Animal Planet. Thanks for a fun night guys :) 

Shortly after accomplishing the Smokeys and leaving the park, Standing Bear Hostel greeted us along the trail. We got there and took full use of their kitchen with our friend The Priest and played with the hostel cats :) 

This was is Hot Springs, NC where the trail goes right downs in street. 

Young Beard, The Priest, Biscut and Noodle playing hackysac on top of Max Patch, a beautiful bald we had lunch at on a perfect day. 

In Hot Springs, NC we had the great pleasure of staying at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn. The building is the oldest in town, a beautiful and historic white Victorian home. We were able to do work for stay by cracking pecans for a few hours, which was AWEsome! They also had hostel cats :) Sunshine loves them! 

When leaving Hot Springs, the trial winds it's way up a steep mountain where you can look over at the town and the river that runs along next to it. 

The stretch of hiking from Hot Springs, NC to Erwin, TN was an adventure in itself. We hiked along ridge lines and clear sunny days where you could see for miles and the neat day woke up to 3 inches of snow covering out tent. Crazy! We also had a hard day in the snow on top of a mountain with very strong winds and 10 degree weather. 

Where Young Beard is pointing - that tiny white spot at the top of the mountain - is where we hiked one day :) 

It's 10:23 (hikers midnight) and I am in a hostel in Damascus, VA. I'm so sleep so the blog entry will end here... I'll continue this update when I am in a town next week. 

Thanks to everyone who is supporting and following us! We couldn't do this without you. 

Remember...

Life's short do epic shit

Love, 

Sunshine ☀️