Troll's 2010 AT Journal

01 April 2010, Franklin
I ran into thru hiking couple from Maine yesterday, it is such a small world. This couple lives on the same street in Brunswick that I grew up on. They live two doors down from the house on Magean Street. Their names are Jim and Elaine.

Ron Haven invited me to make his morning bus run with him to Winding Stair Gap. When we were just two miles from Winding Stair Gap the bus broke down. Ron called two of his van drivers to pick up the occupants and continue on. Ron decided that with everything going on with the weekend events that he needed to head over to Hiawassee and pick up the other short bus he has. I went with him to Hiawassee. I stay in Hiawassee and caught the other shuttle bus back with Bob (Desert Reprobate). We went by Neels Gap along the way to see if there were any hikers to be picked up on our way to Franklin.

I made a trip to the outfitters to pick up a pair of sock liners hoping it will help out with my blisters. I also picked up a dry bag to store my food in. I needed to find a bag to hang my food in that was waterproof. I realized that the one I had was not very water proof when hanging if from a bear line in bad weather. I had not had any issues with it yet but it had the potential if it rained.

When we returned to the Budget in we all sat around and Dave from the front desk came out with a guitar and started playing for us. Geo took turns play the guitar. I was really amazed how well Geo could play the guitar. I wanted to stay out and listen longer but it was getting late.