April 25, 1997 (Day 37 – milepoint 372.9 – Overmountain Shelter)

Awakened by owls and woodpeckers and fueled by oatmeal and Poptarts, joined Small World (22, from Illinois) for the day and we spent the morning on the big climb up Roan Mountain, elev. 6275. Tough, steep, and covered in snow, but an acceptable reward of panoramic views on top.

We encountered some great trail magic on the back side of the mountain. Two older couples, the Hunters and the Granthams, all professors at Western Carolina University, fed us crackers and eight bottles of cranberry juice in a variety of flavors. Why they felt we could use so much cranberrry juice is beyond me, but we forced them down, so as not to be rude, and spent the rest of the afternoon making pit stops.

We finally made it to Overmountain Shelter, an old renovated barn overlooking a very beautiful valley. The movie “Winter People” was filmed here. I was originally going to go further today, but this place is just too cool to leave.

Aquaholic

April 25, 2005

Hey Aquaholic,

I’m getting back to thinking outside the box in terms of how I can apply myself. I’m inspired by people who create and express themselves in unique ways. Bold originality, like this guy: