Community and More

As I mentioned previously, Builder has made some friends along the way - and will continue to make more, because that's just him. They took a group shot on the start of day 4.

This is "the best view" Builder has seen so far. He was at Standing Indian Mountain on the 14th. View at 5478 feet. This is where the female ridge runner in her late 30s dashed by.

Here are a couple more interesting photos to close out today's updates. Two brief editorial comments on the first picture: 1) What a gorgeous tree! I really love trees and have hugged quite a few of them. 2) This takes me back to the summer after 8th grade when I attended summer school at Open High School in Richmond, Virginia. I took two classes, interpersonal communications and thermonuclear war (don't ask - I was in way over my head). The interpersonal communications class took an overnight trip to a hiking trail in Virginia which may or may not have come close to the AT. However, I clearly remember the call of nature hitting and finding a low lying branch to perch on. This is one of many reasons I am not on this journey myself.

As far as I know, the bears aren't out and about yet. However, I feel this may be a piece of information that may be withheld from me (along with snake sightings). I feel sure both are in his future, however.

If you have been enjoying these posts, please take a moment to check out the website of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy at https://appalachiantrail.org/ which is celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year. And do be thinking of all the National Park Service and Forest Service members whose jobs are currently at risk.

Also, now that Builder is well into NC, I wanted to report that he will be traversing nearly 100 miles in our (new) home state. According to Wikipedia, altitude ranges from 1,725 to 5,498 feet.

Until next time!