day sixteen (april 6)

what i wouldn't give to have first hand captions instead of my interpretations of what i think these pictures represent ... but i am happy to at least have pictures :)  i do know a few things -- check out the kid with the artificial limb!  that is impressive!  and the last picture is a german guy and his dog 'fritz'.  another 'that is impressive!'  moose, our yellow lab, looks exactly like fritz but i am thinking moose might not have what it takes to hike the AT.  he might surprise me, but hiking would interfere with sleeping.  that could be a problem.

the rain storms have been ridiculously unrelenting.  i know some of these pictures are older because the big boys aren't wet.  but the two pictures (one of smurf, one of toby) in the rain gear?  well, those expressions say it all.  think grumble, murmur, grunt.

as you can see, there's still quite a few folks out doing the crazy.  lots of younger people who make it to shelter earlier in the day than the big boys.  that's okay; they prefer tent life to shelter life. except in the storms.  a little protection would be nice.

right now, they are in franklin, north carolina in a hotel room trying to get all their wet stuff dry. tomorrow is their first actual zero day.  my bad.  last time i reported a zero day, come to find out it was a nero day -- stay in hotel to shower and wash clothes but you walk your miles.  who knew nero was something other than a roman emperor?

yesterday (weds.) was probably the most harrowing day yet.  they climbed mount albert at 5,200 elevation.  the picture below was taken off the web as greg said the thought of stopping for a picture was the furthest thing from their minds.  it was a wild and crazy storm and it's mostly boulder climbing. wet boulder climbing.  with lightning.  and if you look carefully in the background, you can see a fire tower.  uh no, they didn't climb it once they reached the top.  but two much younger kids did.  N-U-T-S.  so super glad their mothers weren't there.