[at-l] trip report, Franklin NC

[rockdancer97 at comcast.net]

Well Franklin is pretty quiet this time of year, only one other hiker here. I've outpaced about 8 hikers I was with in the stretch from Hiawassee, GA to here, about 40 miles ago. 



The weather's nice for the first half of the day but the heat builds up and then there's towering T-storm clouds and then they let loose on us. If I'm lucky I'm near a shelter and wait it out. That worked at Plumorchard Shelter, but I failed to make it to Standing Indian Shelter in time & was soaked through. Then the winds picked up and set in a chill I found hard to recover from. 



North Carolina feels different to me this time. Franklin seems to have a lot of Cherokee culture & native-looking people on the street, in cars, at the post office. This little thing woke me up to why I like to travel, to see how things are different elsewhere. According to a sign in town the native Cherokee had a village here on the banks of the Little Tennessee River that dates back nearly 3000 years! There's a mound that marks the village center. 



The hikers out here tend to be those that are "trying out" the AT for some future hike. So I'm peppered with lots of gear & technique questions. The younger ones seem to catch on quicker, seem eager to learn. One exception is the team of Appy & Pappy - the grandfather is 71, the boy is 12 or 13. They have a couple of little sections to finish and then they have all of NH and Maine to do. They've been doing sections since the boy was 6 years old, and are loving it! They really have the technique to do this well, easy and have fun along the way. Some others seem to be suffering a bit. 



So aside from dodging these summer storms all is well on the trail. I even came across a great patch of ripe strawberries at a powerline crossing yesterday - an unexpected pleasure! 



--RockDancer 
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