Today the forest again took on a Christmas feel. If I shut my eyes I can see my young kids in Christmas pasts dancing in delight over the simlest of gifts, always so grateful, ever so kind. We hiked up another mountain while not as tall as Gaylock, but just as if not more steep. I was told that all of the accentions of the Appalachian Trail equal summiting Mount Everest 16 times! If you climb Mt Everest once, you get your name in the news. If you climb the A.T. you get to go home.
After crossing into Vermont we surpassed the 1600 mile mark. Now, however, I am more interested in the miles left to do which number less than 600.
Today was a first. Walking southbound down the trail were 2 nudists wearing nothing but their backpacks and shoes. Well I am guessing they had on shoes. That’s right, not a stich, nothing, buffo, nunca, nada, in their birthday suits, naked as a jaybird. Get the picture? A man and woman in their early 60s casually walked by us and kindly said hello. Uh hi, I might of said, I really can’t recall. Then I looked back to watch Bee Stingers double take. We just laughed, thought it to be a new form of ultralight hiking and moved on at a rapid pace, very rapid pace. We did 21 miles and nested by a great brook. Tonight I will fall asleep to the sounds of water churning over the rocks. I wonder if that ultralight movement is going to catch on on the Emerald Isle beaches back home? Ethel, put your clothes back on!.#@?
Andy M Davidson 