We hiked 2000 miles to the Georgia border for a crummy wooden sign. Where's the cake and ice cream? : )

Georgia Appalachian Trail Club - GATC

For the record, hitchhiking can be risky, but it's the best way to get into a nearby town to resupply. This was our last attempt at it. This motorist opted to not give us a ride... bad karma.

This wood chipper truck was a different story however, and our wierdest hitch the entire trip. We were on our way to Hiawassee, GA.

There is a peak near Tray Mt. Shelter that offers a grand view across the land.

While eating breakfast and discussing the mouse that had fallen on my head and crawled over Marcus in the night, this little guy dropped from the high ceiling right in front of us. Mystery solved, his parent was dead out front of the shelter. He was crawling everywheere in search.

The Fall Guy, should you see him in Tray Mt. shelter, tell him Sticks & Stones say hello. FYI, there are many mice along the Appalachian Trail, so hanging food is relatively important.

The trail actually runs straight through this building, an outdoor center and equipment store.

That same location gives Ben n Jerry's ice cream to passing thru-hikers. I love America! and Ben n Jerry's.

Should I ever find the last sectin of my journal, these guys will have names. For now we'll merely have a photo.

Long Creek Falls - Just when we thought there was nothing interesting to see, that all the real beauty of the A.T. was miles behind us, we came upon this fall in Amicalola Falls state park.

That's all she wrote folks, the end of the trail. In all honesty neither Marcus nor myself were very excited. I think we both felt a sense of peaceful accomplishment if that makes any sense. We had actually slept only meters away in a nearby shelter the night before and waited till the next morning to even get a glimpse of the finish. It was a sort of excercising of patience I guess. That night we also layed in a small meadow on Springer Mt. and watched a magnificent meteor shower, a fitting end to our journey.

Marcus and I made our way down Springer Mt. to a place called The Hike Inn. It's an environmentally sound resort/retreat. We met my parents there, stayed the night, and hiked the remaining 5 miles to their van the following day. The trip home was the longest we had sat still in 5.5 months. Once home, it was back to business as usual. These t-shirts have the United Leukodystrophy Foundation logo on them. Our trip helped raise thousands of dollars for the research of leukodystrophy as well as programs that help support families like Marcus's who have been challenged by this disease.