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May 11, 1983, 43 years ago today: It was 10:00 when I finished shopping. The streets were deserted except for me and some crickets. The store had been the only business in town still open, and it was just closing.

I stopped to buy a coke from something labeled “Talking Vending Machine.”

Dropping my coins in the slot, I was treated to the tinkling notes of a music box playing the song “Home on the Range.”

#backpacking #hiking #nature #NorthCarolina #outdoors #AppalachianTrail

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May 11, 1983, 43 years ago today: When I reached Winding Stair Gap, I found a parking area by the side of the new US Highway 64, a main thoroughfare in these parts. At the edge of the parking area, a pipe jutting out from a large rock formation was gushing out delicious, cold spring water. I filled up my water bottle and sat down to drink my fill before continuing on the Appalachian Trail.

#backpacking #hiking #landscapephotography #NorthCarolina #nature #mountains #AppalachianTrail

It sometimes strikes me how much #camping, particularly #backpacking, has evolved.

Older books often reference how light someone can travel. They then go on to describe taking two or three hours to make camp, cutting down trees for fuel and tent poles, carrying full-size axes, etc.

Now, you can easily go 20 miles a day, carry all of 10 pounds base weight (#ultralight), and make camp in literally 5 minutes. Then leave the next morning with no trace but a bit of temporarily disturbed vegetation.

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May 10, 1983, 43 years ago today: By 4:30, when I reached Betty’s Creek Gap, I had already surpassed my previous longest day, having hiked almost seventeen miles. At that point I caught an intense second wind and made the ensuing two-and-a-half-mile ascent of Albert Mountain without a stop.

#backpacking #hiking #outdoors #landscapephotography #NorthCarolina #nature #forest #mountains #AppalachianTrail

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May 10, 1983, 43 years ago today: We had already covered almost ten miles when we stopped for lunch in a clearing at Beech Gap, three miles past the summit.

The next portion of the hike was every bit as scenic as the morning’s had been. It was mostly sidehill trail, well down from the ridge crest.

#backpacking #hiking #landscapephotography #NorthCarolina #nature #mountains #forest #AppalachianTrailUpdate

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May 9, 1983, 43 years ago today: Dave and I had lunch in Bly Gap, just across the state line into North Carolina. One state down and eleven to go.

#backpacking #hiking #nature #NorthCarolina #hikingadventures #landscapephotography #mountains #forest #AppalachianTrail