Compared to the last time I hiked Crowder's Mt. just a couple of weeks ago, today was a ray of sunshine. No, really, it was clear blue skies without a hint of clouds or mist or heavy fog to soup things up. Now, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert at this whole blogging thing and you're probably more interested in the photos anyways but I do have one quick story to share.

"Are you training?" the older gentleman asked as I was about to pass by where he sat with his family on a small bench. I looked up in surprise, more at hearing anything other than a quick "howdy" or "hey" than the specific words. I was carrying my full size backpack and had stuffed it full of generic camping stuff that I didn't need just to give it some weight and I was indeed training for the Appalachian Trail in just over a month. He soon filled me in on how he had guessed: the over-large pack for such a short trail not known for camping areas combined with the fact that he had trained in the exact same way just a few weeks earlier because he too was going to hike the Appalachian Trail in 2019. His trail name is Crazy Heart and he'll be leaving a few weeks before me so I don't know if we'll meet again but regardless, it was a pleasure to meet a fellow hiker looking to do one of the big ones. Best of trails for you, Crazy Heart.