Garenflo Gap (2,467 feet), Mile 268.3 to Hot Springs, NC ( 1,336 feet) mile 274.9 for a 6.6 mile day. We ascended 974 feet and descended 2,125 feet.

You know, I’m going to be honest here, this was not as suck of a day as the last two but it was short and fairly uneventful! We walked down hill a lot and thankfully it was not nearly as slick as it was on the way down the day before. I didn’t fall any and nor did I slip any either, and that was saying a lot!!!

We passed Deer Park Mountain Shelter and saw another through hiker, he was standing in front of two grave stones, so, we had to stop and check out the situation. Not that there was really a situation to check out, it you know what I mean.

I did a little google searching on Eva Gragg and was not able to find much. Just a few posts on various AT websites and most commented on the quote at the bottom of the head stone, “Absent, Not Dead”. I am thinking that the Gragg family may have owned this property before the forest service bought it but I am unable to find any evidence of that. About the quote though, I don’t see any confusion with this quote at all, as a matter of fact, I think they are great words that I would like to have on my headstone, “Absent not dead”. God says in His word, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” When death comes over us we leave this body that we have been given and therefore we are absent from it, and if we are believers in Christ, the Bible says we are in the presence of God immediately following death.

We hiked on from here and was shortly transported into the first real “Trail Community”, Hot Springs, NC.

In town, the Appalachian Trail runs down the sidewalk and instead of white blazes marking up the city, the AT logo is in the sidewalk.

Here is the golf ball I am still carrying for my friend Lucinda, on it is written her husbands name, Derren Supernavage, in memory of him and his love for golf. Well, he also had a love for the AT and wanted to hike the trail one day, now he is hiking it, right along with me!