Easter Sunday – woke up to a gentle rain. Will be interesting packing up. This is a first Easter in forever I haven’t spent without my Grandmommy. We all color eggs on Saturday. Every year, the "big" kids think they are too old to hunt Easter eggs, but even the teenagers decide they’re not too old on Sunday morning. I sent Will and Lindsay Easter baskets before I left and told them they couldn’t have them until today. I miss having them at Easter. Easter was special to Grandpoppy. Even after he died, I’ve been to the little church on Easter every year. There are only a handful of families that go there, but they are always so proud to have their kids, grandkids, and great grandkids there on Easter. This Easter may be different, but it’s one I’ll never forget. The rebirth and resurrection I’ve felt in my own life the last ten days is something I never expected. My spirit is soaring to places it hasn’t been in a long time. And believe me, I know it’s by the grace of God that I am here and able to take each step.

Happy Easter. You are all in my heart. I’ll be thinking about you in church this morning and missing Sunday lunch!

Ya’ll have probably finished Easter lunch and are ready for a nap. I’m taking a feet break and eating peanut butter crackers. It stopped raining long enough to get packed up this morning. The temperature has dropped considerably. Rhododendron thickets acted like an umbrella when it started raining again. I felt like I was in Jungle Book or Fern Gully. Then it starting raining really hard just as I got to the next shelter. I took off my wet clothes and put my fleece on to get warm. Manchester had snuck up behind me earlier and scared the daylights out of me, but he made up by making hot chocolate at the shelter. Several of us were there about an hour and a half before the rain let up. While we were there, Maniac (we gave Ed a trail name) and Eggman came in. A nice surprise to see them! We didn’t think they’d catch up. Eggman ended up cutting the strap off the back of his sandal and hiking in those yesterday. Manchester decided to quit smoking at the state line, so now we are his instant support group. We all like him – just have to take small doses! Well, I’m getting cold, so better start walking again.

Need to talk to my travel agent! My brochure didn’t say to bring a climbing rope and shoes! Albert Mountain was interesting. For a while I was literally walking on a narrow path on the edge with cliffs below. That part wasn’t too bad. One place there were 3-4 long "steps" that I swear must have been made for Paul Bunyan. Too big for my short legs – had to go up beside them. Near the top, had to do some serious bouldering that was a little steep in places. If I hadn’t done some rock climbing before, I think I would have been scared to death. But wow! The view from the top was probably the best yet! There were 20 bazillion weekend campers at the next shelter. I didn’t even stop and guess I missed Jiff and the boys. I was just going a little further to camp. Ooops … went way too much further. 14 miles today! It was just getting dark when I stumbled on Tumbleweed, Brown Tiger, Griz, Moe and Stork.

I hit 100 miles today! Triple digits! Yippee!

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