So the kids have favorite hiking socks. They were a gift from their aunt Barb who brought them back from a backpacking trip in Alaska. The kids each have a pair with a picture of a husky on them and the words Alaska written across the top, and each pair probably has over 200 trail miles on it.

But Cartwheel lost one of her socks in the Smokeys, and much of yesterday was spent trying unsuccessfully to find synthetic kids socks. We settled for the smallest pair of women’s socks we could find. We went back and forth on whether to keep the unmatched sock or not. So imagine Cartwheel’s delight when, on our way out of town we ran into our trail friend Achilles who had found Cartwheels sock on the trail and carried it for a week until he caught us (one advantage of being the smallest ones around is that lost clothing is easily identified as yours). So the Alaska socks have been reunited again.

The kids continue to practice their hand walking. The trail out of town gave us some great views of the French Broad river, and we walked through a controlled burn conducted by the Forest Service. We’re camped near a shelter today, and Orion met his trail twin (though five years his junior). They spent hours romping around together.

We’ve been experiencing a few technical difficulties. First with the old blackberry phone we were blogging with (a big thanks to Drummond Woodsum for lending me an iPad mini to blog with- it is infinitely easier, and only a few ounces heavier). Now the camera is on the fritz, so today’s photos were brought to you by the same iPad. I hope the quality is alright. The irony is not lost on me that it has been my journey into the woods that has forced me to become acquainted with modern tablet technology.