February 18

At about this time 5 weeks from now, I should be fixing dinner and getting ready to get hunkered down in my tent somewhere on Springer Mnt. for my first night on the trail. Yes, I'll be doing the approach trail, what's another 8.8 'unofficial' miles when you're doing 2184, HA!  Here in the warmth and safety of home, I'm checking the weather channel, and they are calling for 5-8 inches of snow tomorrow.  I guess winter has finally decided to show up.  We got a weird October snowstorm, which really wasn't that bad.  It's been freakishly warm otherwise.  It's making me worried that we're going to get hit with a late winter storm, just as I'm hitting the trail.  I remember reading journals from last year, about 6 feet of snow in the Smokies, and wondering how those poor hikers made it through that.  Well, if anything like that happens this year, it'll just be a part of my journey, and I'll have to try to take it all in stride.  As they say, "no pain, no rain, no Maine".