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three-sided structures there is one long plank stretched from one end to the other for hikers to stretch out and get a nights' sleep.  These shelters aren't exactly luxurious, in fact, sometimes they are downright filthy.  However, aside from the mere sight of Peanut, my eyes never get wider than with the sight of these humble structures.

Nets' Fun Facts

• weight loss:  15 pounds
  
• carrying 60 pounds in my pack
  
• use sponges with the center cut out to place pressure sores on my heels.  To keep the sponge in place, you must have duct tape.  In fact, the general slogan that our group has worked up is "If you can't duct it, f.... -- just forget about it."
  
• has killed two out of the three mice he has gone after in the shelters.
  

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• Snickers bars -- I ate so many of these things that they named the bar after me (or is it the other way around?)
  
• tortillas -- loaves of bread are a bit bulky for us, so we settle for these.  One of our recent lunch favorites has been a tortilla filled with peanut butter, honey and dehydrated banana chips.  When the tortillas run out we dump a glob of honey on the peanut butter, grab a spoon and go to town.
  

• 165 miles hiked (on March 7th)
  
• 1,995 miles to go
  
• 21 days on the trail
  
• average 10 miles per day
  
• 4 days spent R&R
  
• my pack weight is 42 pounds
  

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he'd like, so he returned home.  Steve and Steve had met three other thru-hikers who started the trail the same day, so they asked the remaining Steve  to join them.  Steve was happy and we as his parents were extremely glad that he wasn't hiking alone.

My husband Andy and I decided to spend a weekend in the mountains and see Steve and meet his hiking companions.  We rented a cottage at Fontana Village and asked the boys to all stay with us for the night.  We fixed them several meals and brought a birthday cake to celebrate 4Runner and Snickers' birthdays that week.

We hiked about a mile of the AT with the boys on Saturday so they could leave directly from the dam on Sunday (they don't want to miss even one mile of the trail!)  It was a fun hike for us (especially since we didn't have those huge, heavy packs on our backs).  I can see why they love hiking it so much.

David Romine, a friend of Steve's, came to Fontana

also and we put his car at Newfound Gap so he could hike with the group until Wednesday and then drive home.

As the group of five hikers crossed Fontana Dam and headed into the Smokies on Sunday morning, we wished them a good week.  Back home the next few days we anxiously watched the weather reports of snow and high winds in western NC.  We hoped they were safe and warm.

On Wednesday afternoon David called and said they had finally made it to Newfound Gap after trudging through ice and snow sometimes drifting as high as four feet.  One day they only made it 8 miles, but they passed the 200-mile marker.  We were happy to hear that he was taking them to Knoxville for a few days to wait out the severe weather.

Steve called this morning (Sunday, March 14th) to say they were rested and ready to tackle the Smokies again today, so they're back on the trail again!

Check Steve's AT Homepage at www.as123.com/steve  Send them e-mail and we'll print it and put it in their next food box.