We finished hiking the Great Smokies National Park portion of the AT recently and experienced hiking for hours in the rain on no sleep, discovered the pain of carrying your "world" on your back, and encountered a black bear (and his B.O. - yuck!).  I would love to write more about that experience later but as usual I have left things to the last minute and we are about to walk out the door to hike to where it all REALLY begins... Mt. Katahdin.  Check back soon for more updates!