Appalachian Trail Trip Report 1 (Hot Springs, NC to Davenport Gap, NC)

As I've done in the past, the week of a hike means it's time to check the weather... constantly.  It's an obsessive compulsive characteristic that I can't seem to shake, nor do I really care to.  John, Curt and myself leave for North Carolina Thursday night and the hike is shaping up to be a great one.  All the plans have been made and the littlest details sorted out.  

However God makes his own plans and as much as we can control how prepared we are for this hike, we have no control over the weather conditions.  That's alright though, we'll be prepared for that as well.  Most of us have seen the infamous signs at the beginning of water rides: "You may get wet".  That's about how I feel when monitoring the weather for this hike.  The latest models show the rain chances to be be in the range of 40% to 70% for Hot Springs, North Carolina and some reports I've seen say the area could get 1 to 3 inches of rain by Sunday.  Excellent!  I'll believe it when the rain is falling on us on the trail.  Until that time the weather forecasts are just that, forecasts.  

At least we won'thave to deal with this beast: Track Tropical Storm Ophelia.  Although in a way... I think it'd be neat to have that story to tell. "Remember the time we were hiking in a tropical storm?" I'm a bit strange that way...