Where in the World Is Cindy Kinmon?

Editor’s note: Cindy Kinmon, also known by her trail name, “The Blonde Bandit,” is seven weeks into her thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. She is hiking with her sister and brother-in-law, Penny and Harvey Wright. The following is her weekly report to the Grant County News.

We are now finished with the Smoky Mountains and having to sleep in shelters. We did see bear scat on trail for the first time since we were on the trail. The rain and fog are continuing off and on, hoping for warmer weather this week. Also, the temps are still down to 30 at night.

Penny wasn’t so happy with having to sleep in shelters. Lol This is what she had to say: “Last night, there were probably five people snoring at the same time and one guy talked in his sleep and woke me up this morning.” A mouse ran down beside her sleeping bag.

We hang our backpacks at night in the shelter on hooks with cans so mice don’t get in them. The shelters can sleep 12 people on a double decker [platform]. One night we had 13. We will start sleeping back in our tents this week.

We finished Clingman’s Dome, which is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail! The views have been fantastic! We hiked a lot on the spine of mountains. While on the spine, the mountains on our right were in North Carolina, and the mountains on our left were in Tennessee. There were lots of places to tumble off the mountains.

Living in the mountains is an experience and adventure with your home literally being in your backpack! Most important on the trail is having water! This year with all the rain we do not have to carry extra water, which is very heavy.

I use a Katadyn BeFree water filter, which I’ve used for a couple years, and it works great. I carry two Smart Water bottles.

Next week, I will explain what you carry in your backpack for a seven-month hike. I also will talk about friends we’ve made on the trail.