Rain, twilights, muddy woods, Smokies. A lonely silhouette, moving slowly the same directions like me, no raincoat, no backpack. Just white angels wings on the back of his black hoody. Who it could be? Ghost, who else.

I stopped to wait when the ghost disappeared and to think about how to deal with it. Suddenly the ghost turned around and started walking towards me. Too late to hide! He noticed me. No, I did not run away, it’s a bad idea in most occasions. A good idea is to say “hello” but be ready to run/jump any second.

A few minutes later I sat in the vehicle with the ghost’s wife and their seven kids, driving to Gatlinburg, which was 50 miles away from the trail. It was a parking lot close to the trail. I’m so glad I saw Gatlinburg.