I’ve been following this story pretty closely since my mom mentioned it last week:

Click here for one of the 1,600 articles about it. 

Not even a week before this 24 year old went missing (I also am 24) … I was hiking in this exact area- or within miles of where she was. When I was growing up I spent every summer in this area- Hiawassee/Blairsville, GA.

Infact, at the Blood Mountain Appalachian Trail crossing I picked up a hitch hiker (on the Dec. 28th) and drove him back to his car at Amicalola Falls (my friend wasn’t terribly happy about this).

I feel very safe in this part of the country- its one of my favorite places. The people are amazingly nice and everybody knows everybody. It shocks me when I see something like this happen in this area so close to my parent’s home.

I wish the best to the Emerson family.