What a day! We got up early and hiked about five miles and ran into our first trail magic of the day. Lemonade, hot dogs, chips and candy! We lingered for awhile then headed uphill about a mile where another …
Day 26: Out of the Smokies
Davenport Gap was the last shelter in the Smokies! There was no bear activity in the night either. We slept in this morning and lingered at camp longer than usual. It was a beautiful spring day today: tons of flowers, …
Day 25: Our Longest Day
One nice thing about the shelters in the Smokies is they all have a fireplace inside. All night long last night people tended to the fire and it burned into the morning. My shoes didn’t totally dry out, but they …
Day 24: Rain in the Smokies
After three days of sun and views in the Smokies, we got back on trail in the rain and fog today. We met a back country ranger who said we were pretty lucky for such nice weather the past few …
Days 22 and 23: A Nero and a Zero
We had a busy couple of days! We woke up early on Wednesday morning lured by rumors of pancakes at Newfound Gap. There were no pancakes, but there was trail magic! A local ladies hiking club had drinks, fruit, protein …
Day 21: On Top of Old Smoky
Today we hiked up Clingman’s Dome, the highest peak East of the Mississippi at 6667 feet. We had nice weather again and as we got into higher elevations we entered a Spruce-fir forest, which was a nice change and provided …
Day 20: Rocky Top
Today was another warm one, and we continued along the border. Visibility was really good today, and our first big climb of the day was up a mountain called Rocky top. It wasn’t the highest point of the day, but …
Day 19: Into the Smokies
Today was the first day that really felt like Spring. We started back at the dam sometime around 10 this morning. We had to walk over the dam and up a road for about a mile until the trail starts …
Day 18: Fontana Dam
Today we hiked just 7.1 miles down to Fontana Dam, the tallest dam in the Eastern US. Most of the way we had views of the reservoir through the trees. Although the higher elevations are still a little bare, spring …
Day 17: Jacob’s Ladder
Yesterday was the jump up, today was Jacobs’s Ladder, plus a lot of other ups and downs. Officially we hiked 15.2 miles, but actually hiked another half mile or so when we had to backtrack to get water. It was …
Day 16: The NOC and the jump up
Yesterday we went down a steep section of trail called “the jump off.” I forgot to post a picture of it so here it is: Which really doesn’t do it justice, but that’s how photos are. Last night we camped …
Day 15: brutal ups and downs
Today was our longest day yet at 15.5 miles. The first half of the day was mostly uphill, to another fire tower with awesome views. We could see Fontana dam, which we will come to in a few days, and …
Day 14: Rain, sun, and views
It rained most of the night and into the morning, so we were a little slow getting out of camp. It was foggy and misty for the first half of the day, then the sun came out and it got …
Day 13: 100 miles
Today we hiked up to the top of Albert Mountain. At the top of the mountain is an old fire tower, located at 100.1 miles on the trail. Now we only have to do that 21 more times! The trail …
Day 12: Standing Indian Mountain
We left town today and got back on the trail in the afternoon. We went up for 2 miles to the highest point on the trail thus far: 5,000 feet at Standing Indian Mountain before heading downhill for several miles. …
