10.7 miles
Today is notable because it begins the trek into the Smokey Mountain National Park. The park contains 72 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I plan to get off in the middle and stay in Gatlinburg, TN for a day.
Chapin Lara and I hiked together today. We took it slow and steady. It was 60 degrees and beautiful. Chapin Lara developed some pretty severe blisters since starting on the trail two weeks ago at Springer Mountain, so he had taken four days off at the hostel. Today was his first day back at it and his feet were still painful.
This shelter is called the Fontana Hilton because there are free heated bathrooms and showers in a nearby building.
A view of the Fontana Dam waters
The dam on the right
After hiking for three miles we reached a fire tower. Jeff had told us to absolutely not miss the opportunity to see these views. So I hiked on up while Chapin Lara took a break.
Me taking a break
Chapin Lara in the shelter. Notice the skylight, the fireplace all the way at the end, and the fact that the sleeping platform above Chapin Lara's head doubles the available sleeping floor space. We were the only two hikers at the shelter.
As I gathered water tonight from this pipe in this stream I remembered again how I live in luxury that this way of gathering my drinking water is by choice, and not a daily chore.
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