Had a very cold night last night, probably the coldest since we started (also the shelter is at over 6000 ft. elevation and in a damp forest). My little REI key chain thermometer read about 34 in the morning. I slept in shorts like a fool! Anyway, we got moving and hiked down into Newfound Gap, where there was a large parking lot with a lot of people taking pictures of the scenic mountains. We were immediately shouted over by some folks with a nice table and griddle and we knew we scored some serious trail magic. These folks from Georgia (their daughter is a thru-hiker named Dandelion) had a full breakfast spread. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, bacon… Amazing!!!!!!

I almost crapped my pants with joy

So nice

They kept feeding us!

We reluctantly left and kept on hiking. We were not disappointed though, today had stunning view after view. I’m trying to limit myself to a couple pictures a day so I don’t end up with a thousand pics at the end, but today was just impossible to not keep taking them. The Smokies are really and truly beautiful.

The trail snaked along between Tennessee and North Carolina and the views went forever in both directions. The trail at times winds along some vertigo – inducing cliffs, with several thousand foot nearly sheer drops to both sides. Simply Awesome.

We ended up hiking almost exactly 20 miles again today to the shelter. This one is quite full with both day/section hikers and thru-hikers. Some of the guys are military and making a bad-ass bonfire right now.

Smokies shelter

Tomorrow we hike out of the Smokies. Despite some minor annoyances like muddy trails and mandatory shelters, it’s been well worth it.

Vital stats :
Mood – awesome
Physical state – feeling gooood
Smell – weird old man smell
Song stuck in my head – Wild Horses (hogs) by The Rolling Stones (there are wild hogs here so I kept singing Wild Hogs all day to the tune of Wild Horses)