The rain stopped before I went to sleep the night before. When I woke up and packed, I was hoping it would be a nice day. It did not disappoint.
Route report
It was a great day in the Smokies. After a few hours, the clouds broke through and there were some incredible views. This is really what I expected the Smoky Mountains to be.
By walking at higher altitudes, you can see all the clouds located in the valleys between the mountains. It was awesome!
I stopped for the day at the Cosby Knob Shelter. But before that, when I stopped for lunch, I met a group of five guys from Michigan doing a section in the park. Trail magic was provided to hikers as they progressed. They gave me a pocket pizza and a homemade granola bar for lunch!
The best part was…they were going to the Cosby Knob shelter tonight and eating cheesecake! It was amazing!
Thought of the day
I have a thought for today that I hope is not controversial. Hiking through the Smokies I noticed the amount of blowdowns and other trail maintenance issues. When I compare the roughly 80 miles of trails in the national park to roughly the same number of trails in Georgia, there is a striking difference.
- Trail maintenance in Georgia is far superior to that in the Smokies.
- The trail in Georgia is maintained by volunteers, which is in stark contrast to the national park, which is funded by taxpayers, permit fees, merchandise sales and other things.
My opinion is this: local governments and volunteers take much better care of natural resources than the federal government. Perhaps we need to rethink how we approach the maintenance of our national parks.
people i met
I met Reflector today. He is about 70 years old and hikes. What an inspiration! He’s done so many different things in his life, it was amazing. I was able to talk a little with her about how I’ve enjoyed seeing more of God’s creation.
Dawson and Dominique also hike. They met working in Yellowstone National Park. I was able to talk to Dawson for a while at the shelter. He grew up on a farm in North Dakota. I hope to have the opportunity to interact with them again.
Plant of the day
Today’s plant is Solomon’s Plume. Interestingly, this plant can be found in every state except Hawaii.
bird of the day
Today’s bird is the Hooded Warbler. Before starting this hike I had no idea that there were so many different types of warblers!
“Hooded Warbler” by Fyn Kynd is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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