Warm and humid still, mid 80s.
We left Hikers Inn with Jeff this morning at 6:00 and drove an hour and a half to Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the AT at 6643 feet.
We hiked 16.4 miles to get to the shelter tonight. The vegetation is definitely different due to the high altitude - not alpine like in New England due to the warmer southern climate, but different. There are more pines and lots of evidence of the dying hemlocks. Great Smokey Mountain National Park is the most visited park in the country - 10 million visitors per year. And it is free.
A good wildlife day. We saw four wild turkeys on the hike. And on the drive into the park this morning, we saw three elk. Two had very impressive racks. These elk came from the reintroduction program done in the north of the park.
We are here tonight with four other hikers. We met Lee at the second of four shelters we passed today and hiked with him the second half of today. He is waiting for a visa to leave for Saudi Arabia to teach in an English language school. He was in Korea for the previous year. He is changing his plan to hike out with us tomorrow at Fontana Dam.
John and Mike are from Michigan and this is there first hike in big mountains. Met them a couple of nights ago at the Hike Inn. We went out that night and talked hiking and they bought us dinner.
We also met Bob at the Hike Inn. He is heading north and will be on a similar schedule as us in second half of the Smokies.
No comments:
Post a Comment