Day 15

Our experience today is exactly why in 2020 I said the smokies truly deserve to be called great. 

The alarm went off at 7am this morning and I started packing up shortly afterwards. I enjoyed a 30 minute "returning to the normal routine" call with Kristina, and then we headed over to "Crockett's breakfast camp" in Gatlinburg. Their breakfast wasn't bad, but nothing compared to the Everett Street diner in bryson city, which was the maybe the best diner I've ever been to -- and I've been to a lot while traveling. 

After an abundance of food, as per usual, our shuttle picked us up at 9:10 and took us back up to newfound gap. 

For most of the drive up, there was extremely thick fog, but with a couple miles left to the gap, we broke through the fog and entered a different world. 

Here, there were sprawling mountain tops for as far as the eyes could see, with fog, whisping over them. The sky was blue and the sun was out. 

We started hiking at 945, and by 9:46 I was taking pictures -- the trail, the mountains, the trees, everything. I really like this section of the smokies. The evergreens smell incredible, the birds are chirping, and it's hard to not just stare off into the distance endlessly. I really like the high smokies. 

One of best views on the trail last time was Charlie's bunion, which was mile marker number 4 today. There were some moments where the fog was a bit too thick for great views, but overall we really enjoyed the view. Even had it to ourselves for most of it. 

Oddly enough, there's not to much to be said about today. It was just great to ridge walk throughout the smokies, and just take it all in. The combination of good weather, beautiful forests, and unbelievable views make for a hard to beat experience. I'm not exactly happy that I have to rewalk the trail, but I'd never pass up a day like today. 

I will say, the smoke part of the smokies really rolled in this afternoon. Last time I was here, it was either freezing cold and snowing, or sunny -- there wasn't a bunch of whisping / rolling fog. I'm glad we got a relatively clear morning, because in the afternoon and early evening a thick fog rolled onto the mountain ridge that we were on and basically eliminated any sort of view. Regardless, it was just nice not getting rained on. 

Looking ahead, the plan is to do 15.5 miles in davenport gap tomorrow, take a shuttle into Newport, and then zero and avoid the storm on Saturday. Sunday through Thursday looks clear, so assuming we can fix walker's ankle while in town, we'd like to get to Erwin by Thursday or Friday. Then a couple days later, we'd cross out of NC for the last time, roll into banner elk, and be 4 days away from Damascus VA.

Other than one extra zero to heal walker's ankle, and to avoid the storm, everything is going exactly to plan. 

Daily recap:
- 15.5 miles
- from mile marker 208 to 223.5
- from newfound gap to tri-corner knob
- high temp: 55 and sun
- low temp (both morning and night): 40
- ascent: 4,436
- descent: 3,527

Thanks for following along.
Tyler M.

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