Appalachian Trail: Day 20
Disclaimer: This post is NOT sponsored. All the gear mentioned in this post was purchased by me at retail prices. I have no affiliations with any of the companies or brands mentioned.
Remember a couple days ago when I was talking about 6 miles being a quick day? Yeah. That was before the brutal climb today. Only 8 miles but almost 4000 feet of elevation gain during that distance. The climb out of NOC was painful.
Still recovery from the shin splint doesn't help either. But I pushed past the shelter and made it to the top of Cheoah Bald. Things should be easier from here to Fontana Dam. And the benefits of sleeping on the bald is that I get to experience a great sunset and sunrise.
Met a few other hikers today and hiked with Kevin and Mr Perfect for a bit today. Also met a hiker name Bird who is posting photos of hikers he meets to Instagram. I think he said the tag for it was #FacesOnTheAT or something like that. He took my picture. I probably look like crap cause today was a hard climb.
There are a couple other hikers sleeping on the bald too. We started talking music and started going through my liked songs on Spotify. We had a lot of similar likes, but I definitely had some bands they hadn't heard of.
The bald offered a great view of the sunset. I stayed up to watch the sun dip behind the mountains. Should offer a great sunrise as well.