This is going to be a bit of a short post. We put in a 13 mile day today. Most of it wasn’t too bad, a lot of shorter ups and downs. But there was one section today called “Jacob’s Ladder.” It’s about a 600 foot elevation gain over just about a half mile, and it pretty much goes straight up.
I also chose to start focusing some of my attention on some of the smaller things that we see every day, like the little flowers and plants that line the trail. I took a few photos today, but I’m hoping to start taking more of the smaller things. I still appreciate the views that we’ve been getting, but to be honest, the panoramic pictures all start to kind of look the same to me. I hope I’m not sounding like I’m taking those views for granted… I’m still going to take those pictures and post them here… I’m just thinking that there’s so much more to appreciate out here other than the spectacular views.
For instance, near the end of the day, we watched a brown spider get completely dominated and carried off by a hoard of ants. It was like watching a discovery Channel special in real life. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately) I didn’t get any pictures of that, but it was interesting to watch. I’m not a huge fan of spiders, but I kind of felt bad for the guy.
Anyway, we’ve got a short hike down into Fontana Dam in the morning, then a quick resupply, then we’ll begin the long climb into the Smokies.
I’m with you Alex! Plus whenever I try to get a great panoramic, the picture never quite does it justice. I still love seeing the panoramics from you guys (so don’t stop!), but it will be interesting to see some of the other sights!
Your photos have been great thus far, keep it up! Personally, I love seeing you guys in action, walking, climbing, resting (resting is an action), your smiling faces (you’re doing some hard miles, grumpy faces are allowed, too)… also, it might be cool to get some portraits of your fellow hikers. It’s always fun to try to capture a person’s personality in a single snap.