May 18 Mile 430

Our biggest hiking day in a while - 16 miles. And we were pooped. Got up in the ending rain and were hiking by 7:30. Had to hike up two big mountains today. One trail the AT people created to make things unpleasant for the hikers. They used to have a perfectly good easy trail that came from our shelter- flat!- about a mile into town. That was too easy. They moved the trail to go 7 miles over a pretty useless and not pretty mountain. It's called Pond Flats- a total misnomer - no pond and certainly not flat! About a 2000 foot rise in just a couple of miles- it was very steep and tough. On the other side was a TVA lake-Watuga- with nice bathrooms and water! we could drink without purifying. We then hiked up from the reservoir on a new series of mountains- Iron Mtn. We are now getting closer to Virginia- where we start hiking the ridgelines. Up nearly 2000 feet above the lake and where we are staying in a shelter is a million dollar view of the lake and the mountains all around. A very nice spot to eat dinner and type this blog. But it's now 8:30 and time for bed. Everyone else is already snoring.