I may take a day off tomorrow, so I hiked about 23 miles today (February 10th), not finishing until after dark. Today's route took me all along the spine of Iron Mountain on the north side of Watauga Lake, and it seems that every photo worth posting here has some part of the lake in it. This shot is taken from directly behind Vandeventer Shelter. What a spectacular place to spend the night and wake up to a sunrise!
Other than a section with 600 feet of climbing in a mile, it was a fairly comfortable section to hike. It goes arrow-straight. Some sections of the AT seem to meander here and there and never get very far 'as the crow flies'. Not this section. It moved me south and west nearly as many miles as I actually hiked.
The trail took me up over 4000 feet on Iron Mountain and just below 2000 feet at Watauga Dam, with a fair amount of up-and-down 'details' in between. This 63 year old body could probably stand a bit of a break after such a long day, and with tomorrow's weather forecast to be bitter cold, winds gusting to 40, and up to 3 inches of snow, it may be a good day to "take a zero". As always, I'll keep you posted.
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Here's the GPS recorded track for today - click the title for more details and lots more photos:
AT Day 38 - Iron Mountain to Watauga Lake at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find hiking trails in California and beyond
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