Hell or high water, Charlie's Bunion or Death.

I went on one of those hikes motivated by sheer stubbornness more than any desire to enjoy nature or exercise.  I decided to hike Charlie's Bunion in the Great Smoky Mountains.  It was suppose to be a nice hike.  And it was (very atmospheric with the fog and cold and rain and lush forests).  But it was also 8 miles, round trip.  That's a bit much for me and my still questionable knee.  After the intermittent thunder storms, the 60 degree air temperature, soaking wet leather dress shoes and cotton socks, and after the 2.7 mile marker, it became one of those stubborn "i'm going to finish this whether I want to or not".  And like most acts of selfish, stupid, stubbornness, it's not me that is going to get hurt, but something else... in this case, my knee, I know it's going to be hurting tomorrow and it just started getting better.  FML. 

Beautiful lush drive into the park.  The park is free, which is nice.  The Motel 8 i'm staying in now is 70 bucks.  fair enough.  I've been staying at highway motels for most of my trip.  So far, I've avoided anything too gross and disgusting and managed to pay rates that don't make me cringe too much.  I think i will always be a hostel kind of guy.  

forests of Appalachia. I was actually hiking on the Appalachian Trail. 

I had a wonderful time in the South, in Tennessee and Georgia, I want to go watch Deliverance now.  

deer. 

It was rainy, and foggy and cold during my hike (good thing I had a blue umbrella with me); i guess they don't call it the Smoky Mountains for nothing.   The smoky mountains is a great marketing name for what are really just cloudy, foggy and hazy mountains...

Next on my bucket list is Kalalau trail on northern Kauai..  Under-prepared and over-confident baby.