Final Decent Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Starting mile 223.7

Today was my last day in the Smoky Mountains. All I’ve got left is a couple of climbs and a long descent out of the park. I’ve really enjoyed this part of the trail. There were a few tough climbs, but for the most part it was a well graded trail with long but easy climbs and descents. There were amazing views of the mountains everywhere. Even with the requirement of staying at the shelters, I would recommend people do this section of the trail.

I got going this morning knowing I had about Sixteen miles to get out of the park. I wasn’t really looking forward to this day because of the 6,000 feet of elevation loss. Long climbs are tiring but long descents are hard on the knees. Luckily the day started with one of the two climbs of the day. It was a nice gentle climb, so I made great time. When I got to the top it opened up so I was able to take a nice breakfast break with a view.

After this initial climb I had a 5-mile descent to the next shelter. The trail wasn’t too bad, but there were a few really rocky spots that slowed us down. When we made it to the second to last shelter we stopped for lunch. There ended up being about six of us there for lunch. We had a great conversation about our thoughts on hiking in the park. The general consensus was that the park was great.

After lunch we had our last big climb in the park. The climb up to My Cammerer was like the one this morning, long but not that difficult. Then it was a long descent. We went from about 6,000 feet down to 1,900 feet. It felt great to make it out of the park.

We did 16.7 miles with about 2,000 feet of elevation gain and 6,000 feet of elevation loss. Tomorrow brings us to Max Patch, a big bald.

Ending mile 240.4