The day started out with partly cloudy skies. But now it's totally overcast with rain threatening. So far I've done 8 miles with 4.6 to go to the next shelter. It's 12:30 and I've stopped at an overlook for lunch.
Made it to the shelter around 3pm. It never did rain. So I did 12.6 miles today. I'm about 16 miles from the northern border of the park. There are 12 of us here for the night. When you're in the national park you're required to sleep within a shelter. If the shelter is full you can set up your tent just outside the shelter. Many people have had bear encounters within the park, thus the requirement to stay within a shelter. Once I exit the park I can tent camp pretty much wherever. A park service trail runner was on the trail today checking everyone's permit.
3/25 Left the shelter at 7:15 this morning. The trail, for the most part was down hill to the next shelter, 7.6 miles away. It's 11:15 and I'm eating lunch before heading on.
Ended up doing 16.5 miles today and I'm no longer within the national park. Goodbye Smokies. I'm tent camping with 4 other thru hikers just outside the park.
I included a close up picture of the ubiquitous rodadendrun, which has the bigger longer leaf alongside a mountain laurel. These two small trees have been everywhere so far in the Appalachians.
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