Appalachian Trail (day 10) - Birch Spring Tentsite to Derrick Knob Shelter / mile 190

"There's no feeling in the world like washing your face in cold water on a mountain morning." Jack Kerouac

Regular day of hiking, trail was quite demanding building up to the highest point on the entire Appalachian Trail which I should reach tomorrow.
My leg muscles although initially painful did warm up throughout the day and I could hike at pretty much my regular speed, but at around 3 pm the pain came back so I decided to finish for the day at this point, difference being that I actually managed to do my daily miles required to finish the hike in time so it wasn't as bad as yesterday.

I walked in the morning accompanied by a truck driver, trail name "Long Haul", who was splitting his time between work and hiking short and medium distance trails around US. He joined Appalachian Trail from other trail that connected to it and was planning to go to the end of Great Smoky Mountains NP,  and then catch a bus to where he left his truck. We talked about animal encounters on trails,  he seemed to have seen a lot of wild animals, like bears, wolves, various snakes and birds etc. He took a break at the first shelter we came by and I carried on.
Day was sunny and hot, water sources hard to cone by so I was stopping by every available one to top up. Landscape wasn't much different to the one I've already seen, which made me wonder what made the Great Smoky Mountains so special that it became a National Park.

Like yesterday I arrived at the campsite first and took one of the better spots, right on the outskirts so I wouldn't have too many snoring neighbours. one of the hikers came with Great Pyrenees dog, I don't know how they were allowed to bring it in, as the park rules were clearly stating that no dogs were allowed but I didn't inquire about it.

There meant to be some rain tomorrow and day after but the weather should more less be good. Fingers crossed.

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