We finished our trip to the Smokies with our longest-ever hike. Nearly 11 miles to one of the tallestmountains in the Eastern United States. For this hike, we set an alarm to ensure an early departure. I was concerned about parking for this popular hike, as well as weather and avoiding the crowds. We arrived to the trailhead just after 7:15am and started our hike around 7:30am. The first mile of the hike was pretty mellow. It felt like we were in a rain forest. I dressed in a tank top and shorts and felt a little cool to start but warmed up quickly. I brought a sweater for the summit. The first part of this hike was to Alum Cave (around 2.3 miles into the hike). The pictures online were impressive but seeing it in person was jaw-dropping. I liked the first part of this hike (to Alum Cave) because it was broken into a few different segments. It took us 56 minutes to get to the Alum Cave and the time went by really quickly. The first segment was Arch Rock (around 1.3 miles in...
3x Author, Board Certified Sports Dietitian, Master of Science in Exercise Physiology, 20 x Ironman finisher, 3x XTRI finisher, 6xIM World Championship finisher, Triathlon Coach, 32-year Vegetarian. Trimarnicoach.com