6/14/26- Day 14 - Up and Over Ole Rocky Top

The day dawned bright and clear with the darn birds chirping their beaks off. Seriously, it was a nice clear morning with a threat of rain possible after 2 pm. I packed up and headed out at 7, with hopes of getting to the shelter, 12 miles away, before the rain. It didn’t work out so well. The first climb was to 5500 feet to get over Ole Rocky Top; I think Dolly Parton did a song about this mountain in Tennessee.   I was almost to the top when the skys opened up and the thunder rumbled, what fun. After surviving that, although soaked from the top to bottom, I walked alone, just me and the green leaves.  I did make it to the shelter before round two of the rain, so here I sit wait for the rain to stop, so I can get water to drink and make dinner. A beer would taste mighty good right about now.

Tomorrow is 11 miles down to the Fontana Dam visitors center, where I’ll get a ride to a local inn to clean up and rest up. There, I’ll have internet for the first time in a week, so I can get caught up on my blog and pictures.

Whistler out for now.