May 24, 2004 - I had an early start this morning, hiking by 6:40 am. I thought that getting more miles in the morning while it would be cool would be best in the hot weather. I was done with hiking by 12:30 pm and got in 16.4 miles. That was with 45 minutes worth of breaks. The Smokey Mts have been easy so far. I decided to stop at the shelter before Clingman’s Dome so I hope to make it to the top early tomorrow morning for sunrise. If the sky is clear it should be a good view with the sun coming over the mountains. It appears that there will be 5 other people at the shelter tonight, 3 are here now and 2 more should be on the way.
