May 26, 2004 - Wow, what a day. I put in my first 30 mile day, 30.5. It was just one of those days you felt like you could go forever. I had a few hard climbs in the morning but made great time. I went up a few 6000+ mountains and got some good views. The last 3 miles of the day, or so I thought, were all downhill, almost 3000 ft in elevation change which I did in 45 minutes. That was the end of the Smokey Mountains. I thought I would camp just a mile after that but there were no good campsites so I walked until I found one. After 25 miles for the day I found one with a water source so decided to eat dinner and set up camp. Right after dinner Joe came by so we decided to move on to the next shelter 5 miles down the trail. Soon as we took off it began to rain pretty hard. That was a long, muddy, and wet hike. We were so glad to get to the shelter. But it was a crowded one. One other thru hiker and 4 section hikers, so 7 all together in a small space. Bedtime. I may try for Hot Springs tomorrow.
