Day 146 - Show Me The Place (24/11/2016)

I walked alone most of the morning, listening to Leonard Cohen. It made for a lot of self-reflection and slow walking. At one point I was looking out over a view while Cohen sang "Show Me the Place." It was as near to a perfect moment as any. I tried to get a video with the music in the background, but my phone wouldn't play music while recording video (it's too large for me to email, so it'll have to wait until I'm at a computer).

The Smoky Mountains have been beautiful for walking, even if the most of the views are too hazy. What you can see is mostly ridges with dead trees, so it's a bit dreary anyway. I think it'd be better to visit either earlier when things are alive, or later when winter has really come. Still, this is the last of the major iconic sections of the trail, so I'm enjoying it as much as I can.

It's American Thanksgiving today, and I think Flatlander is a bit bummed that we don't have anything planned. She missed Thanksgiving with her friends last weekend, and now isn't getting one on the day itself. Personally, I'm a bit bummed we didn't arrange to be in Hot Springs for the town-hosted Thanksgiving. It would have slowed us a but, but it seems like one of those experiences I promised myself I wouldn't miss. Travelling with others means compromise so we gave it a miss, and I definitely didn't want to break up the party. Tomorrow we stop in Gatlinburg for resupply, so we'll try to do a celebratory lunch of some sort.

Start: Davenport Gap Shelter

End: Peck's Corner Shelter

Distance: 19.7 miles