All down hill from here, but not literally

Mt. Collins shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter.   13.8 miles

  
 I was up early and on the trail by 7:00. Headed to Climgman’s Dome, the highest elevation on the entire AT, at 6,655 feet. 

   
 As I walked up to the observation tower, I overheard a lady in her 30’s complain to her male partner,  “I just walked up a mountain, I’m not walking up a ramp to see more trees”.   Add a few popular swears for exact quote. I had to chuckle since they probably woke up at a hotel with a continental breakfast, drove up the mountain in their rented Sentra, were they walked uphill from 5 minutes from the parking lot and I literally walked up the mountain. 

Just before I reached the shelter, I saw a line of about 40 wild turkey in a hurry to get someplace.  I was surprised they didn’t answer my world famous turkey call. 

  The rest of the day was a great long walk with sunny blue skies. Made it to the full shelter at 4:00, set up the hammock, ate some cous cous and butterscotch pudding and crawled into my bag.