Day 2, Rich Mountain Campsite

This morning began with a climb up from the river past Lover Leap Rock and many other outcroppings that were very scenic.  The climb was a little longer than I remembered, but did not seem as difficult. The photo below is of my grandson, Chase at one of the outcroppings.

We continued the climb and finally came to Pump Gap Loop trail. About 1/2 mile beyond we stopped for a lunch break at a beautiful pond alongside the AT.  Chase took a very relaxing break after eating a snack. 

I walked around the pond to get a view of it as he was resting comfortably.

After taking a break we continued on toward Rich Mountain. Where we had planned to camp for the night.

We arrived here at the Rich Mountain Campsite in the early evening and set up camp.  Before supper Ernie and I decided to take the side trail over to the Lookout Tower for a photo op. 

Here is Ernie in the tower as we looked out over the beautiful mountains of North Carolina.

Here are a couple of photos of the fantasic view from the tower.  However the photos do not do it justice. 

After taking the photos we all cooked our supper, ate, hung our food bags and was ready to call it a great day on the Appalachian Trail. 

Day 1, Hot Springs, NC

The day was spent mostly riding down here to Hot Springs, NC after leaving a vehicle at Uncle Johnny's Hostel in Erwin, TN.  We plan to hike back to Uncle Johnny's in the next 4 or 5 days.

My grandson, Chase and I left Seville, Ohio this morning at 6:30 and stopped near Adkins, VA and had lunch at the Barn which is located beside the AT as it goes under I-77.  We had a great lunch and filled the car with gas and headed on to Erwin, TN where we to meet my son, Ernie.

We met up with Ernie and transferred all our backpacking gear to his truck and then he drove us down here to Hot Springs, where the three of us began our hike back to Erwin.

We hiked through the town of Hot Springs since that is where the AT follows along the main street until it crossed the highway bridge over the French Broad River.  Once we crossed the river we headed up the AT alongside it for about a mile where we decided to call it a day and found us a campsite beside the river.

After setting up camp here we decided to cool off and take a swim, which felt great considering the temperature was in the 90 degree range.  After a swim we cooked our supper and bedded down for the night.