Loving life

What an amazing week this has been!  The knee started out sore but has gotten much better since i started back at Fontana dam.  Smokey mountain national park was fantastic!  The initial climb was brutal, but once you're up there the elevation gradients aren't so bad.  About the third day in the knee started cooperating with me.  The views were great as was the weather. Finished a 12 mile day (hardest section in the park) by being chased in by a storm.
I hiked the last part of the park with a new group that was a lot of fun.  Skillet and perch are from Belleair and Tampa, Fl.  Vicegrips and Sap, a married couple from....i forget.  We're all about the same age except Otto who's in his 50's and hails from Boone, Nc.  We did a night hike for the last stretch of the park, such a blast!
Spent a day and a half at Standing Bear farm hostel.  A great place to stay, great people and a lovely setting.  Skillet, vicegrips and myself killed a lot of beer while we were there. Good times!
I hiked to Max Patch yesterday from the hostel.  Fantastic weather, great hiking and gorgeous views from atop. Watched the best sunset yet that evening and then did a 180 to watch the full moon rise out of the horizon. So awesome, i can't even do it justice here!
Hiked 16 miles today in perfect weather.  So much vegetation is sprouting up everywhere along trail and throughout the mountains.  Its such a pleasure to watch it all coming to life.
Tomorrow I have a short hike into Hot Springs, NC.  Meeting my folks there for lunch and hopefully i can get a soak in the spring water.