Got up at 4:30 and prepared to hike to the highest point on the AT for the sunrise. Clear night and the stars looked like you could touch them. Night sky is amazing when there is no city light to interfere. Even as we were getting ready other hikers with headlamps came through the area on the trail. Sunrise was going to be an EVENT. Some hikers had been hiking since one A.M. To make the sunrise. Had my pack on when nature called. Had to answer the call. Well, time and tide wait for no one so I had to focus on making record time,for me, to welcome the day.
Hiking alone with a headlamp in the forest primeval is a surreal event. Every sense is at a high state of awareness. Was at a junction of two trails as the sky was beginning to lighten. Clingman tower .3 miles, bypass trail .6 miles. Wow, three tenths of a mile. I can do this.
My first clue was I was going down hill. The tower should be .3 miles up. Do I listen to my instincts? No. My second clue was a sign reading "Parking Lot .1 mile. Now, in full daylight I was standing in the parking lot still .5 miles from the tower.
Tourists were walking down from the tower to their cars. They DROVE here. I hiked. Where is the justice?
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