AM - 2 hours, AT to Backbone Rock. Returned via the road. Visit to Tennessee made more eventful by my ill-informed decision to double back just before the state line, thinking I had somehow missed it. In reality it was my inability to wrap my brain around the difference between flatland miles and mountain miles. Frustrating and had me wishing I had brought the water bottle along with me, with temps rising through the morning. A thudding descent to Backbone Rock (aka world's shortest tunnel) which was worth the trip alone:
AT in Damascus proper
climbing towards the state line
welcome to Tennessee
Long break at the "tunnel" followed by a very slow putter back to town along the road. Legs quite destroyed from the descent off the AT, unsurprisingly.
PM - 60 minutes, Creeper trail to AT to Iron Mountain trail. Billed in the local hiking guide as a "moderate" hike which must mean no technical climbing equipment is required. As per usual, the climbing up the AT wasn't such a big problem but coming back down, on the Iron Mountain trail in this case, got old fast. Not helped by the fact that yesterday's rains made for a slippery mess at times on the way down, with multiple crossings of the drainage that the trail follows to get back into town. Well worth doing despite the fried quads.
view from the AT just north of Damascus
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