Day 26 - 3/27

Daily mileage: 15.0
Total trail mileage: 287.1
Starting location: Hot Springs, NC
Ending location: Between Allen Gap and Log Cabin Drive
Weather: Clear and sunny all day. Rather windy. 45-55 degrees during
the day

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.893390,+-82.825637

I got up, ate a couple slices of left over pizza for breakfast and
started hiking. The weather today was perfect hiking weather...sunny
and warm but not too hot. It feels like Spring.

One problem with the warmer weather is that the bugs are starting to
come out. I already saw a few mosquitos. Not enough to be annoying,
but that probably isn't too far away.

I passed by a firetower. Again, pretty cool views, but the mountains
are getting smaller compared to the Smokys. I didn't stay long though
as it was quite windy on the tower.

I am staying in my hammock for the first time in a while. I had
stayed a couple nights in the shelters because it was easier to deal
with wet clothing when it was raining. Then I was forced to stay in
the shelters through the Smokys. And then I cowboy camped at Max
Patch. I had been looking forward to my hammock for a while, and
hopefully tonight will be warm enough that I don't need my pad in the
hammock with me (would be a first for this trip).

I passed by a section just before Allen Gap that looked like a war
zone. There were so many downed trees and branches all over the
place. I did see a trail maintainer out today, so they should have it
cleared before too long.

All in all, a fairly easy day. I am glad that I am at the point where
a 15 mile day can be considered "easy". I could have pushed on (I
stopped when it was still reasonably early) but there wasn't a reason
to do so.

And, oh, this has now become my longest backpacking trip (by mileage -
tomorrow will also tie for number of days out).