Holy Cow Batman! Today was the day of hiking! Hiking I say!
We went to the area of the Smoky’s called “the Road to Nowhere, a promise broken”. We hiked for 5 hours and 20 minutes. Insane! There were lots of ups and downs and the trail was shaded for most of the way. When we got up this morning it was 32 degrees out. We started hiking when it was 50 degrees. When we were done it was 70 degrees out.
At the furthest point of our hike we met a fellow hiker that happened to the area while riding his Harley. We shared some snacks and some water with him and enjoyed some conversation. We parted and journeyed on to the lake a few hunderd feet away. What a sight. We headed back and the walk was equally enjoyable. About 45 minutes away from the truck we heard a big cat screach. We saw bear tracks in the mud and found what we believed to be a big cat paw print. This was alarming. I was walking with a stick and we had some mace with us but we were not looking forward to seeing nature that close. We made it back no problem but the last 45 minutes had a different feel to it. Once we were back our biker buddy was still in the parking writing us a thank you not on a trail map for sharing the water. He had drank half his water on the way to the lake, and felt like he had enough to get back but we insisted he top off his canteen with some. I figured it was warmer and he would drink more and we were right. He finished the water on the way back. He was glad to see and returned our hospitality by sharing some home made banana bread his lady made for him. He let us have his last 2 pieces. It was tasty. We hung out and chatted some before heading out on our seperate ways. This interaction was a great bonus to a great day.
As for nutrition today I ate well. We cooked breakfast at home, bought subway sandwiches for lunch, packed fruit for break, and cooked chicken breast, pinto beans and canned tomatoes for dinner over a bed of baby spinach. Total calories of 2,163 were consumed. I will have a snack tonight of a piece of fr
