Stats
Start Point: Got on the trail at the Shook Branch Recreation Area at Lake Watauga.
Turn Around: ??? GPS doesn't want to give me the data on the coordinates and at the moment I cannot find the map. Went in about three miles from Shook Branch.
Total Elevation Change: 1,754 feet
Total Distance: 10 miles
Weight: 232 pounds
Pack weight: unk, waist pack with about 10 lbs, counting water & food
Photos
Hiking companion on the trail.
Natural flowers found along the way. We also saw the same thing in yellow.
The lake where we started out, seen through the trees.
The end of the trail. Only 2.5 miles back up hill to the car. My hiking companion offered to go get the car because I had complained that my gluts were so tired they were quivering (true story). So I ran back. (Ha!)
By the way, the trail is supposedly off the side road that the photographer is standing on. It is actually off this gravel road, hidden behind the bushes behind me. No signage. We had thought that the price tag on our little orange shovel (for you know what) would give us away as newbies, but really it was not even being able to find the trail that did the trick. Some Boy Scouts helped us out.
Sunset back at the lake.
Links
Article on the Appalachian Trail in Watauga Lake Magazine.