Today was another spectacular (and gorgeous) day. I just found out that we have now completed 200 miles on the AT. (editorial note by mom: "Wow, impressive.") We had beautiful, sunny weather all day during our 15 mile trek in Smoky Mountain National Park. We also summitted the highest peak on the AT today. It is called Clingman’s Dome and it is 6,643 feet high. At the top of the mountain, there was this crazy tower which you could walk up a ramp to get to a 360 degree view at the top. It was beautiful and we had no clouds blocking the view. Then we hiked on to Mount Collins Shelter. The high elevation is filled with balsam fir trees and the slightly cool fresh air smelled so great. We enjoyed the refreshing scents all day. Tonight we built another fire inside the shelter we are camping at. Trapper is here, along with a few other new people we had not met before tonight. There is also a 60 year old “ridge runner” that is staying at this shelter. He is a volunteer that cleans up the trail and does other maintenance all day as he hikes his territory. There are 3 ridge runners in the Smokies. They do a great job maintaining the area for us hikers and we appreciate them. Good night for now.
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