Appalachian Trail Day 14 - Hot Springs to Lightning Strike

Such a fun day with my Tramily! Hiking with my 3 friends from Tennessee and we had a blast. All slept great besides the bear scare, woke up to a beautiful sunrise peaking through the trees, hiked 6 miles down into Hot Springs where we were lucky to cross paths with Kristian Morgan who was attempting the FKT (fastest known time) for the Appalachian Trail northbound. I would see him a week or 2 later near Hurricane Shelter and hike with hike for 6 miles. Cool to see his mini van with all the data and stats, first time I learned there was a challenge to run it in the fastest time, this changed the entire rest of my hike and how I thought about it daily. We visited the visitors center with all the Hot Springs info - then sat at the brewery and devoured a delicious burger and cheesesteak with tots and a root beer. Visited the outfitter and then went for smoothies and milkshakes. Hesse shuttled up to Rich mountain fire tower, Joelle Wash and Mike and I continued. Crossed the French broad river and lovers leap with a steep rocky climb up the mountain. Such beautiful views! Made it through meadows and a big climb up to the fire tower where we enjoyed sunset, dinner, and the most wild lightning storm in a while! The cracking was so loud and we got drenched! Such a fun and crazy time!
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