The
day the crew hiked out to Derrick Knob Shelter, we were only able to get 3
hours of work in, and the rest was spent hiking. Though in those 3 hours of
work, we were able to cover 2.5-miles of trail! Even though this session was
incredibly challenging with all the hiking, our crew was able to brush the
whole section and finish clearing almost all of the drains.
We also had an awesome surprise
this week: Bobby, the Rocky Top Crew Leader from years past, came out to join
us on day 3 and hiked in an amazing dinner of homemade lasagna, garlic bread,
salad, and ice cream! Knowing that Bobby was hiking in to meet us and bringing us
food was a good motivator, helping us get back to camp!
Bobby also joined us the next day
and gave us an extra hand brushing, which helped a lot.
That was not our only surprise of the week though; Jenny saw a bear while she was using the bathroom, which was pretty cool too!
Though
this section was tough to hike, we had great views: Rocky Top offered a 360
degree view, there were a couple meadows on our way to the top of Thunderhead
that looked out on Cades Cove, we could see Clingmans Dome off in the distance
from Briar Knob, and we could see Fontana Lake from a nice grassy bald before
the climb up Rocky Top. We also could
not have asked for nicer weather, though it was a little warm, we had sunshine
for every workday and for our hike down.
This session and group was a lot of
fun and we completed so much work! Thank you for all the work you completed
Sarah, Jenny, Joey, and David.
