Welcome to Old Dan Walking, a site dedicated mainly to the hiking journals and ramblings of your average lover of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and beyond.
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Dan DeSetto
Looking back at nice Fall day at the 'Stack
To skip the chatter and go right to the pics of this walk, click the link below:
Approximately 8 mile out-and-back walk at the southwestern end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The walk started and ended at Fontana Dam and was along the Appalachian Trail – November, 2008
It’s pretty easy to tell I’ve been on a long hiatus from walking in the mountains this year. Being so busy around town with my boy’s events I simply don’t have the time for the 8 hours of up-and-back driving that typically are necessary on a hike weekend. The hiking legs and lungs I worked so hard to build since May of 2008 are long gone. I’ve missed my favorite time of year in the Smokies for the first time since moving up to South Carolina. So all I can do is look back at nice Fall walk from 2008.
It may not be too late
It seems like yesterday that I did the tough little out-and-back along the Appalachian Trail to the Shuckstack Tower. At that time my walking obsession was in the early stages, and I was trying to get one last walk in before the all of the leaves were gone and Old Man Winter set in. I was pleasantly surprised by all the late season color I saw on this day in early November. I have no idea what the colors look like this year up in the Smokies, but if you think you are too late to enjoy the colors, you may want to try the southwest corner and see if the explosion of reds, yellows, and browns is still in force.
Low elevation on my 8 mile out-and-back walk was around 1850’ at Fontana Dam and high elevation was around 4000’ at Shuckstack Tower. The walk included about 3000’ in overall climbing.
For pics of this walk, click the link below:
