5/22/00
Day 61
Rich Mountain Fire Tower, TN
723.8 miles

First, in the minor milestones department:  61 days is roughly 1/3 of 182 days (6 months), and 720 miles is roughly 1/3 of the 2167 mile-long AT, so I'm apparently on track for completing the Trail on time.  Of course, I haven't yet done either of the comparatively hard bits at the Northern and Southern ends.

The right knee is still acting up, though not as bad as the first day.  It probably didn't help matters that I decided to push and do 18 miles today.  I went past the last shelter to get here because this puts me about 8 miles away from Hot Springs for tomorrow.  There was already someone at the official campsite on the AT when I got here, and although he offered to share, I noticed the place was VERY buggy, so I checked out the 0.2 mile side trail to the fire tower and found not only was there a flat grassy spot for my tent, but a picnic table as well, and no signs saying camping wasn't allowed.  Since it rained again yesterday and this morning was cloudy, this is about the first view I've had since Big Bald.  This would not be a good place to be during a thunderstorm, but right now the stars are out and hopefully rain won't roll in by morning.

I'll just mention that I had the most intense feeling of Deja Vu a while ago.  In the ground below the firetower there are two huge letters, "N" and "S", laid out in concrete.  I pitched my tent right between the two.  I climbed up on the picnic table to take a picture, and right then a wave of recognition rolled through me like I'd been here before, or somewhere just like this, doing exactly the same thing.  Weird.