Today we were up and on the road before daylight........
to get a parking spot at Newfound Gap so we could hike the eight mile, 1,886 ft elevation change round-trip Charles Bunion Hike. We found a parking spot in time to see the sunrise....
And get a picture of the four of us before we set off to Charles Bunion:
Note the puffy jackets (which for us, was the fourth layer over fleece and two long-sleeved shirts), gloves, and hats - it was cold - DAMN cold! A cold-front came in while we were there and it was in the 40's some mornings - could see your breath. ⛄ (Jeff and Julie also look cold, huh!)
It was a nice hike, with steady elevation. Eventually we hit some fresh snow from the day/night prior....
We arrived at Charles Bunion in about 2 1/2 hours - and were rewarded with clear skies (it was questionable the entire hike)
and some beautiful foliage.....
(Notice that after hiking for 4 miles, pretty much uphill, we are still bundled up - brrrrrr!!!!)
We turned around and made our way to the backpacker shelter (about a mile) to have some lunch and continued back towards the parking lot where we passed a ton of people hiking towards Charles Bunion. One more pic.....
(We did this hike in 2013 - here's the link to compare the trail conditions, us 10 years younger - gulp!, and what the hike looks like in May, rather than October.)
After hot beverages and hot showers, we had an early dinner and then wandered around the town of Gaitlinburg to try some moonshine and local fruit wines.
We paid something like $7 to try seven different types of moonshine - served in (apparently) communion cups! 😅
How did it taste? As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words:
But the jars were pretty, which is worth something!
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