It was a brisk morning (30 degrees F) and fresh snow from the night before coated the trail. Snowy, moss covered boulders lined the first mile of the trail and it felt like walking through Rivendell. As we hiked higher the sun started to peak out from above the ridge line and made the snow and tree tops sparkle. Once we made it to the ridge line the elevation gain eased up, but ice started to melt above our heads and caused some real good ice chunks to fall on us, which at first was kind of cool but became more painful as the ice chunks got bigger. It was all part of the adventure. We spotted grouse tracks in the fresh snow and I munched on some sweet birch twigs that grow at the higher elevations (3,500-4,000 ft). At the top, the sun warmed us up and there was very little wind. Clear conditions meant we could see far off into the mountain range stretching to North Carolina, and we could look out over the flatter portions of Tennessee. It was an incredible hike and I would absolutely do it again.