Day 2- Asheville, NC to Johnson City, TN by Kenny & Kristen

We had a pretty peaceful night sleep in the Cracker Barrel parking lot in Asheville. We woke up early and hit the road toward Johnson City, TN. On the way we found a scenic overlook off of I26 W which had some really great views of the Smokey mountains and valleys below. It even had a viewfinder equipped to help colorblind folk see the beauty of Tennessee. There was a nice, but steep, paved walkway that took you up two more levels - maybe a quarter mile total.  Afterward we headed toward Lone Oak Trail, Kristen's "easy" hike she picked for the day because our legs were burnt from the AT Approach trail the day before. It actually turned out to be a pretty tough hike. It was only 2 miles distance, but it felt like we hiked two miles up. The trail itself though was really nice, but narrow. The beginning had awesome views and sounds of the creek (although it was just pure switchbacks). There was also a nice picnic table about .7 miles in and another one all of the way at the top.  After the Lone Oak Trail we headed over to Blue Hole which was about 40 minutes away. It was a quick, but steep and slippery, quarter mile walk down the trail to the water fall. The pool itself was beautiful and FREEZING. We still jumped in because we wanted to rinse off from hiking before sitting in the van for a few more hours, but it took a lot of mental fortitude to get in.  The rest of the drive to Roanoke was uneventful, although the views of the rolling Appalachian mountains were great. We spent the rest of the night cooking out with family and getting some good rest before taking off for the next day.

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