A hiking Trip From Shelby Gap, KY to Birch Knob, VA = FUN!

As I am sitting here at my mom's house in Kerch, Crimea, Russia, Ukraine whatever you wanna call it, I feel like telling a little story before I pass out.
About a couple weeks ago, me my husband @matt-a, @robrigo and @broester went on a 5-6 hours hike in the Appalachian mountains. Our trip began from @tommyinthesun's house that is situated in the middle of the forest. It sounds crazy, but it isn't as crazy as it sounds :).
It was my very first time staying in Kentucky during summer which I was super excited about until about every inch of my body was covered in mosquito bites , it sucked pretty bad, actually up to this very day I have them ... Oh well.
But hey! It was also my very first time that I saw a deer too! It even let me follow and watch it eat some herbs, this first hand experience makes up for it!
It was a late morning that I went out to the porch to have a coffee, I spotted this beautiful creature, I wish I could see more of them :(.

Either way we began our hiking trip around afternoon. I had no idea whatsoever how much time it was going to take us to get to Birch Knob, some people were saying it would take a couple days, but we thought it would only take a few hours, which actually was true haha. Even though we did have several pit stops, the entire hike took about 5 and a half hours, I didn't think it was bad at all.
For me though, as someone who's used to walking a lot in the past, including climbing mountains, it wasn't too much, not even trying to brag, but it is true :). Although I did get tired in the end because I could NOT wait to roast some wienies :). I guess I'm getting more American each day.

Most of the time we had to stay on Pine Mountain Trail, it was convenient.

Being the only people in the forest, for as long as we could here anyways, was quite amazing. All you are surrounded by is birds, bugs, animals, super tall trees and extremely dense air. I don't think you can experience that sorta air living in a city. I am not sure if it was cleaner, it probably was, but it certainly was different more than anything. You can also encounter random unknown plants, @tommyinthesun did tell me the name of this one, but I forgot :(.

Other than that I met a bunch of butterflies!

When I was little I used to catch them about every day and pin them with a needle to a window sill, it sounds cruel, but back then it was normal I guess?

How about unknown mushrooms?

Also it is kind of fun to collect random leve and flowers in the forest.

And what are these?

As you can see from photos above, the scenery is pretty breathtaking, but it is nothing compared to what you're about to see from Birch Know Observation Tower. This is what the way up looks like:

right click on the image -> view in a new tab for bigger resolution

Time for a picture of yours truly enjoying that magnificent view!

I don't think I need to write a captions for these.

This one is interesting . . .

A few minutes away from the observation there is a shelter for anyone who need to stay in cabin, make a fire and have some rest. This cabin blew my mind. It is so impressive to see people maintain it and try to make sure it stays in a good shape. When we were leaving the next day, we left a bunch of random things there such as canned food, some toilet paper, trail mix, a lighter, it may not sound like a lot, but it may become handy to travelers.

Huge kudos to the guy who built it!

Here's my precious husband @matt-a keeping the fire alive. I am on the opposite side of the world today, sadly :(.

An evening at Birch Knob, so beautiful . . .

I hope all y'all are gonna sleep great tonight as well! As it is pretty late over here in Kerch, Crimea, nighty-night, the world.