Oddly for someone with a moderate fear of heights, I remember Lehigh gap as a rather fun challenge, but after the Smokies when I was in trail shape, I tend to remember climbs as “challenges” and steep downhills as the painful parts. Going down agony grind about brough me to tears (and did one friend).
The rollercoaster was rough, I was one exhausted hiker when I got to Bears Den but it did not tear me up near as bad as the “stealth knobs” in the Smokeys. I remember looking at the profiles and that we were expecting a somewhat easy day that turned in to a never ending cycle of short, steep, ups and downs that completely fried my legs. After that we never trusted the profiles again.
Singe03