Day 34, miles today- 22.7, total- 456.7

We were on trail this morning at 7:30 am. It was about 35 degrees, but the sun was out and it warmed to 60 degrees by late afternoon. Most of the day we walked along a ridge giving us nice views of the valley below.

Around noon we came out of the woods at a road crossing, near Shady Valley, TN. There was a banana laying on top of a fence post waiting for a hungry hiker. It was my lucky day. Then as we neared the small parking lot a guy asked if we were thru hikers. He said he had snack cakes and fruit drinks for us. Trail magic mid-day....sweet! The trail angel's name was Mountain Squid. A past thru hiker. He lives nearby the road crossing.

I've seen more and more flowers along the trail. The color makes the trail even prettier. We went through some bog areas which had walk boards. It would have been very muddy without them. A few sections of the trail has grass growing along the sides. It may have something to do with trekking poles poking into the ground. Improving the soil through aeration or transplanting the grass. The trail went across a pasture today. There was cattle roaming about.

We got to Abington Shelter at 4:30 pm. There were three section hikers there. By 6:30 seven thru hikers had arrived. There were five young guys (18-19 yrs old) in one group. Three from Flint Michigan and two from England. They were very entertaining. We ate and talked with them for a couple hours. The one guy cut his finger while whittling. A pretty bad cut. I helped him clean and bandage it. 

Tomorrow we will be in Damascus Va. I plan to take a zero there Tuesday. Sequoia is just passing through. We'll eat lunch together before he leaves.