Sequoia started hiking at 6:20 am. He wanted to get an early start to see if his ankle was going to prevent him from continuing his hike.
Airborne, Phys Ed and I started hiking at 7:20 am. We hiked together all day. We got spaced out a little at times , but we bunched back up. We had a lot of nice trail today, much better than yesterday. We were on the ridge a lot today, which provided us with great views of the valleys.
When we got to Laurel Creek, VA 615 we saw a lady at a white van getting ready to do trail running. Her name is Janice. She's from the Atlanta area. She's doing the AT in sections. She walks up the steep sections but runs as much as possible. She had passed me on trail yesterday. She belongs to a running group called Get Guts.com.
I took a picture of Airborne looking at his map. We took a break there because it had a nice view of the valley. Later we passed over I-77 near Bland VA. We ate lunch soon after that. Dutch sat down near us, as we were finishing.
I saw a 4-5 ft black snake crossing the trail this afternoon. By the time I got stopped I was within two feet from him. Before I could get a good picture of him he had moved into a pile of brush and logs. I took a few pictures, but it's hard to see him.
We were going to stay at the Jenny Knob Shelter, but it was full and the water was 0.3 miles away. So, we decided to move on another mile to a campsite that was next to a stream. Which put us at mile 600.0. The miles seem to be coming faster now.
I grew up seeing lots of black snakes on our property. They were my favorite kind of snake. They don't have fangs and they eat the varmints that eat the crops. They make great pets. I hope I see one on my thru-hike. That would make my day.
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