Day 55, miles today - 17.2, total - 765.7

Cove Mountain Shelter to Thunder Hill Shelter.

The five of us started hiking at 9:30 am. We slept-in. We had a lot of up hill today. Counting a side trail, we did 5,000 feet of up. That's some serious up.

We stopped for lunch at the Bryant Ridge Shelter. It was the best shelter I've seen on the AT. It could sleep 20 people. It was well designed and in great shape. We also stopped at the Cornelius Creek Shelter for a break. We saw one black snake today. Wanderlust was in front. He came within a couple feet of it as the snake crossed the trail. Pumpkin Head, Wanderlust and I took a 1.1 mile side trail to the Apple Orchard Falls. It was 1.1 miles down a steep hill and the same back up the steep hill. But, it was worth it. It was a 200 ft waterfall. Very pretty! We later came to a FAA tower at the top of Apple Orchard Mountain. It looked like a giant soccer ball. Shortly after that we saw what is called the Guillotine. It's a large rock that's sitting on top of two other large rocks. The trail crosses under it. It doesn't look like it's going anywhere soon. We got to the shelter at 7:30. We ate dinner, and then went to bed at 9:00 pm.