Day 152, miles today - 10.9, total - 2,097.4, miles to go - 88.5

August 17, 2013

Long Pond Stream Lean-to to Chairback Gap Lean-to.

I woke up this morning at 6:30. We weren't doing many miles today so I didn't wake B-Rocket until 7:30. She's not one to wake up early on her own. Basically I'm her alarm clock. The section hikers left at 7:00, Roadrunner left at 8:00, we started hiking at about 8:30.

Our morning started with a 1,000 ft. up. There were a lot of rocks and roots, but overall not that bad. Where the trail leveled off there was a side trail to the Barren Slide. I took the side trail to see it. B-Rocket waited on the AT for me. When I got to the end of the trail there was a very nice overlook. The overlook consisted of large boulders jumbled up. From there I could see a boulder field reaching almost down to the  base of the mountain. I assume that was the Slide.

 After I got back to the trail, we had a short level section and we had a 600 ft. up. At that point we were on top of Barren Mountain. There was a nice view, and there were remnants of a fire tower. We took a snack break on the rock surface. We were in the sun which made it very comfortable. B-Rocket laid down, closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth.

We passed through the Fourth Mountain bog. There were walk boards to walk on all the way through this section. It would have been very difficult and messy without the boards. When we got to the top of Fourth Mountain we stopped for a long lunch break. There was a nice view of the surrounding mountains. After eating, B-Rocket read a book she had downloaded. I laid down in the sun and took a nap. Taking a nap in the sun, while on top of a mountain, is pretty nice.

After lunch we had 5.5 miles to Chairback Gap Lean-to. It was about 6:00 when we got there. We didn't do a lot of miles today, but there was a lot of elevation change and there were some very rocky sections making it difficult to make good time. There is one section hiker with us in the shelter. He's from Tennessee. I told him about Big South Fork in Tennessee. It's one of my favorite places near Cincinnati to backpack. I gave him the highlights of backpacking there. He wrote down the name and location. He said he was going to look into it.