It was a hot day today. The beginning of June truly has brought summer in. We no longer need to put on jackets in the morning to keep warm as we pack up, and in fact, the sleeping bags are just becoming more extra padding rather than sources of warmth. It’s time for us hikers to start getting used to just being hot and sweaty all day.
The trail today was actually pretty nice. There were some interesting rocky spots, but not like lots of multiple sized rocks… more like big rock slabs that we had to pick our way across. They don’t hurt my feet quite as much as the other kind of rocks. There were also many lengthy sections of just nicely graded mostly dirt path, and even the longest climb of the day had a bunch of switchbacks to make it a bit easier on us. All in all, my feet actually felt pretty good today, only getting that fatigued feeling and a few spots of pain whenever my feet would land on the wrong spot.
The long climb of the day put us on top of Brush Mountain. Of course we did the climb during the hottest part of the day, and had to carry enough water for lunch and the climb down. There were all these little lizards running around the trail, so many that it was like they had replaced the chipmunks and squirrels as the animals to scurry away as we approached. When we reached the top, we had a slow lunch, and I pulled out our rain fly and tent to dry in the sun (it rained a bit last night). At the very top of the mountain is a monument for Addie Murphy, the most decorated soldier from World War Two. He apparently died in a plane crash on the mountain.
We did a total of about 16.3 miles today, and we’re camped out on the trail down to Pickle Branch Shelter. We need to make it one more night on the trail, and it looks like our food will just barely get us into Daleville on Friday. We have devised a plan with Starbucks for tomorrow where we’ll hike about a half mile off trail to stop at a grocery that apparently also makes food, that’ll ensure that we’re well fed for our last full hiking day before we take our zero day in Daleville.
Cool rattler. Never seen one in VA and I’ve been here since 79.