Day 45 - Friday, April 9, 2021

Yesterday’s “Nero” paid off as the rain began early evening and rained into the early morning. Overnight temperatures stayed in the mid 50’s. 

Today’s hike is continuing in the Thomas Jefferson National Forest from Cross Ave, VA793 (636.1 NoBo) to Sugar Run Gap, Sugar Run Road (625.4 NoBo) equaling 10.7 miles. 

We began hiking at 8:50 am. Clear skies and the temperature was 54° with a light wind.






We met two NOBO thru -hikers near the Docs Knob Shelter that started from Springer  Mountain  on February 16th. Their trail names were “Wind & Pan”. They were not aware of the trail closure from Pocahontas Road (641.5 NoBo) to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter (656.7 NoBo).






About 2 miles of the trail was through this heavy ground canopy. Some spots would be tight if you were 6’-5” and carrying a full pack.







At about 1:05 pm I slipped but caught myself so abruptly that my smartwatch sensed it as a fall and asked me if I was okay! If you don’t reply to the two follow up confirmations that you are okay, it calls 911 and sends a fall notification to your emergency contacts 🤭. I suppose it is an useful safety feature if you did really fall. Turtle Power was impressed how quick and what seemed effortless I recovered but was more disappointed that he didn’t get a dinner  😂 😳.







Spectacular views. 




I was drying my shirt and changing my socks at lunchtime.





I was walking down this section of trail when I came upon a bear den. Bears are out of hibernation now so no one was home 🐻.





View from Angels Rest.

We finish hiking at 3:00 pm. The temperature was 75° and clouds were moving in as predicted. It began raining shortly after we got back to the truck... don’t you just  love it when a plan comes together!  The weather for the next two days is not looking all that good... the forecast is for localized showers throughout the day; raining hard at times. A “Zero” may be in our cards🤔. 


Till next time... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋

Comments

  1. Ebb and FloApril 10, 2021 at 10:13 AM

    Your hiking adventures are mind boggling! Beautiful countryside

    ReplyDelete
  2. ErinApril 11, 2021 at 8:03 PM

    Awesome job guys keep it going

    ReplyDelete

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