Trail day 4 - Things are heating up - Jack

Trail day 4 - May 16, 2017
Mile 673.2 - Mile 685.6
Laurel creek shelter to Niday shelter
12.4 miles

Wow was it hot out today

We got going late morning after refilling our water bottles. The highlight of the morning was walking a mile or two through a giant pasture! We had some great views of the surrounding mountains. 

 

A little later on we crossed the second oldest tree on the AT! It's over 300 years old and 18 feet around. 

 

I never knew I could be so fascinated with a tree! After this we had a grueling climb up a steep mountain side. After 3 or 4 breaks we made it up and had a deceptively easy ridgewalk ahead of us for the afternoon. Our first hint at the misery that awaited us was the fact that there was no water for the next 6-7ish miles. The second was the fact that it was over 80 degrees out. Our easy walk turned into a blazing hot rock scramble over the mountain tops in direct sunlight! So much for the green tunnel. While the views were fantastic up there, we weren't able to enjoy them much. 

We then had a 2.6 mile downhill to the next shelter. 
Once we arrived, I immediately set up my hammock and too a quick rest. Now, I'm sitting here waiting until 6:00 to eat dinner so I don't get too hungry later. Apparently we missed seeing a bear today by 15 minutes or so, and missed seeing a rattle snake by about the same. A hiker behind us nearly stepped on it! Stephen thinks he saw a rattle snake coming down into the shelter but is unsure if it was that, or a rat snake. One highlight of our ridgewalking experience is the wildflowers! They seemed to be everywhere in nearly all colors of the rainbow. I wish we were there on a cooler day so we could have enjoyed the scenery a little more. 

Overall it wasn't a terrible day, but yet again we don't have service at the shelter so this will be going up on Wednesday! Sorry for being a day late on these. 

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