The day started at 7:10 with rocks and a climb and the day ended at 6:45 with miles of pastures. It’s hard to even remember the middle at this point.

I slept pretty well last night even though I was fairly close to a house. At least close enough to see their outdoor lights. It was cool in the morning but not terribly cold so I dressed in my short sleeve shirt because I knew I had a climb coming up. The climb started out pretty normal but towards the top it got pretty rocky. Little did I know the next 3 miles we’re going to remain quite rocky and slow me down quite a bit. It was only 9:30 as I was exiting those piles of rocks but I was already worn out and tired. I thought I had a pretty good breakfast of a big giant cinnamon bun but it was long gone by the time I exited the rocks. I had to stop and eat something twice before I got out of them.

Luckily the rest of that ridge was pretty level and not so rocky so I was able to pick my pace up after I had eaten something and rested a little bit. About an hour later I came across an area that had a really good view to the northwest of the next ridge but it was just the ridge; there were no houses or anything to look at down below. The fall colors were in full swing on that ridge as they were on the one that I was standing on. By the time my trip ends I doubt there will be any leaves left on the trees.

The middle of the day was another climb over another ridge that was tougher than I expected. I knew it was going to be an 1,800 foot climb but the trail was steep or rocky but not steep and rocky at the same time. When it’s steep but not rocky it hurts your Achilles tendons because your toes point so high up in the air. I need some sort of rock or root to put under my heel so I don’t have to overflex my Achilles tendon so much.

By the time I got over the second climb and got to the last shelter that I would pass for the day it was 4:45 in the afternoon. Far too early to stop. The next ridge was supposed to be dry or have streams that are run off from cow pastures so I filled up with water from the stream below the shelter.

The end of the day was filled with walks across pasture after pasture. I must have walked across five or six of them anywhere from a quarter mile to a half mile each.  Hiking in the wide open gave me a chance to see the thunder clouds that were headed my way. It’s supposed to start raining at about 10:00 p.m. until about midnight.  As I write this in my hammock, I can hear things falling around me but I can’t tell if they’re raindrops or leaves. I’m pretty sure they are leaves right now but soon they will turn to rain. I wanted to make sure I was passed all the cow pastures before stopping because the last thing I want to do tomorrow is walk across a meadow that has fresh rain on it.