I slept so good last night that I didn’t hear the alarm. How does that happen? It’s quite loud and annoying and I’m thinking everyone else heard it since they were up and milling around. 6:15am I awoke. I packed up relatively quickly and had all intentions of going to Beech CS. There was one post of someone loosing their food but I felt it must have been operator error. Then there was another, and a sobo hiker confirmed all hikers lost their food. That’s one bad bear!

My first morning climb was a handhold of rocks and trees. It was fairly steep and hiking poles weren’t gonna help. Once I reached the summit, it was well worth the effort. The view was in all directions with green valleys below, what appeared to be body’s of water and farmhouse’s. This is quite a rural area with a spattering of homes here and there.

Today was quite different from days past. The climbs did not seem as bad, even-though I climbed over 3,000’. It seemed much more gradual and there were overwhelming views that made the climbs worthwhile. There is some type of ground covering with yellow and white flowers that emerged for the first time. It made the temperature seem much more reasonable, even if it was hotter than other days.

I had lunch with David, Sidekick and Stray-cat. I know the names are a bit odd but they help me to remember who they are. I always try to kick my shoes off during lunch breaks and soak them in a stream, but there really haven’t been any creeks, streams or rivers nearby. Today there were trickles of water with one creek that was a bit of a distance from the trail. After lunch, I headed up to find water when I met this cute couple out on a 13-mile loop. Robin and Gary Carney came by when I was eye-balling my water source a bit off trail. Being they were dayhikers, I assumed they must know where the water crosses the trail. They weren’t sure but Robin’s husband had lots of water and was eager to offload it to me! And it’s Spring Water she tells me. Her husband Gary said she always wanted to be a Trail Angel and today her wish came true. I didn’t have to trance off trail and she got to fill my water bottles. I say that’s a win-win for both of us. She blessed me and wished me a great hike and of course I shared with her my blog. She was quite excited and was following another hiker who was thru-hiking with two prosthetic feet. Wow, now that’s inspiring. The people you meet on this trail have stories. You just need to stop and talk with them.

I made it to Indian Rock, scored a perfect flat piece of dirt, pitched my tent and headed up to the lookout point. Oh my, what a glorious view it was. There were a few others admiring this spectacular place and I just sat and looked in awe! I have this sense of bewilderment regarding these huge expansive view points. Once I reach them, it’s hard to leave. I sat up there for an hour or so and just thanked God for this masterpiece of his great creation.

I returned to camp and had to walk a steep downgrade off trail to get water. That’s only obvious being I’m on top of a rock but darn it, it’s always more convenient when the water flows near camp. Too bad I couldn’t just smack a rock like Moses and out would pour water. Well, now that I think about it, maybe not. Moses got in a bit of trouble for that maneuver and never saw the Promise Land. Maybe I’ll just stick to walking down the hillside and filling my bottles after all.

The sunset. Oh my. There’s about 8-10 of us at Painted Rock and after dinner, we all made our way to the top of the rock. Trail Angels Robin and Gary told me that the most exquisite sunsets happen on top of the rock. Without hesitation, everyone meandered up as the sun was setting. I’ll just let the picture speak for itself!

Today was a fine day, except for the fact I found my first tic crawling on my leg! My biggest fear came true but that little booger never had a chance. He was smashed and flicked off the side of the mountain. I have to wonder why some things were created? What purpose do tics have anyway? Nothing good that I can think of but I’m sure there’s some crazy wonderful thing that they provide, or not. I’d rather just smack em. And as long as I’m hiking this trail, that’s exactly what I’ll do. Sorry Lord, I’m just not feeling any love for those itty bitty tiny “Spawn of Satan” tics! That’s a bit harsh, but so is Lyme Disease.

“And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:24-25‬ ‭NIV‬‬