Saturday, 22 May

The breeze made it feel a little cool as the sun set. Bob and I put our rain flies on our tents to be a little warmer. Overnight the wind stopped for a while. This was our warmest night and morning. Did not need the flies.

“Bob’s Alarm Clock” kept going off all night interrupting our sleep. Bob’s alarm was a nearby whippoorwill bird. The whippoorwill started as the sun went down and seemed to make it’s call all night. I think there were at least two others near that would respond. You can listen to the call here . The whippoorwill woke me seen several times overnight.

Since the alarm had us up early. We were hiking around seven. We had ten miles to hike to Bob’s car. Most of the trail was in good condition and downhill. The trail went through laurel thickets, blueberries and scrub oaks reminding us of the area of Pennsylvania where we grew up. There were even a few short boulder fields.

We saw our only black snake of the hike and finally saw some other hikers. Before the last mile we passed a couple about our age and a younger couple with a dog. Bob and I saw over a dozen lady slippers today. These were a little fresher than the earlier ones.

I had hiked the last eight miles of this section with a Tuesday hiker group that I sometimes join so it was a little familiar. There is an overlook, Eagle Rock Overlook, about a mile from the parking lot. In that last mile we saw several dozen day hikers. When we arrived just after noon the parking lot it was full.

The trip back to my truck was about an hour. On the way we passed a small country store. Bob turned around and we stopped for lunch, hoagies, chips, iced tea and ice cream. Real food is always a great treat after hiking a couple days.

We will be taking a zero day tomorrow, a day off, and then hiking a couple days on the Appalachian Trail. Stay tuned in for more.

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