Thursday, July 16 7:33 pm 15.6 mi
AT 1151.7 Stealth Site → AT 1167.3 Clark’s Mountain Road Campsite
Weather: Cooler and overcast, light drizzle in evening
Trail Conditions: Getting rockier. Dry stretch today
My Condition: Sore feet and ankles tonight. Had a really nice cold soak in stream by campground!
Blue ran into a father daughter duo at first parking lot who gave her a slice of pizza, 3 cuties clementines, and 3 marshmallows. Puddles’s feet seemed to be aching pretty good in trail runner opposed to her normal Chacos, but the clementine seemed to cheer her up. Crossed paths with a huge group of people, possibly a family. They noticed a snake to the side of the trail, thinking it might be a copperhead. The one and only adult in the group picked up a piece of bark and started poking and prodding the thing, trying to get it to raise its head for a picture. I had stepped off the trail to let them pass, but lost patience and was pretty upset by the actions of the only adult in their group, so I started coughing like crazy trying to get them moving (for once, yay for COVID!). We roasted our marshmallows over Blue’s stove – Blue lit hers on fire straight away, Puddles was more patient but lit hers a few times by mistake, and I slow roasted mine. I’m not a big smore or marshmallow guy – burned out on them at camp – but tonight it tasted incredible. Beautiful sandy, pine wooded campsite tonight, adjacent to a cold stream perfect for soaking our weary feet. We devoured a whole pack of Oreos (2100 calories!) and met a lovely retiree who is section hiking the trail.
Post Trail Analysis
This might’ve been one of my favorite campsites all trail. Right by the water to enjoy the sounds while drifting off to sleep, but surrounded by a sandy pine grove so we didn’t have to deal with much moisture. Soft sand made for easy tent stakedown, which can be surprisingly painful at the end of a 20+ mile day with bruised, tender feet. Easy foot soaking in the cold water, marshmallows, a quirky neighbor, what more could I ask for?
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