I got a nice early start again after a night of rotisserie sleeping (rolling side to side). I don’t have much battery for video but I snagged some pics.

The day started out nice with a gentle switchbacked trail up Peter’s Mountain. I found a turd in the middle of the trail.

A horse fly followed me again halfway up the hill. It was warm but not too hot. I found a newt thing but not the usual bright orange kind. It was shy trying to hide under leaves.

At the top of the hill a front moved in, and it was chilly and damp and full of fog at the top of the hill.

I found the Allegheny Trail. Bookmarked for later.

The mountain forest had a spooky look with so many buckeyes eaten up by something.

The weather system in this area has been mostly the same since Catawba: very hot for a couple hours,  then a big rain, followed by very hot. My shoes are still wet at the time of this writing and my feet are saying uncle, and my pack rash continues to irritate.

The failings of my body presented the primary challenges of the day while the terrain was favorable: how to get to town without running out of food and without worsening these conditions? I don’t know, I just pushed through.

I found some interesting graffiti.

There were a few rocky parts and some overgrown briars and thorns, but not enough to make me forget that my boots haven’t been dry in days. The sexy rocks though…

I fell over a few rocks which were slippery with fog.

Many edible and medicinal plants grow here. I even found ginseng here a few years back.

Upon reaching rice fields I took advantage of some sunshine to string up a line for drying gear. A storm front looks to be moving this way so I don’t know how much time I’ll have or if I’ll be dry tomorrow.

I haven’t seen any people today but I did meet a butterfly friend.

I found some big mushrooms but no way to carry then properly. Looks very tasty. Size 12 boot for comparison.

Someone brought a tractor or a bush hog up here and mowed some pasture, also running over a few blazed sign posts that are important for navigation. And tore up a ground bee nest.

I’m pretty sure trail maintenance did it even though that isn’t allowed here. I liked it better when wild goats maintained this section. I don’t like it when authorities use power to break the rules they made. Respect -10.