Day 6

Starting mile 56.4

Today will be my last day before I get a good meal in town. I’m looking forward to it. I only had a 13 mile day so I slept in a little bit before getting on-trail a little after 8.00 am. I proceeded to Sassafras Gap where I needed a refill of water. I ended up sitting there talking with “Duke” and “Bear Scat”. 

When they left I was packing up when who do I see coming down the trail but “Irish” and “Rerun” so I sat right back down. I hung out there until they were ready to go. I took the lead as we took off and I ended up leaving them way behind. When we hit Kelly Mountain they flew past me. When I finally caught “Rerun” at the top I hung my head in shame. I was beat up the mountain by people almost 20 years older.

Luckily I did have the last laugh. They didn’t fill up with water at the last source so they had to travel 0.2 miles down the mountain to get their water. So they were planning on sleeping at a dry campsite, (one without water), this means they had to carry an extra couple of litters of water. This made the 0.2 miles up the mountain even more difficult. Now what makes this so great is that about 2/3 of the way up the next climb to camp there was a great little water source. Speaking with “Irish” and “Rerun” the next morning I guess there was a little bit of cursing when they came across this water.

I ended up getting into camp with “Rebate” about 4 pm and had a relaxing evening. Tomorrow is 1.2 miles down to Dick’s Creek Gap and a shower. I’m really looking forward to a relaxing day at the hostel.