Thursday 19th July

My alarm went off at 5 and I was up..sleeping without the fly helps.
I let down my bed and then went to retrieve my food bag. The. I began to pack up ..The orange tent was soon. packed up and the female occupant was on the trail by 6 I was impressed. No breakfast I heckled as she walked out.
I quickly finished packing then made a cuppa woofed a mars bar and was good to go..See you up the trail I said to my fellow hikers.

It was a bit more rock jumping then the soil returned an d shortly I came to a road.I. crossed over. on the other side was a water cache . I gulped down a good litre then topped up my water. I drew a thank you Snail on the bottle and hiked on through more forest then I came to a

solid wall of rock.FUCK !! I am going up that. it was a vertical climb . ten minutes of huffing and i was at the top. This isn’t hiking to me .but apparently on the Appalachian Trail it is . I had just got my breath back when I had to climb another. Then another. this went on for most of the morning ups and down pointless stupid climbs .

At last the scenery changed and I was walking around some gorgeous lakes. But then I was back to rock climbing it took me a while to get up on the ridge but the views were only of trees. as I pushed I could hear the sound of cars getting louder and louder it sounded like very busy traffic. i began. to drop down big rocks to begin with then omg is was more of a scree straight down. I really was not impressed with this. It was crazy I inched my way down , making sure my food held before lifting my other it took a long 15 minutes to get down. Once again there was a large water cache at the bottom so once again I cameled up.

I was just about to walk when my fellow hiker Sundance from last night appeared. None where impressed with this section and we all thought the same. Normally by this time I would have done 10 miles. Today with the stupid climbs I had only managed 6 1/2. which was crap.

I hoisted up my pack and crossed the road then walked up a side road. It crossed the busy freeway and railway. Once over it turned right and I was in another State Park. I hadn’t been in the park long when I saw my first deer then another. it was really pretty In here . I climbed several small hills then again I had more rock faces to climb. But after I was back in more gorgeous forest and I walked around another beautiful lake. After I climbed another small hill

THEN !!!! OMG …What the fuck is that. surely I do not need to climb that it !. it was huge blocks of granite. I stared at it for a few minutes. Then I dropped my pack and fastened my poles to my pack as I wasn’t going to need them for this . Omg it was tough .madness and. few other choice words .

in places I had to remove my pack and put it on the ledge. stupid game . Eventually I was at the top I walked another half miles then stopped for a break. As I was lounging Ossie and commander and another came past we chatted for a few minutes then they moved on.
Sundance shortly appeared again a few words then he was gone.
Okay Snail time to walk
I packed up and set off the trail being fairly gentle..After about 40 minutes I came to a sign pointing out the mileage

I  snapped a few shots then moved on as unwanted those miles.
Eventually I came to a road. the hiker in front of me said I’m going this way, there is a vending machine.
That sounded a fab idea so I followed him down the road .6 of a mile. as I walked around the corner I was stunned to see a huge lake with a beach.

down by the beach were the vending machines and several pack. one was Sundance.
I quickly dropped my pack and fed a $20 into the machine and pressed the button for an orange ice lolly
For some reason I expected change in notes not dollar coins and quarters. The other guys laughed but then I fed them into another vending machine for lemonade. I quickly woofed my Lilly and guzzled my cans of lemonade.

A lady and her son appeared and she was very chatty and very pretty . Her name was Dominick and she was fascinated about our hikes . we chatted to her for a while. I then put the rest of my change back into the vending machines for a other ice cream and another lemonade. It’s no good I need to walk

I visited the loo and filled up my bottles then said good by to every one . I was just leaving when Freight train and Pace arrived.
As I began to walk up the road Dominick followed me.
She wanted to leave some trail magic and wanted advice I suggested Sodas and fruit. satsuma’s, oranges . bananas.

Great she said. I pushed on back up the road then back to the trail. I was busy pushing when I stuck my pole in to a wasps nest..I was covered in the biggest I waved my hand dropped my poles and ran backwards I received about 8 stings 4 on.my ankle and leg 2 on my hands and arms.

But I had dropped my poles on top of the nest. It took me about 15 minutes to find a stick long enough to drag them to me with out getting stung again
I then wrote a note and left it on the trail. I think the best may of fallen from a tree.
When i was ready I ran across the trail avoiding angry wasps a d continued. but my side trip go the beach or vending machines and my wasp adventure had lost me a lot of time. I wanted another 8 miles but I don’t think it will happen but I pushed on regardless. I had just climbed Black mountsom and it was hot and then I decided Bollocks to it this will do. i quickly had my tent up . From the top of this mountain you get great views of NYC skyline. sadly my eyes see it better than my camera.

Then I put up my chair took of my shirt and shoes and made the most of the afternoon sun.
I was still relaxing when Freight train and pace arrived.
Hey Snailtrainer is sunbathing again!!
Pace asks is he naked?
we cook supper together then I turn in hopefully a better day tomorrow z

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