Yellow Blazing – Fox AT Thru Hike – Day 38

It’s not the typical yellow glow. The AT detour takes the Iron Mountain Trail down a road and has yellow blazes.

Today I took two wrong turns. The first was absolutely just for me, since the detour is very well signposted. I missed where the trail left the dirt road and walked a mile further. Of course, the mile was all downhill, so I got an uphill bonus as well.

After the detour the path is… less marked. Or maybe it just burned more erratically. At a couple of intersections there were no fires. Two fires would then break out within a 20-foot radius in a place where it was impossible to lose the trail. My second wrong turn was much shorter, because I knew I didn’t know. When you reach the view below, turn left along the fence. The obvious path in front of you is not the path.

Around 1pm I arrived at the Thomas Knob Shelter. I ate a lot, mainly killing time. It was a little further to the Rhododendron Gap. That was 14.2 total and although I felt good, I shouldn’t have been pushing myself any harder. The spring at Rhododendron Gap was the clearest I’ve seen on the entire trail and came out of a hill covered in pony poop. Always filter/boil/treat water.

Also, ponies!

I didn’t try to get closer

Please note that miles shown are not exact. The detour affects the mileage. Instead of offsetting the rest of the rise, I have offset it today to accurately show what remains.

• Breakfast: oatmeal
• Dinner: Family-size instant potatoes, foil-wrapped tuna
• Snacks: cheese, crackers, clif bar, cereal bar x2
• We meet today: stitch, cool breeze

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