I left Damascus before dawn with a bad attitude. I really didn’t want to take another detour. Missing Whitetop Mountain and a couple of other sites due to the lousy detour is a huge disappointment. But I decided that a continuous trail and my safety (not doing a dangerous hike on the road) were more important. So I took the detour and left with a long day ahead of me to reach the Thomas Knob Shelter.
Route report
The detour wasn’t as bad as I thought. Especially after the difficulty of the first detour. That detour was for the birds.
I made good time all day. There were no special sights or sites along the way. The last 3.5 miles of the detour and 2 miles of the AT to get to the shelter were full of rocks to climb over.
I stopped just before the shelter because there was a nice spruce forest with great stealth camping spots. The wind was picking up and I wanted to have a place protected from the wind and night storms.
Thought of the day
Don’t give up on something on a bad day. I had a bad attitude that affected my entire day. But don’t make the decision to give up something because of one (or maybe two) bad days.
people i met
Unfortunately, today I didn’t meet any people on the road. I think hikers are holding on or slowing down to be in Damascus on hiking days.
Plant of the day
The plant that we present today is once again the Mountain Laurel. I’m presenting this one again for two reasons. First, it’s my personal favorite. And secondly, they are really starting to blossom down the road. They line the trail and are simply spectacular.
bird of the day
Today’s bird is the Black-throated Green Warbler. Who knew there were so many different Warblers! Only males have black feathers on their throat.
“Dan Pancamo’s Black-throated Green Warbler” by Dan Pancamo is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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