April 16, Georgia

April 16th

We had two firsts on the trail today.  I'm going to try to tell you, dear reader, about today with pictures.  Both Bel & I slept better than we have been.  I was up for an hour or so during the night, but fell asleep again.  I was up in time to see this beautiful sunrise.

Soon after leaving our camping spot (somewhere alongside Horsetrough Mountain) there was a small stream dripping over a boulder.  Bel and I both thought that trickle would make a good shower if it wasn't so cold out.  There were actually a few areas similar to this after this one.

In this section of trail there were a few stone "bridges".  The pipe is sort of visible in this picture.  I wonder if there was a road here previously, or just long-lasting engineering from the trail builders.

Random Pictures...

That little hole is where the water for this stream comes from.  I love seeing water just come up from the ground, at least with these circumstances.  We collected some from here for filtering.

Some plants.  

Views and such.

This is the bottom of a fallen tree.  There are rocks rocks embedded into the roots.  The center has either rotted or fallen through leaving an arch.  I imagine this could make a hiding hole for a critter.

Roots!

BEAR!!  Our first bear sighting.  It left us alone.  I'm not sure if we would have noticed it if a hiker ahead of us hadn't called to us and pointed it out.

SNAKE!!  Our first snake sighting.  This fellow was right next to the pathway getting to the Blue Mountain Shelter.  Eventually it came out of hiding.  We are fairly certain that it is an Eastern Rat Snake and not venomous.  Considering the mice stories I have heard about, it is, no doubt, a well fed snake.

Some of the next few pictures were taken using the PeakLens app.  I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it helps some with figuring out what mountains are nearby.

Sunset!!

We have heard that some of the trail might be closed ahead due to a forest fire.  I think it is near Rocky Knob.  

Only about 5.3 miles today.  Tomorrow we are leaving the trail for a town run.  

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Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!