Aah yes,  in the summer time when the weather is hot,  you can reach right up and touch the sky.. or so it feels that way most days in the mountains.  When the weather is rainy and thunderstorms however,  Skye Stalker doesn’t like that and you don’t get very far. 

We left Daleville with our feet happy and our skin kissed by the sun from spending too much time by the pool.. But a well deserved pool day it was.  We ended up taking an extra day unplanned but it allowed Cheesus and Two Step to catch up with us.

The weather was still warm and sunny at the start of the week.  The berries are starting to make an appearance and it makes us berry happy. 

The first day of summer on the trail is also known as naked hiking day.  Naked hiking day is just that,  you hike naked.  Snorlax and I decided not to participate for many reasons…chaffing as one of them..the smell another… And let’s not forget about my last poison ivy incident which still haunts me. We didn’t run into any naked hikers either which we are pretty grateful for.  The last thing I’d want to see is a sweaty,  unkempt, sausage or bush with the chance of prints of Alligator skin as a result of the pack straps leaving imprints. 

We spent most of the first day of summer at the Bryant Ridge shelter.  The shelter slept 20 and was like every kids club house dream come true.  This low mile day due to our long break was unplanned (as most of our days) but fun.  We didn’t want to take that shelter for granted and had to give it some attention.  We continued our never ending game of rumy which started in Hiawassee, Georgia, utilized the squirt guns and just took some time to rest our feet. 

The heat went down within the next few days once the rainy thunderstorms and tornado warnings kicked in.  There were nights it seemed like the tent was going to blow away and next thing you know we’d be following the Yellow brick road instead of white blazes on the trees.  Skye Stalker does not like these storms (not ideal for anyone really) so getting her to hike was a challenge.  It slowed us down  a lot and really put a damper on our own spirits.  We made it to Buena Vista,  VA for a night to stay a little bit dry and warmer than we were.  We were out fairly early the next day back on the trail with some rain but nothing like it was.

We decided to pack out hot dogs to cook at camp which helped keep our spirits high and appetites full. 

We saw a rattle snake for our first time.  It was right on the trail heading north like we were.  Luckily I saw it right before I was about to step on it.  The snake then coiled up in the striking position and did not move from the trail.  We backed up and waited.  It kept rattling.  We eventually had to bushwack around the snake to get to our camp for the night.  (We are working on trying to upload the video to our website on YouTube and Instagram so please keep an eye out for that).

Also new this past week, we have a new hole in our third tent.. Looks like we may go on four tents.

We saw a guillotine which was cool.  Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

We also hit the 800 mile marker within this past week and had our 3rd month anniversary on the trail.  We are less than 200 miles from getting to Harper’s Ferry which is the official unofficial half way point of the trail. 

In honor of the three month anniversary with the trail,  we leave you with this little tune (please use 12 days of Christmas tune)

In the first three months of hiking the mountains gave to me:
Chaffing on my thighs
Poison ivy on my butt
Bruises on my feet
A diet of peach rings
Snorlax stepped in terd
3… Oh wait 4 ripped tents
Lots of Snakes, deer and cubs
And a partridge saw me pee