Day 8

Thur. Sept. 4
Little Laurel Shelter to Flint Mountain Shelter
13 miles
Weather: wonderful and windy
Starting out this morning by finishing the climb up the mountain really set up a tiring day. I got to the top and expected a fire tower at the end of fire tower trail. Instead it was about 7 radio tower all ranging from 50 to 150ft tall surrounded by barbed wire. As much as I wanted to climb one, I decided to just move along. Two miles further I stopped at the last spring that I knew would have water. I completely filled up because I wouldn't be getting any more until 8pm. Just past the spring I hiked off the trail to one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. I was on top of a 100ft white stone cliff at the edge of the ridge looking out down miles of untouched valley. From there the trail followed the very rocky Firescald Knob for a few more miles with beautiful views down both on my right and left. Eventually I made it to Jerry's Cabin shelter where there was no water, so no way to stay the night. I relaxed for an hour the hit the trail for the evening. One mile out, I hit a beautiful meadow on top of the mountain. I soon found out I was living a character from a bad horror movie about getting attacked by grasshoppers. If any of you know a hungry bird, send them up there. From there I came across the Shelton grave site where two union soldiers from this area returned home and were ambushed by confederate soldiers. Finally I get to the shelter later than I had hoped and find another Shelton. First thing, he asks me if I liked corn-on-the-cobb. He came up on his ATV with his 3 month old puppy and had his coleman stove out boiling 3 cobbs. This was some of the sweetest corn I have ever had and deciding it was okay to be a little decadent, I drowned it in butter and salt. He offers me a 'mader but I decline. Of course, he grew this all himself. Knowing I needed to lighten my own load, I passed on the rest of the meal and took some ramen and spam out of my pack. Between the butter, ramen, and spam, I don't think I'll be able to get the layer of grease off my cook wear until I get home. I might be taking a break in a week to take a trip up to Boston. I'll let you know more when I figure it out. I have yet to decide how far I'll be hiking tomorrow so I better get to bed just in case.
High: corn on the cobb
Low: scared of snakes too, just look at the rattle on that thing