Martha headed back to Atlanta this morning so I was on my own again today. My SOBO hike has been pretty lonely since there are no other thru hikers in the area. However, visitors such as my mom, my sister Laura, and my friend Martha have been awesome!
This morning’s weather was very pleasant. I stopped for lunch at the Bailey Gap Shelter. I met two sisters that were camping in the area and doing day hikes. They were very nice and gave me some tangerines, baby carrots and M&Ms. We talked for about 30 minutes.
After lunch, I had planned to hike to the Captain’s place and rest a bit during the heat of the day. However when I got there, there was a closed sign on the zip line over the creek. So I set up my tent by the creek and took an hour nap. I think this is the third time I have done this on the trail. I woke up with more energy and ready to climb up on the ridge.
Once on the ridge, I had cell service for the first time in about 36 hours. I hiked along the ridge until it started raining. Luckily, I was right at a nice campsite so I set up my tent and climbed in. After the 30 minute rain, I made dinner, ate, and hung my food before returning to my tent.
After dark I started hearing animals moving around my tent. I rolled back my tent fly so I could see what it was but they ran away. I decided to sleep with the fly open (mesh still zippered) in case they returned. Sure enough, a few minutes later things started to move again. I turned my headlamp on to see three bunny rabbits enjoying the plants around my tent. Interesting how much noise they make when your ears are on their level. I guess not everything that goes bump in the night has to be scary. smile emoticon Sorry, not too many pictures today. I will do better tomorrow.

This fawn still has his/her spots. I saw two today that weren’t with their moms.

One of my night time visitors.