Date: 2023-05-08
From: Sawmill Run Overlook

To: Loft Mountain Campground 
Miles today: 16.5

Hiking day 58, Ending Elevation 3248 feetDubose Egleston, jr. dropped us at Sawmill Run Overlook at 8:40 a.m and who should be there but RC and Solo, the latter holding Felix¢s distinctive red poncho that we left in RC¢s truck. It had a fastener that needed fixing and now I can¢t find that. It¢s supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow and I¢m not sure if we can rig up something to keep him dry. At least we got the poncho back..The sun was shining and we set out dry and comfortable, so the trip back to Waynesboro yesterday was well worth it. It was supposed to rain again today after 7 p.m. it¢s almost that now and the sun is still shining with not a cloud in the sky. Kerry tells me the forecast has changed to rain tonight and most of the day tomorrow. So tomorrow maybe a slow day for us, we¢ll see.Today, we had a wonderful walk in the woods. Up and down the ridges, a few times back and forth across Skyline Road, which traverses the length of the park. The tread on the trail, which was lined on either side with grass most of the time, was mostly soft dirt and/or lined with pine needles. Not too many rocks and it was easy to walk on. The air was full of the forest scents from the trees, the shrubs and the wildflowers, a special time of year!A small brown toad hopped across the path in front of me this morning but the real excitement of the day came later. I was walking along deep in no thought (as usual) when I heard Kerry shriek behind me. I had just walked past (we¢re talking inches away!) a good sized coiled sunning/snoozing rattlesnake that I must have woken up. He wasn¢t happy because he was rattling his tail rather vigorously in front of or at Kerry. The remarkable thing is that Felix, right behind me, didn¢t notice him either. When I looked back at the snake, I couldn¢t believe I hadn¢t seen him. I really need to wake up when I¢m walking!Later, we saw Curious George again. We haven¢t seen him for awhile. Apparently, his friend Sasquatch became very ill in Daleville and had to go home. We also saw Chance, who we met at Woods Hole Hostel. He remembered us. He is using his bike to ferry himself along the trail¢he walks back to it for 7 days, then rides up trail and does the same again.At one point when we came to Skyline Road, the traffic was stopped for construction and as we sat by the side of the road to get a drink of water a man and a woman in a stopped car rolled down their windows to talked to us. I asked them if they knew what time the store closed, and they weren¢t sure, but thought maybe 5 p.m. we talked a little longer, then they pulled out a quart of strawberry-kiwi drink and a coke and offered it to us. We gladly accepted. I had inadvertently yogi¢d the drinks¢¦.I thought Kerry had, but he assured me it was me! The nice man who was waving the traffic on told us people give him things all the time; he took the empties for us and wished us well.We decided to stay at this park campground tonight, because we were unsure of the weather and there is a store here that we hoped would be open but it is not. It¢s nice to sit at a picnic table to eat our dinner anyway.. I forgot to mention that Kerry pulled 15 ticks off Felix on Sunday, so the season of ticks has arrived. We had applied permethrin to our clothing in Daleville but that¢s not an option for Felix, so our nightly routine now, besides brushing him, is to go over him carefully for ticks. They don¢t seem to bother him too much and he is vaccinated for Lyme disease. We also apply tick medicine on a regular basis.We had a very good day¢¦.we¢ll see what tomorrow brings!