Date: 2018-07-03
From: Petites Gap 

To: Route 812
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: scattered clouds

All of the grandkids decided to hike today except our littlest ( Ice Princess Lucie). She stayed at the hotel with Papa Big Swig.  My favorite 4 legged girl hiked today too. Dragon Tamer thought Seylor should have the trail name ¢Blue Blazer¢. She¢s forever making her own blue blazes while ridding the world of varmints. She¢s a smart dog, but she just won¢t follow commands when I call her Blue Blazer!We had three or four views today, but the full green trees obscured them all just a little bit. We still enjoyed what we could see. Today¢s photo is one of those views.   Our first climb was 3056ft up to Highcock Knob. Tre J said ¢Nama, I can¢t do this¢ I gave him a pep talk and he did it...they all did it! I was so happy with them, impressed, and proud! We hiked down to a stream where we stopped for lunch. Today was much hotter than yesterday, so several kids had drank all of their water before lunch. They were excited to try creek water for the first time. I collected and filtered about 3 liters for them. They¢re all REAL hikers now! Just as we were packing up to leave, a SOBO thru-hiker showed up. He said it sounded like a party was going on down there! Yes the kids are loud! I was pretty sure we would have no hope of seeing a bear or a deer because of all the noise today...not a quiet moment. Anyway, the hiker¢s trail name is Sam Fox. He¢s a military guy and Sam is an acronym for Special Air force Missions. I didn¢t ask about Fox. He personally assisted two presidents and Vice Presidents. We thanked him for his service, and the kids took a photo with him. We left our lunch break and started walking north. Only about a hundred yards in we realized we were on the wrong path. We had to go almost all the way back, but once we were on the right path it was great. We were ridge hiking through a nice patch of blueberry bushes. They were tasty!   A few miles later we came upon another creek. We decided to take a short break for water and to let the kids soak their feet. It turned into a not so short super fun time! Yeet-Ut caught a craw Daddy and unsuccessfully tried to get a salamander. We also saw a pretty big frog, and all of the kids got wet!  My four legged friend and a group of us humans managed to get a good distance ahead after we left the creek.  Seylor sniffed out a deer and chased her up the mountain to a ridge above. Myself, Tre J, Fashionista, Black Cat, Small Fry, and Netflix all got to watch it happen.  I didn¢t think we stood a chance of seeing a deer, but thanks to Seylor, we did!  All too soon we crossed a foot bridge over the James River. Then we were at the place where Papa Big Swig was to pick us up. He wasn¢t there. We realized there may have been some confusion as to the exact pick up location so Small Fry and I hiked an extra mile to the other potential pick up location. Eventually he had us all in the van. We went to a Mexican restaurant for supper and had some pool and hot tub time. Then Hugs and Big Kahuna arrived. My tramily and my family are together!  This was a great day! All of the kids realized they CAN do it! It was a very hot day and they did 10.9 miles! Ranging in age from 10 to 14, they all finished strong! Feeling blessed! Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?