Date: 2018-05-10
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: broken clouds

DAY 65Up early and packed up. A quick breakfast and we headed back up to the trail. The .4 back up to the trail is probably the steepest climb we will have all day.The ridge we walked this morning was all ledge walk with great views. It slowed Mary down due to all the rock scrambling, but we made it through with out any incidents. We arrived at the next shelter around 11:00 and we filled up on water and heated water for tea to enjoy with our almond biscuits. We didn't take time for tea at breakfast, but needed a cup now. Mary found a small wooden cross necklace along the trail that had "AT" on one side and "LOVE" on the other. She picked it up hoping that maybe we will find the owner further down the trail.Down in the valley we crossed Craig Creek where we had lunch, soaked our feet and took a layer of crud off our legs with our pack cloths. As we were leaving we heard rumbles of thunder. The sound of thunder really got Mary going, and she made good time up Brush Mountain. I'm not sure where she was hurrying to because there is no shelter up there. The storm passed mostly to our north and we got some wind and a few rain drops and then it cleared up. We took a break from the long climb at the bench on top and Mary did her stretching before we proceeded on to visit the Audie Murphy Monument. We searched for "Chainsaws" patch he had left in 2011 and he verified was still there in 2015 when he hiked the section again, but we couldn't find it. We saw "Donut" (the second Donut we have met) and her friend Sophie, we've been leap frogging with them today. As we started to leave the monument rumbles of thunder could be heard again. We scurried to finish the ridge and get lower. Once again the storm skirted us, this time to our south. Same thing, some wind and sprinkles as the edge of the storm went by. Back down in the valley we took the time to clean up again as we worked up a sweat going up Brush Mountain. We talked with two hikers, "No Intentions" & "Hippity Hop Pop", who were camped by the stream. They said Pickle Branch Shelter was probably going to be full as a lot of hikers had passed by. We decided to head there anyway to get a few more miles in so we can hopefully make Catawba and the Homeplace Restaurant tomorrow. "No Intentions" & "Hippity Hop Pop" are thru hikers who got off trail for a week or more and are back on hiking SOBO back to where they got off trail. Then, their son will pick them up and bring them back to the spot they need to head North from. Just as we were leaving Sourpatch and TI84 came to the bridge and decided to camp there as they were only doing 8 miles tomorrow to a hostel. As we headed out I heard rumbles of thunder again. By the time I caught Mary it was looking dark. We didn't luck out this time, first a few sprinkles, and then as we donned our pack covers it started raining hard. It only lasted 10 to 15 minutes, but it was enough to soak us.We went to the shelter and found it vacant except for Tinkerbell, who was camped at a site on the way in. We changed, ate dinner, and met Molasses just as we were packing up to find a campsite up the hill. We found a site and it was sprinkling a little. About the time we crawled in the tent no less than 3 whippoorwills started with their call. We have been seeing lots of deer now, every day we see at least one. We also saw lots of these lizards or gecko type things that scurry about in the leaf litter and really blend in. This last week we've seen many Scarlet Tanagers, but the most common bird we've seen is the Rufus Sided Towhee, they seem to be everywhere.If all works out, we should be eating at the Homeplace tomorrow on our anniversary. It is an all you can eat place that I heard about on my first hike, but it was closed on the day I hiked by. We need to get up early to make it though, so off to bed.