Yesterday’s blog mentioned that we were taking Mountain Crusher to an Urgent Care facility to see what options there may be to treat his stomach virus that has persisted and weakened him over the past several days. Unfortunately, he was unable to get a firm diagnosis and only a prescription to treat his nausea. This morning, Snapshot and I left camp around 8:30 am and hiked 16 miles to our shelter site. Mountain Crusher and Cobweb Rose stayed behind to catch a shuttle to a drugstore to pick up MC’s prescription. This afternoon Snapshot and I received a message from MC saying that he was going to come off of the trail for a few days to give his body a chance to recover and that he hopes to catch up with us in Damascus (VA) on Monday. Cobweb is apparently still hiking towards our shelter site this evening but we don’t know if she will stop short and catch up tomorrow or if she may still make it in tonight.

Our hike today was easier than yesterday, both in terms of terrain and weather, and we made pretty good time. Part of our hike was around Lake Watagua and the trail actually crossed over the dam on that lake. As we gained altitude we were able to get some pretty views of the lake below. About 3 miles into the hike we came across some amazing trail angels from Hunter First Baptist Church and they had the most amazing food and drinks to offer us. Ben and Heather (husband & wife) started this ministry a few years ago on their own and later gained the support of their church to expand the great work they were doing.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw our first snake sighting late in the day yesterday. It was maybe 24-28 inches long, crossed the trail in front of us and slithered into the woods. The only surprise is that it has taken this long to see one. Our plan tomorrow is to cover another 16 miles.