The snake and the marathon

Insert more complaining about the heat until we get to the 7th of July.

On the 7th, dear readers, let us return to our hero. A hero brave, but foolish. A hero who decided to hike a marathon (and a little bit more).

Twenty seven miles from the Priest Shelter, where trail sons were confessed to much rejoicing, to a shelter five miles from Waynesboro.

Hiking poles were shaken, toes were blistered. A sore day, a hard day, ere the sun rose!

For we woke at half five and sunrise was technically at six but there was early dawn light from about five.

Soulsurfer and I embarked upon this marathon. A few hours into the hike, atop a hard ascent of many switchbacks, we encountered my first rattle snake.

An angry rattlesnake. He did not want to move, instead coiling up and glaring at us as best a snake can. In the end, the only option was to hike off trail around it.

From here, we descended again to water features. A lovely little pool with a little stream filling it. Next to a huge pool with a large cataract filling it. Many pools of various size fed by many parts of the same river ultimately entertained us as we hiked through drizzle to lunchtime.

The rest of the day was largely the same trudging along as other days, but Witham added jokes of hiking thirty miles to the road to town and then possibly four miles into town to camp in the Mcdonald's car park until they opened at five in the morning. Thankfully, wisdom prevailed and camp was made at a reasonable time.