Fullhardt Knob Shelter (2,657 feet) mile 735.3 to Bearwallow Gap (2,214 feet) mile 751.9 for a 16.6 mile day! We ascended 3,563 feet and descended 3,498 feet!

After a soaking wet day yesterday, we woke to fog and the uncertainty of what lay ahead as far as weather. I know it’s outdoors and technology is not all that welcome but it’s great to be able to look at a radar to have an idea of what’s ahead. But, we have had hardly any service along some of these Virginia mountains and ridges. The ridges are usually better since we aren’t going into the valleys, but as a whole, it’s all bad, especially for us with AT&T!!

Today was the day that Suzanna came to town, so that automatically made the day better, no matter what it had in store. Today was also the day that we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway, this meant we would definitely have some views. The views we had though would not go without clouds though, big, dark, puffy clouds!

As we approached the Parkway we came upon a blue Toyota Prius with the back hatch open. If ya don’t know, when the back hatch is open it’s usually a good sign of trail magic. This trail angel was called, Carson, and her boyfriend, who did the PCT already, was now doing a through hike of the AT. BBQ chips, snickers, starburst, Lance crackers, and topped it off with seaweed! Haha all of this was along side my regular lunch of Green Belly Bars and nuts and seeds!

As we sat here, a guy called Rambo, he carried a “big” knife, said Nimblewill Nomad told him for better views, walk the Parkway. So, if Nimblewill, we did it, and the views did not disappoint.

As we walked along, Kelly entertained herself by walking on the wooden guardrail that the Blue Ridge Parkway is “famous” for.

We decided, as the thunder and lightning was quickly approaching, to head back into the woods onto the trail. Let it be known, we really didn’t go to crazy with this walking off trail, the trail weaved back and forth over the Parkway. We came upon a great entrance to head back into the woods.

We continued weaving along the Parkway and ran I to our buddy Rambo again, just before we went back into this woods, we stopped to take a picture with him at one of the many overlooks along the Parkway.

We had to meet Suzanna around 6:30 so we stopped around 4:45 for a break and chatted with Rambo for a while, we met him close to the start of the trail back in April. Still 2 miles out, which for us is a little less than an hour, depending on terrain, we decided we better get back to walking so we weren’t late. Birdie and I decided to jump back on the Parkway to cut some time since we were a little behind, and it worked, we beat Suzanna to the parking area by about 7 minutes! Oh, if you’re wondering, yes we got rained on a little bit, but a little is still a lot when you’re walking in your wet clothes all day!!

After Suzanna picked us up, we went to Buchanan, Va, where we ate at a great little restaurant called, foot of the mountain. We then brought Birdie to the campground she was staying at and Suzanna and I headed to Roanoke, Va.

Mad Scientist, out!

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