We hiked this section on November 12, 2011.
We stepped out of our hotel room and it was 25 degrees.
We met our shuttle Del & Tea Cup at 8 AM – he was driving his new car.
When we reached Apple Orchard it was a balmy 43 degrees and the wind was whipping. I guess this is the windy part of the mountain? Python quickly put on her orange knit hat that was made by Knitting Bull.
The trail was covered by leaves so we made a lot of noise while hiking – there was no way we were going to see a bear today.
We stopped for pictures at the Black Rock overlook.
We reached the sign for Cornelius Creek shelter after 2.5 miles but decided not to stop for a break.
We then climbed Floyd mountain and descended the Bryant Ridge.
At one point Dirigo lost her lens cap along the trail. She was steaming about this for the rest of the hike.
We met a nice guy sitting on a log who was waiting for his SOBO friends. We then met the parents of one of the thru-hikers.
We stopped for a nice long break at the Bryant Ridge shelter and met a nice young German long distance hiker.
Another SOBO named Deuce left just as we arrived. The dad of one of the thru-hikers hiked into the shelter jamming to Led Zepplin – no luck so far finding his kid.
The climb up Fork mountain was really long! But the descent into the gap was really tough on our feet.
By the time we reached the truck the temperature was in the mid 60’s.