We hiked this section on October 19, 2011.
We dropped Dirigo’s truck off at 311 and Knitting Bull drove us to 624. We started hiking around 7:30 AM with drizzling rain.
We had on our rain gear and Python was wearing her new hiking shoes for the first time.
The trail went up to Sandstone Ridge and we had to be careful because the trail was slippery. We had to go over a stile just before reaching the top.
We descended to VA 785 and went over two more stiles before we entered a cow pasture.
There was a single bull on the right side of the field who wasn’t bothered by our presence.
The youngsters got spooked by us and trotted away as we approached. There was a lone bovine blocking our exit. She refused to budge so we had to navigate around her in order to leave the field.
We then crossed a small bridge and took a short break before ascending again and going through another field.
We encountered SOBO Mace again who was hiking with 2 friends in the opposite direction.
We then hiked up on the ridge and got a bit chilled because the wind had picked up. Python’s GoLite jacket kept her warm but her arms felt wet all day. Dirigo’s boots are not waterproof so she was hiking with wet feet the entire hike.
The ridge was surrounded by fog all day long so there no views today.
We stopped for another short break underneath some big slanted rocks which kept us dry.
About a mile before the parking lot, we encountered two other hikers but no one wanted to stop to talk.
We were both glad to reach the parking lot! We got out of our wet clothes and headed to Leonardos in Finncastle.
Python got a voice mail from her best friend Sheronda. Sheronda had heard about the animals on the loose in Ohio and was worried about us on the trail. We both got a huge chuckle about this!
Knitting Bull did some photoshop magic and inserted a monkey into one of our group shots!