A Sweltering Day of Climbs

April 19, 2025

Bo and I awoke before 7am today and watched the sunrise over the mountains right behind our tent. I decided to cook oatmeal this morning, so it took us a little longer to get moving today.

We made pretty good time today, except that the uphills were killing me. Bo wasn’t pulling as much as he normally does since it was warm out. We walked through Blue Ridge Swag and Sassafras Gap before ascending Kelly Knob that had me dragging. Bo and I rested at the top, and he took a nap in the dirt.

Up next, we climbed Powell Mtn, which was equally hard with the forever rising temperatures and lack of tree coverage. I felt very low energy today and was trying to conserve water since all the water sources were far off the trail. One water source was straight down a ridge and back up, but it was really neat because the spring came out right underneath a tree’s root system!

I was estatic to stumble upon Dicks creek to refill water and then get into the parking lot down below. At the tent site, we ran into one of the workers from the hostel we stayed at last night. He was trail running a 5 mile loop to stay in shape for when he got back on trail. Bo and I had the tent site all to ourselves, and we decided to eat all the heavy food I packed. We shared a large block of cheddar cheese! We pass into NC tomorrow… just another 11 to 12 miles to go!