Day Six

13.5 mi. 1,500 ft. Up at 7 and got picked up by Ryan, the AirB&B Host’s grandson, at 8 for the three mile trip to the trailhead. It was a blue sky morning, crisp, and only the hint of a breeze as I headed down the trail.

Walking through rolling forest along Piney Creek in dappled sunlight, it was quite beautiful. Crossing the creek was by rock hopping, so my shoes didn’t even get wet.

Late in the morning I walked through an area of old blowdown. Hundreds of trees all down in the same direction. Looks like this could’ve happened 10 to 20 years ago. Fortunately everything across the trail has been cut through by trail crew. That’s fortunate because climbing over all those logs would’ve been arduous.

I had lunch at lick Creek. I’m then started a long climb. However, this climb was broken up by a series of pretty beautiful falls about halfway up. Not a huge amount of water coming over them, but it was a series of tiered cliffs, and made for a delightful display.

My goal was Cedar Flats, which was supposed to be a great campsite along Cedar Creek. It would’ve been about 12 miles, but when I got there I wasn’t impressed and it was only 3:15, so I decided to press on. I hiked another mile and a half up out of the creek bottom. Most of this was through a fairly recent burn but when I got to the top of the ridge, the burn stopped. I put in about 13 1/2 miles and decided to stop here on top of this ridge.

I am in a pleasant, pine forest, and the weather has been nice all day. It promises to be good tomorrow, too. The day after that I get to the little town of Pelsor and a resupply box. No drama today. That’s a good thing.

Until tomorrow, Happy Trails!