05-12-13 Dining with the Deer Together

Awoke to the sound of drops of water hitting the tent from trees. Once we got going, the sun greeted us and we started our way downhill.

We had heard about a former thru-hiker who lets hikers camp on his lawn. The selling point is that you must cross a creek via a zip line. Unfortunately, we didn't make it that far yesterday so we only got to view it during the first few miles. It looked like a lot of fun.

Dried the rain fly during lunch at Bailey Gap Shelter. Drying the tent is a dreaded but favorite chore of mine because I can drop all that weight (water) in a small amount of time.

The day sort of ran away from us and we began looking for a tent spot around 7 pm. I found a box full of goodies and we enjoyed our drinks, apples, and snake cakes. We talked with one of the caretakers of the box who happened to stop by.

Got to the top of the mountain and site of a previous fire tower at sunset. We set up in near record time but still had to eat in the dark. K heard an animal and it seemed large. As it moved towards us we realized it was a large doe. Couldn't get a good picture but the deer didn't seem to mind us and got within 20 feet of us before eventually walking off. Glad it wasn't something else!