Slept in a pretty good while this morning. Didn’t sleep well though. It was pretty warm and one of the Sobos was snoring most of the night. It was about 10:30 before I left but the plan was to only do 12.5 miles. It wasn’t long before I hit the longest climb of the day, about 2.5 miles, pretty rocky in places, and featuring a hundred yard section through overhanging stinging nettle plants. At the top was Kelly Knob – one of the few decent views since leaving the Grayson Highlands area. Wilderness was already there so we were able to exchange pictures and then we hiked down to the first shelter for lunch. Strider was there and had made up his mind to do an extra 6 miles to the next shelter. For good reason though, turns out shelter at 12 miles was 0.4 miles off the trail and down a hill. So instead of a nice easy day and being half done we were now 1/3 of the way through a long hot day.
After lunch we caught up with Lauren and Elliot who had camped about five miles beyond War Spur. All five of us ended up at the Keiffer Oak for a break and a photo op. Keiffer is the largest oak tree in the southern part of the AT, over 30 feet around and 300 years old, surpassed by only one other tree in New York. After the tree came the most wicked climb in a few weeks – only a mile or so but super steep. Most of the rest of the way was the extra six miles we decided to do, and it turned out to be a slow going section of large rocky ridgeline. It rained for about five minutes again, just enough to make you stop to put on a pack cover. Mostly though it was just hot and humid.
Usually we all do the hike your own hike thing and everyone just meets up again at shelters or landmarks during breaks but this afternoon Lauren, Elliot, Strider, and I stuck together. We were coming down the hill and we kept expecting to come to a stream the guidebook said was 1.1 miles before the shelter. For a while we heard running water then the trail veered back upwards and away. It seemed like the miles were taking forever and we knew there would still be 1.1 to go after we finally came to a stream. Before we saw any stream though we made it to Niday. The stream had been all dried up and probably quite small, so I didn’t even notice crossing it. I think it was the latest I’ve ever finished a day. Usually after getting to camp and cooking dinner its before six, today it was about 8:30. With the extra miles today I can afford a late start again tomorrow for an easy 10 mile day. No deviations tomorrow!