These last few days, and for the next week, we will be hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail that parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP).
The BRP is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for 469 miles through 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
This is Gazelle, we’ve been running into him frequently on the trail. He’s a former hiker of the PCT as well.
This is for my dear friend, Kiki Lou-Lou Bunker of Goldengordo, Florida. I met Kiki about 5 yrs ago in the parking lot a Dixie Dandy in Morgan City, Louisiana, selling cigarettes out of the trunk of her car. Kiki originally worked as a midway carney with Skuzzy Randel’s Discount Roadshow for 30 years, performing pet baptisms and guessing people’s cholesterol level. Upon her retirement from the carnival circuit, she supplemented her social security by raising ferrets and opening a bait shop. When the ferret meat market bottomed out in 98, she put all her energy into her bait and tackle shop. Today, Kiki is 96, and still runs Kiki’s Honey Bucket Bait, Tackle and Tattoo Depot on Bologna Bayou.
It’s been a week since I’ve come upon a cemetery of yore, I was beginning to worry.
This purple flower is most likely Spiderwort.
The BRP is somewhat known for its amazing views. Our first 3 days have been socked in with clouds. It’s still beautiful, but in this primordial forest kind of way
I really enjoy running across trail art.
This section of the BRP is a turtle wonderland. I’ve seen near a dozen just this morning.
The Blue Ridge Parkway came into existence in 1936. I don’t know when this retaining wall was built, but it has some age.
Another day, another wilderness.
Ran into these nice thru-hikers this morning. This is Peanut butter and Ghost, photoed with Warrior Princess at Petites Gap, mile 777.5. They happily enjoyed some trail magic of cokes and fruit cups.
During a motel night, Waterboy had to perform a patch job on his mat. The mat is wet because to find the holes, which are the size of a pin hole, you need to wet it down. Look closely, and you can see the patches. Sea to Summit is a great company, they are sending us a replacement pad while on the trail. They also did this for us on the PCT.
Look really close and you’ll see it. 🎉🧨🎊 800 miles 🎊🧨🎈