I stopped by the general store in town for a breakfast sandwich while waiting for the town hall to open. I would definitely recommend stopping in for a quick bite if you are hiking through.

Once the hall opened I stopped by to inquire about the camera. Turns out it was a new camera system and nobody really knew how to use it. But the two ladies working in the office were very nice and we all worked together to figure it out. Eventually, I found a USB port on the receiver and an extra mouse. The only problem was, you had to stand up on a chair to reach it.

After some trial and error,  we figured it out and found the footage of a group of kids in the park that took the bag. I left my information in case the bag itself turned up.

While in the office, Devo walked in. After hearing the store, he left to get some extra food from his bag. He returned with a shopping bag of food that he, a couple other hikers and the lady from the general store had pitched in!

It really is incredible how the hiker community takes care of people.

After a late start, I finally hit the trail.  Much of the day was pretty easy and flat. The trail passed through a wetland preserve for a little bit that made for some great scenery.

I found a little pond full of sunfish and took a quick break to do a little fishing.

I caught about a dozen Warmouth Sunfish before moving on. It’s always nice to know you could at least catch dinner if you needed to!

The trail went through a vast wetland area via a wooden boardwalk.  It is one of the few places on the AT that is handicap accessible.

After the wetlands, one final obstacle remained,  the Stairway to Heaven. It was a steep, rocky, climb up to a ridgeline with great views. Luckily it did a bit of switch backing,  so it wasn’t to bad.

The views were worth it though,  you could see all the way back to High Point as well as some of the boardwalks we walked across earlier.

After hiking down from the top, I found Erin who had reached out in Instagram earlier and offered to put me up for the night at their house on the lake. We drove back to her house and her boyfriend, Pete grilled burgers and chicken. Thanks again!

We had a good time sitting around talking about the trail before calling it a night.