Day 40

We took our sweet time today. 

I woke up around 7:15, called Kristina while she was on her way to work, told her of our plans for the next couple days, and started packing up around 8. After taking it easy in the motel room, eating breakfast wings and pizza, we got back on the trail around 10. 

Our goal for the day was to camp slightly uphill from the base of chestnut knob, one of the larger peaks in southern Virginia. Last time, walker and I camped on top of the mountain, but with weather on the horizon, we didn't want to get caught in a thunderstorm like last time. 

Our morning went pretty slow. Anyone want to guess what we did? We climbed back up to a slightly higher elevation. Surprise!

I remembered that this section had several half mile meadow / pasture ridge walks, and they didn't disappoint. Although Virginia still has a lot of elevation change, it's nice to have the occasional field walk, where the birds and chirping and the sun is shining. 

Sometime in the early to mid afternoon, we crossed a creek and saw some trail magic right in the middle -- oranges and soda with cold water pouring over them. After enjoying some cold refreshments, we continued on up the trail. 

We took a lot of breaks today, but still made really good time. By 7, we were at camp and setting up. Having dinner and setup wrapped up by 830, I was planning on writing a bunch of blogs to get caught up, but by 9 I was falling asleep, and all bets were off. 

Tomorrow we'll wake up, summit chestnut knob, and decide on whether or not we go all 26 miles to chuck, or if we do a 19 and then a 7.

Daily recap
- Total miles: 20.2
- From: mile marker 546.1 to 566.3
- From The relax inn in Marion to a campsite before chestnut knob
- high temp of 65
- low temp (morning) 50
- low temp (evening) 60
- total ascent: 4,803
- total descent: 4,596

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