June 19, 2004 - Praise the Lord; I can walk without pain. But only 23.6 miles because of the bad night’s sleep on the rocks. Also, I got a late start on the day, but it seemed like it wouldn’t be too hard of a day. I crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway some more in the morning. Then it was downhill to Jennings Creek where for the first time I dropped below 1000 above sea level. Then I had 2 very hard climbs, Fork Mtn and Floyd Mtn. Then one more climb on the day, Apple Orchard Mtn, but it was easy. The shelter was soon after that. I had planned on going a little farther but I was very hungry and it was 7 pm and the next place to camp was 7 miles away. So I decided to stay. Also, I thought 24 miles was more then enough on my ankle. I don’t want to push it too much too soon.
