The Overmountain Barn
Overmountain Shelter
This barn at the top of a pasture is on private property, but the owner is Trail-friendly and hikers are welcome to take shelter. Most of the land owners adjacent to the Trail corridor are pro-hiker. Most hikers are grateful, and take the 'leave no trace' ethos to heart: if we packed it in, we pack it out and where we can, we leave an area better than we found it.
J: So I guess it's happy birthday to me. I"ve had a great day hiking. Only the Fox in here in the barn with me. Some hikers on the hill visible from my slatted window - who are they, what are their tales?
Heard through the trailvine the goatherders had their anatomically-correct inflatable billygoat kidnapped. Rumor is The Weight and Hiker X may have been involved. Where packweight was everything to a hiker, these college guys from Georgia made room for a plastic blow-up billygoat (complete with, um, parts) as their tagalong campsite mascot. (Then again, I'm walking with a license plate.) Love these odd people!
It's cold - maybe 35F and the wind blows under clearing skies. Tonight is going to be nippy. Strange way to turn 31. G'night.