Gypsy Moth Larva canopy damage
For several miles, the canopy above was mostly eaten away.
More Gypsy moth larva and frass in this area. Just as bad as Craigs Creek and the Niday Shelter. Climbed up to Brown Mountain Creek shelter and snacked with Toonman and Curljob. Toonman is from Maine. She's is from upstate NY. Toon is a good illustrator - very good. His art is a real pick-me-up in the shelter registers as he uses cartoons to depict his daily adventures out here. So I hung out with them until 1 - then up the trail.
At Rt 60, DelDoc, Hulagn, Shirt and Seuss were having a picnic by the side of the road in a wayside park. A van had ferried them into town. They bought goodies, then came back. And I could have gone! Bummer - oh well. I chowed on leftover drink, and shot the breeze after Cloudwalker, Doc, Shirt and Hulagn got back on trail. Toonman and Curljob came up - so the four of us rapped for a while, dreading the 2 mile ascent up Bald Knob - inappropriately named.
I found the best strawberries heading down into Cow Camp Gap. So, rather than rush to Hog Camp Gap for H2O and the night, I spent the hours up here on Cold Mountain feasting on strawberries. Someone came hiking by, but I was on my hands and knees harvesting -- didn't see who it was. How good! Low on water, but the gap is a mile away - for the morning. Think I'll head for the Priest tomorrow; at least shelter to camp. That'll give me five miles inot my food drop at Tyro. Every aspect of this trip is falling into place so easily. Really something, now that I let it flow. Took a third of the trip to start to understand it. Getting dark - tent by myself tonight.