Day 72 - 11th June - Brown Mt Creek Shelter to Seelay Woodworth Shelter - 15.8 miles

We follow the Brown Creek up to a main road through lots of ruins of fences and house walls.

Remnants of a stone house

Shakin is already there trying to hitch a ride. He has been there for at least an hour and had no luck. We hope he will be OK.

There is a very long climb to Bald Knob - which is not bald - and then on to Cold Mt, a plateau covered with grass over several miles. We wear our sunhats - the heat is fierce.

Summit of Cold Mountain

We stop at Hogcamp for lunch - another meadow. Digby finds fresh wild strawberries growing. While we are stretched out sleeping off lunch, a new hiker arrives - "Sanman". Sanman says that Shakin was NOT hitching on the road when he crossed it, so hopefully he had already secured a ride.

The afternoon is a long slog - we stagger into the shelter, and camp behind it. Only Sanman and Gene are there, and they both make plans for the next day to descend to the Dutch House, a B&B and a hostel which is famous on the trail for providing hikers with a free lunch. But with anything free, there is a catch. Digby and I look at the contours on the map and decide to give it a miss - it is a very long descent and then you have to climb back up to the ridge - we don't need a lunch that much!