Left the Dahlgren campground early at 7:23 AM. My destination was the Pogo campground. I had heard that there was good  water there and indeed, that was true. The day was relatively uneventful. The first part consisted of a number of moderate ascents. I ate lunch at Pine knob shelter, which is a terrible shelter without much water, but I was able to get a 45 minute night nap in.

The rest of the day was ridge running and so was relatively easy and pleasant. The ground was soft and relatively level straight north.

Met a lot of people on the trail today, but not as many as over the weekend now that the weekdays are here, the people are starting to sit out.  You basically have section and through hikers on the trail during the week and this makes the camps a little less crowded. As I lay in my hammock here in pogo camp site, I can only see one other couple in the entire camp and it’s large.

I’m about half a day ahead of my schedule, but now I have a quandary. Do I take a short day tomorrow? If so, I’ll be back on my schedule or do I take a long day tomorrow do a 10 miler and make it to the next shelter that would put me about 3/4 of a day ahead. I haven’t decided what I’m gonna do yet. I got some blisters that could use a rest. I guess I’ll decide in the morning

Today’s mileage: 7.8

Total trail miles 25.7