We made no attempt to get up early enough to see the sunrise.

We were soon passed by Buckeye 70 (description will follow when I get one), Smokey Mo and Heidi Gone Burglar. I left camp before Dave and Botany Boy, taking a good pace down the mountain. I took a long break at Locust Cove Gap, being passed by Lone Wolf (I didn't get much information on him, but he's a retired DC cop in his 50s), Iron Phil (Philip Pirrello, an outdoorsman in his early 30s who I believe is from Pennsylvania), and a couple of kids out hunting. I couldn't help but wonder why they weren't in school. Perhaps they wondered the same about me.

The day was fairly uneventful, unfortunately, making for poor writing. I ended up at Cody Gap with Botany Boy and Dave, where we pitched our tents for the evening. As we prepared dinner, Botany Boy suddenly stood up and stared behind me, saying "What the hell...?" Dave and I turned around. The moon had just risen, about an hour after the sunset, and was nothing short of amazing. It had just cleared the horizon, and was the most amazing shade of orange I've ever seen. It had a self-contained glow, leaving the surrounding clouds untouched, though making it bright enough to read in the woods.

As it rose, its glow turned a lighter and lighter shade of orange, eventually becoming the moon-yellow shade I was used to. But as it changed colours, Dave and Botany Boy and I just sat and watched in amazement for 15, maybe 20 minutes. Just staring.

Another beautiful night.

Song Stuck in my Head: "American Pie", Don McLean
Miles Traveled: 10.3

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