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Day 5: Back on the Trail
Today, my wife, Kim, brought me back to where I left off and joined me for the first three miles of my hike.
Beginning at 11:00 a.m., we hiked southbound from a dirt road, Ashfield Road, to the Bake Oven Knob Shelter where we had a wonderful lunch together. Kim stayed with me another half mile after the shelter before turning around to go back to the car.
I continued on and for the next five miles saw one beautiful view after another! First, there is the view from Bake Oven Knob.
There were several people lounging around at Bake Oven planning to watch the eclipse which started about an hour after I left. I’m sure many people were disappointed today in this area since clouds rolled in and pretty much obscured the entire eclipse. Walking through the woods as the eclipse went over 90% was a surreal experience! The combination of clouds and reduced sunlight turned the woods to dusk-like lighting, the wind completely died, and everything was quiet.
After Bake Oven Knob there were more great views before I got to Knife Edge. Knife Edge is fun and challenging to traverse. It is about 0.1 miles of broken slabs of rock arranged nearly vertically to form a skinny line across the mountain with drop offs on either side. I couldn’t convey it well in a picture but below is a view along the side of Knife Edge to the valley below.
The rest of the day was a nice walk of eight miles through the Appalachian woods to the Allentown Hiking Club Shelter, where I ate one of my dehydrated meals and retired for the night.
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