Wow what a great night of sleep. Occasionally I'd wake up to the push off the rhododendron trunk at the foot of my sleeping pad so slide myself back up to the top, but regardless I slept really well and even woke up late. Breakfast would be cereal bars on the trail.

It turns out I was very close to the Moses Cone historic manor. He made his fortune in denim, and this is all his former estate. Sad to say I lost my way here. The trail isn't marked well and I missed an important turn. To compound the problems a helpful couple steered me even more wrong. I lost 4-50 minutes and had to loop back via the road. Back on track I was soon headed up the Rich Mountain Trail.

There was a lot of up and down and that continued in Price Memorial Park. I had to wade across Boone Fork then follow it for quite some time. There was an impressive show of cascades along it's length and it was very popular especially with the high school and college crowd. It would have been awesome camping. Further up the MST/ Boone Fork Trail headed up a tributary with many more water crossings and day trippers. I busted out of the woods and soon made a right on the Tanawha Trail. I crossed rolling pastures with some great views of nearby Grandfather Mountain. There was I spot where I wandered around looking for the trail too.

I'm writing this not far from the Parkway. I can hear the occasional car. Louder though is the small creek I'm camped beside. It looked like rain earlier so I put up the tent tonight. Already there has been a brief sprinkle but now the moon is out so maybe it was a false alarm. Let's hope.