NC 128 to Patton Knob, Mountains to Sea Trail, section 3, miles 58.3 to 60.3

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/18/2024	4.1 miles	3 hours 12 minutes	770'	1.4 mph	436.8 miles

Parking: 

• NC 128, room for 2-3 cars on a gravel pullout on the side of the road.

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Cross the street and hike the MST from NC 128 to Patton Knob. Return the same way.

I had been planning to be at New River Gorge National Park this week, but the mid-Atlantic is having a heat wave, so I postponed my trip. It looks like the heat wave is coming to our area later this week. We went up the parkway where it was a cool 64 degrees in the afternoon. Ahhhhh. This is a short MST section we haven't done before. The hike has a couple of views, but we were socked in with mist and clouds. This is a beautiful hike, but the terrain was challenging for me. Some areas had tall grass, so it was hard to see where your foot would land when you stepped down. Some areas were walking on damp moss covered rocks. This slowed me down tremendously, as I'm paranoid about falling. Unfortunately, I got a foot tendinitis flare up on the hike. I've had this before, the last time earlier this spring for a week or two. Other times I've had it, it lasted only a day. I worked with my PT on it in the spring. This time, I'm going to an ortho urgent care to have it looked at.

Very cloudy today.

View of North Fork Reservoir

Stairstep moss

Jack in the pulpit

Quick read picked up from library. 
Will appeal to those who love dogs and are interested in healthy living.