Barbara gave me 15 Slim Jims and filled my bottle with ice water before I left this morning. I forgot about those spicy beef treats until just now. Thirteen remain. Thanks Barbara.

Ten miles of winding up and down along route 89 brought me to Danbury, the "Gateway to the Mountains". It sits at the geological transition from Piedmont to Mountain. I've made it although the MST guide lists this section under Stone Mountain and the foothills. Danbury was good for a number of reasons. The grill served up some good tenderloin, the post office enabled me to send a few things home, and the library let send a few emails. I also became a little bit of a celebrity when people found out what I'm doing.

Celebrity or not I needed to get up the hill and the clouds had me wondering. I'd be staying at the state campground since I could get a hot shower there and probably recharge my camera battery in the the shower house. The locals warned me I'd be hiking "straight up". From the library it was 4.9 miles to the showers. All went well until a little way down Indian Creek.Trail. I was hiking up a ravine hemmed in by rhododendrons with the creek to one side or the other. The air was absolutely still and my sweat glands just opened up. Then at I arrived at the steep sections of trail and sweat was stinging my eyes and dripping off me. My backpack was getting soaked. I won't be surprised if it turns white. "What must the humidity be?" I kept wondering. That was a crazy amount of perspiration for a mostly 900+ ft of elevation gain. I was relieved to be headed to a shower.

Hanging Rock State Park is really beautiful. The people here have an amazing resource. It is obvious what a mob scene this place must be in the summer. Right now it is eerily deserted and silent. There were a few cars earlier but mostly I was walking through vacant parking lots and empty pavilions. It was a weird feeling, but I made it to the campground without anything spooky happening. There is a volunteer campground host who arrived today in his RV and now me. I have my cleaned clothes hanging up all over the heated shower house and I am very tempted to sleep in there too. There has been a few sprinkles of rain and a very persistent raccoon. I don't think it will five me a moment of peace. Plus there are all these bear warnings. I'm supposed to lock all my food into the trunk of my car. I'll go do that now.

Update: As you can see from the last photo I relocated to the handicap shower and had a good night.