Day 68 | Keffer Oak | Appalachian Trail Thru-hike

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:20]Good morning. It is day 68. I left camp at 6:30 this morning because of rain. It uh sprinkled a little bit around 3:00 in the morning.

[00:00:33]And then it stopped and then it started again as soon as I got on the trail.

[00:00:38]Um the wind is blowing it off of the leaves now. My goal today is to do 18 miles to the 90 shelter.

[00:00:46]That was part of my plan for this section and 18 the next day.

[00:00:53]However, it is supposed to keep raining today and tomorrow. And tomorrow would include uh Dragon's Tooth and I think the next day is MacAfee Knob. I don't want to do those in rain and lightning.

[00:01:08]Uh so I'm just taking it today. Today I'm passing two shelters before I get to the uh the 18-mile shelter. So if I need to, I will stay at one of those.

[00:01:18]But that is why I started early. That is my goal.

[00:01:22]Let's do this.

[00:01:42]I am hiking with Jeep Girl again today.

[00:01:46]And we just saw three deer.

[00:01:48]They ran across the trail before we could record them.

[00:01:53]But we are a mile from the Laurel Shelter. Going to take a break there.

[00:02:00]Well, it is 10:00 and I made it to the Laurel shelter for a little snack break.

[00:02:07]And it seems to be stopping.

[00:02:10]I'll show you.

[00:02:14]Yeah, it just comes and goes and the sun is trying to come out. The birds are singing. It's a good sign.

[00:02:22]I just took a 10-minute break cuz I was getting cold and got some water and I came down here.

[00:02:29]But it looks like the trail ends.

[00:02:32]Uh so I went back up. There No, there's a blaze. There's a Says to go this way.

[00:02:36]And uh nailed-in steps now that are wet. This is Yeah, it's going to be fun.

[00:02:47]I have not had service all the last couple days.

[00:02:50]It's very spotty.

[00:02:52]So I have not thoroughly checked the weather, but um asking around no one has heard that it's going to lightning today.

[00:03:03]And the rain should be stopping around 11:00, but picking back up around 4:00.

[00:03:09]Um so Jeep Girl and I both want to go to the same shelter, the 9 Day shelter.

[00:03:14]That'd be an 18-mile day for me.

[00:03:16]Um so we're going to do it.

[00:03:20]I really didn't want to go to the one in the middle. It was 0.3 off trail.

[00:03:24]St- on a steep trail and the water was even further even though it had a covered porch.

[00:03:32]Um if that is my contingency, if it does start lightning and I'm around there, that's where I'll stop.

[00:03:41]But we both want to make it um to the further shelter.

[00:03:58]>> Well, that's a little creepy. Anybody know what animal that is?

[00:04:13]Speaking of animals, Lori, how did you get on trail at 6:30 this morning? Did you set an alarm?

[00:04:22]Well, I know I did not set an alarm.

[00:04:26]The whippoorwill decided to return at 2:30 in the morning.

[00:04:32]And then the owl decided to join him at 3:00 in the morning.

[00:04:37]>> [laughter] >> I considered just staying up because they wouldn't stop.

[00:04:42]Honestly, the whippoorwill kept going for hours.

[00:04:46]I did fall back asleep a little, but by 5:00 I was done. I was up.

[00:04:53]It was already starting to get light.

[00:04:57]If you've ever heard a whippoorwill, it's it's worse than an alarm clock.

[00:05:47]I do see blazes. Okay, I am going this way.

[00:05:52]Isn't this beautiful?

[00:05:54]Farmers need the rain.

[00:05:58]I don't mind.

[00:06:03]Got a deer.

[00:06:05]Oh, no.

[00:06:17]There she comes.

[00:07:04]I just came out of there. This is fun.

[00:07:08]I have been so bored.

[00:07:15]And I'm going back in.

[00:08:42]>> This is the Caffer oak tree.

[00:08:45]It is the largest oak tree along the AT in the south and it is estimated to be about 300 years old.

[00:10:12]>> Well, starting here for about a mile, I'm going to be passing huge stone cairns, supposedly built by farmers a long time ago.

[00:10:45]Well, I'm really glad that these rocks aren't in the trail.

[00:10:52]Not sure why they piled them.

[00:10:55]They were farmers, maybe so they could graze here.

[00:11:00]But, trail's pretty nice.

[00:11:13]It is 2:00 and I have made it to the turnoff for the Sarver shelter, which we are not going to.

[00:11:20]Uh yeah, 0.4 to the shelter. It sounds great.

[00:11:24]Covered porch and all, but I have time to get to the next one.

[00:11:29]The Night Day shelter.

[00:11:32]Well, let's go.

[00:11:50]The Jeep girl and I were just taking a break back there at that view.

[00:11:53]>> [snorts] >> And it's not raining, but it is cold and windy.

[00:11:59]The rain has stopped, which is nice. As soon as we got up on this ridge, we were in a cloud.

[00:12:06]And then it stopped.

[00:12:08]Oh, another view.

[00:12:12]>> [sighs] >> A section hiker passed me earlier and warned me about this coming up.

[00:12:21]She said, "The rocks are very slanted and slippery."

[00:12:28]I already did the tough section that I didn't record.

[00:12:31]It was tough, but fun, and I did slide.

[00:12:36]Yeah, I just did the first little part.

[00:12:37]I'm not going to video me doing this, but you get the gist.

[00:12:41]There is more.

[00:12:52]Yeah, I don't I don't know how I'm going to do that one.

[00:12:56]It's pretty high.

[00:13:00]It wasn't as bad as it looked, but there's more.

[00:13:02]>> [sighs] [laughter] >> But wait, there's more.

[00:13:10]Oh.

[00:13:34]>> Well, that's pretty cool.

[00:13:36]>> [sighs] >> Mile 17 and still navigating rocks.

[00:13:56]Well, it is 8:00 and I had my ear plugs in. I had this down over my eyes. That's why I wear it. And I realized I didn't close out today.

[00:14:05]So, I am not even sitting up for this.

[00:14:09]It was a long day. My feet hurt. There's a lot of rocks.

[00:14:13]Um I am waking up at 5:30 tomorrow.

[00:14:17]Got a fun day planned tomorrow, but another long one. So, I need to get some sleep.

[00:14:24]It is supposed to rain tonight, but I doubt I will hear it. I am so tired.

[00:14:32]All right. Thanks for watching and I will see you guys tomorrow.

[00:14:37]Bye.

[00:15:45]>> Mhm.