AppalachiancTrail (day 31) - Potts Mountain to Audie Murphy Monument / mile 695

Surprising day, it started off slowly but I've ended up way further than anticipated.
After the night at "Devils Campsite" (it was at mile 666) my whole tent was wet (again) not from the "evil" rain though, it was the morning dew. I had to dry it during the lunch time just like yesterday.

Trail was fairly demanding with a lot of climbing and steep downhill sections which my legs started to dislike more than going up. Halfway through the day I was already running low on energy.

At mile 681, around Bruises Knob Cairns there was a gorgeous and long ridge walk followed by another downhill section during which I've almost stepped on a black rat snake, it was halfway inside a tree so it couldn't run and so I managed to take its picture. It slowly made its way inside the tree and disappeared after few seconds.
At this point I was quite close to my final campsite for the day, as I was nearing the parking lot someone shouted, it was a very late, unexpected and very much appreciated double trail magic! It was run by Alan and Birdie, they prepared a lot of good things, including noodle salad, tacos, burgers and jacket potatoes. It was the most gourmet trail magic I had on AT so far and everything was yummy. Soon enough few other hikers joined us but we couldn't stay for too long because it started to rain.
Others were staying just a mile down the road behind a river crossing (the bridge collapsed so we had to cross a fairly shallow river). I've felt great after eating all this nutritious food and decided to push few more miles. I went over another hill on top of which was Audie Murphy's Memorial.

Audie was the American soldier, singer and songwriter, widely celebrated as the most decorated American combat soldier of WWII as well as the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in the US. He died in a plane crash in 1971 close to this site.
I've visited the memorial and then hiked another mile to the campsite, it was getting late at this point so I just set the tent up and hopped in to the sleeping bag before it got dark.

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