The kids slept in but not enough. They stumbled over to the picnic table rubbing their bleary eyes, Cartwheel still in her sleeping bag. The folks doing trail magic served up some tasty sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches and RobinHood entertained their nine-month old with his goofball antics.

When we finally got around to breaking camp and starting hiking, the miles came slowly. The lack of sleep was evident and the breaks were frequent. We stopped at some scenic cliffs and watched the rock-climbers. The kids found and photographed a copperhead as it slithered from under a boulder to curl up in the shade of some bushes. We hiked by the first monument ever constructed to honor George Washington. We enjoyed the view and read about Washington’s life.

We hiked on to Raven’s Rock shelter for the night where we talked with a Boy Scout troop who had come all the way from Colorado to enjoy some east coast hiking (and a visit to the nation’s Capitol). The kids were tucked into bed in the tent and I was brushing my teeth by the shelter when our good friends Ginger and Gilligan rolled in (they’ve been about a day behind us but we haven’t seen them in weeks). The kids stumbled back out of the tent for an excited reunion and we all caught up briefly. Then we crawled back into our tent to enjoy a night’s slumber under the light show lightning and the patter of the rain.