Sprout Day 179 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)

We got up at 5:15 and were on the trail by 6:15. It felt good to be on trail early, right as the sun was coming up. We also had a great day as we hiked 16.4 miles!

We came across a group of bird watchers waiting to see the hawk migration. Some of the people have been going up to this spot for 18 days waiting! Thousands of Hawks migrate through. I wish they would've came through when we were there. I bet it's a crazy site to see!

We also saw a couple of hunters out with their dogs. This time of the year they take their dogs out to train them to tree bears. They take them out with a good tracker and follow them until they get a bear in a tree. Right now they can't shoot the bears they are just training the dogs. It's a whole different world down here. I couldn't imagine going out and hunting a bear with a pack of dogs. Water hasn't been the best lately and we've heard the further south we go the worse it'll be. We're going to have to get used to packing more water with us. 

Happy Birthday Poppa Lip!

Day: 179
Miles hiked: 16.4
Total Miles hiked on the trail: 1458.4
Baby Bear: 1
Bald Eagle: 1
Bluegill: 2
Butterflies: 8
Chipmunks: 3
Cows: 24
Crawfish: 1
Deer: 20
Donkeys: 2
Grouse: 1
Horses: 15
Hummingbird: 1
Inchworm: 1
Really Big Dog: 1
Mice: 2
Moose: 2
Nest of bugs: 2
Newts: 2
Owl: 1
Rabbit: 1
Red Squirrel: 1
Skunk: 1
Snail: 1
Snake: 2
Squirrels: 12
Toads: 3
Trout: 2
Turkeys: 4
Turtles: 107
Vultures: 6
Woodpecker: 1