Turn right at the post office (pictured here) and meander down the road towards the AT trailhead at Burkes Garden. Roughly 3.5 mi and one Garden Mountain later you'll arrive at Chestnut Ridge Shelter (pictured). Grassy meadows grace the ridge line on top of Garden Mt. and this weekend it displayed its true beauty - blooming wildflowers and dancing butterflies swayed in the summer breeze. It was hard to leave, but the path lead onward to Lick Creek and up and over Lynn Camp Mountain (9 mi). A hardy thunder storm rolled in and created a lullaby for sleep, and in the morning the rain lingered up and over Brushy Mountain to signify 12.2 miles complete.
My car gauge read 64º F as I emerged from the woods and back out into the center of "God's Thumbprint," surrounded by gleaming green pastures and happy cows. It read 94º F as I pulled into Edmund St. and back to reality. An escape awaits just 250 miles northwest of Raleighwood.
