[originally written in a paper journal, subsequently published on my older site. Current (2014) commentary in [italics] ]
I had intended to go into Billy Basin and then possibly up the ridge which goes to Arrowhead, but I ended up on the ridge leading up to peak 2863 just North and East of the main Verstovia peak. Once I realized this, I decided to continue on up it and walk around Verstovia to come down Verstovia Trail.
For some reason I did not really feel all that energetic and I ended up taking a good nap along the way. That seemed to help a bit.
Every time I stopped it only took a minute and swarms of flies would be buzzing around me. They did not bite, but they still were annoying. However, they did seem to decrease significantly by the time I made it up to the ridge behind Verstovia.
I saw deer on 4 different occasions, though I would not be surprised if a couple of those times were the same deer. I spooked the first one in the clearing just up from Indian River Trail (where I had seen two deer a couple of weeks ago).
I discovered that a drawback to running shoes worn loose is that when walking across steep slopes there is a significant amount of lateral motion. My feet were burning by the time I had made it back to Verstovia trail. Fortunately I had no blisters.
[Several photos are linked from the original page on my older site. One of the photos is linked as “An Aster” and on the picture page I have it called Leafy Aster (Aster foliaceus) – but it actually is almost certainly Subalpine Daisy (Erigeron peregrinus)]