I pulled into Sloan Bridge and took off down the Ellicott Trail deep into the Ellicott Wilderness. Most of the crazy blow downs had been handled which was a pleasant surprise to me — this place is ALWAYS thick. I made nominal time down to the Chattooga where the trail becomes more of landswimming than running as the rhododendrons get really thick. My goal was to build a lead in this section since it is the kind of terrain I am very familiar with, and the margin through here did grow. I forfeited that margin when I ran beyond Burrell’s Ford campsite to the riverside turnoff onto the Foothills Trail instead of pulling straight through the parking lot. This adds nearly two miles to the route, and so I had to slowly reel my time back in over the final seven miles of Foothills trail up to the parking lot. I manage to pull it together in the end, and by a super tight margin of sixty seconds.