It was a nice, clear night and a bit cool. As I slept I did feel a little cold creep in occasionally and suspect it was in the high 30s overnight. The changes I made to my sleep system make it less comfortable in weather below 40 degrees, but much more comfortable to carry. Thankfully most of the nights coming up will be in the 40s and 50s.
We got going around 8:30 again this morning and it was a beautiful day—sunny, breezy, and cool. We planned to stop by Trents Grocery to pickup a little food and get something hot to eat. It was less than 4 miles to reach the store and we arrived before 10am. After hamburgers we picked up a few more supplies and left.
In the parking lot a nice guy called “Lemonade” was waiting with his car to meet friends for an 80-mile hike. He gave us a lift back to the trail and we headed back uphill.
At the top of the mountain we were able to get signal and called home while we rested. We got to talk for a while longer as we hiked before we lost the signal.
We hiked down to cross another road then up for another 1.5 miles to the shelter. On the way up we saw a bunch of dandelions and pulled off a few flowers and blooms to eat—get your fresh foods where you can, we thought.
As soon as we arrived to the shelter Ryan sat down to rest. Within a minute he was asleep.
It was a little early to stop for the day but time had come. I set up my hammock, filtered water, then rested in the hammock while writing this post. And here it is just 5pm with everything nearly finished for the day. It looks like another early bedtime tonight!
But, before I go, here are a few other interesting things we saw today.
