Today was a longer day, 15.2 miles, and we ended up at Hogback Ridge shelter. The trail was pretty nice today, some walks through open fields, and only one mildly difficult climb. After we passed the few groups that were at the shelter last night, we felt pretty alone on the trail, like we had the woods to ourselves. We even got a little bit of trail magic, as a day hiker was handing out oranges and bananas. That orange tasted so good later on when we had a late lunch.
As alone as we felt for most of the day, you wouldn’t feel alone at the shelter tonight, as there’s another pretty good sized group here. The water source wasn’t fantastic… you’ve got to walk a bit past the gross looking water to get to where it’s at least running a bit. Plus it was a good walk away from camp, and down a steep slope. I shouldn’t complain though… at least there is water.
I think I’m going to need a new sleeping pad in the near future… the baffles in this one seem to be releasing, causing a bigger “pillow”, and the pad seems to be slowly losing air overnight. Luckily there’s an outfitter at the hostel in Erwin, which we should reach on Wednesday, so I’ll take a look at what they’ve got.
Wow, love that 3rd shot in the second batch of photos, all that green. Beautiful trail!