It was windy last night, but very clear, so we got some nice views of the stars whenever we happened to wake up in the middle of the night. We woke up a bit before 7 and we were hiking by 8, which included making some instant coffee for the first time on the whole trip.
We covered a total of just over 13 miles today. The day was very warm, but beautiful. We had great views on top of the few peaks that we traversed. We had a few good climbs today, but most of the day was spent heading downhill… much of it very steep. There were a few points where there was no other way to get down than to slide on our butts. It’s safer than slipping and falling down, and almost as quick. We took a nice long break at the Rattle River shelter in the afternoon. We took the time to remove our shoes and stick our feet in the cold water. It’s something that we haven’t taken the time to do over the last few months. We had been so focused on putting in miles that we rarely stopped and enjoyed. Over these last few weeks we plan on stopping more often to really enjoy and appreciate where we are, just like we did when we started.
We ran into another familiar face today… Stormtrooper. We hadn’t seen him since Damascus, VA, over 4 months ago. It seems like with the time we took off we’ll be running into people that we left behind a while back. It was good to see that he’s still chugging along since last time we left him he was developing shin splints.
We decided to spend the night at the White Mountains Lodge and Hostel. The main reason for this decision was that Bear Bell’s sleeping pad no longer holds air (likely thanks to a kitty back home). We attempted to patch it up before we headed back to the trail, but the air didn’t hold all night. We’ve ordered a replacement to Andover, ME where we’ll resupply in a few days. Tonight is just one less night she’ll have to sleep mostly on the ground. On the plus side we get beds, showers, pizza for dinner, and a big breakfast in the morning. Plus the place is right on the trail, so there was no extra mileage to get here. All in all I think it was a good decision, and it really makes us feel like we’ve joined back up with the thru-hiker culture that we’ve kind of been missing out on with all our slack packing and zeroing.
